2 Corinthians 3:9-11 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more does the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.… I. THE GLORY OF THE MOSAIC ECONOMY. Its design was to maintain among the Israelites the knowledge of the one living and true God, and to prepare them for the coming of the Messiah. The glory of the dispensation consisted in its establishing these two great ends. That glory appears — 1. In the purity of the principles which it inculcates. At the period of its promulgation the whole world had apostatised from the worship of the Most High; and idolatry led to the most ferocious cruelty, and sanctioned the basest pollutions. Now, it was the glory of the Mosaic economy that it opposed all this. 2. In the typical significance of the rites and ceremonies it appointed. It is Christ who holds the key of these types, and reveals all their fulness and significancy. At the same time the pious Israelite could penetrate through these, adumbrations and see their spiritual intention. 3. In the illustrious support it received from the attestation of miracles, and from the successive statements of inspired prophets. II. THE GLORY OF THE GOSPEL DISPENSATION IS SUPERIOR TO THAT OF THE LAW. 1. In the clearness of the revelation given by it as to those truths which are most important to salvation. We have seen that the Mosaic dispensation was typical. It taught the first elements, but not religion itself, in the plenitude and lucidness of its discoveries. 2. In the spirituality of its nature. The religion of the Jews was national; there was but one temple, and that was at Jerusalem. The blessings bestowed on that people were mostly temporal. But this state of things no longer exists. Place is nothing in the estimation of God, and all the blessings of the gospel are spiritual. 3. In its universality. The Jewish system excluded from its benefits those who were not the children of Israel, but in the gospel none are excluded. 4. In its perpetuity. (W. H. Murch.) Parallel Verses KJV: For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. |
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