mere outward command.
7, 8. But if the ministration of death, written (and) engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which (glory) was to be done away: how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
It was the design and effect of the law to kill. This is true, so far as the work of salvation is concerned, of the law in all its forms, whether the moral law as revealed in the Scriptures, or as written in the heart, or as the Mosaic law. In all these forms it was designed to bring men to the
knowledge of sin and helplessness; to produce a sense of guilt and misery, and a longing for redemption, and thus be a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ. <480324>
Galatians 3:24. This was a necessary office, and therefore glorious. But how can it compare with the gospel? How can that which only makes us know that we are sinful and condemned, be compared with that which delivers us from sin and condemnation? This is the idea which the apostle expands, and, as it were with exultation, turns over as though he could not let it go, in vs. 7-11. But if the ministration of death, written (and) graven in stones. The Greek is, eji de< hJ diakoni>a tou~ qana>tou ejn gra>mmasin e[ntetupwme>nh ejn li>qoiv, but if the ministration of death in letters engraven in stones. The simplest interpretation of these words is that the ministration of death was in letters, i.e. by means of letters, engraven on stone; which is the sense expressed by the free translation given in our common version. According to this view ejn gra>mmasin are connected with what follows. But more commonly they are connected with what precedes; the ministration of death in letters, which Luther makes to mean, “the ministration which by means of letters (i.e. the written law) produces death.” This certainly gives a good sense and consistent with the context; but it is not so simple or natural as the one first mentioned. It will be observed that Paul says that the ministration was engraven on stone. It was, however, of course not the ministration (the office of a minister) but the law itself that was thus engraven. There are two things here stated. First, that Moses was the minister of a covenant that produced death; and secondly, that that covenant was an external economy or system. These two ideas are combined at the expense of mere verbal accuracy in a single clause. The word diakoni>a:
ministration, means either the service, i.e. the act of ministering, or the office of a dia>konov or minister. Commonly the former. In what sense the ministry of the law was a ministry of death, and the reason why the law is described as engraven on stone, have already been stated. The law is thus exhibited as external, as opposed to what is spiritual.
Was glorious, ejgenh>qh ejn do>xh|, existed in glory; was surrounded, as it were, by a halo. The reference here is only indirectly to the brightness of Moses’s face, which was but a symbol of the glory of his ministration.
The glory which pertained to the old dispensation was not the illumination of the countenance of Moses, which was merely an incident. It was of the same kind, though less in degree, as the glory of the gospel. The one dispensation was indeed glorious, but the other was more so. So that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses. The whole service was so glorious that even the face of Moses was so bright that the people could not look upon it. This brightness of the face of Moses was in two respects a symbol of the glory of the old dispensation. In the first place, it was an outward brightness. So too the glory of the Mosaic dispensation was derived in large measure from its pompous ritual, its temple, its priesthood, its sacrifice, and, above all, its Shekinah, or visible symbol of the divine presence. But what was all this to the glory of the gospel? What was a bright cloud overhanging the cherubim, to the light of God’s presence filling the soul? And secondly, the brightness of the face of Moses was transient. The participle katargoume>nhn may be taken as imperfect — They could not behold it as it was vanishing away; or as present, which is evanescent, or perishable. It was in its own nature a mere transient brightness, analogous to the temporary splendor of the service committed to him. How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? If the one was glorious, how much more the other! The future shall is not to be understood in reference to the future world. The idea is not that hereafter, when Christ’s kingdom is consummated, the
ministration of the gospel shall be found more glorious than that of the law. The future expresses the certain sequence. If the ministration of death was glorious, the ministration of the Spirit shall assuredly, if rightly considered, be regarded as glorious. This is plain from the fact that the things compared are the ministration committed to Moses and the
ministration committed to Paul; and also from the reason assigned for the superiority of the latter, which is not what is to be realized in the future, but what is experienced in the present. It was because it is the ministration of the spirit that it is more glorious than the ministration of death. The ideas of life and life-giving are inseparable from that of spirit. Hence the Holy Ghost in the ancient creeds of the church is designated as to< pneu~ma to< a[gion, to< ku>rion, to< zwopoio>n. And hence the gospel as the source
of life is called spirit. It is doubtful, however, whether the word spirit here refers to the Holy Spirit, or to the gospel. Luther renders the phrase hJ diakoni>a tou~ pneu>matov, das Amt, das den Geist giebt, i.e. the office which gives the Spirit; because it is by the ministration of the gospel the Holy Spirit is imparted to men. This view is perhaps commonly adopted.
But as in v. 6, spirit, as opposed to letter, evidently means the gospel as opposed to the law, and as the things compared are the law and gospel, or the ministry of the one and the ministry of the other, the probability is that Paul intended the word to be so understood here. The gospel is spirit because it is the source of life. Instead of being something external and powerless, it is inward and saving; and this is the ground of its superiority to the law.
9. For if the ministration of condemnation (be) glory, much more doth the