2Cor011 The Surpassing Glory of New Covenant Ministry

Comparison and contrast is a well known and often used communication strategy to promote new products. The force of such an appeal is rooted in the adequacy of the old product; because, if the old product were inadequate and wholly unsatisfying, then there would be no reasonable basis for a consumer to conclude that a new product promoted under the same brand would be any better or more satisfying than the old product it replaced. In this text, Paul makes us of such a comparison and contrast appeal, in the form of an argument from the lesser to the greater, to exalt his new covenant ministry. His basic point is that if the old covenant was glorious, and indeed he did believe it was glorious, then how much more is the new covenant ministry glorious. The central feature of the new covenant ministry which causes it to be of surpassing glory is its ministry of righteousness rooted in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Not only does this ministry provide the judicial ground of the believer's standing before God, it secures the ministry of the Spirit and accounts for the abiding nature of the new covenant and its glorious benefits.