²⁵ But now, why should we risk death again? If the Lord our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire.

¹⁶ For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai.^[a] You said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.’

²⁹ For our God is a devouring fire.

²¹ Is there a conflict, then, between God’s law and God’s promises?^[a] Absolutely not! If the law could give us new life, we could be made right with God by obeying it. ²² But the Scriptures declare that we are all prisoners of sin, so we receive God’s promise of freedom only by believing in Jesus Christ.

¹⁰ But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.”^[a]

The Glory of the New Covenant

⁷ The old way,^[a] with laws etched in stone, led to death, though it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses’ face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. ⁸ Shouldn’t we expect far greater glory under the new way, now that the Holy Spirit is giving life? ⁹ If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God!