2Corinthians 3:4 Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. 5 It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. 6 He has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. 7 Now if the ministry that brought death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to gaze steadily at Moses’s face because of its glory, which was set aside, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious?

The ministry of Paul and others was a ministry of the new covenant.  They understood they were privileged to minister according to the new covenant, which came with greater glory than the old.

As we read here, the old covenant, represented mainly by the ten commandments etched in letters on stone, was a ministry of death.  The point is that although it was a ministry of death, it came with glory, so how much more glory accompanies the new covenant Jesus shed His blood to establish?

This is why it makes no sense for someone to have one foot in the old covenant and the other in the new.  The new covenant is far superior to the old.  It is not based on rules that condemn and lead us to death.  It is based on the Spirit who gives life.

Because of this ministry of the Spirit, the new covenant is more glorious!

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Jesus took the writings that condemned us out of the equation!  He removed the ability of the enemy to use what was etched and written to condemn us any longer because our righteousness is not dependent upon us; it is imputed by faith in Christ to us.

There is no glory in going back under the law for righteousness, which is a simple way of saying going back under such rules for confidence in having a relationship with God.

We are to have our confidence in Christ and His finished work at the cross.  We must be confident in the new covenant Jesus established, not our performance or the lack thereof.

Law-based performance thinking is subtle in many ways, and there are more who struggle with this than we might think.  They look back over their day and try to assess if they did well based on what they believe the rules are.  If they did well, they feel close to God; if they missed something, which is most often the case, they feel God is not pleased with them.

Under the new covenant, our best obedience is our confidence in Christ according to faith.  Believing that Jesus is enough is a work of the Spirit.  Having our confidence in Christ is pleasing to God.  It is also transformative in ways rules can never produce because it energizes our lives with the power and the glory of the Spirit.  What we have received in Christ is more glorious than anything that has existed.  I encourage you to grow in enjoying what Jesus alone can supply.