October 22 Click on verses for Full Scripture	previous - - - - - - - - - - next
Today's Pathway: II Corinthians 3:6 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.

In the previous verses Paul has shown that it was the Lord Who enabled him to serve and allowed him to preach the life-changing message of the Gospel. In the next verses he contrasts the new covenant ("testament"), which was the theme of Paul's preaching, with the old covenant which was the Law that was given at Mt Sinai. In Jeremiah 31:31-34 the prophet explains it this way:

"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more."

"For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." (Matthew 26:28).

"And for this cause he (Jesus) is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance."

There are several comparisons that Paul makes between the old and new covenants. Back in verse 3 he wrote that the new covenant was "written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart". The Law was written on a tablet of stone, and could be obeyed or disobeyed. It would have been possible for a man to carry the tablets containing the Ten Commandments around with him 24 hours a day and they would never have saved his soul. The Law dealt with externals, but the New Covenant deals with internals because when a man chooses to accept the shed blood of Christ for his salvation the Holy Spirit of God immediately indwells him, and his heart is changed. He is not simply attempting to conform to a set of rules, but he is transformed and becomes a new creature in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17). In Ezekiel 11:19 God said this about the New Covenant:

"And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh."

In verse 6 Paul contrasts the letter of the Law with the spirit of the New Covenant. Laws could never save anyone, because no one could keep the Law. Thus, the letter kills. However, the Holy Spirit abides in the believer forever, and His presence assures eternal salvation (Ephesians 1:13-14). As soon as someone violated the Law he was spiritually dead, but "in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Corinthians 15:22). There is an interesting illustration of this in the Scriptures. The Law was given to Israel in Exodus 20. Shortly after that, in Exodus 32, Israel broke God's law by making a golden calf. Their punishment for this was that 3000 people were executed. Shortly after the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ the Gospel was preached at Pentecost. In Acts 2 we read that on the day people repented and believed, and 3000 people were saved, received the Holy Spirit, and were given eternal life.

Those who are attempting to gain salvation through keeping the law are committing spiritual suicide. Eternal life is available only through faith in Christ.