The law is a ministry of death. The Spirit is a ministry of life. Both are needed. Both are glorious. But quite often every one of us mistakes the law's ministry of death for a life source. We look to the law with its objective standards of right and wrong to lead us into green pastures, rather than looking to the one whom the law reveals. In these moments, the ministry of the Spirit can become a foul stench, an affront to our supposed life source of letters carved in stone. Indeed, the glory of the Spirit of God is a foreign glory to our law-addicted minds. In all of this, God is patient with us. Just as he provided a veil to cover the face of Moses and obscure the glory of the law, he likewise now veils the glory of the Spirit. In mercy, he waits until the ministry of the law has done its work of condemnation and driven us into the grave. Only then does he lift the veil. For the Spirit of God is a stench of death to those who are perishing but an aroma of life to those who are already dead.