for the letter brings death, but the Spirit gives life.
We might think this means that we are now free to ignore letters and to be purely spiritual. This is a misunderstanding of just how important the letters were.
Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, was so glorious
The letters are so glorious that "not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law". The letters only kill without the Spirit. The Spirit brings the letters to life. Without the Spirit the letters kill because all they can do is condemn us. With the Spirit they point the way to glory.
For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious,
the ministry of righteousness will abound much more in glory.
The contrast is necessary because we are all too ready to fall back into a letter-only mode. We receive the Spirit and assume that any interpretation we put forward is the spiritual one. The contrast between the fading glory of the law and the eternal glory of the Spirit shows us that we need to constantly listen to the Spirit as we read the letters lest we be led astray.
From the pillar of cloud he spoke to them;
they heard his decrees and the law he gave them.
The law is meant to point us toward the one who gives the law. Without the Spirit it only reveals how lost we are without God's help. But with the Spirit it is vital, refreshing, and life-giving. It leads to eternal glory in the Kingdom of heaven.
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