Such is the confidence we have toward God through Christ. Not that we are adequate in ourselves so as to consider anything as having come from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. (vv. 4-6)

There is a movie called 12 Years a Slave. I have mentioned this film once or twice to illustrate the nature of the new covenant. If a person is born free, that person cannot truly be enslaved, even if it may appear so outwardly. Others may attempt to enslave a free person, but a man who is free by nature cannot become a slave in essence.

In the same way, Christ—who is naturally free as the only begotten Son of God—cannot be enslaved by becoming a man. Although He was born under the law, He was not subject to the law in the same way the rest of humanity is, because His origin is not that of a slave. He became man in order to free those who were naturally born slaves. Death cannot rule over Him who is life itself.

Some theologians and ministers claim that Jesus could have fallen like Adam if He had failed to keep the law perfectly. If I am not mistaken, Louis Berkhof expressed this view in his writings. This reflects a serious misunderstanding of both Christ’s nature and the new covenant. It raises the troubling question of how someone can so fundamentally misunderstand the person of Christ and still be regarded as a faithful teacher of the faith.

For us to be set free, we required a free man—not another slave like ourselves. And we did not need another creation like Adam, who was capable of unfaithfulness. Adam’s failure stemmed from his limited understanding of God. Though he was given knowledge and wisdom, and was innocent and blameless, he was not righteous. Righteousness is often misunderstood as mere moral excellence, but in Scripture it goes far beyond that. Righteousness belongs to God alone. Only God is righteous and holy. Only God fully understands God.

Therefore, our salvation required God Himself to become man—not merely a blameless man under the law, but God in the flesh, who alone could redeem those born in bondage.

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave, although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So we too, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters. Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:1-7)

Moses in the Old Testament was a shadow of Jesus Christ. He served as a mediator between God and the Israelites. In the same way, Christ is the mediator of the new covenant. However, Christ is not merely a repetition or exact counterpart of Moses. He is far superior to Moses because He is God, the second person of Godhead.

This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person. He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God. (John 1:9-13)

Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and we are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not stare at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. (vv. 12-14)

We humans tend to follow other humans and believe that we can become like them. Buddhism, for example, idealizes Buddha, and those who follow his teachings believe they can attain what he attained. Christianity, however, is not like other religions. God became man not so that we could imitate Him in our own strength, but so that He could make us His children. He gives us eternal life and a new world.

Yet many Christians do not truly want to see God face to face. Instead, they prefer Moses with a veil over his face. Many still believe—or want to believe—that their good deeds can earn them eternal life and rewards. This is what many churches teach today. They deny absolute grace and replace it with conditional grace, which is no grace at all.

Our good deeds do not earn life; they flow from the love given to us by God.

But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts; but whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. (vv. 15-18)