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What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
John Chrysostom
"Not of the letter, but of the spirit." See again another difference. What then? was not that Law spiritual? How then saith he, "We know that the Law is spiritual?" Spiritual indeed, but it bestowed not a spirit. For Moses bare not a spirit, but letters; but we have been entrusted with the giving of a spirit. …
Theophylact of Ohrid
Our strength, he says, is from God: He made us "sufficient," that is, He strengthened us, made us capable of serving this great divine work — the New Testament. And the Old Law is spiritual, that is, given by the Spirit; but it did not bestow the Spirit, as the New will bestow Him. So the meaning of the words is this: we have been entrusted to impart not the letter, as Moses did, but the Spirit. For the apostles not only taught spiritual and divine things, but also imparted the Spirit through the laying on of hands. …
Cosmas Indicopleustes
He made them, as Paul writes, sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life; as if he said: We have been made sufficient by God by means of signs and of the Holy Spirit, while teaching such things, to persuade those who hear us; for God hath appointed us ministers of the new and life-giving covenant, not of the old letter, that is, of the written law which threatens death, but of the life-giving power, that is, of the Holy Spirit.
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
Could it be possible that the law is not of God? None but an irreligious man would think that. But, because the law commands by the letter and does not help by the Spirit, whoever listens to the letter of the law in such wise as to think that it is enough for him to know what it commands or forbids, whoever trusts in the strength of his own free will to accomplish it and does not take refuge in faith in order to be assisted in his approach to the Spirit that quickens lest the letter find him guilty and kill him, that man has a zeal …
Ambrose of Milan
And what wonder is it the Spirit works Life, Who quickens as does the Father and as does the Son? And who can deny that quickening is the work of the Eternal Majesty? For it is written: "Quicken Thy servant." He, then, is quickened who is a servant, that is, man, who before had not life, but received the privilege of having it. Let us then see whether the Spirit is quickened, or Himself quickens. Now it is written: "The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life." So, then, the Spirit quickens. …
Thomas Aquinas
Having commended the ministry of the New Testament, the Apostle then commends its ministers. First, he stipulates two things, which correspond to the above words. For he had mentioned a gift received from God when he said, our competence is from God, and the confidence born of this gift when he said, such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. First, therefore, he determines the things pertaining to the gift received; secondly, those pertaining to the confidence born of it (v. 12). …
Translation