Albert Barnes Commentary 2 Corinthians 3:11

"For if that which passeth away [was] with glory, much more that which remaineth [is] in glory." — 2 Corinthians 3:11 (ASV)

For if that which is done away, etc. This refers to the splendor that attended the giving of the law: the bright shining of Moses' face, and the ritual institutions of his religion. It was to be done away. It was never designed to be permanent. Everything in it had a transient existence and was designed to be so.

Yet Paul admits it was attended with much that was magnificent and splendid. In the previous verses, he had stated several important differences between the law and the gospel; here he states another. He calls the law (to katargoumenon) the thing which was to be made to cease, to be put an end to, to be done away with, to be abolished.

It had no permanency and was designed to have none. Its glory, therefore, great as it might be in many respects, could not be compared with that which was to be permanent—as the light of the stars fades away at the rising sun. It is implied here that the Mosaic institutions were originally designed not to be permanent but to be mere shadows and types of better things. When the things they foreshadowed appeared, the shadows would naturally vanish. This idea is prevalent everywhere in the New Testament, and the sacred writers are often at great pains to demonstrate it.

Was glorious. In Greek, this is By glory (dia doxēs). That is, it was attended by glory; it was introduced by glory; it was encompassed with glory when it was established. The idea here is not that it was glorious in itself, but that it was accompanied with splendor and majesty.

That which remaineth. This refers to the gospel (to menon): the thing that is to remain, that is permanent, abiding, perpetual, that has no principle of decay, and whose characteristic is that it is everlasting. The gospel is permanent, or abiding, for the following reasons:

1. Because it is designed to remain immutable through the most distant ages. It is not to be superseded by any new economy or institution. It is the dispensation under which the affairs of the world are to be wound up, and under which the world is to close. (See Barnes on 1 Corinthians 15:51).
2. Its effects on the heart are permanent. It is complete in itself. It is not to be succeeded by any other system, and it looks to no other system to complete or perfect its operations on the soul.
3. Its effects are to abide forever. They will exist in heaven. They are to be seen in the soul that will be recovered from sin and that will be glorious in the bosom of God forever and ever.

The Mosaic system—glorious as it was—will be remembered as introducing the gospel; the gospel will be remembered as directly fitting us for heaven. Its greatest and most glorious results will be seen in the permanent and eternal joys of heaven. The gospel contemplates a great, permanent, and eternal good, adapted to all ages, all climates, all people, and all worlds. It is, therefore, so much more glorious than the limited, temporary, and partial good of the Mosaic system, that the latter may be said in comparison to have had no glory.