3:6b–18 • The message of Paul’s ministry: But, as is so often the case in Paul’s writings, the terms that are used to conclude one argument lead inevitably to the opening of another. (This is also commonplace in Jewish literary style in general.) Here the mention of a new covenant (see Jer. 31:31–34) inspires a transition in thought from discussion about the source and character of Paul’s ministry to a consideration of its message. Paul presents it in terms of a comparison between the ministry that carried as its essence the written covenant “of the letter” (Exod. 24:3–8) and the ministry that proclaims the new covenant of the Spirit (the nature of the comparison suggests, as does 11:22, that the distress in the church at Corinth has come from some who pres-sured the whole of the church to…