“For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory.”
King James Version (KJV)
3:9 The ministration of condemnation - Such the Mosaic dispensation proved to all the Jews who rejected the gospel whereas through the gospel (hence called the ministration of righteousness) God both imputed and imparted righteousness to all believers. But how can the moral law (which alone was engraven on stone) be the ministration of condemnation, if it requires no more than a sincere obedience, such as is proportioned to our infirm state? If this is sufficient to justify us, then the law ceases to be a ministration of condemnation. It becomes (flatly contrary to the apostle's doctrine) the ministration of righteousness.
2Co 3:9 The ministration of condemnation. The law, including the Decalogue. See 2Co 3:7. The ministration of righteousness. The gospel. The first condemned; the second justifies men with the righteousness of Christ. With such transcendent blessings, it far exceeds in glory the Old Covenant.