who has indeed adequately qualified us to be ministers of a new covenant, not of a written code, but of spirit; for the written code condemns to death, but the spirit makes alive.”

15. When speaking of “ministers of a new covenant,” whom did Paul include in the pronoun “us,” and were these part of a Mediation Board between God and men?

¹⁵ Whom did the apostle mean here by the pronoun “us”? In the introduction to his letter he identifies for us who are included in “us,” by saying: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s will, and Timothy our brother to the congregation of God that is in Corinth.” (2 Cor. 1:1) So, both Paul and Timothy were “ministers of a new covenant, . . . of spirit.” Paul did not mean by this expression that he and Timothy were a Mediation Board, sharing mediatorship with Jesus. No, for they themselves were mere spiritual Israelites in behalf of whom Jesus served as God’s Mediator. Jesus alone is the “mediator of a new covenant.”​—Heb. 12:24.

21. (a) Paul’s letter to Timothy was a case of what minister writing to what other minister? (b) How long does that covenant last, and what part does the “corresponding ransom for all” play in this connection?

²¹ Paul was writing according to the facts of the first century of Christianity, during which the new covenant had been put into operation. Into it “men” of all nationalities, Jews, Samaritans, uncircumcised Gentiles, had already been brought after being made a part of spiritual Israel. Christ Jesus was the mediator of that new covenant. Paul’s letter to Timothy regarding this was a case of one ‘minister of the new covenant’ writing to another ‘minister of the new covenant.’ That new covenant between “our Savior, God,” and spiritual Israel continues as long as there are spiritual Israelites still in the flesh as “men” here on earth. So the covenant is in force today. Jesus’ “corresponding ransom for all” lays the basis for men and women of all sorts to become spiritual Israelites and be brought into the new covenant of which Christ Jesus is the “one mediator.”

22. (a) How is it evident that the new covenant is nearing its end, and when will Christ’s mediatorship end? (b) Why will the glorified spiritual Israelites need no mediator, and in what capacities will they act then?

²² There are still more than 9,000 who profess to be spiritual Israelites in the new covenant. Like Paul and Timothy, these are “ministers of a new covenant.” (2 Cor. 3:6; 1:1)