Many people venerate the Ten Commandments, which were dictated by God and written on the stone tablets of Moses, as described in Exodus 34:28. So it seems surprising when Paul, in the third chapter of his second letter to the Corinthians, describes the commandments and the law of the covenant as the “system of death”. How could someone who was so well-trained in the Hebrew law and traditions make such a seemingly impertinent statement?
Paul says about God: “He makes us sufficient as agents of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. If the system of death, engraved in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the people of Israel could not look at the face of Moses for the glory of his face, which faded, will not the system of the Spirit be much more glorious? If the system of condemnation has glory, the system of righteousness has much greater glory.”
The covenant of Moses had become a “system of death” because the Israelites were unable to keep their side of the agreement. The agreement required compliance with the law, and when the law was broken the covenant was broken. Although the laws were good, they brought death because they could not be fully obeyed. Jesus brought in a new covenant, in which the price for breaking the conditions of the old covenant had been fully paid by his death on the cross.