Chapter 14, The Law and the Gospel, The Reformed Reader

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2) 147

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The Relationship of the Law,
Moses, and Christ (2)
“If what was passing away was glorious, what remains is

much more glorious.” (2 Cor. 3:11)

SECOND CORINTHIANS 3 CONTRASTS the administration of the
law and the administration of the gospel. It is another portion
of Scripture that has been misinterpreted and misused by an-
tinomians. There Paul makes several contrasts between, for ex-
ample, the ministration of death and the ministration of Spirit
or the ministration of the Spirit and the ministration of con-
demnation. He also contrasts glory with greater glory~ the glo-
rious with the much more glorious, the old covenant with the
new covenant, that which was written on tablets of stone with
that which was written on the heart, and the letter that kills with
the Spirit that gives life. All these contrasts can be summed up
in two words—law and gospel.
Patrick Fairbairn, D.D., in his valuable book, The Revelation
of Law in Scripture (reprint, Phillipsburg, N.J.: Presbyterian
and Reformed, 1996), said in reference to 2 Corinthians 3,
“This is the most important passage on the law in St. Paul’s
epistles” (p. xii). It is important because it contrasts the glory
of the old covenant with the greater glory of the new. Nowhere
does this chapter say that there was no glory in the ministra-
tion of condemnation; in fact, it clearly says that the ministry
of death was glorious (vv. 7, 9). The contrast is between the

146
glory of the law and exceeding glory of the gospel (vv. 9, 11).
Philip E. Hughes, in his excellent commentary on 2 Corinthi-
ans, explained,

The establishment of the new covenant, however, im-
plies neither abrogation nor the depreciation of the Mo-
saic law. This is plainly shown by the terms in which
God announces His new covenant: “I will put my law
in their inward parts” (Jer. 31:33), and by the object it is
intended to achieve: “that they may walk in my statutes,
and keep mine ordinances, and do them” (Ezek. 11:20).

There is not a question of a new law or of no law. Nei-
ther God changes nor His law. The difference between
the old and the new covenants is that under the old that
law is written on tablets of stone, confronting man as an
external ordinance and condemning him because of his
failure through sin to obey its commandments, whereas
under the new the law is written internally within the
redeemed heart by the dynamic regenerating work of
the Holy Spirit, so that through faith in Christ, the only
law keeper, and inward experience of His power man
no longer hates but loves God’s law, and is enabled to
fulfil its precepts. Of course there were lovers of God’s
law in the Old Testament period; and it did not differ
radically from New Testament believers. Their love had
to be by divine grace granted to them. (Paul’s Second
Epistle to the Corinthians [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
1980], 96ff.)

Our Christian fathers have repeatedly emphasized that the
Old Testament believers were men and women of faith in
Christ. Their faith was in anticipation: “Your father Abraham
rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad,” Jesus said
Oohn 8:56).
After naming many of the Old Testament saints, the author
of Hebrews adds, “These all died in faith, not having received
the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of
them” (Heb. 11:13).

148 The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2)

We must also remember that the law is as vital a part of the
new covenant as it was of the old covenant.

From Condemnation to Righteousness
One of the most striking comparisons of the law and gospel in
Scripture appears in 2 Corinthians 3:9: “If the ministry of con-
demnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds
much more in glory” Here the two ministries have their dis-
tinguishing epithets and exhibit their characteristic glory. A
mind under the teachings of the Holy Spirit will discern a pe-
culiar glory in both ministrations, and unless strangely warped
by preconceived notions, will desire to retain the whole glory
of both in the sense intended by their divine Author. It is im-
possible to have clear and consistent views of the plan of sal-
vation without discerning the nature, spirituality, and unalter-
able authority of the divine law. An appreciation of that law will
invariably bring the soul to admire and trust the free grace of
the gospel. They are not at variance with each other, though
some men would proclaim and perpetuate a war between them,
while others would mingle and confound them, so that the
glory of both is eclipsed.
The language of every Christian heart is, “I delight in the
law of God according to the inner man” (Rom. 7:22). But this
is language one can never use until, through the law, he is
dead to the law. Then he rejoices that he is not under the law,
but under grace, and proclaims in his whole life that he is not
without law to God, but under the law to Christ. He knows
that by the deeds of the law no flesh can be justified, and that
justification is obtained by faith in the blood and righteous-
ness of the Son of God. Yet he exclaims, “Do we then make
void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we
establish the law” (Rom. 3:31). He joins Paul in the assertion
that if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in
vain. And with the apostle he unites in the desire that the
righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. In short, Christ has deliv
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The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2)
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149
ered him from the curse of the law and made the law a bless-
ing to him.
We never experience the preciousness of Christ until we have
some knowledge of the sin that exists in our natures, exposing
us to the curse and wrath of God. By the law is the knowledge
of sin. Therefore the law, pointing out our need of Christ by con-
demning all our thoughts, words, and actions, endears Him to
us as it leaves us no hope apart from Him. Its constant and per-
petual demand is “Do this and live.” And its awful threatening
is “The soul that sins shall die.” That demand and that threat-
ening can never lose their authority or force.
Consequently, while the sinner is under the law, he remains
under its curse, exposed to its threatening. And whenever this
awful fact is discovered and felt, by the teachings of the Holy
Spirit, the sinner instantly flees Mount Sinai and hastens to
Calvary He is unaware of his danger until he discerns the spir-
ituality and extent of the law as it penetrates the conscience, re-
iterating its demands and refusing any abatement or compro-
mise. Then he runs from the sin-avenging sword to touch the
scepter of Jesus and receive pardon and life through Him.
The law ministers condemnation to the conscience every
day—for every action, word, and thought—even in the most
spiritual and holy of all the family of God as long as they are
in this imperfect state. It can accept nothing but what is perfect,
and herein appears its glory. For while it leaves us nothing in
ourselves to boast of or trust in, it brings a large revenue of glory
to Jesus, who is the end of the law for righteousness to every
one who believes. The glorious suitableness of the gospel is
never seen until the holy rigor of the law is felt. But when this
schoolmaster enforces the task that we are utterly unable to per-
form and begins to afflict us with Sinai’s terrors, at first we
promise to do, and often set about doing, all that he requires.
Then finding ourselves without strength or inclination to per-
form what is righteously enjoined of us, a surety or substitute
becomes essential to our salvation. Then how precious does
Jesus appear in this all-important character! And the Holy Spirit
enables the soul to appropriate His perfect obedience and infi

150 The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2)The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2)
nite merit, drives him to a new kind of obedience, and creates
a love of the law, yes, a delight in it that he never before pos-
sessed.
It is not possible for any man to love the law until he sees it
fulfilled by Christ; nor is it possible for that man to refrain from
loving the law who feels a sweet assurance that he is delivered
from its curse by the obedience and death of Christ. So then, the
law revealing its purity, extent, and rigor, makes Christ precious
to the soul, and the soul to whom Christ is precious must love
the law as did David (“Oh, how I love Your law!”—Ps. 119:97)
or Paul (“I delight in the law of God” —Rom. 7:22).

From Stony Tablets to Hearts of Flesh
In 2 Corinthians 3, we do see very clearly the superiority of the
new covenant over the old, but this does not abrogate or set
aside the Decalogue (the moral law). The new covenant trans-
fers that law from the tables of stone to “tables of flesh, that is,
of the heart” (v. 3), in fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy (Jer.
31:33). If, as seems likely, Paul’s opponents in Corinth were Ju-
daizers, who gloried in the law (“ministers of righteousness” —
2 Cor. 11:15), it is easy to see how the argument of this chapter
would fall upon them with overwhelming force. Though the
apostles did not support the Judaizers’ teaching, their contin-
ued observance of the ceremonial law led the Judaizers to sup-
pose that legalism was of the essence to their religion (cf. Gala-
tians with the Jerusalem council of Acts 15).
What does 2 Corinthians 3:6 mean when it speaks of a “new
covenant”? Defining covenant can be as difficult as providing
an adequate definition of mother.
Some think that a covenant is an agreement between God
and man—like a contract between two people. That is not quite
accurate. The covenant offered by God to man was not a com-
pact between two parties coming together on equal terms. The
biblical use of covenant does involve the coming together of
two parties—God and man—but the terms are appointed by
God alone. It is not bilateral, as when a contractor sits down
with an owner and both agree to do certain things. God
covenant is unilateral. He dictates the terms. He calls the sho~
The Old Testament scholar 0. Palmer Robertson has defin%
a covenant as “a bond in blood sovereignly administered.” He
plains, “When God enters into a covenantal relationship wi1I~1
men, he sovereignly institutes a life-and-death bond. A
covenant is a bond in blood, or a bond of life and death, so’~

ereignly administered” (The Christ of the Covenants [Phillip:~5.
burg, N.J.: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1980], 4).
Stated very simply, a covenant is a promise suspended upc3r
a condition. The old covenant promised spiritual communic3r
with God (“I will be your God, and you will be My people’~’)
The precondition of that relationship was either perfect obed~~.
ence (a condition that no fallen man could ever meet) or hurw~n.
ble faith in a perfect substitute and dependence on God’s merc~y
What the old covenant could only foreshadow, the new cove~e.
nant fully provides—that perfect, obedient substitute in Chritis
alone. Because God’s covenant envisions a spiritual relatiomn.
ship, it calls for obedience from the heart, not merely outwat~rc
acts or self-righteousness. Somehow the law had to get from e:~x•
ternal tablets of stone into spiritually transformed hearts. Arrnc
that could only happen on the basis of the redemption acconm
plished by Christ and applied by His Spirit. The law withou.u
the Messiah could never produce genuine holiness, forgiv’ve
ness, or communion with God.
Thus, the “new covenant” in 2 Corinthians 3 refers to tlIh
gospel of Christ as it surpasses the law yet to be fulfilled ii
Christ. To those who would use this passage to do away wititl
the law, or to drive a wedge between the law and the gospel, i
should be recalled that the law cannot be done away with. It:
rewritten on the fleshly tables of the heart according to tllh
promise in Jeremiah 31:33 quoted in Hebrews 10:16: “This is tllh
covenant that I will make with them after those days, says t12{h
LORD: ‘I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their mincd~
I will write them.”’ He does not say, “In the new covenant I wit
do away with the law.” No, He says, “I will rewrite it.” Secornc
Corinthians 3 does not teach that the law was done away witth

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152 The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2)

How do we know? Because it was written on the heart, “not
with ink but by the Spirit of the living God” (v. 3).
Some take 2 Corinthians 3 to mean that the law condemns
and kills but the gospel does not condemn. But we learn from
other parts of the Bible that the gospel does condemn and kill.
Just a few verses earlier Paul wrote, “We [bearers of the gospel]
are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being
saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are
the aroma of death to death, and to the other the aroma of life to
life. And who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:15—16).
Jesus said, “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but
he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not be-
lieved in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).
Devout old Simeon underscored this point (Luke 2:26-34). It
had been revealed to him that he would not see death before
he had seen the Lord’s Christ (v. 26). Taking the baby Jesus in
his arms (v. 28), he said, “This Child is destined for the fall and
rising of many” (v. 34). Likewise, Peter spoke of Christ as “a
stone of stumbling and a rock of offense” set for the ruin of
many (1 Peter 2:8).
Paul describes gospel condemnation in the strongest terms.

when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with
His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on
those who do not know God, and on those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the pres-
ence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (2
Thess. 1:7—9)

From Glory to Greater Glory
The royal, golden words “glory” and “glorious” appear ten
times within five verses of 2 Corinthians 3 (7—11 NKJV). I have
emphasized that Paul’s contrast is not between that which had
no glory and that which was glorious. The contrast is between
glory and the more glorious. There was glory in the law (vv. 7,
9, 11). Paul calls the ministry of Moses a glorious ministry~ No
The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2)
153
blame can be put on Moses for the divinely inspired truths he
taught. In God’s unfolding of revelation, Moses taught as much
truth as the Israelites could bear. God used Moses to teach a

high esteem for the law. The New Testament confirms this high
regard for the law.

Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without
mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of
how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he
be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God
underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which
he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the
Spirit of grace? (Heb. 10:28-29)

Without denying that high view of the law, Paul in 2
Corinthians 3 exalts the glory of Christ and the gospel. Our
Lord was glory personified. This world has never seen any
glory comparable to that manifested in our blessed Savior.
What is glory, and what does it mean to be glorious? The
glory of something is its true worth. To glorify something
means to call attention to its value, to make much of it, to give
it its due recognition. Glory includes such qualities as splendor,
renown, and honor. When God is glorified in the true sense of
the word, He is simply seen for who He is. His glory was often
witnessed in the Old Testament, sometimes through some sort
of physical manifestation.
But in the New Testament the glory of God is more fully per-
sonified. We learn that the Son is the radiance of God’s glory
and the exact representation of His nature: “[Jesus] being the
brightness of [the Father’s] glory and the express image of His
person, and upholding all things by the word of His power,
when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right
hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3).
Jesus thus exceeded the glory of the old covenant. The law
Was glorious. “But if the ministry of death, written and en-
graved on stones, was glorious. . . how will the ministry of the
Spirit not be more glorious?” (2 Cor. 3:7-8). The apostle identi-
fied the ministry that brought death with letters engraved on

154 The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2)

stone (the Ten Commandments). If the divine origin of the old
was authenticated by the radiance of Moses’ face, how much
more will the divine origin of the new be authenticated by
transformed lives. The new ministry, which brings the Spirit of
the living God to the hearts of men, is the ministry of life. The
glory of the old enhances the greater glory of the new.
To understand glory we must study Christ. Where do you
find the glory of God? “In the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 4:6).
When do we see the glory of Christ?

1. When He spoke the glory shown through the veil of His
flesh. No mere man ever spoke as He did. Some people
saw it and were drawn to Him.
2. When He declared that He was the Redeemer, some
people saw glory and believed.
3. When He said, “I am the resurrection,” some people
saw glory and believed Him and received hope.
4. When He acknowledged that He is God, some people
saw glory in Him and believed. A man cannot speak
that way about himself unless he is mentally ill or a
lying blasphemer—or is telling the truth.
5. Some saw glory in His deeds. He spoke and the winds
obeyed Him. He called men from the dead and there
was power in His call to give life. Surely this was a dis-
play of His glory.
6. There was a glory about His death that caused fear to
come to the hardest sinners. The centurion said, “Truly
this was the Son of God!” (Matt. 27:54).
7. There was a glory about His death that caused the earth
to shake and the veil in the temple to be torn, a glory
about His death that caused graves to yield up their dead,
and the sun to become black. What a display of glory!

Proclaiming the Surpassing Glory of Christ
I pray that God would raise up men who would know how to
preach His glory, know how to preach Christ in such a way that
F
The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2)
1 5~
men and women would see the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ and be changed. Oh, that men and women could see th~
glory of His exaltation, His enthronement! They would fall on

their faces as John did on the Isle of Patmos: “And when I saw
Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on
me, saying to me, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.
I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive
forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of
Death”’ (Rev. 1:17—18).
The only power that can change human lives and nations
flows from the right hand of Him who sits on a throne. The rea-
son the lives of lost church members are not changed is that they
have never caught sight of the One who is on the throne. They
have never seen the glory or felt the power of the One who
could rightfully say, “All authority has been given to Me in
heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18).
Stephen saw Him: “He, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed
into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the
right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).
Saul, going down the Road to Damascus, saw Him and was
changed (Acts 9:3). He was blinded by a light from heaven—
the glory of the Lord. There is glory around the throne. Some
day this glory will be revealed again on this earth, and men will
cry for the rocks and mountains to fall upon them (Rev. 6:12—17).
There is glory around the throne because that is where Jesus
is. He came to that throne by way of His humble birth in a cow
stable, and later through the depth of His humiliation on a
bloody cross. But now He is exalted. “Therefore God also has
highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under
the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:9—11).
The glory in the face of Jesus Christ far surpasses the glory
in the face of Moses. “The ministry of death, written and en-
graved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel
could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory

156 The Relationship of the Law, Moses, and Christ (2)

of his countenance, which glory was passing away” (2 Cor 3:7).
But the greatest glory—the glory connected with power—
radiates in the face of God’s Son: “For it is the God who com-
manded light to shine out of darkness who has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Cor 4:6).

THERE IS A RELATIONSHIP between Moses and Christ, between
law and grace. They are not in opposition or contradictory. The
glory of the gospel exceeds but does not nullify the glory of the
law. If you do not clearly understand the distinction, the con-
nection, and the harmony between the law and grace, you will
destroy the glory of both. Seeing how they serve each other will
keep you from being entangled by the error of legalism, on the
one hand, and of antinomianism, on the other. An under-
standing of the proper relationship between Moses and Christ
will be a happy means of preserving your soul.
Never does Paul treat the old covenant in a disparaging man-
ner by setting up an opposition. Quite the contrary, he attrib-
utes full honor to all of God’s revelation. Paul does point out
that the glory of the new covenant far exceeds the glory of the
old. It is by comparison with the surpassing glory of the new
covenant that the glory of the old may be said to have faded
into insignificance (2 Cor. 3:10).

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