One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in 2 Corinthians 3. In this passage, Paul is writing and comparing and contrasting the differences between the law system that the Israelites lived under and the freedom that we have in Jesus.
The first thing that jumps out to me is that he refers to the Ten Commandments and the law by extension as the, "ministry of death, written and engraved on stones." (verse 7).
If you grew up in Church like I did, the first time it finally clicked that Paul was referring to the Ten Commandments as the ministry of death, it's likely that it felt sacrilegious to you. Not that Paul is being so, but the fact that he's willing to take an entire section of the Bible and declare it as the ministry of death (and later the ministry of condemnation - verse 9) felt like a punch to the gut.
Why is that? Often in churches, we see that the 10 Commandments and the law are used to entice proper behavior from us, in a carrot and stick approach. In other words, if you do good, you'll get good, if you do bad, you'll get bad. Deuteronomy 28 is a chapter that I saw used often in my childhood to prove this out. If I wanted God's blessings to operate in my life, that chapter taught me that I better make sure that I am following the commandments of God, and if I don't, I am opening the door for the curse to flow.
But Paul calls this the ministry of death and condemnation. In other words, walking this out leads to death and it leads to condemnation. Full stop. Do not pass go, do not collect $200.
Living your life by the law opens the door condemnation in your life: Condemnation for not fulfilling God's plan, for not doing EXACTLY what He told you do, or for violating any number of 613 various rules and regulations you transgrassed.
But then Paul draws a line in the sand. He tells us that if the ministry of death was glorious, the ministry of the Spirit is more glorious. If the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. (Verses 8 and 9)
He then goes on to tell us in verses 10 and 11 that even though the Law was glorious, when compared to the ministry of Righteousness, it's glory doesn't even look glorious. In other words, life by the law pales in comparison to life in the Spirit.
So why then do Christians continue to hold up The Law as the proper standard of behavior? Why do Christians endeavor to hold up a list of do's and don'ts that no one but Jesus ever could meet as the gold standard, the measure with which we are supposed to live our lives?
Quite simply, we don't understand the ministry of righteousness. We haven't been taught it, and since we haven't been taught it, we haven't had the opportunity to walk in it.
Look at what the writer of Hebrews has to say regarding this in Hebrews 8:10 and 12, "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people...For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Then the writer goes on to tell us in the following verse that the old covenant has been made obsolete by the New.
In other words, the Ministry of Righteousness in the New Covenant isn't about how we can measure up to a list of rules and regulations, it's about God dealing with the hearts of humanity. And then He follows it up by promising that He would remember our sins and lawless deeds no more. Not that our sins and lawless deeds would be taken care of by the sacrifice of a bull or a goat, but that His mercy now makes all the difference in our lives. That it's His mercy and grace on our lives that produces a change in us, not our good behavior.
That is what the ministry of righteousness is doing for us and working in us, constantly. May we become more aware of it daily.