2 Corinthians 3:9

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.

), whence he infers what is the duty of gospel ministers, and the advantage of those who live under the gospel above those who lived under the law,

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

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;

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens

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 - 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.