6 Who has made us able to be servants of a new agreement; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter gives death, but the Spirit gives life.
The spirit is the life giver; the flesh is of no value: the words which I have said to you are spirit and they are life.
See, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah:
In the same way, with the cup, after the meal, he said, This cup is the new testament in my blood: do this, whenever you take it, in memory of me.
And in the same way, after the meal, he took the cup, saying, This cup is the new testament, made with my blood which is given for you.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
But their minds were made hard: for to this very day at the reading of the old agreement the same veil is still unlifted; though it is taken away in Christ.
Of which I was made a preacher, through that grace of God which was given to me in the measure of the working of his power.
That which was from the first, which has come to our ears, and which we have seen with our eyes, looking on it and touching it with our hands, about the Word of life
Of which I became a servant by the purpose of God which was given to me for you, to give effect to the word of God, The secret which has been kept from all times and generations, but has now been made clear to his saints, To whom God was pleased to give knowledge of the wealth of the glory of this secret among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we are preaching; guiding and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that every man may be complete in Christ; And for this purpose I am working, using all my strength by the help of his power which is working in me strongly.
Because Christ once went through pain for sins, the upright one taking the place of sinners, so that through him we might come back to God; being put to death in the flesh, but given life in the Spirit;
Now may the God of peace, who made that great keeper of his flock, even our Lord Jesus, come back from the dead through the blood of the eternal agreement,
And for this cause it is through him that a new agreement has come into being, so that after the errors under the first agreement had been taken away by his death, the word of God might have effect for those who were marked out for an eternal heritage. Because where there is a testament, there has to be the death of the man who made it. For a testament has effect after death; for what power has it while the man who made it is living? So that even the first agreement was not made without blood. For when Moses had given all the rules of the law to the people, he took the blood of goats and young oxen, with water and red wool and hyssop, and put it on the book itself and on all the people, Saying, This blood is the sign of the agreement which God has made with you.
But now his position as priest is higher. because through him God has made a better agreement with man, based on the giving of better things. For if that first agreement had been as good as possible, there would have been no place for a second. For, protesting against them, he says, See, the days are coming when I will make a new agreement with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; Not like the agreement which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand, to be their guide out of the land of Egypt; for they did not keep the agreement with me, and I gave them up, says the Lord. For this is the agreement which I will make with the people of Israel after those days: I will put my laws into their minds, writing them in their hearts: and I will be their God, and they will be my people:
Of which I was made a preacher and an Apostle and a teacher;
If you keep these things before the minds of the brothers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, trained in the words of the faith and of the right teaching which has been your guide:
In the measure of the grace given to me, I, as a wise master-builder, have put the base in position, and another goes on building on it. But let every man take care what he puts on it.
And he said to them, For this reason every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house, who gives out from his store things new and old.
And he said to them, This is my blood of the testament, which is given for men.
In the same way, as the Father gives life to the dead, even so the Son gives life to those to whom he is pleased to give it.
And they, by their keeping of the law without circumcision, will be judges of you, by whom the law is broken though you have the letter of the law and circumcision. The true Jew is not one who is only so publicly, and circumcision is not that which may be seen in the flesh: But he is a Jew who is a secret one, whose circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.
Because by the works of the law no man is able to have righteousness in his eyes, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
(As it is said in the holy Writings, I have made you a father of a number of nations) before him in whom he had faith, that is, God, who gives life to the dead, and to whom the things which are not are as if they were.
And there was a time when I was living without the law: but when the law gave its orders, sin came to life and put me to death; And I made the discovery that the law whose purpose was to give life had become a cause of death: For I was tricked and put to death by sin, which took its chance through the law.
And God has put some in the church, first, Apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers; then those with wonder-working powers, then those with the power of taking away disease, helpers, wise guides, users of strange tongues.
And so it is said, The first man Adam was a living soul. The last Adam is a life-giving spirit.
For if the operation of the law, producing punishment, had its glory, how much greater will be the operation of the Spirit causing righteousness?
But all things are of God, who has made us at peace with himself through Christ, and has given to us the work of making peace; That is, that God was in Christ making peace between the world and himself, not putting their sins to their account, and having given to us the preaching of this news of peace. So we are the representatives of Christ, as if God was making a request to you through us: we make our request to you, in the name of Christ, be at peace with God.
For all who are of the works of the law are under a curse: because it is said in the Writings, A curse is on everyone who does not keep on doing all the things which are ordered in the book of the law. Now that no man gets righteousness by the law in the eyes of God, is clear; because, The upright will be living by faith. And the law is not of faith; but, He who does them will have life by them.
Is the law then against the words of God? in no way; because if there had been a law which was able to give life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
And to you did he give life, when you were dead through your wrongdoing and sins,
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3
Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
The apostle makes an apology for his seeming to commend himself, and is careful not to assume too much to himself, but to ascribe all praise unto God (v. 1-5). He then draws a comparison between the Old Testament and the New, and shows the excellency of the later above the former (v. 6-11), whence he infers what is the duty of gospel ministers, and the advantage of those who live under the gospel above those who lived under the law (v. 12-18).
2Cr 3:1-5
In these verses,
2Cr 3:6-11
Here the apostle makes a comparison between the Old Testament and the New, the law of Moses and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and values himself and his fellow-labourers by this, that they were able ministers of the New Testament, that God had made them so, v. 6. This he does in answer to the accusations of false teachers, who magnify greatly the law of Moses.
2Cr 3:12-18
In these verses the apostle draws two inferences from what he had said about the Old and New Testament:-