THE NEW TESTAMENT

THE NEW TESTAMENT

2 Corinthians 3:5-11 (KJV)

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

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

For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

In the last section of this Second Epistle to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul had dealt with the issue of sufficiency.

·   When one considers the challenges of the ministry

·   When one considers the weight of the ministry and

·   When one considers the need of the ministry

Who could ever be sufficient?

And yet, that God had used the Apostle was obvious. The believers in Corinth themselves were evidence of that.

Not that Paul, or any in his team were sufficient in themselves. 

It wasn’t their talents that made them useful

It wasn’t the dynamics of such a team as they had assembled that made them useful.

Their sufficiency was of God who had made them “able ministers of the New Testament.”

We are prone to read into this that God enabled them or that God had given them the skills, talents and gifts necessary for the work of the ministry.

From what I can gather, this would be an inaccurate understanding.

·   God was their sufficiency, their enablement.

·   God did not give them talents – God gave them – Himself.

I mean to address this passage from the term, “the new testament.”

This is not a reference to our New Testament as opposed to our Old Testament because the bulk of the 27 books of the New Testament had not been written at that time, much less assembled into the one volume we have today.

The word “testament” is translated covenant 20 times in the New Testament and testament 13 times.

As I understand it, the translators of the King James Bible used the word covenant to refer to the promises God made to Israel and the word testament to reference the promises God has made to Christians in a New Testament Church. 

We know exactly what the old is.

2 Corinthians 3:7 (KJV)

But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

What was it that was engraven in stones?

The Ten commandments

Moses’ face shown with the glory of God after being on the mountain and receiving what we refer to as the Old Testament Law.

The focus of the passage is the contrast between the old and the new.

*I. THE OLD WAS OF THE LETTER, THE NEW OF THE SPIRIT

2 Corinthians 3:6 (KJV)

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

I hold in my hands a poem I wrote, November 11, 2015.

I typed it on my computer and use programs that analyze what I wrote.

My computer tells me that this poem

·   Has 209 words

·   There are 8 possible grammatical mistakes

·   The clarity is good

·   The story is very engaging

·   The delivery is slightly off and

·   The general mood is “disappointing”

My computer can read the letter of the poem.

But it cannot sense the spirit of the poem

Now listen to the poem –

He’s A Vet

He sits up tall in an executive chair   

In a high-rise building in a big city somewhere   

He leads a multibillion-dollar corporation   

With firm composure and determination   

But then he sees across the way 

A flag waving on the windy bay 

His mind takes him to a swamp, so wet 

That’s right son – he’s a vet 

He wears his hair a little long 

And he insists that it’s not wrong 

He rides a Harley to places now 

Just to feel the breeze on his brow 

He has tattooed a girl he met 

Yes, that’s right, he’s a vet 

The farmer’s combine his is place 

He plants wheat seed in the earth’s face 

By faith he waits until its due 

In fall he’ll harvest all he can get 

You might have guessed that he’s a vet 

In factories, warehouses and assembly plants 

Across this country’s plains and slants 

The men who keep our commerce going 

Are men and women, the nicest yet 

Whose secret pride is - they’re a vet 

He rides fast horses and ropes steer horns 

He takes good care of the kids he’s born 

He works real hard with face a sweat 

He’s my dad, and he’s a vet 

             Marvin McKenzie November 11, 2015

Israel in Jesus’ day read the Mosaic Law, but all he could do was “analyze it.”

But when the New Testament came, God breathed life into those Old Testament accounts. They have purpose, and meaning because of Jesus Christ.

*II. THE OLD MINISTERED DEATH, THE NEW MINISTERS GLORY

2 Corinthians 3:7-8 (KJV)

But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?

Notice that the Word of God does not discount the Law.

It is glorious

Galatians 2:21 (KJV)

I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

But its glory is in death

Romans 7:7-10 (KJV)

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

The problem with the law is that it was not a complete work.

The new testament finishes it.

Romans 7:23-25 (KJV)

But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

*III. THE OLD WAS OF CONDEMNATION, THE NEW IS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

2 Corinthians 3:9-10 (KJV)

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

For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

Read Romans 7 and you hear “condemnation” in almost every word.

Romans 7:14-20 (KJV)

For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.

For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.

If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.

Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.

Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

But then listen to, 

Romans 8:1-4 (KJV)

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Finally,

VIV. THE OLD IS DONE AWAY, THE NEW REMAINS

2 Corinthians 3:11 (KJV)

For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

He tells us not once, but twice, that this old law is done away.

2 Corinthians 3:7 (KJV)

But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:

·   It was going to be done away, verse seven

·   It is done away, verse eleven

On the other hand, this new testament “remaineth.”

And is more glorious that the old by that very thing.

*I want to finish this lesson by trying to contrast the old with the new:

The letter: kills, condemns and is done away

The spirit: gives life, excels in glory, remains.