3 

3:4 Such trust have we in God - That is, we trust in God that this is so.

3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves - So much as to think one good thought; much less, to convert sinners.

3:6 Who also hath made us able ministers of the new covenant - Of the new, evangelical dispensation. Not of the law, fitlycalled the letter, from God's literally writing it on the two tables. But of the Spirit - Of the gospel dispensation, which is written on the tables of our hearts by the Spirit. For the letter - The law, the Mosaic dispensation. Killeth - Seals in death thosewho still cleave to it. But the Spirit - The gospel, conveying the Spirit to those who receive it. Giveth life - Both spiritual and eternal: yea, if we adhere to the literal sense even of the moral law, if we regard only the precept and the sanction as they stand in themselves, not as they lead us to Christ, they are doubtless a killing ordinance, and bind us down under the sentence of death.

3:7 And if the ministration of death - That is, the Mosaic dispensation, which proves such to those who prefer it to the gospel, the most considerable part of which was engraven on those two stones, was attended with so great glory.

3:8 The ministration of the Spirit - That is, the Christian dispensation.

3:9 The ministration of condemnation - Such the Mosaic dispensation proved to all the Jews who rejected the gospel whereas through the gospel (hence called the ministration of righteousness) God both imputed and imparted righteousness to all believers. But how can the moral law (which alone was engraven on stone) be the ministration of condemnation, if it requires no more than a sincere obedience, such as is proportioned to our infirm state? If this is sufficient to justify us, then the law ceases to be a ministration of condemnation. It becomes (flatly contrary to the apostle's doctrine) the ministration of righteousness.

3:10 It hath no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excelleth - That is, none in comparison of this more excellent glory. The greater light swallows up the less.

3:11 That which remaineth - That dispensation which remains to the end of the world; that spirit and life which remain for ever.

23 

23:30 We would not have been partakers - So ye make fair professions, as did your fathers.

23:31 Wherefore ye testify against yourselves - By your smooth words as well as devilish actions: that ye are the genuine sons of them who killed the prophets of their own times, while they professed the utmost veneration for those of past ages.

From the 3d to the 30th verse Mat 23:3-30 is exposed everythingthat commonly passes in the world for religion, whereby the pretenders to it keep both themselves and others from entering into the kingdom of God; from attaining, or even seeking after those tempers, in which alone true Christianity consists. As,

1. Punctuality in attending on public and private prayer, Mat 23:4-14.
2. Zeal to make proselytes to our opinion or communion, though they have less of the spirit of religion than before, Mat 23:15.
3. A superstitious reverence for consecrated places or things, without any for Him to whom they are consecrated, Mat 23:16-22.
4. A scrupulous exactness in little observances, though with the neglect of justice, mercy, and faith, Mat 23:23-24.
5. A nice cautiousness to cleanse the outward behaviour, but without any regard to inward purity, Mat 23:25-26.
6. A specious face of virtue and piety, covering the deepest hypocrisy and villany, Mat 23:27-28.
7. A professed veneration for all good men, except those among whom they live.

23:32  Fill ye up - A word of permission, not of command: as if he had said, I contend with you no longer: I leave you to yourselves: you have conquered: now ye may follow the devices of your own hearts. The measure of your fathers - Wickedness: ye may now be as wicked as they.

23:33  Ye serpents - Our Lord having now lost all hope of reclaiming these, speaks so as to affright others from the like sins.

23:34  Wherefore - That it may appear you are the true children of those murderers, and have a right to have their iniquities visited on you: Behold, I send - Is not this speaking as one having authority? Prophets - Men with supernatural credentials: Wise men - Such as have both natural abilities and experience; and scribes - Men of learning: but all will not avail. Luk 11:49.

23:35  That upon you may come - The consequence of which will be, that upon you will come the vengeance of all the righteous blood shed on the earth - Zechariah the son of Barachiah - Termed Jehoiada, Ch2 24:20, where the story is related:
Ye slew - Ye make that murder also of your fathers your own, by imitating it: Between the temple - That is, the inner temple, and the altar - Which stood in the outer court. Our Lord seems to refer to this instance, rather than any other, because he was the last of the prophets on record that were slain by the Jews for reproving their wickedness: and because God's requiring this blood as well as that of Abel, is particularly taken notice of in Scripture.

23:37  Luk 13:34.

23:38  Behold your house - The temple, which is now your house, not God's: Is left unto you - Our Lord spake this as he was going out of it for the last time: Desolate - Forsaken of God and his Christ, and sentenced to utter destruction.

23:39  Ye - Jews in general; men of Jerusalem in particular: shall not see me from this time - Which includes the short space till his death, till, after a long interval of desolation and misery, ye say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord - Ye receive me with joyful and thankful hearts. This also shall be accomplished in its season.