When Religion Blinds: Why Only Christ Transforms

[David]

Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. ~ 2 Corinthians 3:10

Paul draws a strong distinction between two covenants in 2 Corinthians 3. The old covenant, written on tablets of stone, was holy and glorious, but temporary. Paul describes it as “the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, even the tables” and “the ministry of condemnation” (2 Corinthians 3:7–9). That’s because it could expose our sin but not save us. The new covenant is engraved not on stone but on human hearts by the Spirit of the living God. It is eternal and transforms us with a righteousness and life that never pass away.

Paul reminds his readers that they themselves are letters of Christ, “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts” (2 Corinthians 3:3). He says the proof of the gospel is not found in rituals, credentials, or outward ceremonies. The proof is in transformed lives by the power of Christ.

That’s why Paul stood against the Judaizers of his day. They were trying to bring Christians under the law of Moses again, insisting on circumcision, Sabbaths, and ceremonial observances as if that could make a person right with God. But the law was never intended to save. “By the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified” (Romans 3:20). The law was a tutor to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3: 24), but once Christ came, it no longer had a role as a covenant. Paul says simply, “When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Corinthians 3:16).

The same problem rears its head today in Catholicism. Just as the Judaizers added ceremonies to Christ, the Catholic Church has added Mass after Mass, confession to priests, prayers to saints, purgatory, and sacraments. But Scripture is clear: Christ “offered one sacrifice for sins for ever” (Hebrews 10:12). “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us” (1 John 1:9), no priest necessary. “There is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). Whether it is the law of Moses or the traditions of Rome, both are a veil to blind people to the sufficiency of the cross.

Paul says that the glory of the old covenant faded away, but the glory of the new covenant is permanent and surpassing. It is freedom: “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Corinthians 3:17). True Christianity is not a religion of external ceremonies that condemn. It is the life-changing Spirit of God who transforms lives from the inside out.

The question for us is this: Are we clinging to a religion that only condemns, or are we beholding Christ and being transformed? “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). The glory of the new covenant is real transformation, real freedom, and real life. Anything else, whether the old covenant of Judaism or the added rituals of Catholicism, is an empty shadow that can never save.