2 Corinthians 3:6-12

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 3:12

Seeing then that we have such hope ,.... Having this confidence, and being fully persuaded that God has made us able and sufficient ministers of the Gospel, has called and qualified us for such service; and since we have such a ministry committed to us, which so much exceeds in glory the ministry of Moses, a ministry not of death and condemnation, but of the Spirit and of righteousness; not which is abolished and done away, but which does and will remain, in spite of all the opposition of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:6

Who hath made us able ministers - This is a more formal answer to the question, Who is sufficient for these things? προς ταυτα τις ἱκανος ; 1 Corinthians 2:16 . God, says the apostle, has made us able ministers; ἱκανωσεν ἡμας διακονους , he has made us sufficient for these things; for the reader will observe that he uses the same word in both places. We apostles execute, under the Divine influence, what God himself has devised. We are ministers of the new covenant; of this new... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:7

The ministration of death - Here the apostle evidently intends the law. It was a ministration, διακονια or service of death. It was the province of the law to ascertain the duty of man; to assign his duties; to fix penalties for transgressions, etc.; and by it is the knowledge of sin. As man is prone to sin, and is continually committing it, this law was to him a continual ministration of death. Its letter killed; and it was only the Gospel to which it referred that could give life,... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:8

The ministration of the Spirit - The Gospel dispensation, which gives the true spiritual sense of the law. Be rather glorious? - Forasmuch as the thing signified is of infinitely more consequence than that by which it is signified. The Thing bread will preserve a man alive; the Word bread can give life to nothing. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:9

The ministration of condemnation - The law, which ascertained sin, and condemned it to just punishment. The ministration of righteousness - The Gospel, the grand business of which was to proclaim the doctrine δικαιοσυνης , of justification; and to show how God could be just and yet the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus. Exceed in glory - For great, glorious, and awful as the law may be, in its opposition to sin, which is a reproach to man, and a dishonor to God; and in its... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:10

For even that which was made glorious - The law, which was exhibited for a time in great glory and splendor, partly when it was given, and partly by the splendor of God in the tabernacle and first temple; but all this ceased and was done away; was intended to give place to the Gospel; and has actually given place to that system; so that now, in no part of the world is that law performed, even by the people who are attached to it and reject the Gospel. The glory that excelleth - The... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:11

For if that which is done away, etc. - Here is another striking difference between the law and the Gospel. The former is termed το καταργουμενον , that which is counterworked and abolished; the latter το μενον , that which continues, which is not for a particular time, place, and people, as the law was; but for All times, all places, and all people. As a great, universal, and permanent Good vastly excels a good that is small, partial, and transitory; so does the Gospel dispensation, that... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:12

Seeing - we have such hope - Such glorious prospects as those blessings which the Gospel sets before us, producing such confidence, as the fulfillment of so many promises has already done, that God will still continue to work for us and by us; We use great plainness of speech - Πολλῃ παρῥησιᾳ χρωμεθα· We speak not only with all confidence, but with all imaginable plainness; keeping back nothing; disguising nothing; concealing nothing: and here we differ greatly from the Jewish... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:6

Verse 6 6.Who hath made us competent. (376) He had acknowledged himself to be altogether useless. Now he declares, that, by the grace of God, he has been qualified (377) for an office, for which he was previously unqualified. From this we infer its magnitude and difficulty, as it can be undertaken by no one, that has not been previously prepared and fashioned for it by God. It is the Apostle’s intention, also, to extol the dignity of the gospel. There is, at the same time, no doubt, that he... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:7

Verse 7 7But if the ministry of death. He now sets forth the dignity of the gospel by this argument — that God conferred distinguished honor upon the law, which, nevertheless, is nothing in comparison with the gospel. The law was rendered illustrious by many miracles. Paul, however, touches here upon one of them merely — that the face of Moses shone with such splendor as dazzled the eyes of all. That splendour was a token of the glory of the law. He now draws an argument from the less to the... read more

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