| Geneva Study Bible For if that which is {l} done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. (l) The Law, indeed, and the ten commandments themselves, together with Moses, are all abolished, if we consider the ministry of Moses apart by itself. People's New Testament 3:11 For if that which is done away was glorious. That which was glorious in the Old Covenant, or law. It includes the Decalogue. The whole is done away. This clear and emphatic statement is made on account of the Judaizing teachers of whom we find many traces in the two Letters to the Corinthian church. It is clearly asserted that the Old Covenant, the ministration of death written and engraven on stones (2Co 3:7)is done away. We are not under the law, but under grace (Ro 6:14,15). Compare Heb 8:13. Much more that which remaineth is glorious. But if that which was done away is glorious, much more is that glorious which abides forever. Wesley's Notes 3:11 That which remaineth - That dispensation which remains to the end of the world; that spirit and life which remain for ever. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary 11. was glorious-literally, "was with glory"; or "marked by glory." that which remaineth-abideth (Re 14:6). Not "the ministry," but the Spirit, and His accompaniments, life and righteousness. is glorious-literally, "is in glory." The Greek "with" or "by" is appropriately applied to that of which the glory was transient. "In" to that of which the glory is permanent. The contrast of the Old and New Testaments proves that Paul's chief opponents at Corinth were Judaizers. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 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. | 
