For if the ministration of condemnation - Of Moses in giving the Law, the effect of which is to produce condemnation. Law condemns the guilty; it does not save them. It denounces punishment; it contains no provisions of pardon. To pardon is to depart from the Law; and must be done under the operation of another system - since a law which contains a provision for the pardon of offenders, and permits them to escape, would be a burlesque in legislation. The tendency of the Mosaic institutions, therefore, was to produce a sense of condemnation. And so it will be found by all who attempt to be justified by the Law. It will tend to, and result in, their condemnation.

Be glory - Be glorious; or be glory itself - It was glorious as a manifestation of the holiness and justice of God; and glorious in the attending circumstances. No event in our world has been more magnificent in the circumstances of external majesty and splendor than the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai.

The ministration of righteousness - The gospel; the promulgation of the plan of mercy. It is called "the ministration of righteousness," in contradistinction from the Law of Moses, which was a "ministration of condemnation." The word "righteousness," however, does not exactly express the force of the original word. That word is δικαιοσύνης dikaiosunēs, and it stands directly opposed to the word κατακρισεως katakriseōs, "condemnation." It should be rendered 'the ministration of justification;' the plan by which God justifies people; see the note, Romans 1:17. The Law of Moses condemns; the gospel is the plan by which man is justified. And if that which condemns could be glorious, much more must that be by which people can be justified, acquitted, and saved. The superior glory of the gospel, therefore, consists in the fact that it is a scheme to justify and save lost sinners. And this glory consists:

(1) In the fact that it can be done when all law condemns.

(2) in the showing forth of the divine character while it is done, as just, and merciful, and benevolent in doing it - blending all his great and glorious attributes together - while the Law disclosed only one of His attributes - His justice.

(3) in the manner in which it is done. It is by the incarnation of the Son of God - a far more glorious manifestation of deity than was made on Mount Sinai. It is by the toils, and sufferings, and death of him who made the atonement, and by the circumstances of awful and imposing grandeur which attended his death, when the sun was darkened. and the rocks were rent - far more grand and awful scenes than occurred when the Law was given. It is by the resurrection and ascension of the Redeemer - scenes far more sublime than all the external glories of Sinai when the Law was given.

(4) in the effects, or results. The one condemns; the other justifies and saves. The effect of the one is seen in the convictions of conscience, in alarm, in a sense of guilt, in the conscious desert of condemnation, and in the apprehension of eternal punishment. The other is seen in sins forgiven; in peace of conscience; in the joy of pardon; in the hope of heaven; in comfort and triumph on the bed of death, and amidst the glories of heaven.

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 punishment of sin; yet it must be vastly exceeded by that system which, evidencing an equal abhorrence of sin, finds out a method to forgive it; to take away its guilt from the conscience, and remove all its infection from the soul. That this could be done the law pointed out by its blood of bulls and of goats: but every considerate mind must see that it was impossible for these to take away sin; it is the Gospel that does what the law signified; and forasmuch as the performance of a promise is greater than the promise itself, and the substance of a man is greater than the shadow projected by that substance; so is the Gospel of Jesus Christ greater than the law, with all its promises, types, ceremonies, and shadows.

For if the ministration of condemnation be glory,.... So the Jews call the law, for they say, , "there is no glory but the law" (f); this is another head of opposition or difference between the law and the Gospel, from whence the superior glory of the one to the other is argued. The law is "the ministration of condemnation"; as sin is a transgression of the law, it accuses for it, convinces of it, pronounces guilty, and adjudges to death on account of it; which is the condemnation it ministers; and this it does to all Adam's posterity, and for his sin too; and to all the actual transgressors of it, to all unbelievers, to all that are under it; even to God's elect themselves, as considered in Adam, and in themselves as transgressors; and this it ministers to their consciences when convicted, though it is never executed on them, because of the suretyship engagement and performances of Christ. The Gospel is

the ministration of righteousness; not of a legal one, or a man's own, but of the righteousness of Christ, by which the law is honoured, justice is satisfied, and God's elect justified from all sin and condemnation; this being perfect, pure, and spotless, and for ever: the Gospel is "the ministration" of it, as it is a means of stripping a man of his own righteousness, of revealing Christ's to him, and of working faith in him, and encouraging him to lay hold upon it for himself; and thus it is not to righteous persons, but sinners, to all believers, to all the second Adam's posterity; now as

much more as righteousness exceeds condemnation, and a justified state a condemned one, so "much more" does the Gospel

exceed the law

in glory.

(f) Raya Mehimna in Zohar in Lev. fol. 33. 4.

Ministration of condemnation

Because Moses was the minister of the law. For the relation of the law to sin and condemnation, see Romans 5:20; Romans 7:7-13.

For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of {k} righteousness exceed in glory.

(k) That is, of Christ. And since he is imputed to us as our own, we are not condemned, and what is more we are also crowned as righteous.

3:9 The ministration of condemnation. The law, including the Decalogue. See 2Co 3:7.

The ministration of righteousness. The gospel. The first condemned; the second justifies men with the righteousness of Christ. With such transcendent blessings, it far exceeds in glory the Old Covenant.

3:9 The ministration of condemnation - Such the Mosaic dispensation proved to all the Jews who rejected the gospel whereas through the gospel (hence called the ministration of righteousness) God both imputed and imparted righteousness to all believers. But how can the moral law (which alone was engraven on stone) be the ministration of condemnation, if it requires no more than a sincere obedience, such as is proportioned to our infirm state? If this is sufficient to justify us, then the law ceases to be a ministration of condemnation. It becomes (flatly contrary to the apostle's doctrine) the ministration of righteousness.

Margin righteousness

See Scofield Note: "Rom 3:21".

9. ministration of condemnation-the law regarded in the "letter" which "killeth" (2Co 3:6; Ro 7:9-11). The oldest existing manuscript seems to read as English Version. But most of the almost contemporary manuscripts, versions, and Fathers, read, "If to the ministration of condemnation there be glory."

the ministration of righteousness-the Gospel, which especially reveals the righteousness of God (Ro 1:17), and imputes righteousness to men through faith in Christ (Ro 3:21-28; 4:3, 22-25), and imparts righteousness by the Spirit (Ro 8:1-4).

exceed-"abound."

3:1-11 Even the appearance of self-praise and courting human applause, is painful to the humble and spiritual mind. Nothing is more delightful to faithful ministers, or more to their praise, than the success of their ministry, as shown in the spirits and lives of those among whom they labour. The law of Christ was written in their hearts, and the love of Christ shed abroad there. Nor was it written in tables of stone, as the law of God given to Moses, but on the fleshy (not fleshly, as fleshliness denotes sensuality) tables of the heart, Eze 36:26. Their hearts were humbled and softened to receive this impression, by the new-creating power of the Holy Spirit. He ascribes all the glory to God. And remember, as our whole dependence is upon the Lord, so the whole glory belongs to him alone. The letter killeth: the letter of the law is the ministration of death; and if we rest only in the letter of the gospel, we shall not be the better for so doing: but the Holy Spirit gives life spiritual, and life eternal. The Old Testament dispensation was the ministration of death, but the New Testament of life. The law made known sin, and the wrath and curse of God; it showed us a God above us, and a God against us; but the gospel makes known grace, and Emmanuel, God with us. Therein the righteousness of God by faith is revealed; and this shows us that the just shall live by his faith; this makes known the grace and mercy of God through Jesus Christ, for obtaining the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The gospel so much exceeds the law in glory, that it eclipses the glory of the legal dispensation. But even the New Testament will be a killing letter, if shown as a mere system or form, and without dependence on God the Holy Spirit, to give it a quickening power.