The Law or Faith

 DEVOTION

THE 2^ND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

THE LAW OR FAITH

2 Cor 3:7-11

7 Now if the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory, fading though it was, 8 will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? 9 If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 10 For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. 11 And if what was fading away came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

NIV

This is nuts, Paul is saying that the letters engraved on stone condemned men, even though they came from glory. He is talking about the Ten Commandments and that they are from the old covenant which its glory fades away. They are not permanent like that with surpassing glory, the new covenant, that lasts. But we use the Ten Commandments. We keep them, print them, make them part of our statement of faith, or at least use them as commands from God as to what we are supposed to do and what we are forbidden to do. They are the law that we follow. Wait, the law? That cannot be, for Jesus fulfilled the law so that in Christ we have fulfilled it. Paul says that the law condemned men because it is impossible to keep the whole of the law and if we break one little bit of the law, then we are guilty of the whole of the law and therefore we are condemned to death. However, Jesus paid that price for us and freed us from condemnation and gave us life. This is why Paul says this is the surpassing glory that never fades, its glory lasts forever. So then, why do we want to pay attention to the glory that fades? Why do we insist on wanting to memorize and quote the Ten Commandments as if we want to live by them when they condemn us? Paul says those letters engraved on stone have no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. Yes, they are history, those letters engraved on stone, those Ten Commandments are part of the history of Israel, but they should remain as history for we now live in the lasting glory of Jesus Christ who gave us a new covenant, a new agreement, that if we accept Him as our Lord and Savior if we have faith if we put our faith in Jesus, then we have eternal life. Therefore, we cannot put our faith in those letters engraved on stone that has no more glory, in fact, those stones may well have become dust if anyone could even find them. They are hidden for a reason so that we might be saved through faith in Jesus. We are not to believe in that which its glory fades, or that which was once the word of God for the people but is not more, for it brought death. We are to believe in Jesus whose glory is an everlasting glory that never fades and that brings us life. It always comes down to not living by the law, even our own that we create, but living by faith.