2 Cor 3 is very clearly showing that the law of Moses is the Ten Commandments.
2 Corinthians 3:3.. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God;
not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
Paul clearly said that the epistle of Christ is our lives that were written with God's words on fleshly tables of the HEART not STONE. The writing on tables of stone distinctly refers to the Ten Commandments.
Then we read:
2 Corinthians 3:6.. Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament;
[not of the letter, but of the spirit: for
the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
We see a contrast between the letter that kills and the spirit that gives life. And the New Testament is of the Spirit that gives life!
With that in mind, we then read:
2 Corinthians 3:7.. But if
the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
The letter that gives death is now referred to as the ministration of death, and it was written and engraved on stones, which is distinctly the ten commandments, It could not be plainer. And, furthermore, it describes the face of Moses when those ten commandments were presented by him to the people. His face was shining. When did his face shine other than when he was presenting the ten commandments and actually holding the tables of stone that were written and engraving with those commandments?
Exodus 34:29.. And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
And the reason sabbatarians will make an effort to find a though that will change the simple reading to say that the ministration of death is something OTHER THAN THE ten commandments, is because they are in the mode of looking for a loophole. They are operating in eisegesis, and making the text say what they are looking for it to say, rather than allow it to teach the what to believe. I say that with no malice or mockery. And they do this becuase the next verse proves that the ministration of death is done away with. They cannot equate the ten commandments with the ministration of death, despite clear distinction that it is, due preceding verses, because the next verse shows that ministration passed away.
2 Corinthians 3:11.. For
if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Verse 7 said that the fading glory on Moses' face represented the fading glory of the Ten Commandments, written and engraven on stones, also called the letter and the ministration of death written on stoners.
Paul DID NOT say that the law of God was the written law apart from the ten commandments, and did not say that the written law's punishment of death is what made it the ministration of death. He said the TEN COMMANDMENTS were the ministration of death.
Also, sabbatarians at this point begin to argue apart from Paul's words here, and distract the issue into a debate on why commandments such as not committing adultery could cause death to people. They argue that we all know it is wrong to commit adultery and murder, two fo the ten commandments, so that if this was a ministration of death, EVEN THOUGH PAUL SAID IT WAS, that must mean it is okay to adulterate and murder people, WHICH IS NOT TRUE. The ministration of death was not described as that because the commandments themselves were wrong. It is described as that because Pau also taught that SIN IS IN OUR FLESH and disables us from perfectly keeping those commandments. And he actually used the word DEATH when describing that failure.
Romans 7:7-11.. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except
the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. ..(8).. But
sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead. ..(9).. For I was alive without the law once: but
when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. ..(10).. And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. ..(11).. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
How could it be any plainer in saying that the LAW was the Ten Commandments in Paul's context in
Romans 7?
Tithesmeister is correct!