Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is,] there [is] liberty.
17. Now the Lord is that Spirit ] Literally the spirit, i.e. the spirit which was to replace the letter. The sense is as follows: ‘The Lord (of whom I have just spoken see last verse) is the spirit of which I have said ( 2Co 3:6) that it should be substituted for the letter.’ For the Lord, even Jesus Christ, is Himself that new power that higher inspiration through which man finds what he ought to do written, no longer in precepts external to himself, but in his own regenerate heart. The new birth of the Spirit is but the implanting in man the humanity of Jesus Christ. ‘The last Adam was made a life-giving spirit.’ 1Co 15:45. This expression like Joh 4:24, refers, not to the person, but to the essential nature of God, just as in Joh 6:63, the expression is applied even to the words of God, when they communicate to man essential principles of God’s spiritual kingdom. Cf. also Joh 1:13; Joh 3:3; Joh 3:5; Rom 8:2; Rom 8:4. Other explanations of this most difficult passage have been given. (1) ‘The Spirit is the Lord,’ (Chrysostom); and he remarks on the order of the words in the Greek of Joh 4:24 in support of his translation. (2) ‘The Lord is identical with the Holy Spirit.’ (3) ‘The Lord with Whom Moses spoke is the Holy Spirit.’ (4) ‘The Lord is the Holy Ghost in so far as the Holy Ghost is the living principle of the indwelling of Christ.’ (5) ‘The Lord no dout is a sprete,’ Tyndale, whom Cranmer follows. It seems on the whole best to interpret the words as above. St Paul now boldly declares that the ‘spirit’ of which he has spoken is nothing less than Christ Himself.
and where the Spirit of the Lord is ] Hitherto St Paul has been speaking of the Divine Nature of Him who transforms the heart of man. He now speaks of the personal agency through Whom that work is achieved. Christ does these things by His Spirit, who is also the Spirit of the Father. Rom 8:9. Cf. also Gal 4:6; Php 1:19; 1Pe 1:11, with Joh 14:16-17; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26 ; 1Co 2:10-12, &c. This interpretation involves no incongruity with the rest of the passage. The Three Persons in the Blessed Trinity are one in essence, and that essence is Spirit. But the personal agency whereby God works His purpose in man’s heart is the Holy Spirit, as Scripture everywhere declares. See the passages cited above.
there is liberty ] Liberty not only to speak openly ( 2Co 3:12), but ( 2Co 3:18) to gaze with unveiled face upon the glory of God, and thus to learn how to fulfil the law of man’s being. This liberty is the special privilege assured to man by the Gospel. See Joh 8:32; Rom 6:18; Rom 6:22; Rom 8:2; Jas 1:25; Jas 2:12; 1Pe 2:16.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Now the Lord is that Spirit – The word Lord here evidently refers to the Lord Jesus; see 2Co 3:16. It may be observed in general in regard to this word, that where it occurs in the New Testament unless the connection require us to understand it of God, it refers to the Lord Jesus. It was the common name by which he was known; see Joh 20:13; Joh 21:7, Joh 21:12; Eph 4:1, Eph 4:5. The design of Paul in this verse seems to be to account for the liberty which he and the other apostles had, or for the boldness, openness, and plainness 2Co 3:12 which they evinced in contradistinction from the Jews. who so little understood the nature of their institutions. He had said 2Co 3:6, that he was a minister not of the letter, but of the Spirit; and he had stated that the Old Testament was not understood by the Jews who adhered to the literal interpretation of the Scriptures. He here says, that the Lord Jesus was the Spirit to which he referred, and by which he was enabled to understand the Old Testament so as to speak plainly, and without obscurity. The sense is, that Christ was the Spirit; that is, the sum, the substance of the Old Testament. The figures, types, prophecies, etc. all centered in him, and he was the end of all those institutions. If contemplated as having reference to him, it was easy to understand them. This I take to be the sentiment of the pas sage, though expositors have been greatly divided in regard to its meaning. Thus explained, it does not mean absolutely and abstractly that the Lord Jesus was a Spirit, but that he was the sum, the essence, the end, and the purport of the Mosaic rites, the spirit of which Paul had spoken in 2Co 3:6, as contradistinguished from the letter of the Law.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty – This is a general truth designed to illustrate the particular sentiment which he had just advanced. The word liberty here ( eleutheria) refers, I think, to freedom in speaking; the power of speaking openly, and freely, as in 2Co 3:12. It states the general truth, that the effect of the Spirit of God was to give light and clearness of view; to remove obscurity from a subject, and to enable one to see it plainly. This would be a truth that could not be denied by the Jews, who held to the doctrine that the Spirit of God revealed truth, and it must be admitted by all. Under the influence of that Spirit, therefore, Paul says, that he was able to speak with openness, and boldness; that he had a clear view of truth, which the mass of the Jews had not; and that the system of religion which he preached was open, plain, and clear. The word freedom, would perhaps, better convey the idea. There is freedom from the dark and obscure views of the Jews; freedom from their prejudices, and their superstitions; freedom from the slavery and bondage of sin; the freedom of the children of God, who have clear views of him as their Father and Redeemer and who are enabled to express those views openly and boldly to the world.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Co 3:17
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Christ the Spirit of Christianity
I. Note the great principles in the text.
1. Christianity is a spirit.
(1) There is a letter and a spirit in everything. These two things are quite distinct. The letter may be changed, the spirit may be unchangeable. The same spirit may require for its expression to different minds different letters. The spirit may not only cease to be represented, but may be positively misrepresented, by its form. Christ, e.g., enjoined the washing of one anothers feet where washing the feet was a common service; but we smile at the professed obedience to this precept every year of his holiness of Rome.
(2) The Old Testament was a letter in which there was a spirit. The very idea of a letter supposes that something is written. And, further, that spirit, so far as it went, was the same as in the gospel; the law represented the same ideas and sentiments as the gospel, but in a different way, and with different results, so as to justify the calling of one a letter and the other a spirit. The first, though not without spirit, had more letter in it; and the second, though not without letter, has more spirit in it. Christianity is like a book for men, which assumes many things that children must have in most explicit statement. It is more suggestive than explanatory, trusts more to conscience than to argument, and appeals more to reason than to rule. Its doctrines are principles, not propositions; its institutions are grand outlines, not precise ceremonies; its laws are moral sentiments, not minute directions.
2. Christ is the Spirit of Christianity.
(1) The fact of there being a revelation at all is owing to Christ. But for Him the beginning of sin would have been the end of humanity, But God had, in anticipation of the fall, devised a plan of redemption. Forfeited life was continued because of Christ. Whatever was done was for Him. The great events of past times were preparatory to Him. Prophets spoke of Him, kings ruled for Him, priests typified Him. According to Christs contemplated work men were treated. But if the law was through Christ as its grand reason, how much more is the gospel! For now He is not the secret but the revealed agent of Gods providence. What was done before was done because of Him, what is done now is done directly by Him. He realised the conceptions expressed by Judaism, made its figures facts, its predictions history.
(2) Christ is the Spirit of Christianity, as He is the personal representation of its truths. The gospel is Christ. It shines in Him as in a mirror, it lives in Him as in a body. Is God the prime idea of all religion? He that has seen Me has seen the Father. Is the moral character of God as important as His existence? Behold the image of the invisible God as He goes about doing good. Is reunion with God the great need of humanity? It is consummated in the Incarnation. Do we want law? Walk even as He walked. Do we die? Christ, the firstfruits of them that slept. Are we sighing for immortality? This is the eternal life.
(3) The Holy Spirit, by whom spiritual blessings are conveyed, is emphatically the Spirit of Christ. This Spirit, the closest and most quickening contact of God with our souls, is the fruit of the reconciliation with God effected by Christ. That effected, Christ went to heaven that He might give us this other Comforter, even the Spirit of truth.
3. Christ, as the Spirit of Christianity, is the Spirit of liberty. The genius of a spiritual life is to be free. The law was not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient. The more spiritual men are, the less do they require external regulations; and one of the most striking features of Christianity is its comparative freedom from such. It is a law of liberty, in the sense of leaving us at liberty upon many points; moral excellence is its requirement, not ceremonial exactness. Its law is summed up by love to God and man. You do not need to fetter a loving child with the rules you lay upon a hireling. The gospel is spiritual in its form, because it is spiritual in its power. In the following verse a sublime truth is set before us. The liberty of the gospel is holiness. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death: only the Spirit can do this. The letter may keep sin down, but the spirit turns it out. The letter may make us afraid to do it, the spirit makes us dislike to have it. And is not that liberty, when we are free to serve God in the gospel of His Son, free to have access to Him with the spirit of adoption, free to run the way of His commandments, because enlarged in heart? He is the slave whose will is in fetters; and nothing but the Spirit, the Lord, can set that free.
II. The subject is fruitful in reflections and admonitions.
1. The text is one of a large class which intimate and require the divinity of Christ. The place assigned to Christ in the scheme and providence of God is such that only on the supposition of His Divine nature can it be understood and explained. Destroy Him, take Him away, and you do not merely violate the language, but annihilate the very life of Gods covenant. If Christianity be what we are accustomed to regard it, He who is its Spirit, in the way and for the reasons which itself explains, can be no other than the true God and eternal life.
2. We see the greatness of the privileges with which, as Christians, we have been favoured, and the source of their derivation. The apostles do employ language severely depreciating in its tone, when contrasting previous economies with our own. Darkness, flesh, letter, bondage, the world, are set against light, spirit, grace, liberty, and the kingdom of God and of heaven. And the reason of our being so blessed is to be found in Christ. Shall we not be grateful? And shall not gratitude express itself in holiness? Ye are not under the law, but under grace, and the great worth of this position is in the facilities for sanctification which it affords.
3. Let us give to the personal element in Christianity its proper place and power. In the apostles writings there was an indestructible connection of every principle of the gospel with the personal Christ. Everything was in Him. Christ was Christianity. He is the Truth, the Way, the Life, the peace, hope, and resurrection of men; He is their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Religion is not merely a contemplation of truth, or a doing of morality; it is fellowship with God and with His Son. We are to love Christ, not spiritual beauty; to believe in Christ, not spiritual truth; to live to Christ, not spiritual excellence.
4. Our subject instructs and encourages us in connection with the diffusion of our religion through the earth. The gospel is a spirit. Well, indeed, might we despond, when contemplating the powers of darkness, if we could not associate with our religion the attributes of spirit. But, said Christ, the words that I speak unto you are spirit and life. And our subject also teaches charity. Can there be any heart unaffected when the promise of liberty, in its highest state and completest measure, is before us? Can you dwell upon the hard bondage of the souls of men, both in civilised and uncivilised conditions, and not long to preach deliverance to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound? (A. J. Morris.)
Liberty of the spiritual life
The heavenly life imparted is liberty and truth and peace; it is the removal of bondage and darkness and pain. So far from being a mechanical constraint, as some would represent, it is the removal of the iron chain with which guilt had bound the sinner. It acts like an army of liberation to a down-trodden country, like the warm breath of spring to the frost-fettered tree. For the entrance of true life or living truth into mans soul must be liberty, not bondage. (A. Bonar.)
The spirit of liberty
1. It is remarkable that, when our Lord expounded in the synagogue of Nazareth, He chose a passage of which two-fifths related to liberty. Between that passage and my text there is a singular connection. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, etc. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
I. We are all of us so constituted that there must be a certain sense of freedom to make a play of the affections.
1. Satan knew this quite well when he destroyed the loving allegiance of our first parents by introducing first into their minds the thought of bondage. Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not cat of every tree of the garden? And so the poison had worked. You are not free. In catching at a fictitious freedom the first Adam lost the true. The second Adam made Himself a servant of servants, that He might restore to us a greater freedom than Adam lost.
2. But still the same enemy is always trying to spoil our paradises by making us deny our freedom. He has two ways of doing this. Sometimes he gives us a sense of bondage, which keeps us back from peace, and therefore holiness. Sometimes he gives us an idea of imaginary liberty, of which the real effect is that it leaves us the slave of a sentiment or of a passion.
3. Some persons are afraid of liberty, lest it should run into licentiousness. But I do not find in the whole Bible that we are warned against too much liberty. In fact, it is almost always those who have felt themselves too shut up who break out into lawlessness of conduct. Just as the stopped river, bursting its barrier, runs into the more violent stream.
II. That you should stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free, understand what your real liberty is.
1. By and by, somebody says, when I have believed and prayed a little more, and lived a little more religiously, then I hope God will forgive me. So every night he has to consider whether he is yet good enough to justify the hope that he is a child of God; and the consequence is that man prays with no liberty. But, all the while, what is the fact? God does love him. All he wants is to take facts as facts. It needs but one act of realisation, and every promise of the Bible belongs to that man. This done, see the difference. He feels himself a child of God through Gods own grace, and his liberated mind leaps to the God who has loved him. Now the right spring is put into the machinery of his breast. He works in the freedom of a certainty. And from that date that mans real sanctification begins.
2. There are many whose minds are continually recurring to old sins. They have prayed over them again and again, but still they cannot take their thoughts off them. But the freeman of the Lord knows the meaning of those words–He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit. All he feels he has to do is to bring his daily sins to that Fountain where he has washed all the sins of his former life. And do not you see that that man will go with a lightened feeling?
3. See the nature of that mans forgiveness. To obey the command of any one we love is pleasant, but to obey because it will please him, though he has not commanded it, is much happier. The spirit of the law is always better than the law. Deuteronomy is better than Leviticus. Now this is the exact state of a Christian. He has studied the commands till he has reached to the spirit of the commands. He has gathered the mind of God, and he follows that. A command prescribes, and whatever prescribes circumscribes, and is so far painful. But the will of God is an unlimited thing, and therefore it is unlimiting.
(1) And when man, free because the Son has made him free, goes to read his Bible, like a man who has got the free range of all its pastures, to cull flowers wherever he likes, he is free to all the promises that are there, for he has the mind of Christ.
(2) Or hear him in prayer. How close it is! How boldly he puts in his claim!
(3) The fear of death never hurts that man. Why? Because his death is over.
(4) And, because he is so very free, you will find there is a large-heartedness and a very charitable judgment in that man. He lives above party. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The liberty of the Spirit
How much is made of earthly liberty–the shadow of true freedom. How true it is that, whilst many men profess to give liberty to others, they themselves are the slaves of corruption. Men are content to be slaves within who would be very indignant at any attempt to make them slaves without. The apostle, speaking of the bondage of the law, said that, when the heart of the Jew shall turn to the Lord, then, and not till then, shall they come to the true freedom. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is–
I. Liberty from condemnation. If a man is under sentence of death he cannot find liberty. He may forget his imprisonment in mirth and feasting, but it is not the less real because he forgets it. The morning will come when he will be dragged off to his fearful doom. We are under the sentence of Gods broken law. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. How beautiful, then, the language of the apostle! (Rom 8:1).
II. Liberty from law. The law knows nothing of mercy and forgiveness, nor does it afford the least help to holiness. Its command is, Do this, and live; break this in the least, and die. Therefore, by the deeds of the law shall no man have peace with God. But what the law could not do, etc. (Rom 8:2-4).
III. Liberty to obey. Many think they are free, and that they will do as they like; but they do not like to do what they ought to like, and therefore they are slaves after all. The way in which a man may convince himself of his slavery is to try to be what he ought to be. He can do nothing of himself, and he must be brought to feel that he can do no good thing without God. But what the flesh cannot do the Spirit will enable him to do. It is God which worketh in us, both to will and to do of His good pleasure; therefore work out your own salvation, etc.
IV. Liberty to fight the good fight of faith. A man can do battle with his corrupt nature, he can win the victory over the principalities and powers of darkness, and his sword is a sword of liberty. The drunkard becomes sober, the impure chaste, the vindictive forgiving, by the power of the Spirit of God.
V. Liberty of access to God. The one true and living way is open, but it cannot be discerned except a man has it revealed to him by the Spirit of God. Through Christ we have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
VI. Liberty of holy boldness and fortitude in the service of God. (H. Stowell, M. A.)
The freedom of the Spirit
1. To possess the Lord Jesus Christ is to possess the Holy Ghost, who is the minister and guardian of Christs presence in the soul. The apostles conclusion is that those who are converted to Jesus have escaped from the veil which darkened the spiritual intelligence of Israel. The converting Spirit is the source of positive illumination; but, before He enlightens thus, He must give freedom from the veil of prejudice which denies to Jewish thought the exercise of any real insight into the deeper sense of Scripture. That sense is seized by the Christian student of the ancient law, because in the Church of Christ he possesses the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ because He is sent by Christ, and for the purpose of endowing us with Christs nature and mind. His presence does not supersede that of Christ: He co-operates in, He does not work apart from, the mediatorial work Of Christ. To possess the Holy Spirit is to possess Christ; to have lost the one is to have lost the other. Accordingly our Lord speaks of the gift of Pentecost as if it were His own second coming (Joh 14:18). And, after telling the Romans that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of His, St. Paul adds, Now if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. Here Christs being in the Christian, and the Christians having the Spirit of Christ, are equivalent terms.
3. Freedom is not an occasional largess of the Divine Spirit; it is not merely a reward for high services or conspicuous devotion. It is the very atmosphere of His presence. Wherever He really is, there is also freedom. He does not merely strike off the fetters of some narrow national prejudice, or of some antiquated ceremonialism. His mission is not to bestow an external, political, social freedom. For no political or social emancipation can give real liberty to an enslaved soul. And no tyranny of the state or of society can enslave a soul that has been really freed. At His bidding the inmost soul of man has free play. He gives freedom from error for the reason, freedom from constraint for the affections, freedom for the will from the tyranny of sinful and human wills.
4. The natural images which are used to set forth the presence and working of the Holy Spirit are suggestive of this freedom. The Dove, which pictures His gentle movement on the soul and in the Church, suggests also the power of rising at will above the dead level of the soil into a higher region where it is at rest. The cloven tongue like as of fire is at once light and heat; and light and heat imply ideas of the most unrestricted freedom. The wind blowing where it listeth; the well of water in the soul, springing up, like a perpetual fountain, unto everlasting life–such are our Lords own chosen symbols of the Pentecostal gift. All these figures prepare us for the language of the apostles when they are tracing the results of the great Pentecostal gift. With St. James, the Christian, no less than the Jew, has to obey a law, but the Christian law is a law of library. With St. Paul, the Church is the Jerusalem which is free; in contrast with the bondwoman the Christian is to stand fast in a liberty with which Christ has freed him; he is made free from sin, and become the servant of righteousness. St. Paul compares the glorious liberty of the children of God with the bondage of corruption; he contrasts the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which gives us Christians our freedom, with the enslaving law of sin and death. According to St. Paul, the Christian slave is essentially free, even while he still wears his chain (1Co 7:22). Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is–
I. Mental liberty.
1. From the first God has consecrated liberty of thought by withdrawing thought from the control of society. Society protects our persons and goods, and passes judgment upon our words and actions; but it cannot force the sanctuary of our thought. And the Spirit comes not to suspend, but to recognise, to carry forward, to expand, and to fertilise almost indefinitely the thought of man. He has vindicated for human thought the liberty of its expression against imperial tyranny and official superstition. The blood of the martyrs witnessed to the truth that, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is mental liberty.
2. In the judgment of an influential school dogma is the enemy of religious freedom. But what is dogma? The term belongs to the language of civilians; it is applied to the imperial edicts. It also finds a home in the language of philosophy; and the philosophers who denounce the dogmatic statements of the gospel are hardly consistent when they are elaborating their own theories. Dogma is essential Christian truth thrown by authority into a form which admits of its permanently passing into the understanding and being treasured by the heart of the people. For dogma is an active protest against those sentimental theories which empty revelation of all positive value. Dogma proclaims that revelation does mean something, and what. Accordingly dogma is to be found no less truly in the volume of the New Testament than in Fathers and Councils. It is specially embodied in our Lords later discourses, in the sermons of His apostles, in the epistles of St. Paul. The Divine Spirit, speaking through the clear utterances of Scripture, is the real author of essential dogma; and we know that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
3. But is not dogma, as a matter of fact, a restraint upon thought? Unquestionably. But there is a notion of liberty which is impossible. Surely a being is free when he moves without difficulty in the sphere which is assigned to him by his natural constitution. If he can only travel beyond his sphere with the certainty of destroying himself, it is not an unreasonable tax upon his liberty whereby he is confined within the barrier that secures his safety. Now truth is originally the native element of human thought; and Christian dogma prescribes the direction and limits of truth concerning God and His relations to man.
(1) Certainly the physical world does not teach us that obedience to law is fatal to freedom. The heavens would cease to declare the glory of God if the astronomers were to destroy those invariable forces which confine the movement of the swiftest stars to their fixed orbits. And when man himself proceeds to claim that empire which God has given him over the world of nature, he finds his energies bounded and controlled by law in every direction. We men can transport ourselves to and fro on the surface of this earth. But if in an attempt to reach the skies we should succeed in mounting to a region where animal life is impossible, we know that death would be the result of our success. Meanwhile our aeronauts, and even our Alpine climbers, do not complain of the tyranny of the air.
(2) So it is in the world of thought. Look at those axioms which form the basis of the freest and most exact science known to the human mind. We cannot demonstrate them, we cannot reject them; but the submissive glance by which reason accepts them is no unworthy figure of the action of faith. Faith also submits, it is true; but her submission to dogma is the guarantee at once of her rightful freedom and of her enduring power.
(3) So submission to revealed truth involves a certain limitation of intellectual licence. To believe the dogma that God exists is inconsistent with a liberty to deny His existence. But such liberty is, in the judgment of faith, parallel to that of denying the existence of the sun or of the atmosphere. To complain of the Creed as an interference with liberty is to imitate the savage who had to walk across London at night, and who remarked that the lamp-posts were an obstruction to traffic.
4. They only can suppose that Christian dogma is the antagonist of intellectual freedom whose misery it is to disbelieve. For dogma stimulates and provokes thought–sustains it at an elevation which, without it, is impossible. It is a scaffolding by which we climb into a higher atmosphere. It leaves us free to hold converse with God, to learn to know Him. We can speak of Him and to Him, freely and affectionately, within the ample limits of a dogmatic definition. Besides this, dogma sheds, from its home in the heart of revelation, an interest on all surrounding branches of knowledge. God is everywhere, and to have a fixed belief in Him is to have a perpetual interest in all that reflects Him. What composition can be more dogmatic than the Te Deum? Yet it stimulates unbounded spiritual movement. The soul finds that the sublime truths which it adores do not for one moment fetter the freedom of its movement.
II. Moral liberty.
1. There is no such thing as freedom from moral slavery, except for the soul which has laid hold on a fixed objective truth. But when, at the breath of the Divine Spirit upon the soul, heaven is opened to the eye of faith, and man looks up from his misery and his weakness to the everlasting Christ upon His throne; when that glorious series of truths, which begins with the Incarnation, and which ends with the perpetual intercession, is really grasped by the soul as certain–then assuredly freedom is possible. It is possible, for the Son has taken flesh, and died, and risen again, and interceded with the Father, and given us His Spirit and His sacraments, expressly that we might enjoy it.
2. But, then, we are to be enfranchised on the condition of submission. Submission! you say–is not this slavery? No; obedience is the school of freedom. In obeying God you escape all the tyrannies which would fain rob you of your liberty. In obeying God you are emancipated from the cruel yet petty despotisms which enslave, sooner or later, all rebel wills. As in the material world all expansion is proportioned to the compression which precedes it, so in the moral world the will acts with a force which is measured by its power of self-control.
3. As loyal citizens of that kingdom of the Spirit which is also the kingdom of the Incarnation, you may be really free. If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Political liberty is a blessing; liberty of thought is a blessing. But the greatest blessing is liberty of the conscience and the will. It is freedom from a sense of sin when all is known to have been pardoned through the atoning blood; freedom from a slavish fear of our Father in heaven when conscience is offered to His unerring eye by that penitent love which fixes its eye upon the Crucified; freedom from current prejudice and false human opinion when the soul gazes by intuitive faith upon the actual truth; freedom from the depressing yoke of weak health or narrow circumstances, since the soul cannot be crushed which rests consciously upon the everlasting arms; freedom from that haunting fear of death which holds those who think really upon death at all, all their lifetime subject to bondage, unless they are His true friends and clients who by the sharpness of His own death has led the way and opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. It is freedom in time, but also, and beyond, freedom in eternity. In that blessed world, in the unclouded presence of the emancipator, the brand of slavery is inconceivable. In that world there is indeed a perpetual service; yet, since it is the service of love made perfect, it is only and by necessity the service of the free. (Canon Liddon.)
Spiritual liberty
Liberty is the birthright of every man. But where do you find liberty unaccompanied by religion? This land is the home of liberty, not so much because of our institutions as because the Spirit of the Lord is here–the spirit of true and hearty religion. But the liberty of the text is an infinitely greater and better one, and one which Christian men alone enjoy. He is the free man whom the truth makes free. Without the Spirit of the Lord, in a free country, ye may still be bondsmen; and where there are no serfs in body, ye may be slaves in soul. Note–
I. What we are freed from.
1. The bondage of sin. Of all slavery there is none more horrible than this. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from it? But the Christian is free.
2. The penalty of sin–eternal death.
3. The guilt of sin.
4. The dominion of sin. Profane men glory in free living and free thinking. Free living! Let the slave hold up his fetters and jingle them, and say, This is music, and I am free. A sinner without grace attempting to reform himself is like Sisiphus rolling the stone up hill, which always comes down with greater force. A man without grace attempting to save himself is engaged in as hopeless a task as the daughters of Danaus, when they attempted to fill a vast vessel with bottomless buckets. He has a bow without a string, a sword without a blade, a gun without powder.
5. Slavish fear of law. Many people are honest because they are afraid of the policeman. Many are sober because they are afraid of the eye of the public. If a man be destitute of the grace of God, his works are only works of slavery; he feels forced to do them. But now, Christian, Love makes your willing feet in swift obedience move. We are free from the law that we may obey it better.
6. The fear of death. I recollect a good old woman, who said, Afraid to die, sir! I have dipped my foot in Jordan every morning before breakfast for the last fifty years, and do you think I am afraid to die now? A good Welsh lady, when she lay a-dying, was visited by her minister, who said to her, Sister, are you sinking? But, rising a little in the bed, she said, Sinking! Sinking! Did you ever know a sinner sink through a rock? If I had been standing on the sand I might sink; but, thank God! I am on the Rock of Ages, and there is no sinking there.
II. What we are free to. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and that liberty gives us certain rights and privileges.
1. To heavens charter. Heavens Magna Charta is the Bible, and you are free to it–to all its doctrines, promises, etc. You are free to all that is in the Bible. It is the bank of heaven: you may draw from it as much as you please without let or hindrance.
2. To the throne of grace. It is the privilege of Englishmen that they can always send a petition to Parliament; and it is the privilege of a believer that he can always send a petition to the throne of God. It signifies nothing what, where, or under what circumstances I am.
3. To enter into the city. I am not a freeman of London, which is doubtless a great privilege, but I am a freeman of a better city. Now some of you have obtained the freedom of the city, but you wont take it up. Dont remain outside the Church any longer, for you have a right to come in.
4. To heaven. When a Christian dies he knows the password that can make the gates wide open fly; he has the white stone whereby he shall be known as a ransomed one, and that shall pass him at the barrier. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Signs of spiritual liberty
Wheresoever the Spirit of God is, there is–
I. A liberty of holiness, to free us from the dominion of sin (Luk 1:75). As children can give a bird leave to fly so it be in a string to pull it back again, so Satan hath men in a string if they live in sin. The beast that runs away with a cord about him is catched by the cord again; so, having Satans cords about us, he can pull us in when he lists. From this we are freed by the Spirit.
II. A blessed freedom and an enlargement of heart to duties, Gods people are a voluntary people. Those that are under grace are anointed by the Spirit (Psa 89:20), and that spiritual anointment makes them nimble. Otherwise spiritual duties are as opposite to flesh and blood as fire and water. When we are drawn, therefore, to duties, as a bear to a stake, for fear, or out of custom, with extrinsical motives, and not from a new nature, this is not from the Spirit. For the liberty of the Spirit is when actions come off naturally, without any extrinsical motive. A child needs not extrinsical motives to please his father. So there is a new nature in those that have the Spirit of God to stir them up to duty, though Gods motives may help as the sweet encouragements and rewards. But the principle is to do things naturally. Artificial things move from a principle without them, therefore they are artificial. Clocks and such things have weights that stir all the wheels they go by, and that move them; so it is with an artificial Christian. He moves with weights without him; he hath not an inward principle of the Spirit to make things natural to him.
III. Courage against all opposition whatsoever, joined with light and strength of faith, breaking through all oppositions. Opposition to a spiritual man adds but courage and strength to him to resist. In Act 4:23, seq., when they had the Spirit of God, they encountered opposition; and the more they were opposed, the more they grew. They were cast in prison, and rejoiced; and the more they were imprisoned, the more courageous they were still. There is no setting against this wind, no quenching of this fire, by any human power. See how the Spirit triumphed in the martyrs. The Spirit of God is a victorious Spirit (Rom 8:33-34; Act 6:10; Act 6:15).
IV. Boldness with God himself, otherwise a consuming fire? For the Spirit of Christ goes through the mediation of Christ to God. That familiar boldness whereby we cry, Abba, Father, comes from sons. This comes from the Spirit. If we be sons, then we have the Spirit, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (R. Sibbes, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. Now the Lord is that Spirit] In 2Co 3:6; 2Co 3:8, the word , spirit, evidently signifies the Gospel; so called because it points out the spiritual nature and meaning of the law; because it produces spiritual effects; and because it is especially the dispensation of the Spirit of God. Here Jesus Christ is represented as that Spirit, because he is the end of the law for justification to every one that believes; and because the residue of the Spirit is with him, and he is the dispenser of all its gifts, graces, and influences.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is] Wherever this Gospel is received, there the Spirit of the Lord is given; and wherever that Spirit lives and works, there is liberty, not only from Jewish bondage, but from the slavery of sin-from its power, its guilt, and its pollution. See Joh 8:33-36, and the notes there.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The Lord Christ was a man, but not a mere man; but one who had the Divine nature personally united to his human nature, which is called the
Spirit, Mar 2:8. But some think, that the article here is not merely prepositive, but emphatical; and so referreth to 2Co 3:6, where the gospel (the substance of which is Christ) was called the Spirit. So it is judged by some, that the apostle preventeth a question which some might have propounded, viz. how the veil should be taken away by mens turning unto the Lord? Saith the apostle:
The Lord is that Spirit, or he is that Spirit mentioned 2Co 3:18; he is a Spirit, and he gives out of the Spirit unto his people, the Spirit of holiness and sanctification.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, ( that holy, sanctifying Spirit, which is often called the Spirit of Christ),
there is liberty; for our Saviour told the Jews, Joh 8:36; If the Son make you free, then shall ye be free indeed: a liberty from the yoke of the law, from sin, death, hell; but the liberty which seemeth here to be chiefly intended, is a liberty from that blindness and hardness which is upon mens hearts, until they have received the Holy Spirit.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. the LordChrist (2Co 3:14;2Co 3:16; 2Co 4:5).
is that Spiritis THESpirit, namely, that Spirit spoken of in 2Co3:6, and here resumed after the parenthesis (2Co3:7-16): Christ is the Spirit and “end” of the OldTestament, who giveth life to it, whereas “the letter killeth”(1Co 15:45; Rev 19:10,end).
where the Spirit of the Lordisin a man’s “heart” (2Co 3:15;Rom 8:9; Rom 8:10).
there is liberty (Joh8:36). “There,” and there only. Such cease to beslaves to the letter, which they were while the veil was on theirheart. They are free to serve God in the Spirit, and rejoice inChrist Jesus (Php 3:3): theyhave no longer the spirit of bondage, but of free sonship (Rom 8:15;Gal 4:7). “Liberty” isopposed to the letter (of the legal ordinances), and to the veil, thebadge of slavery: also to the fear which the Israelites feltin beholding Moses’ glory unveiled (Exo 34:30;1Jn 4:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now the Lord is that Spirit,…. “The Lord”, to whom the heart is turned, when the veil is removed, is Jesus Christ; and he is “that Spirit”, or “the Spirit”: he, as God, is of a spiritual nature and essence; he is a spirit, as God is said to be, Joh 4:24 he is the giver of the Spirit of God, and the very life and spirit of the law, without whom as the end of it, it is a mere dead letter: or rather as by Moses in 2Co 3:15 is meant, the law of Moses, so by the “Lord” here may be meant the Gospel of Christ: and this is that Spirit, of which the apostles were made ministers, and is said to give life, 2Co 3:6.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; which may be understood of the third person in the Godhead; where he is as a spirit of illumination, there is freedom from former blindness and darkness; where he is as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification, there is freedom from the bondage of sin, and captivity of Satan; where he is as a comforter, there is freedom from the fear of hell, wrath, and damnation: where he is as a spirit of adoption, there is the freedom of children with a father; where he is as a spirit of prayer and supplication, there is liberty of access to God with boldness, Though rather the Gospel as attended with the Spirit of God, in opposition to the law, is here designed; and which points out another difference between the law and the Gospel; where the law is, there is bondage, it genders to it; it has a natural tendency to it: quite contrary is this to what the Jews i say, who call the law, , “liberty”: and say,
“that he that studies in the law, hath , “freedom from everything”:”
whereas it gives freedom in nothing, but leads into, and brings on persons a spirit of bondage; it exacts rigorous obedience, where there is no strength to perform; it holds men guilty, curses and condemns for non-obedience; so that such as are under it, and of the works of it, are always under a spirit of bondage; they obey not from love, but fear, as servants or slaves for wages, and derive all their peace and comfort from their obedience: but where the Gospel takes place under the influence of the Spirit of God, there is liberty; not to sin, which is contrary to the Gospel, to the Spirit of God in believers, and to the principle of grace wrought in their souls; but a liberty from the bondage and servitude of it: a liberty from the law’s rigorous exaction, curse, and condemnation, and from the veil of former blindness and ignorance.
i Zohar in Gen. fol. 90. 1. & in Exod. fol. 72. 1. & in Numb. fol. 73. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now the Lord is the Spirit ( ). Some, like E. F. Scott (The Spirit in the N.T.), take here to be Christ and interpret Paul as denying the personality of the Holy Spirit, identifying Christ and the Holy Spirit. But is not Bernard right here in taking (Lord) in the same sense here as in Ex 34:34 ( , before the Lord), the very passage that Paul is quoting? Certainly, the Holy Spirit is interchangeably called in the N.T. the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ (Ro 8:9f.). Christ dwells in us by the Holy Spirit, but the language here in 2Co 3:17 should not be pressed unduly (Plummer. See also P. Gardner, The Religious Experience of St. Paul, p. 176f.). Note “the Spirit of the Lord” here.
Liberty (). Freedom of access to God without fear in opposition to the fear in Ex 34:30. We need no veil and we have free access to God.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Now the Lord is that Spirit. Kuriov the Lord is used in Exo 34:34 for Jehovah. The Lord Christ of ver. 16 is the Spirit who pervades and animates the new covenant of which we are ministers (ver. 6), and the ministration of which is with glory (ver. 8). Compare Rom 8:9 – 11; Joh 14:16, 18.
Liberty. Compare Rom 8:15; Gal 4:7.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “Now the Lord is that Spirit,” (ho de kurios to pneuma estin) “now the Lord is (exists as) that Spirit,” the spirit life-giving one, even Jesus Christ, 2Co 3:6, Joh 1:4; Joh 10:28. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life and have it more abundantly,” Joh 10:10. Jesus was made a quickening Spirit, 1Co 15:45; Php_3:21.
2) “And where the Spirit of the Lord is,” (ou de to pneuma kuriou) “And wherever the spirit of the Lord exists;” In the hearts of believers in Jesus Christ, in contrast with hard hearts of unbelief, Rom 8:1-2; Rom 5:5; Pro 1:23; 1Jn 4:13.
3) “There is liberty,” (eleutheria) “There freedom exists;” or liberty exists, Joh 8:32; Joh 8:36; Gal 4:6-7; Gal 5:13. In the latter passage Paul asserted “ye have been called to liberty.” Liberty sets free, yet it places the believer in bondage to Christ. Free from sin’s eternal bondage, yet called to bondage – free, willing bondage of service to Christ, Mar 8:34-36; Eph 2:10; Rom 8:15.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
17. The Lord is the Spirit. This passage, also, has been misinterpreted, as if Paul had meant to say, that Christ is of a spiritual essence, for they connect it with that statement in Joh 4:24, God is a Spirit. The statement before us, however, has nothing to do with Christ’s essence, but simply points out his office, for it is connected with what goes before, where we found it stated, that the doctrine of the law is literal, and not merely dead, but even an occasion of death. He now, on the other hand, calls Christ its spirit, (411) meaning by this, that it will be living and life-giving, only if it is breathed into by Christ. Let the soul be connected with the body, and then there is a living man, endowed with intelligence and perception, fit for all vital functions. (412) Let the soul be removed from the body, and there will remain nothing but a useless carcase, totally devoid of feeling.
The passage is deserving of particular notice, (413) as teaching us, in what way we are to reconcile those encomiums which David pronounces upon the law — (Psa 19:7) — “the law of the Lord converteth souls, enlighteneth the eyes, imparteth wisdom to babes,” and passages of a like nature, with those statements of Paul, which at first view are at variance with them — that it is the ministry of sin and death — the letter that does nothing but kill. (2Co 3:6.) For when it is animated by Christ, (414) those things that David makes mention of are justly applicable to it. If Christ is taken away, it is altogether such as Paul describes. Hence Christ is the life of the law. (415)
Where the Spirit of the Lord. He now describes the manner, in which Christ gives life to the law — by giving us his Spirit. The term Spirit here has a different signification from what it had in the preceding verse. There, it denoted the soul, and was ascribed metaphorically to Christ. Here, on the other hand, it means the Holy Spirit, that Christ himself confers upon his people. Christ, however, by regenerating us, gives life to the law, and shows himself to be the fountain of life, as all vital functions proceed from man’s soul. Christ, then, is to all (so to speak) the universal soul, not in respect of essence, but in respect of grace. Or, if you prefer it, Christ is the Spirit, because he quickens us by the life-giving influence of his Spirit. (416)
He makes mention, also, of the blessing that we obtain from that source. “ There, ” says he, “ is liberty. ” By the term liberty I do not understand merely emancipation from the servitude of sin, and of the flesh, but also that confidence, which we acquire from His bearing witness as to our adoption. For it is in accordance with that statement —
We have not again received the spirit of bondage, to fear, etc. (Rom 8:15.)
In that passage, the Apostle makes mention of two things — bondage, and fear. The opposites of these are liberty and confidence. Thus I acknowledge, that the inference drawn from this passage by Augustine is correct — that we are by nature the slaves of sin, and are made free by the grace of regeneration. For, where there is nothing but the bare letter of the law, there will be only the dominion of sin, but the term Liberty, as I have said, I take in a more extensive sense. The grace of the Spirit might, also, be restricted more particularly to ministers, so as to make this statement correspond with the commencement of the chapter, for ministers require to have another grace of the Spirit, and another liberty from what others have. The former signification, however, pleases me better, though at the same time I have no objection, that this should be applied to every one according to the measure of his gift. It is enough, if we observe, that Paul here points out the efficacy of the Spirit, which we experience for our salvation — as many of us, as have been regenerated by his grace.
(411) “ L’esprit de la Loy;” — “The spirit of the law.”
(412) “ Tous mouuemens et operations de la vie;” — “All the movements and operations of life.”
(413) “ Voici vn beau passage, et bien digne d’estre noté;” — “Here is a beautiful passage, and well deserving to be carefully noticed.”
(414) “ Quand l’ame luy est inspiree par Christ;” — “When a soul is breathed into by Christ.”
(415) “ La vie et l’esprit de la Loy;” — “The life and spirit of the Law.”
(416) “ Par l’efficace et viue vertu de son Sainct Esprit;” — “By the efficacy and living influence of his Holy Spirit.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(17) Now the Lord is that Spirit.Better, the Lord is the Spirit. The words seem at first inconsistent with the formulated precision of the Churchs creeds, distinguishing the persons of the Godhead from each other. We apply the term Lord, it is true, as a predicate of the Holy Spirit when we speak, as in the Nicene Creed, of the Holy Ghost as the Lord, and Giver of life, or say, as in the pseudo-Athanasian, that the Holy Ghost is Lord; but using the term the Lord as the subject of a sentence, those who have been trained in the theology of those creeds would hardly say, The Lord (the term commonly applied to the Father in the Old Testament, and to the Son in the New) is the Spirit. We have, accordingly, to remember that St. Paul did not contemplate the precise language of these later formularies. He had spoken, in 2Co. 3:16, of Israels turning to the Lord; he had spoken also of his own work as the ministration of the Spirit (2Co. 3:8). To turn to the Lordi.e., to the Lord Jesuswas to turn to Him whose essential being, as one with the Father, was Spirit (Joh. 4:24), who was in one sense, the Spirit, the life-giving energy, as contrasted with the letter that killeth. So we may note that the attribute of quickening, which is here specially connected with the name of the Spirit (2Co. 3:6), is in Joh. 5:21 connected also with the names of the Father and the Son. The thoughts of the Apostle move in a region in which the Lord Jesus, not less than the Holy Ghost, is contemplated as Spirit. This gives, it is believed, the true sequence of St. Pauls thoughts. The whole verse may be considered as parenthetical, explaining that the turning to the Lord coincides with the ministration of the Spirit. Another interpretation, inverting the terms, and taking the sentence as the Spirit is the Lord, is tenable grammatically, and was probably adopted by the framers of the expanded form of the Nicene Creed at the Council of Constantinople (A.D. 380). It is obvious, however, that the difficulty of tracing the sequence of thought becomes much greater on this method of interpretation.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.The Apostle returns to the more familiar language. To turn to the Lord, who is Spirit, is to turn to the Spirit which is His, which dwelt in Him, and which He gives. And he assumes, almost as an axiom of the spiritual life, that the presence of that Spirit gives freedom, as contrasted with the bondage of the letterfreedom from slavish fear, freedom from the guilt and burden of sin, freedom from the tyranny of the Law. Compare the aspect of the same thought in the two Epistles nearly contemporary with this:the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, those children being partakers of a glorious liberty (Rom. 8:16-21); the connection between walking in the Spirit and being called to liberty (Gal. 5:13-16). The underlying sequence of thought would seem to be something like this: Israel, after all, with all its seeming greatness and high prerogatives, was in bondage, because it had the letter, not the Spirit; we who have the Spirit can claim our citizenship in the Jerusalem which is above and which is free (Gal. 4:24-31).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. That Spirit Rather, the Spirit. The Lord is the spirit, in opposition to the letter, 2Co 3:6; he giveth life by unvailing the letter and inspiring it with vivifying power.
Liberty Emancipation from the killing dominion of the letter into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Now the Lord is the spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’
We must probably see this as an explanation of Whom ‘the Lord’ is in 2Co 3:16. If ‘the Lord’ there refers back to the Lord in the Old Testament because it has Jews in mind, then this is simply pointing out that the Spirit of the Lord is the Lord manifested in power. The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, freedom from the Law, freedom from condemnation. Turning to the Lord truly results in such freedom.
The suggestion that it simply means the Holy Spirit as bearing the title ‘Lord’ must be seen as doubtful because it would be unusual to speak of ‘turning to the Spirit’ as would be implied in 2Co 3:16. That would be using an idea which is unparalleled elsewhere. The Spirit always points away from Himself. Furthermore the reference to the ‘Spirit of the Lord’ in the second part of this verse also suggests that there too the Lord is not the Spirit either. He cannot be the Spirit of Himself. In fact taking ‘Spirit of the Lord’ to signify the Spirit of Yahweh, ‘the Lord’ in that phrase here means the God of the Old Testament.
But if it did mean ‘the Lord is the (Holy) Spirit’ then it would suggest that it was Paul’s intentions to indicate that Jesus is the Lord (2Co 3:16), and the Spirit is the Lord (2Co 3:17 a), although also still being the Spirit of Yahweh (the Lord) (2Co 3:17 b), Who is Lord over all, a clear statement of the triunity of ‘the Lord’.
However, the probability in the context of Corinthians must be that the Lord in 2Co 3:16 refers to Jesus Christ. And there is no difficulty in the phrase ‘the Spirit of the Lord’ then because Paul would certainly have no difficulty in aligning Jesus Christ with the Lord of the Old Testament. He calls Him ‘the Lord, Jesus Christ’ and elsewhere declares that ‘Jesus is Lord’, bearing the name that is above every name (Rom 10:9; Php 2:8-11). Thus it is the equivalent of the Spirit of Christ (Rom 10:9). But if that is so what could the first part of this verse mean.
How then is ‘the Lord that spirit’? One possible explanation in this case is that we should use a small ‘s’ and see ‘the Lord is that spirit’ as being intended as an explanation, tying together the reference to the Lord in 2Co 3:16, where His function is to give light and life, with the references to the spirit in 2Co 3:6 b and 6c, where the idea is similar, to show that the ‘spirit’ referred to there is not intended to refer directly to the Spirit of the living God of 2Co 3:3 but to ‘the spirit of Jesus’, this being seen in terms of the ‘life-giving spirit’ of 1Co 15:45; (‘spirit in 2Co 3:6 b is without the article, possibly to distinguish it from the reference in 2Co 3:3, so that the article in 6c and here in 17 could be referring back to 2Co 3:6 b). Compare also 1Co 6:17.
Then Paul is saying, ‘the Lord in 2Co 3:16 is the essence of the ‘spirit’ which is in contrast to the ‘letter’, the spirit that reveals, the spirit that gives life, the life-giving spirit, and it is Jesus Who is the life-giving spirit, (1Co 15:45) Who works by means of the Spirit of the Lord’, Who can elsewhere be described as the Spirit of Christ (Rom 10:9). Compare Joh 5:22; Joh 5:26 where ‘the Son makes alive whom He will’ and ‘has life in Himself’. He is the life-giving spirit. This would not have the same difficulties for Paul’s readers as it does to us, for they would not in their minds have crystallised the persona of God as much as we do. They were happy to see God as Spirit (Joh 4:24), Jesus as life-giving Spirit (1Co 15:45), and the Holy Spirit as Spirit.
Alternately it may simply mean that the Lord reveals His truth through the Spirit. The Lord is manifested by the Spirit.
The final implication is that again through Him there is freedom from the Law as interpreted in the Synagogue, and from its condemnation, from the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2). They are no longer legally bound by its requirements, they have escaped the spirit of bondage and the fear it produces (Rom 8:15 a). They are instead free and at liberty, they are sons who observe the family rules (Rom 8:15 b). They are under the law to Christ, responsible to obey Him (1Co 9:21). But they are not under the condemnation of the Law.
All this is not, of course, to deny the clear implication of the closeness of the Lord with the Holy Spirit, as the second half of 2Co 3:17 reveals, for such closeness can be paralleled in Joh 14:17-18; Joh 14:20; Joh 14:23 and Rom 8:9. Whatever view we take it clearly indicates the close relationship between the Lord and the Spirit.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Co 3:17. Now the Lord is that Spirit: Now where the Lord is, the Spirit is. Le Clerc. Now the Spirit is the Lord; and where that Spirit is, there is the liberty of the Lord. Wells. These words, according to Mr. Locke, relate to 2Co 3:6 where St. Paul says, he is a minister, not of the law, nor of the outside and literal sense, but of the mystical and spiritual meaning of it; which here he tells us is Christ. And he adds, there is liberty, because the Spirit is given only to sons, or those that are free. See Rom 8:15. This verse may be paraphrased, “Now the Lord Jesus Christ is that Spirit of the law of which I spoke before, to whom the letter of it was intended to lead the Jews; and it is the office of the Spirit of God, as the great agent in his kingdom, to direct the minds of men to it: and let him be universally sought in this view; for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; a moral, liberal, and filial disposition, to which, under the influence and operation of the Spirit, the Gospel brings those who are subject to bondage under the imperfect dispensation of Moses.”
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Co 3:17 . Remark giving information regarding what is asserted in 2Co 3:16 .
, [the German] aber , appends not something of contrast, i.e . to Moses, who is the letter (Hofmann), but a clause elucidating what was just said, . ., [175] equivalent to namely . See Hermann, ad Viger. p. 845; Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 167. Rckert (comp. de Wette) is of a different opinion, holding that there is here a continued chain of reasoning , so that Paul in 2Co 3:16-17 means to say: “When the people of Israel shall have turned to the Lord, then will the be taken from it; and when this shall have happened, it will also attain the freedom (from the yoke of the law) which is at present wanting to it.” But, because in that case the would be a more important point than the taking away of the veil, 2Co 3:18 must have referred back not to the latter, but to the former. Seeing, however, that 2Co 3:18 refers back to the taking away of the veil, it is clear that 2Co 3:17 is only an accessory sentence, which is intended to remove every doubt regarding the . [176] Besides, if Rckert were right, Paul would have continued his discourse illogically; the logical continuation would have been, 2Co 3:17 : , . . . . .
] is subject , not (as Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Estius, Schulz held, partly in the interest of opposition to Arianism) predicate , which would be possible in itself, but cannot be from the connection with 2Co 3:16 . [177] The words, however, cannot mean: Dominus significat Spiritum (Wetstein), because previously the conversion to Christ, to the actual personal Christ, was spoken of; they can only mean: the Lord, however, is the Spirit , i.e. the Lord, however , to whom the heart is converted (note the article) is not different from the ( Holy ) Spirit , who is received, namely, in conversion, and (see what follows) is the divine life-power that makes free. That this was meant not of hypostatical identity, but according to the dynamical oeconomic point of view, that the fellowship of Christ, into which we enter through conversion, is the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, was obvious of itself to the believing consciousness of the readers, and is also put beyond doubt by the following . And Christ is the Spirit in so far as at conversion, and generally in the whole arrangements of salvation, He communicates Himself in the Holy Spirit, and this Spirit is His Spirit, the living principle of the influence and indwelling of Christ , certainly the living ground of life in the church, and the spirit of its life (Hofmann), but as such just the Holy Spirit, in whom the Lord reveals Himself as present and savingly active. The same thought is contained in Rom 8:9-11 , as is clear especially from 2Co 3:10-11 , where and and (2Co 3:9 ) appear to be identical as the indwelling principle of the Christian being and life, so that there must necessarily lie at the bottom of it the idea: . Comp. Gal 2:20 ; Gal 4:6 , Phi 1:19 , Act 20:28 , along with Eph 4:11 . As respects His immanence , therefore, in His people, Christ is the Spirit. Comp. also Krummel, l.c. p. 97, who rightly remarks that, if Christ calls Himself the light, the way, the truth, etc., all this is included in the proposition: “the Lord is the Spirit.” Fritzsche, Dissert. I. p. 42, takes it: Dominus est ita Sp. St. perfusus, ut totus quasi sit . So also Rckert, who nevertheless (following Erasmus and Beza) believes it necessary to explain the article before by retrospective reference to 2Co 3:6 ; 2Co 3:8 . [178] But in that case the whole expression would be reduced to a mere quasi , with which the further inference would not be logically in accord; besides, according to analogy of Scripture elsewhere, it cannot be said of the exalted Christ (and yet it is He that is meant), “ Spiritu sancto perfusus est ,” or “ Spiritu gaudet divino ,” an expression which can only belong to Christ in His earthly state (Luk 1:35 ; Mar 1:10 ; Act 1:2 ; Act 10:38 ); whereas the glorified Christ is the sender of the Spirit, the possessor and disposer (comp. also Rev 3:1 ; Rev 4:5 ; Rev 5:6 ), and therewith Lord of the Spirit, 2Co 3:18 . The weakened interpretation: “Christ, however, imparts the Spirit ” (Piscator, L. Cappellus, Scultetus, and others, including Emmerling and Fiatt), is at variance with the words, and is not to be supported by passages like Joh 14:6 , since in these the predicates are not concretes but abstracts. In keeping with the view and the expression in the present passage are those Johannine passages in which Christ promises the communication of the Spirit to the disciples as His own return (Joh 14:18 , al. ). Others have departed from the simple sense of the words “Christ is the Spirit,” either by importing into another meaning than that of the Holy Spirit, or by not taking to signify the personal Christ. The former course is inadmissible, partly on account of the following , partly because the absolute admits of no other meaning whatever than the habitual one; the latter is made impossible by 2Co 3:16 . Among those adhering to the former view are Morus: “Quum Dominum dico, intelligo illam divinitus datam religionis scientiam;” Erasmus and Calvin: “that is the spirit of the law , which only becomes viva et vivifica, si a Christo inspiretur , whereby the spirit comes to the body;” also Olshausen: “the Lord now is just the Spirit, of which there was mention above” (2Co 3:6 ); by this is to be understood the spiritual institute, the economy of the Spirit; Christ, namely, fills His church with Himself; hence it is itself Christ. Comp. Ewald, according to whom Christ is designated, in contrast to the letter and compulsion of law, as the Spirit absolutely (just as God is, Joh 4:24 ). Similarly Neander. To this class belongs also the interpretation of Baur, which, in spite of the article in , amounts to this, that Christ in His substantial existence is spirit , i.e. an immaterial substance composed of light ; [179] comp. his neut. Theol. p. 18 7 f. See, on the contrary, Rbiger, Christol. Paul. p. 36 f.; Krummel, l.c. p. 79 ff. Among the adherents of the second mode of interpretation are Vorstius, Mosheim, Bolten: “ is the doctrine of Jesus ;” also Billroth, who recognises as its meaning: “in the kingdom of the Lord the Spirit rules; the essence of Christianity is the Spirit of the Lord, which He confers on His own.” For many other erroneous interpretations (among which is included that of Estius, Calovius, and others, who refer to God, and so explain the words of the divinity of the Holy Spirit ), see Pole and Wol.
] spiritual freedom in general , without special limitation. [180] To have a veil on the heart (see 2Co 3:15 ), and to be spiritually free, are opposite ; hence the statement , 2Co 3:16 , obtains elucidation by our . The veil on the heart hinders the spiritual activity, and makes it fettered; where, therefore, there is freedom , the veil must be away; but freedom must have its seat, where the Spirit of the Lord is, which Spirit carries on and governs all the thinking and willing, and removes all barriers external to its sway. That Paul has regard (Erasmus, Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Fritzsche) to the conception that the veil is an outward sign of subjection (1Co 11:10 ), is to be denied all the more, seeing that here what is spoken of is not a covering of the head (which would be the sign of a foreign ), as 1 Cor. l.c. , but a veiling of the heart , 2Co 3:15 .
[175] Bengel aptly says: “Particula autem ostendit, hoc versn declarari praecedentem. Conversio fit ad Dominum ut spiritual.” Theodoret rightly furnishes the definition of the as making the transition to an explanation by the intermediate question: ;
[176] There is implied, namely, in ver. 17 a syllogism, of which the major premiss is: , , “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;” the minor premiss is: “this Spirit he who is converted to the Lord has, because the Lord is the Spirit;” the conclusion : “consequently that can no longer have a place with the converted, but only freedom.”
[177] For the most complete, historical, and critical conspectus of the many different interpretations of this passage, see Krummel, p. 58 ff.
[178] Quite erroneously, since no reader could hit on this retrospective reference, and also the following is said without any such reference. Paul, if he wished to express himself so as to be surely intelligible, could not do otherwise than put the article ; for, if he had written , he might have given rise to quite another understanding than he wished to express, namely: the Lord is spirit, a spiritual being , as Joh 4:24 , , a possible misinterpretation, which is rejected already by Chrysostom. Comp. 1Co 15:45 . We may add that is to be explained simply according to hallowed usage of the Holy Spirit, not, as Lipsius ( Rechtfertigungsl . p. 167) unreasonably presses the article, “the whole full .” So also Ernesti, Uspr. d. Snde , I. p. 222.
[179] Weiss also, bibl. Theol . p. 308, explains it to the effect, that Christ in His resurrection received a pneumatic body composed of light, and therefore became entirely (1Co 15:45 ). But the article is against this also. Besides, the body of Christ in His resurrection was not yet the body of light, which it is in heaven (Phi 3:21 ).
[180] Grotius understands it as libertas a vitiis ; while Rckert, de Wette, and others, after Chrysostom, make it the freedom from the law of Moses. According to Erasmus, Paraphr ., it is free virtue and love .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 2011
CHRIST THE SOUL OF THE ENTIRE SCRIPTURES
2Co 3:17. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
THE Scriptures are not sufficiently viewed as a whole. We are apt to take detached parts only, and to form opinions from them, when we ought rather to regard every part in its connexion with the rest; and so to get a comprehensive view of religion, in all its parts, and in all its bearings. The truth is, that revelation is the same from the beginning, and constitutes one great whole; it is a body having many parts that are visible and tangible: but it is penetrated by a soul, which, though invisible, really pervades every part; and that soul is Christ.
The Apostle, in the preceding context, is comparing the Law and the Gospel; which, if disjoined, may be considered, the one as a mere letter, a ministration of death; the other, as a Spirit, a ministration of righteousness and life [Note: ver. 69.]: but if they be viewed in their relation to each other, then is the one the shadow, whereof the other is the substance; the body, whereof the other is the soul.
This seems to be the import of the passage which I have just read. The Apostle is speaking of glorious truths veiled under the law [Note: ver. 13, 14.]; which, though in itself carnal, was full of life and spirit [Note: Joh 6:63.]. Now, says he, the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; that is, where the true spiritual import of the Scriptures is understood, and Christ is clearly seen in them, and received into the heart through them, there is that very liberty which they were designed to impart.
The words thus explained will give me occasion to take a view of the whole revelation of God:
I.
In its substance, as an exhibition of Christ
The Old Testament, comprehending the law and the prophets, is one great body: but Christ is the soul that animates it throughout. He is the substance of,
1.
The law
[The moral law may seem to consist only of prohibitions and injunctions; enforced with promises to obedience, and threatenings to disobedience. But it is, in fact, a revelation of Christ, inasmuch as it shuts us up to Christ, and is a schoolmaster to bring us to him [Note: Gal 3:22-24.]: for, in reality, every command, whilst it shews us how defective our obedience is, directs us to Christ; who has fulfilled it in its utmost extent, and has thereby wrought out a perfect righteousness for his believing people. This is the account given of it by an inspired Apostle, who says, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth [Note: Rom 10:4.].
The ceremonial law was nothing but a mass of carnal ordinances, which had no force or value in themselves; but, as representations of Christ and his perfect work, were of infinite value. In them the Gospel was preached, precisely the same Gospel as is now preached unto us [Note: Heb 4:2.]. Christ was contained in every part of them [Note: 1Co 10:3-4.]; and was, in fact, the substance of which they were the shadow [Note: Heb 10:1. Col 2:17.]. This may be seen in all its sacrifices, &c. &c. ]
2.
The prophets
[These confessedly, with one voice, spoke of Christ: so that, from the first promise of the seed of the woman to bruise the serpents head, to the last that was uttered respecting the Sun of Righteousness that should arise with healing in his wings, all spake of him; all directed to him; and he was the life and soul of all ]
To those who thus enter into the full scope of revelation, it will be made known,
II.
In its effects, as a ministration of liberty
The whole of it, altogether, is that truth which will make us free [Note: Joh 8:32.].
It will impart liberty,
1.
From all legal obligation
[As for the ordinances of the ceremonial law, they were all intended to be abolished [Note: ver. 11.], and are abolished [Note: Col 2:14; Col 2:20-22. Heb 7:18.]. But even the moral law itself, so far as it was a covenant of life and death, is abolished. We are brought under a better covenant. a covenant of grace [Note: Heb 8:6-13.]. We therefore hear the curses of the law without any emotion, except of love and gratitude. The thunders of Mount Sinai have no terror for us: there is no condemnation to us, because we believe in Christ [Note: Rom 8:1.], and have in him a righteousness full commensurate with its strictest demands [Note: Rom 3:22.]. He has borne its curse for us; and left for us nothing but unalloyed and everlasting blessings [Note: Gal 3:13.] ]
2.
From all legal exertions
[We no longer abstain from any thing through the fear of hell, nor engage in any thing to purchase heaven. As far as we are animated by the spirit of the Gospel, we can adopt those words of David, I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right, and I hate every false way [Note: Psa 119:128.]: that is, I view thy ways as so excellent, that I would walk in them though there were no reward annexed to such a line of conduct: and I view sin as so odious, that I would not live in it, though I might do so with impunity. Indeed, were the Christian penetrated with any other spirit than this, he would render all his obedience worthless in the sight of God; who, though he tells us to buy the blessings, of salvation, tells us that we must buy them without money, and without price [Note: Isa 55:1.]. Any attempt to obtain his favour by our own works will make void his whole Gospel, and infallibly disappoint our hopes [Note: Gal 5:2; Gal 5:4.]: for nothing but perdition awaits such ignorant and ill-advised zeal [Note: Rom 9:31-32; Rom 10:2-3.].]
3.
From all legal views and dispositions
[Those who have truly received Christ into their hearts are not his servants, but his friends [Note: Joh 15:15.]; yea, they are sons of God [Note: Joh 1:12.], and, with a spirit of adoption, are enabled to call him, Abba, Father [Note: Rom 8:15.]. They go in and out before him with the liberty of endeared children: for the Lord Jesus has made them free; and they are free indeed [Note: Joh 8:36.]. Formerly they were, as all men by nature are, in a servile spirit, doing every thing rather by constraint than choice: but now, having no more the spirit of bondage to fear, they have received the spirit of power, and of love, and of a sound mind [Note: 2Ti 1:7.]; and, under the influence of this spirit, they walk at liberty [Note: Psa 119:45.], and account the service of their God to be perfect freedom.]
4.
From the power of sin altogether
[This is the most blessed part of their inheritance. A freedom from the bondage of corruption is the most glorious part of the liberty of the children of God [Note: Rom 8:21.]. And that this is possessed by them, the whole Scriptures bear witness. Let the sixth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans be read throughout, and this matter will appear in the clearest light. A believer is dead with Christ; and therefore cannot possibly live in sin [Note: Rom 6:1-2.]. The being under the covenant of grace ensures to him a victory over sin of every kind [Note: Rom 6:14.]. From the moment that he embraced this better covenant, he was made free from sin (from its dominion); and being become a servant of God, he has his fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life [Note: Rom 6:22.]. The whole of this matter is placed, if possible, in a stronger point of view in the eighth chapter of the same epistle; where the Apostle gives precisely the same view of the whole of revelation as we have done, and ascribes to it precisely the same efficacy: The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, (hath done; that is, he hath) condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit [Note: Rom 8:2-4.]. Thus does the whole revelation of God, whether Law or Gospel, when rightly viewed, appear to be, as it is beautifully designated by St. James, a perfect law of liberty [Note: Jam 1:25.]; and thus it is found to be, by all who embrace it in spirit and in truth.]
In conclusion, let me urge you,
1.
To enter with all diligence into the true spirit of the Scriptures
[They are in themselves a sealed book: nor can any but the adorable Lamb of God open them to our view. But beg of him to take away the veil from them; and from your hearts also, when you read them [Note: ver. 14.]. Then will there be found a glory in them, even all the glory of God shining in the face of Jesus Christ. Be not contented with any thing short of this: for this alone will produce those glorious effects which are here ascribed to it [Note: ver. 18.].]
2.
To make a right use of the liberty which they impart to you
[There are some who profess godliness, and yet would promise you liberty, whilst they themselves are servants of corruption [Note: 2Pe 2:19.]. But it is not a liberty in sin that Jesus gives; but a liberty from sin [Note: Mat 1:21.]. St. Paul carefully guards us on this head; saying, Ye, brethren, have been called unto liberty: only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh [Note: Gal 5:13.]. Your liberty is, to run the way of Gods commandments with an enlarged heart [Note: Psa 119:22.]. Stand last, therefore, in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free; and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage [Note: Gal 5:1.]. Use, I say, your liberty aright for a little while; and soon you shall be as free and happy as the very angels of God around his throne.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(17) Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. (18) But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
What a sweet thought is here suggested to the Church, in the divine presence, and the freedom he brings with him. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Yes! When the child of God, from the Adam-nature of sin and Satan, by regeneration, is brought into the liberty wherewith the Lord makes his people free; then they are free indeed, Joh 8:36 . They then have access to the throne, at all times, upon all occasions. Having received the Spirit of adoption, they cry Abba, Father! And the Spirit beareth witness with their spirits, that they are children of God, Rom 8:16 . They are freed from the burden of sin, from the guilt of sin, from the penalty due to sin, from the dominion of sin; and from all the terrors; and everlasting condemnation of sin. God’s law is magnified, and made honorable in Christ. Justice is satisfied. The accusations of Satan are answered. Conscience is appeased; and the believer, having passed from death unto life, hath now found peace with God, in the blood of the cross: for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Blessed be God! where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! Reader! let us seek grace, to learn our blessedness, from this work of God the Spirit, and to bring it into actual enjoyment, from day to day. How fully doth it prove, our oneness with Christ, and our interest in Christ. How ought it to bear us up, against every temptation, every sorrow, trial, and affliction! And what a security against sickness, death, judgment, and all the fears of futurity. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty! Oh! the freedom to a throne of grace now; and the assurance of access, and every privilege of the redeemed, to a throne of glory forever! At that day ye shall know, that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you! Joh 14:21 . Oh! the blessedness, through the Spirit, and the blood, and righteousness of the Lord Jesus, to go every day, and all the day, to a throne of grace now, and to a throne of glory forevermore!
I detain the Reader, just to observe, the beauty and blessedness which the Apostle closeth the Chapter with, in relation to Christ. Beholding as in a glass, (or speculum,) the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image. Yes! when God the Spirit enables the child of God to behold Christ, this begets an assimilation: similar to the effect in looking to a glass, the one is formed by the other. So by beholding Jesus in his glory, admiring his Person, having our souls ravished with his love, we are led to imitate what we love: and, through the Spirit of the Lord, we grow up into a desire to be like him, to resemble what we love, and to imitate what we admire. Precious Jesus! be it my portion, to behold thy face in righteousness, that when I awake up, I may be satisfied with thy likeness, Psa 17:15 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is liberty.
Ver. 17. The Lord is that Spirit ] Christ only can give the Jews that noble spirit, as David calleth him, Psa 51:12 , that freeth a man from the invisible chains of the kingdom of darkness.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17. ] Now ( exponentis. ; Theodoret) the Lord is the Spirit: i.e. the of 2Co 3:16 , is, the Spirit , whose word the O. T. is: the , as opposed to the , which , 2Co 3:6 .
But it is not merely, as Wetst., ‘Dominus significat Spiritum,’ nor is merely, as Olsh., the spiritual sense of the law : but, ‘ the Lord ,’ as here spoken of, ‘Christ,’ ‘ is the Spirit ,’ is identical with the Holy Spirit: not personally nor essentially, but, as is shewn by following, in this department of His divine working: Christ , here, is the Spirit of Christ . The principal mistaken interpretation (among many, see Pool’s Synops., Meyer, De Wette) is that of Chrys., Theodoret, Theophyl., cum., Estius, Schulz, making the subject, and . the predicate, which though perhaps (but would then have had its present position?) allowable, is against the context, . being plainly resumed from . in 2Co 3:16 . The words are then used by them as a proof of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit.
But ( appealing to a known or evident axiom, as in a mathematical demonstration) where the Spirit of the Lord (see above) is, is liberty ( has probably been inserted, as being usual after : but, as Meyer remarks, not in St. Paul’s style, see Rom 4:15 ; Rom 5:20 ). They are fettered in spirit as long as they are slaves to the letter, = as long as they have the vail on their hearts; but when they turn to the Lord the Spirit, which is not but . , Rom 8:15 , and by virtue of whom , , Gal 4:7 , then they are at liberty. There can hardly be any allusion to a vail over the head implying subjection, as 1Co 11:10 , (Erasm., Beza, Grot., Bengel, Fritz.,) for here the covering of the head with a vail is not thought of, but merely intercepting the sight.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
2Co 3:17 . : but the LORD, i.e. , the Jehovah of Israel, spoken of in the preceding quotation, is the Spirit , the Author of the New Covenant of grace, to whom the new Israel is invited to turn ( cf. Act 9:35 ). It is quite perverse to compare 1Co 15:45 (where it is said that Christ, as “the last Adam,” became ) or Ignatius, Mag. , 15, , and to find here an “identification” of Christ with the Holy Spirit. is here not Christ, but the Jehovah of Israel spoken of in Exo 34:34 ; and in St. Paul’s application of the narrative of the Veiling of Moses, the counterpart of under the New Covenant is the Spirit, which has been already contrasted in the preceding verses (2Co 3:3 ; 2Co 3:6 ) with the letter of the Mosaic law. At the same time it is true that the identification of “the Lord” ( i.e. , the Son) and “the Spirit” intermittently appears afterwards in Christian theology. See (for reff.) Swete in Dict. Chr. Biog. , iii., 115 a. . . .: and where the Spirit of the Lord is , there is liberty; sc. , in contradistinction to the servile fear of Exo 34:30 ; cf. Joh 8:32 , Rom 8:15 , Gal 4:7 , in all of which passages the freedom of Christian service is contrasted with the bondage of the Law. The thought here is not of the freedom of the Spirit’s action (Joh 3:8 , 1Co 12:11 ), but of the freedom of access to God under the New Covenant, as exemplified in the removal of the veil, when the soul turns itself to the Divine glory. “The Spirit of the Lord” is an O.T. phrase (see reff.). We now return to the thought of 2Co 3:12 , the openness and boldness of the Apostolical service.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Lord. App-98.
that = the.
Spirit. App-101. Compare 2Co 3:6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17.] Now ( exponentis. ; Theodoret) the Lord is the Spirit: i.e. the of 2Co 3:16, is, the Spirit, whose word the O. T. is: the ,-as opposed to the ,-which , 2Co 3:6.
But it is not merely, as Wetst., Dominus significat Spiritum, nor is merely, as Olsh., the spiritual sense of the law: but, the Lord, as here spoken of, Christ, is the Spirit, is identical with the Holy Spirit: not personally nor essentially, but, as is shewn by following, in this department of His divine working:-Christ, here, is the Spirit of Christ. The principal mistaken interpretation (among many, see Pools Synops., Meyer, De Wette) is that of Chrys., Theodoret, Theophyl., cum., Estius, Schulz,-making the subject, and . the predicate, which though perhaps (but would then have had its present position?) allowable, is against the context, . being plainly resumed from . in 2Co 3:16. The words are then used by them as a proof of the Divinity of the Holy Spirit.
But ( appealing to a known or evident axiom, as in a mathematical demonstration) where the Spirit of the Lord (see above) is, is liberty ( has probably been inserted, as being usual after : but, as Meyer remarks, not in St. Pauls style, see Rom 4:15; Rom 5:20). They are fettered in spirit as long as they are slaves to the letter, = as long as they have the vail on their hearts; but when they turn to the Lord the Spirit, which is not but . , Rom 8:15,-and by virtue of whom , , Gal 4:7,-then they are at liberty. There can hardly be any allusion to a vail over the head implying subjection, as 1Co 11:10, (Erasm., Beza, Grot., Bengel, Fritz.,) for here the covering of the head with a vail is not thought of, but merely intercepting the sight.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
2Co 3:17. , but the Lord is that Spirit) The Lord is the subject. Christ is not the letter, but He is the Spirit and the end of the law. A sublime announcement: comp. Php 1:21; Gal 3:16. The particle but, or now, shows that the preceding is explained by this verse. The turning (conversion) takes place [is made] to the Lord, as the Spirit.- , and where the Spirit of the Lord is) Where Christ is, there the Spirit of Christ is; where the Spirit of Christ is, there Christ is; Rom 8:9-10. Where Christ and His Spirit are, there is liberty: Joh 8:36; Gal 4:6-7.-) there, and there only.-) liberty, opposed to the veil, the badge of slavery: liberty, without such fear in looking, as the children of Israel had, Exo 34:30.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
2Co 3:17
2Co 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.-[There is here a broad contrast between two covenants, called respectively, the letter and the Spirit, the one proceeding from the veiled Moses at Mount Sinai; the other emanating from the unveiled Christ on Mount Zion. In the expression, whensoever Moses is read (verse 15), it is clear that Moses stands for the letter, or legal covenant which Moses gave, and by force of contrast the Lord stands in the same way for the Spirit, or gracious covenant of which he is the author. Fully stated the whole antithesis stands thus: Now Moses is the letter and where the letter of Moses is there is bondage (Gal 4:24-25); but the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The Liberty of the Spirit
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.2Co 3:17.
We almost seem to hear a change in the tone of St. Pauls voice, and to see a new light glisten in his eyes, as in the course of his letter to the Church at Corinth he dictates these words to his amanuensis. For they are words of transition into a region and atmosphere of thought very different from that in which he has before been moving. He has been working out, with some complexity and elaboration of detail, the contrast in substance, in circumstance, and in method between the ministry of the Old Covenant and the ministry of the New; between the transient and fragmentary disclosure of an external Law, and the inner gift of a quickening Spirit, steadfast in the glory of holiness, and endless in its power to renew, to ennoble, to illuminate. With close and tenacious persistence the deep, pervading difference between the two systems has been traced; and then St. Paul seems to lift up his eyes, and to speak as one for whom the sheer wonder of the sight he sees finds at once the words he needs. He has finished his argumentative comparison; and now the vision of the Christian life, the triumph of Gods love and pity in the work of grace, the astonishing goodness that has made such things possible for sinful men, holds his gaze.
It is as when one climbs the northern slopes of the Alps with painful drudgery, through shaded paths in which every view is hidden, and stands at last upon the mountain summit, with all the wealth, brightness, and expansiveness of the Italian landscape at his feet. All that toilsome, weary, joyless work before, and now all this widespread beauty, unclouded vision, and heavenly freedom. St. Paul forgets the past in the glory before him, and sets down his rapture in this one word, Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. That, to St. Paul, is the distinguishing feature of the Christian life. A life of service? Yes, undoubtedly, but still more a life of liberty. For he who follows Christ enjoys more of that coveted blessedness than any other man. That is the claim which St. Paul makes. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
I
The Nature of Liberty
1. Liberty is not licence. There are two kinds of freedom: the false, where a man is free to do what he likes; the true, where a man is free to do what he ought. The lawless man is a bond-slave whether it is primarily against his own inner life and health and growth that he sins, or against the society in which he lives, or against Almighty God, who is waiting to have mercy on himwhether it is the love of God, or the love of man, or the true unselfish love of self, that he disregards and casts aside in sloth or wilfulness or passion; in every case the ultimate, the characteristic, note of his sin is still the same: it is lawlessness: it is the abuse of will, thrusting away the task, declining from the effort, refusing the sacrifice in which lay the next step towards the end of life, the mans one raison dtre: it is the distortion of faculties, the wrenching aside of energy, the perversion of a trust from the purpose marked upon it, from the design which conscience seldom, if ever, wholly ceases to attest, to a morbid use, to a senseless squandering, a listless, wasteful, indolent neglect, a self-chosen and self-centred aim. Whether the sin be quiet or flagrant, brutal or refined, secret or flaunting, arrogant or faint-hearted, its deep distinctive quality, its badness and its power for havoc lie in this, that the man will not have law to reign over him; that he will do what he wills with that which is not in truth his own; that he is acting, or idling, in contempt of the law which conditions the great gift of life, and is involved in his tenure of it.
For instance, let us mark that dull rebellion of lawless thoughts; the perverseness, the ever-deepening disorder of a mind that swerves from its true calling wilfully to loiter or to brood about the thoughts of sin, about thoughts of sensuality, or of jealousy, or of self-conceit. The high faculties of memory, reflection, fancy, observation, are dragged down from their great task: day by day the field for their lawful exercise is spread out before them: all the wonder, the beauty, the mystery, the sadness, the dignity and wretchedness, the endless interests and endless opportunities of human life and of the scene which it is crossingthese are ever coming before the mind which God created to enter into them, to find its work and training and delight and growth amidst them. And yet, all the while, in the dismal lawlessness of sin, it stays to grovel among the hateful thoughts of mean, degrading vices; or turns day after day to keep awake the memory of some sullen grudge, some fancied slight; to tend the smoky flame of some dull, unreasonable hatred: or to dwell on its own poor achievements, its fancied excellences, the scraps of passing praise that have been given to it, the dignity that its self-consciousness is making laughable. Surely it is terrible to think that a man may so go on, and so grow old, continually stumbling farther and farther from the law of his own joy and health.
Liberty is the fullest opportunity for man to be and do the very best that is possible for him. I know of no definition of liberty, that oldest and dearest phrase of men, and sometimes the vaguest also, except that. It has been perverted, it has been distorted and mystified, but that is what it really means: the fullest opportunity for a man to do and be the very best that is in his personal nature to do and to be. It immediately follows that everything which is necessary for the full realization of a mans life, even though it seems to have the character of restraint for a moment, is really a part of the process of his enfranchisement, is the bringing forth of him to a fuller liberty.1 [Note: Phillips Brooks, Addresses, 82.]
Liberty is but a means. Woe unto you and to your future, should you ever accustom yourselves to regard it as the end! Your own individuality has its rights and duties, which may not be yielded up to any; but woe unto you and to your future, should the respect you owe unto that which constitutes your individual life ever degenerate into the fatal crime of egotism. We need liberty, as much to fulfil a duty as to exercise a right; we must retain it. But if you give to your political education a higher religious principle, liberty will become what it ought really to bethe ability to choose between various means of doing good; if you enthrone it alone, as at once means and end, it will become what some jurisconsults, copying paganism, have defined it to bethe right to use and to abuse. It will lead society first to anarchy, afterwards to the despotism which you fear.1 [Note: Mazzini, Life and Writings, iv. 313.]
Nought nobler is, than to be free;
The stars of heaven are free because
In amplitude of liberty
Their joy is to obey the laws.
From servitude to freedoms name
Free thou thy mind in bondage pent;
Depose the fetish, and proclaim
The things that are more excellent.2 [Note: William Watson.]
2. Genuine liberty, therefore, is found only in surrender to a higher will. All created things, even those we call the most free, are subject to law and rule and order. The sun who rejoices to run his course, yet knoweth his going down. The winds and storm fulfil Gods appointed word. The waves of the sea have their bounds set, whence they cannot pass. For God is a God of order. In the world of politics, the freedom of a nation, such as England, does not mean that its citizens do as they please in everything. In the true home, where family life is seen at the best, there is the perfect model of freedom. There the children do not think and act just as they please. Order, rule, method, direction, are all well known and valued, and acted upon. What, then, is the liberty of the family? What gives to family life its freedom, or makes it no place of bondage? The simple, natural unconscious blending of the fathers mind with that of his children, and the childrens will with that of their father; the instinctive correspondence of their hearts, the sympathy of their aims, the union of their interests. The children obey, but their obedience is not dreary and dull, for the fathers mind and the fathers wishes express what they increasingly know to be their own true mind and their own best good. The freedom of children just means this: the power to obey gladly.
Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for, by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and by our very acknowledgment make manifest that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it.3 [Note: Goethe.]
Love, we are in Gods hand.
How strange now, looks the life He makes us lead;
So free we seem, so fettered fast we are!
I feel He laid the fetter: let it lie!1 [Note: R. Browning, Andrea del Sarto.]
3. Christ exemplified in His own life and conduct the highest liberty. He came to do not His own will, but the will of His Father. He was under authority, under orders. That was one side of His life. But the other side was one of perfect freedom, for His own will and the Fathers will made one music. The Fathers good pleasure and His good pleasure were one, and never crossed or clashed. Every step that He took was the step of a free man; every act that He did was done willingly, of His own choice. There was no necessity laid upon Him. He was not compelled to be poor; He elected to be poor. He was not compelled to suffer hunger, hardship, loneliness, mans spite, thankless toil, and tears; He could have escaped all that, but He took it, by deliberate choice, cheerfully. He was not compelled to lay down His life on the cross; He was master of death, and could have turned it aside. Of His own will He let men slay Him with cruel hands, not because He must, but because He freely gave Himself. The whole charm of that life was its willingness. The glory of it was its freedom. He walked and worked and taught and healed and suffered, just as His own glad, great, loving Spirit led Him.
Christs commandments are Himself; and the sum of them all is thisa character perfectly self-oblivious, and wholly penetrated and saturated with joyful, filial submission to the Father, and uttermost and entire giving Himself away to His brethren. That is Christs commandment which He bids us keep, and His law is to be found in His life. And then, if that be so, what a change passes on the aspect of law, when we take Christ as being our living embodiment of it. Everything that was hard, repellent, far-off, cold, vanishes. We have no longer tables of stone, but fleshy tables of a heart; and the Law stands before us, a Being to be loved, to be clung to, to be trusted, whom it is blessedness to know and perfection to be like. The rails upon which the train travels may be rigid, but they mean safety, and carry men smoothly into otherwise inaccessible lands. So the life of Jesus Christ brought to us is the firm and plain track along which we are to travel; and all that was difficult and hard in the cold thought of duty becomes changed into the attraction of a living pattern and example.
In every art the master is free. He can create and control. Rules do not determine him; precedents do not bind him. Where the spirit of the master is, there is liberty. He breaks old laws, and makes new ones. He even dispenses with laws, not because he despises them, but because he is a law unto himself. The law is in his heart, and he expresses it as he will. His fingers move across the organ keys, and he fills the listening air with forms, now soft as the moonlight, now wild as the storm. They are born, not of rule, but of the spirit. And as in art, so in life. Where the Spirit of the Master is, there is liberty.1 [Note: J. E. McFadyen, The Divine Pursuit, 75.]
When I am a pupil at school I begin by learning rules, but when I have mastered the science I forget the rules. I forget them in the very act of observing themkeep them most perfectly when I am unconscious of their presence. I no longer think of my scales and exercises, I no longer think of my stops and intervals; these belonged to the days of law, but I am now under grace. The master-spirit of the musician has set me freenot free from the law, but free in it. I travel over the old scales and exercises, over the old stops and intervals, unconscious that they are still on the wayside. I pass unnoticed the places of my former pain; I go through undisturbed the scenes of my youths perplexity, for the spirit of music has made me free, and its law is most destroyed when it is most fulfilled.2 [Note: G. Matheson, Voices of the Spirit, 178.]
II
The Sphere of Liberty
Where the Spirit of the Lord is. The Spirit of the Lord is everywhere, but He is specially in those who believe in Christ. His presence is accentuated in the Christian. The believer is the shrine of the Holy Spirit. And therefore in Christianity alone is true freedom to be found. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is libertyand nowhere else. The religion of the Saviour has a monopoly of genuine liberty.
The specific liberty which is here more particularly in question consisted in the taking away of the veil, which had hidden from the Jew the deeper, that is the Christian, sense of the Old Testament. It is not merely liberty from the yoke of the law. It is liberty from the tyranny of obstacles which cloud the spiritual sight of truth. It is liberty from spiritual rather than intellectual dulness; it is liberty from a state of soul which cannot apprehend truth. The Eternal Spirit still gives this liberty. He gave it, in the first age of the gospel, to those Jews whom, like St. Paul himself, He led to the knowledge and love of Jesus Christ.
But the text covers a much larger area than is required for the particular conclusion to which it is a premiss. It is the enunciation of a master-feature of the gospel. It proclaims a great first principle which towers high above the argument, into which it is introduced for the purpose of proving a single point. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Freedom is not an occasional largess of the Divine Spirit; it is not merely a reward for high services or conspicuous devotion. It is the invariable accompaniment of the Spirits true action. Or rather, it is the very atmosphere of His presence. Wherever He really is, there is also freedom. He does not merely strike off the fetters of some narrow national prejudice, or of some antiquated ceremonialism. He does not descend from Heaven to subvert an earthly despotism. He comes not that He may provide for the freedom of mans outward individual action, consistently with the safety of human society. His mission is not to bestow an external, political, social freedom. For no political or social emancipation can give real liberty to an enslaved soul. And no tyranny of the State or of society can enslave a soul that has been really freed. Nor is the freedom which He sheds abroad in Christendom a poor reproduction of the restless, volatile, self-asserting, sceptical temper of pagan Greek life, adapted to the forms and thoughts of modern civilization, and awkwardly expressing itself in Christian phraseology. If He gives liberty, it is in the broad, deep sense of that word. At His bidding, the inmost soul of man has free play; it moves hither and thither; it rises heavenward, like the lark, as if with a buoyant sense of unfettered life and power. This liberty comes with the gift of truth; it comes along with that gift of which in its fulness the Eternal Spirit is the only Giver. He gives freedom from error for the reason; freedom from constraint for the affections; freedom for the will from the tyranny of sinful desires. Often has human nature imagined for itself such a freedom as this; it has sketched the outlines more or less accurately; it has sighed in vain for the reality. Such freedom is, in fact, a creation of grace: the sons of God alone enjoy it. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
If the Spirit of God is not within a mans reach, so that he may make use of it in the apprehension of Divine truth, he is incapable of apprehending it, and therefore cannot easily be considered responsible for not doing it. I am thus led to conclude that the Spirit is in such a way and sense present in every man, that the man, if he will yield himself up to its instruction, giving up his own self-wisdom, may so use it as to apprehend the things of God by it. And I believe further that the Spirit is there for that very end, and it is pressing itself on the attention and acceptance of every man, and that the mans continuance in darkness and sin is in fact nothing else than a continued resistance to the Holy Spirit.1 [Note: Letters of Thomas Erskine of Linlathen, ii. 196.]
1. The Spirit of Christ gives liberty in the sphere of thought. The mind is led into the truth. Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Such is the freedom known and realized when we become spiritually enlightened. It is like the morning dawnthe light breaks into our inner being, and we become conscious that we have been brought into an illuminated atmosphere. We know and feel that our mental being has found its true element. What the air is to the bird, and what the water is to the fish, the truth of God is to our minds. As the bird spreads its wings, so our powers and faculties expand, and find in this new element a liberty, an enlargement, that fills our souls with a peculiar gladness.
And we may grow in freedom. We may be learning how to think; we may be casting out or bringing under sharp control the tendencies that trouble and confuse us, we may be redeeming our intellect from all that enslaves, dishonours and enfeebles it. And for all this we certainly need help and guidance; we need that some Presence, pure and wise and strong beyond all that is of this world, should bend over us, should come to us, should lead us into the light. The truth must make us free. For the powers that are to grow in freedom must be keen and vivid; their liberty must be realized and deepened and assured in ordered use; they must be ever winning for themselves fresh strength and light as they press along their line of healthful growth towards the highest aim they can surmise. And so there can be no liberty of thought without the love of truththat quickening and ennobling love which longs for truth, not as the gratification of curiosity, not as the pledge of fame, not as the monument of victory, but rather as that without which the mind can never be at rest, or find the meaning and the fulness of its own lifea love more like the love of home; a love sustained by forecasts of that which may be fully known hereafter; by fragments which disclose already something of truths perfect beauty, as its light streams out across the waves and through the night, to guide the intellect in the strength of love and hope to the haven where it would be.
2. The Spirit of Christ gives liberty in the sphere of conduct. On the face of dark and troubled waters the Spirit moves; moves because it must. The Spiritfor wind and spirit are alike in the Greekthe Spirit bloweth. And to men stifled in the atmosphere of precedent and prejudice welcome are the breezes that blow from the Alpine heights of some strong nature in whom the Spirit dwells. The Spirit bloweth where it listeth, not in the wake of some other spirit, but where it will; for it is original and free. Jesus breathed His Spirit upon twelve unheard-of men: and ancient faiths crumbled at their touch. He breathed upon a German miners son; an old church tottered, and a new world burst into being. If He breathe upon us, may not we do things as great as these?
(1) This implies deliverance from the bondage of sin. Guilt on the conscience will rob the soul of all liberty. There can be no freedom of utterance, no holy boldness, no liberty in the presence of God, if sin, in its guilt and defilement, lies on the conscience. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience is essential in order to enter into the holiest of all. An emancipated conscience is a purged conscience. When this is realized, the soul is in an atmosphere of peace. It is in this peace that the conscience finds its freedom. But it is only through the blood of his cross that this can be known. When we see the meaning of Christs death, when we accept it as that which brings us into a relation of reconciliation with God, we know what peace means. We see then that we not only stand on the work of peace, but have been brought into Him who is our peace. The conscience finds its freedom in the atmosphere of Divine peace.
Dora Greenwell tells us that she once saw the hymn, I lay my sins on Jesus, printed out in large text hand and firmly pinned on the pillow of a dying factory woman, so that she might be sure it was always thereeven as a hand holding out a leaf from the Tree of Life.1 [Note: Memories of Horatius Bonar, 108.]
We sometimes see old leaves on a tree all the winter through, clinging with a strange tenacity to the boughs. The fiercest storms do not loosen them, nor do the keenest frosts. But when spring comes round, and the sap begins to rise, the old, ansightly leaves do not need to be torn off; they drop off themselves, they are pushed off by the new power flowing through every branch; the new life displaces the old. How many old leaves of sinful habits and sinful lusts and sinful desires and sinful ambitions linger in the soul, and show a strange tenacity, and defy all outward influences to tear them off! How are they to be got rid of? Only by the rising of the new life within. Let the Spirit of Life take possession of us, and these things will drop away almost before we know.2 [Note: G. H. Knight, Divine Upliftings, 114.]
Ulysses, sailing by the Sirens isle,
Sealed first his comrades ears, then bade them fast
Bind him with many a fetter to the mast,
Lest those sweet voices should their souls beguile,
And to their ruin flatter them, the while
Their homeward bark was sailing swiftly past;
And thus the peril they behind them cast,
Though chased by those weird voices many a mile.
But yet a nobler cunning Orpheus used:
No fetter he put on, nor stopped his ear,
But ever, as he passed, sang high and clear
The blisses of the Gods, their holy joys,
And with diviner melody confused
And marred earths sweetest music to a noise.1 [Note: R. C. Trench, Poems, 143.]
(2) This means also freedom for the will. A man may see and know the right, and yet shrink from doing it, because of the fear of suffering or reproach. This is to be in a state of bondage. He may see the evil and know that it is his duty to avoid it, and yet he may be drawn to yield to it because of the pleasure that is more or less blended with it. How is liberty from such a condition to be brought about? Suppose that the will is strengthened, and that by dint of a high sense of duty the man is enabled to rise superior to the power of his passions; shall we have in such an one an example of true liberty? Surely not. What the will needs, in the first place, is not strengthening, but liberating. It must first be brought into its proper environment; there it finds its freedom. It may be weak, but it is no small matter that it is free. And being liberated, it is now prepared to be strengthened. The element in which the will finds its freedom is the love of God.
In the paper on The Force of Circumstances (Works of T. H. Green, iii. 3) the relation of the Divine spirit to the human individual is more particularly developed. The environment or system of which each man may be regarded as the centre, is not the outcome of the workings of the human mind, nor on the other hand is the human mind its creature or slave. If rightly regarded, it manifests to us in various ways the spirit in whom we live, and move, and have our being; through what we call the external world, the Divine mind, in whose likeness we are, is continually communicated to us, and in this communication we find ourselves and attain freedom. Man becomes free, not by flying from the inevitable nor by blindly acquiescing in it, but by recognizing in his very weakness and dependence the call of a being whose service is perfect freedom.2 [Note: R. L. Nettleship, Thomas Hill Green, 29.]
There are two stages of experience, both included in the life of the Christianthe one being animated chiefly by a sense of right, the other by the power of love. We may illustrate the two stages by two concentric circlesthe outer circle representing the duty-life, and the inner circle the love-life. We may be within the first, and yet not within the second; but it is impossible to be within the inner circle, and not be within the outer circle also. So, if we are dwelling in love, we shall know what it is to do the right for its own sake as well as from inclination.1 [Note: E. H. Hopkins, The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life, 86.]
3. Liberty is not perfectly realized until it has transformed our outward conditions. Meantime its progress is evident. Wherever the gospel of the grace of God has free wayis preached and acceptedthere you always find liberty following in its wake. Liberty is the attendant angel of the gospel. Let Gods truth lay hold of any land, and despotism dies. The gospel creates an atmosphere that suffocates a despot; and where it is free it exercises an influence under which slavery of every description is certain to wither. Has it not been so in our own history as a nation? England owes her present liberty and all her glorious privileges to the possession of a Bible. Search through history and you will always find that a nations greatest benefactors have been religious men; you will find also that those who have struck the hardest blows for political liberty have been those who have loved the gospel most dearly. What all the secret political societies in the world may fail to do, that the gospel will accomplish simply and easily if only it is once let free. Let the truth as it is in Jesus spread through India, and Indias caste thraldom shall be broken through. Let the truth only win its way amongst the nations of Europe, and all tyrannies shall depart; for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Just as the alabaster box was in the house, and its presence may not have been known, so Christ has been a long time with many of His disciples, and they have not known Him; that is, they have been comparatively ignorant of His glorious fulness. But no sooner was the box broken, and the ointment shed abroad, than the odour filled the house. So, when the love of God is poured forth by the Holy Ghost, when the infinite treasures of Divine love stored up in Christ are disclosed, revealed in us, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, their subduing, liberating, and transforming influences begin at once to be seen and felt.2 [Note: E. H. Hopkins.]
There is a meadow in a lonely place between high rocks on the banks of Lake Lucerne. In that spot, five hundred years ago, one still, dark evening, three patriot soldiers, with stout blades and sturdy hearts, met to spend the night in long and earnest prayer to God. Where the Spirit of the Lord was, there was liberty; and Swiss Independence dates from that night. The knowledge of the Lord has not yet filled the earth as the waters cover the sea; but there is coming a time when, as we are told, it shall; when all the kingdoms of this earths monarchs shall become the absolutely free kingdoms of our spirits Ruler, the Lord, and of his Christ. Adams degenerate sons, banished from Paradisei.e., limited in liberty on account of sinshall again regain it. Along the pathway of the worlds progress, we need not hear alone the wails of woe and the clanking chains of bondage; we need not see alone the flames of cherished institutions, and the stifling smoke of conflict. Beyond all these, there is a stretch of heavens own blue. There is a gleam of lofty walls. There is the flashing of a flaming sword withdrawn. Between wide open gates, there waits for all the garden.1 [Note: G. L. Raymond, The Spiritual Life, 305.]
A voice from the sea to the mountains,
From the mountains again to the sea:
A call from the deep to the fountains,
O spirit! be glad and be free!
A cry from the floods to the fountains,
And the torrents repeat the glad song,
As they leap from the breast of the mountains,
O spirit! be free and be strong!
The pine forests thrill with emotion
Of praise, as the spirit sweeps by;
With a voice like the murmur of ocean,
To the soul of the listener they cry.
O sing, human heart, like the fountains,
With joy reverential and free;
Contented and calm as the mountains,
And deep as the woods and the sea.2 [Note: Charles Timothy Brooks.]
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
the Lord: 2Co 3:6, Joh 6:63, 1Co 15:45
where: Psa 51:12, Isa 61:1, Rom 8:2, Rom 8:15, Rom 8:16, Gal 4:6, 2Ti 1:7
Reciprocal: Lev 25:10 – proclaim Psa 119:32 – enlarge Isa 59:21 – My spirit Joh 4:24 – a Spirit Joh 8:32 – and the Joh 8:36 – General Rom 6:22 – But now 2Co 3:8 – the ministration 2Co 3:18 – by the Spirit of the Lord Gal 2:4 – liberty Gal 5:1 – the liberty Jam 1:25 – liberty
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
CHRISTIAN LIBERTY
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2Co 3:17
If we allow our thoughts to dwell on the subject of liberty, we find it to be indeed a subject worthy of contemplation.
I. It attracts the mind with a special fascination.
(a) There is, first, the picturesque and poetical side. We think of the boundless firmament above, and of the wonderful freedom of the smallest bird. We recall the inspiration of the mountain height, free from the sound of strife, free from the narrowness of men, where the eye roams over vast tracts of free and open country, unbroken by hedge or wall or belt of trees. We think of the wide ocean, where the winds sweep their courses as they will and each sunlit ship seems an emblem of liberty. And there is the sense of treading regions untrodden before, of seeing sights unseen by mortal eye, and of being in a land where there is no law save that of the brute creation.
(b) And then, too, there is the historical side. We go back to the childhood of the world, where it is weak and ignorant of the ways and possibilities of the future; we note the rude beginnings of primitive life, like a stream restrained by high banks and ignorant of its power to be, when it may sweep where it will on to the ocean of liberty.
(c) And there are also the political and social aspects of the subject; and we call to mind how man after man, class after class, race after race, nation after nation, have risen up to battle for libertythe passion and prayer of all mens soulsfor that which a Divine instinct tells us should be ours.
(d) And then there is the moral and spiritual freedom of which we read in the Biblethe freedom of the individual soul from the curse of the moral law, from the servitude of the ceremonial law, freedom from ignorance and spiritual blindness; freedom from the curse and slavery and misery of sin.
II. True freedom is the freedom conferred by the Christians God on those who obey His lawsa freedom from the slavery of sin, from wrong desires, from strife and passion, from an evil conscience, from vanity and discontent, from ambition and jealousy, from the fear of man, and from the fear of the valley of death. This is the freedom that is worth possessinga heart at one with its Maker, set free to love the good and strengthened to resist the evil. And when once we have made clear the difference between true and spurious freedom, then may we not appeal to the sense of honour which exists somewhere in every breast? Will the son try to injure the father? Will the soldier fight against his King? Shall we neglect His orders and obey the enemy? We are placed in the garden of life; shall we trample on its purest flowers? We are royal messengers to all around; shall we neglect our message and be false?
III. And do we not need also to insist upon the dignity of life?We are in a position of trust. We might have been treated as servants only. We are treated as friends and even heirs. It is true we have the power, the free opportunity, to neglect our duty and to do wrong. We can, if we wish, spend our time, our money, our strength, our talents exclusively on ourselves; we can neglect Divine ordinances, Sundays, sacraments, prayer, praise; we can be ungrateful, unthoughtful, untrusting, and untrue; but we will not. Reward or no reward, God is our Lord and Master; Christ is our Saviour and Friend; the Holy Spirit is our Guide and Comforter; and in that service we will live, and in that service we will work, and in that service, obedient, we will be free. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Rev. F. B. F Campbell.
Illustration
If we find national misconceptions regarding the principles of liberty, we may be sure that they start with the private individualthat is, among ourselves. Why is it that so many look askance at religion who are not really opposed to it? Why is it that it enters so little into their lives, when in reality they are longing for it? Let us try and discern at least one reasonamong manythe fact that they regard religion in the wrong light in reference to the subject of liberty. And it must be confessed that the traditional up-bringing of the young conduces to this end. For is it not true that we educate our children with the idea that religion is their task-master and the world the parent of liberty? Whereas, conversely, liberty is the child of religion and the world is the real despot. In the eyes of the young religion is too much associated with the principle of aimless restraint rather than that of reasonable guidance. They are accustomed from childhood to a long series of injunctions: You must not do this; You must not do that; You must not go there; You cannot have permission; It is not allowed; It is not right; It is wrong. Need we wonder if, with the negative side of religion kept ever before them, our youth grows up imbued with the belief that religion is associated with a kind of dull slavery, and pleasure only with freedomor, rather, with independence?
(SECOND OUTLINE)
THE LIMITS OF LIBERTY
Christian liberty does not mean the right to do as we like. It is strictly limited. Bishop Westcott wrote, True freedom is not license to do what you like, but power to do what you ought.
I. Limited by want of power.Our freedom is limited by want of power. Whether it be in physical or temporal or spiritual power, the extent of our freedom is limited by the extent of our power. There is no such thing as real freedom without power. There is no such thing as absolute freedom without almighty power. What is the use of my being free to do anything, if I have power to do nothing? Would it not be well for us to seek power rather than search fruitlessly for a false freedom? The power we need most is the power over our corrupt, sinful nature. I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members, is not the experience of one man only. Where are we to seek for power? Ye shall receive power from on high. We need the power of the Holy Ghost within us. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and nowhere else in the world is there true liberty.
II. By the extent of our knowledge.But our freedom is also limited by the extent of our knowledge. No one can be absolutely free without perfect knowledge. What is the use of having the liberty to do what you like if you do not know whether you will like it when you have done it, and have scarcely any means of knowing what to choose to do? Where are we to get this knowledge? When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth and He will show you things to come. You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. When a man or woman is endowed with power from on high, when a man or woman is filled with the Spirit of Truth, He will guide him or her into all truth. Then you have something like real liberty. Not license to do what you like, but power to do what you ought.
III. By the strength of our will.There is another limitationthe strength and stability of our will. Even the powerful and the wise are limited in freedom by their wills. How many a man, for instance, has the power and the means of providing a happy home for himself, and knows full well the immense benefit of a happy home-life, and yet he does not have it because he has not control over his will. He has not the will to carry out what he has otherwise the power to do, and what he knows he would be the happier for doing. Under the same heading I may include the limitations of our desires. And a further limitation I will just mention is the limitation of our capacity for enjoyment. I have little hesitation in saying that the man or woman who is living an unspiritual life has an extremely limited capacity for enjoyment. There is no joy like his whose joy is in the Holy Ghost. As for greater stability of will and greater wisdom in desire, there again it is the Spirit which can make us free, which can give us the power to will as well as to do. Not license to do what we like, but power to do what we ought, that is true freedom, spiritual power, knowledge of what to do, will to carry it out.
The man who has utterly consecrated his body, mind, and will to the service of God, he is the man, and the only man, who is really free. In order to do true service we need the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit; and Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Rev. E. J. Watson-Williams.
(THIRD OUTLINE)
PERFECT FREEDOM
Whose service is perfect freedom. The words are beautifully familiar to us all. At every Matins we repeat them in the Collect, but do we always sufficiently realise the strength and depth of their meaning? They represent the Christian position; and it is this glorious privilege of perfect freedom which the Apostle in this chapter is seeking to bring home to the mind of the Church at Corinth. He does so by way of contrast, a contrast of mans position under the law and under the Gospel. The law found man in bondage, and left him so, only sealing the cords of his captivity; but when the Gospel came it snapped all fetters and led man at once into perfect freedom, for where the Spirit of the Lord isthere is liberty. Freedom follows the footsteps of the Gospel.
I. Freedom in conscience.Until we obtain freedom in conscience it is useless to think of liberty in any other respect. It is for this liberty or freedom in conscience that we pray when we say, O God, Whose nature and property is ever to have mercy and to forgive, receive our humble petitions; and though we be tied and bound with the chain of our sins, yet let the pitifulness of Thy great mercy loose us. We need freedom from the thraldom of sin; and when we have obtained pardon through the Precious Blood our consciences are at liberty, and we learn the great truth that there is now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
II. Liberty in life.The next step after liberty in conscience is liberty in life. Sin shall not have dominion over you is the promise to the Christian; and, if we will, our Christian walk, day by day, and hour by hour, may be pursued in the perfect sunshine of Gods love, without a cloud to mar its brightness and its joy. Temptations will come, but they may be bravely faced, not, however, in our own strength, but in the strength of Another, even of Him who has conquered sin and Satan. This is what we mean by liberty in lifenot liberty to follow our own way, but to follow just where the Lord shall lead.
III. Liberty in service.What is a man saved for? He is saved to serve; yet there can be no liberty, no freedom in our service until we have liberty in conscience and liberty in life and walk. The service to which Christ calls us is a service of love; love is its inspiration; love is its sustaining power. There is no bondage in Christs service; it is perfect freedom. And this liberty, whence comes it? It comes through perfect trust and rest in Christ Himself. Your life, says the Apostle, is hid with Christ in God. Oh happy they who thus trust, for surely shall they obtain rest, peace, freedom. It is impossible to truly serve God until we experience this sense of liberty and freedom; and the only way to appreciate it is by making a full surrender of ourselves unto Him. The Spirit of the Lord alone can enable us; and where He reigns there is liberty.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
2Co 3:17. That Spirit means the one referred to in verse 3 and others in the chapter. The Lord is that Spirit in the sense that He gave the new covenant to the world through the inspired apostles, and whoever receives that covenant enters into a state of liberty–freedom from the old law.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
2Co 3:17. Now the Lordthe glorified Lord of the Churchis the Spiritthat quickening Spirit, who by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven makes the Gospel spirit and life to as many as receive Him (Joh 1:12-13; and see 2Co 3:6 above). Where Christ is (says Bengel) there is the Spirit of Christ; where the Spirit of Christ is, there is Christ (Rom 8:9-11).
and where the Spirit of the lord is, there is liberty (Rom 8:15)the reverse of that bondage which is our apostles invariable characteristic of the legal economy.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
As if he had said, Christ is that quickening and life-giving Spirit who takes away the veil from off our hearts; and where that Spirit, that all-glorious and all-powerful Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; that is, clearness, and no more veil; freedom from the yoke of the legal administration, a liberty and freedom from sin, a liberty unto righteousness, a freeness and readiness of spirit to do good, a liberty of address and approach to God, a liberty of speech in prayer before God. Thus the Spirit of the Lord is a free spirit.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
2Co 3:17-18. Now the Lord Christ is that Spirit Of the law of which I spake before, to whom the letter of it was intended to lead; and it is the office of the Spirit of God, as the great agent in his kingdom, to direct the minds of men to it. And where the Spirit of the Lord is Enlightening and renewing mens minds; there is liberty Not the veil, the emblem of slavery. There is liberty from servile fear, liberty from the guilt and power of sin, liberty to behold with open face the glory of the Lord. Accordingly it is added, we all That believe in him with a faith of his operation; beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, &c. By the glory of the Lord here, we are to understand his divine attributes, his wisdom, power, and goodness; his truth, justice, mercy; his holiness and grace, and especially his love; these, and his other moral perfections, are his greatest glory. But these cannot be beheld by man immediately and directly, while he is in the body: they can only be seen as in a glass, or through a glass darkly; (1Co 13:12;) namely, 1st, In that of the works of creation, as the apostle states, Rom 1:20, where see the note.
Invisible in himself, he is dimly seen In these his lowest works, which all declare His goodness beyond thought, and power divine.
2d, In the dispensations of his providence, in which glass not only his natural, but also his moral attributes are manifested; his long-suffering in bearing with sinful individuals, families, cities, nations; his justice in punishing when they persist in their iniquities; his mercy in pardoning them when they break off their sins by repentance. 3d, In the work of redemption; a work in which divine goodness in designing, wisdom in contriving, and power in executing, are conspicuously declared; in which justice and mercy meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other: a wonderful plan! in which God demonstrates that he is just, while he is the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. See on Rom 3:25-26. 4th, In the glass in which all these are united, and set in a clear point of view, namely, the Word of God, or the gospel of Christ, in which the divine character is clearly and fully delineated; as it is also still more manifestly, and in a more striking light, in his incarnate Son, the brightness of his glory, the express image of his person; the Word made flesh; God manifest in the flesh. But by whom is the divine glory beheld in these glasses? Only by those from whose faces the veil of ignorance, prejudice, and unbelief is removed; so that with open, , with unveiled face, and with the eyes of their understanding opened, they behold, view attentively, and contemplate this glory of the Lord.
Now, observe the effect produced on those who behold this glory; they are changed into the same image. While we steadfastly and with open face behold the divine likeness exhibited in these glasses, we discern its amiableness and excellence, and the necessity of a conformity thereto, in order to our happiness here and hereafter. And hence arises sincere and earnest desire after that conformity, and an endeavour to imitate such perfections as are imitable by us. Add to this, the very beholding and meditating on the divine glories, has a transforming efficacy. For instance, by contemplating his wisdom, as manifested in his works and word, we are enlightened and made wise: by viewing his power, and by faith arming ourselves with it, we become strong; able to withstand our enemies, as also to do and suffer his will. The contemplation of his truth, justice, mercy, and holiness, inspires us with the same amiable and happy qualities, and knowing and believing the love that he hath to us, and all his people, we learn to love him who hath first loved us; and loving him that beget, we are disposed and enabled also to love all that are begotten of him; and even all mankind, if not with a love of approbation and complacency, yet with a love of benevolence and beneficence, knowing that he is the Father of the spirits of all flesh, and that the whole race of Adam are his offspring. Thus we become godlike, and put on the new man, which is renewed in and by this spiritual knowledge, after the image of him that created him, Col 3:10. From glory to glory That Isaiah , 1 st, As the light and glory of the moon and planets are by reflection from the sun; so from the unbounded, absolutely perfect, and underived glory of the Creator, when beheld and contemplated, results this limited, increasing, and derived glory in the creature: increasing, observe; for, 2d, this expression, from glory to glory, (which is a Hebraism, denoting a continued succession and increase of glory,) signifies from one degree of this glorious conformity to God to another: this on earth. But it implies also, 3d, from grace, (which is glory in the bud,) to glory in heaven, which is the ripe fruit. It is of importance to notice likewise the grand agent in this work, namely, the Spirit of the Lord. 1st, He hath prepared these glasses, particularly the two last mentioned, the Holy Scriptures, indited by his inspiration, and the human nature of Christ, formed by his agency in the womb of the virgin. And he causes the glory of the Lord to be reflected from them. 2d, He rends the veil from our minds, and opens the eyes of our understanding, that we may be enabled to behold the divine glory in these glasses. 3d, He causes the sight to be transforming, communicating his own renewing and sanctifying influences, and thereby imparting his likeness and nature.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
17. But the Lord is a Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty. Lord here means Christ, the Second Person of the Trinity, and the Spirit of the Lord means the Holy Ghost. And since the Holy Ghost has been sent into the world as a Revelation of the spiritual Christ who is none other than the Hero of Mt. Calvary; who has conquered sin, death and Hell, and brought life and immortality to light, gloriously delivering His people from all of their enemies and crowning them with the diadem of perfect freedom the Holy Ghost is here among us to conduct all of our meetings, His constant work being the revelation and the glorification of Christ. The poorest beggar becomes a millionaire when it is all given to him by a rich friend. Then he has perfect liberty in financial and temporal matters. How sad to see the spiritual bondage in the churches, the preacher afraid of his members and official board, and they all afraid of one another and the preacher, and afraid of other churches, and afraid of the worldly people; so there is no liberty, they are all in bondage. What a pity they will not all let the Holy Ghost come in and introduce King Jesus, who breaks every chain, sunders every fetter, and makes them all free as angels!
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
2Co 3:17 f. In 2Co 3:17 he explains the deep reasons why turning to the Lord is followed by the removal of the veil, and in so doing gives utterance to a statement of the greatest importance for his Christology, the Lord is the Spirit. For here, as elsewhere with few exceptions, the Lord is Christ. It is the heavenly Christ whom he recognises as the Spirit. Their influence is the same. He who turns to the One turns to the Other. And where the Spirit is there is liberty (from the Law). The hindering veil is removed. And so, because Christians are men who have turned to Christ, there is no such veil upon their hearts or upon their revelation of God. They reflect the glory of the Lord Christ undimmed. Nay, more, in reflecting it they undergo a continuous change within themselves. The image they reflect forms itself in them, and they advance from one stage of glory to another, as might be looked for from the working of the Lord the Spirit. In the case of Moses, the glory diminished and faded; in the case of Christians it increases and brightens. And where the OT spoke of the glory of Yahweh, Paul speaks of the glory of Christ.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Verse 17
That Spirit; the spirit spoken of in 2 Corinthians 3:6,–namely, the spiritual dispensation. The Lord is the foundation and support of it.–Liberty; freedom from the darkness and bondage in which the soul had often been enveloped under the old dispensation.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
3:17 Now the {n} Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.
(n) Christ is that Spirit who takes away that covering, by working in our hearts, to which also the Law itself called us, though in vain, because it speaks to dead men, until the Spirit makes us alive.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
This verse explains the former one. The Holy Spirit (2Co 3:3; 2Co 3:6; 2Co 3:8) is the member of the Trinity who causes a person to understand and believe that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law. Paul here described the Spirit’s function and equated Him with Christ (cf. 2Co 3:14). Believing in Jesus liberates one from sin, death, and the Mosaic Law but not from obligation to respond obediently to God’s new revelation in Christ, of course. Even though the Spirit is Lord, His presence liberates the believer rather than enslaving him or her (cf. Rom 8:15).