The holy spirit of freedom

THE HOLY SPIRIT OF FREEDOM
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Corinthians3:17 Now the LORD is the Spirit, and
where the Spiritof the LORD is, there is freedom.
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
The Spirit Of Liberty
2 Corinthians 3:17
J.R. Thomson
If there are two words especiallydearto St. Paul, they are these - the spirit as
distinguished from the form and the letter, and liberty as distinguished from
religious bondage.
I. MAN'S NEED OF LIBERATION.
1. Sin is bondage, howeverhe may confuse betweenliberty and licence. There
is no slave so crippled and so pitiable as is the bondman of sin.
2. Man's happiness and well being depend upon his deliverance from this
spiritual serfdom.
3. No earthly powercan effectthis greatenfranchisement.
II. THE DIVINE LIBERATOR. Many of the designations applied to our Lord
Jesus imply this characterand function. He is the Saviour, who saves from the
yoke of sin, the doom of death; the Redeemer, who ransoms from a spiritual
captivity, who pays the price, and sets the prisoner free. "The Lord is the

Spirit;" i.e. the work of redemption was wrought by Jesus in the body, and is
applied and made actualto the individual soul by the unseenbut mighty and
ever-presentSpirit, in whose operations the Lord. Christ perpetuates his
actionand achieves his dominion.
III. THE ESSENCEOF SPIRITUAL LIBERTY. It is irrespective of personal
condition; for the slave canenjoy its sweets, evenwhenhis clanking chains
remind him of his earthly bondage. It is emancipation from the curse and
penalty of the Law, as this oppresses everysinner who is at all aware of his
real condition. It is freedom from what St. Patti calls the dominion of sin. It is
the gladconsecrationofall powers to the service of the Divine Redeemer. It is
"the glorious liberty of the children of God."
IV. THE FRUITS OF FREEDOM.
1. Obedience, strange and paradoxicalas the assertionseems, is the
consequence ofthe gracious enfranchisementof the soul. The service of the
heart, which cannot be rendered in bondage, is natural in the state of
emancipation.
2. Joyis natural to the emancipatedslave, who realizes the dignity and the
blessednessoffreedom.
3. Praise ofthe Deliverernever ceases, but ascends in unintermitting strains to
the Author and Giver of spiritual and everlasting liberty. - T.
Christ the Spirit of Christianity
A. J. Morris.
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 expressionto 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 another's feet where washing the feet was a common service;
but we smile at the professedobedience to this precept every year of his
holiness of Rome.(2)The Old Testamentwas 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
representedthe 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
consciencethan to argument, and appeals more to reasonthan 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, deviseda plan of
redemption. Forfeitedlife was continued because ofChrist. Whatever was
done was for Him. The greatevents of pasttimes were preparatory to Him.
Prophets spoke of Him, kings ruled for Him, priests typified Him. According
to Christ's 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 secretbut the revealedagentof God's providence. What was done before
was done because ofHim, what is done now is done directly by Him. He
realisedthe conceptions expressedby Judaism, made its figures facts, its
predictions history.(2) Christ is the Spirit of Christianity, as He is the personal
representationof its truths. The gospelis 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 seenMe has seenthe Father." Is the moral characterof Godas
important as His existence?Behold"the image of the invisible God" as "He
goes aboutdoing good." Is reunion with God the greatneed 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 eternallife."(3) The Holy Spirit, by
whom spiritual blessings are conveyed, is emphatically the Spirit of Christ.
This Spirit, the closestand most quickening contactof God with our souls, is
the fruit of the reconciliationwith God effectedby Christ. That effected,
Christ went to heaventhat 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 anddisobedient." 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 ofleaving us at liberty upon many points; moral excellence is its
requirement, not ceremonialexactness. 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 gospelis spiritual in its form, because it is spiritual in its
power. In the following verse a sublime truth is setbefore us. The liberty of
the gospelis 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 cando this. The letter
may keepsin 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 gospelof His Son, free to have accessto Him with
the spirit of adoption, free to run the way of His commandments, because
"enlargedin heart"? He is the slave whose will is in fetters; and nothing but
the Spirit, the Lord, can setthat free.
II. THE SUBJECT IS FRUITFUL IN REFLECTIONSAND
ADMONITIONS.
1. The text is one of a large class which intimate and require the divinity of
Christ. The place assignedto Christ in the scheme and providence of God is
such that only on the supposition of His Divine nature canit be understood
and explained. DestroyHim, take Him away, and you do not merely violate
the language, but annihilate the very life of God's covenant. If Christianity be
what we are accustomedto regard it, He who is its Spirit, in the way and for

the reasons whichitself explains, canbe no other than the "true God and
eternal life."
2. We see the greatness ofthe privileges with which, as Christians, we have
been favoured, and the source of their derivation. The apostles do employ
language severelydepreciating in its tone, when contrasting previous
economies with our own. "Darkness,""flesh,""letter," "bondage,""the
world," are setagainst"light," "spirit," "grace,""liberty," and "the
kingdom of God" and "ofheaven." And the reasonof our being so blessedis
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 greatworth of this position is in the facilities for sanctificationwhichit
affords.
3. Let us give to the personalelement in Christianity its proper place and
power. In the apostles'writings there was an indestructible connectionof
every principle of the gospelwith the personalChrist. Everything was "in
Him." Christ was Christianity. He is "the Truth," "the Way," "the Life," the
"peace,""hope,"and "resurrection" ofmen; He is their "wisdom,"
"righteousness,""sanctification,"and "redemption." Religionis 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 subjectinstructs and encouragesus in connectionwith the diffusion of
our religion through the earth. The gospelis a spirit. Well, indeed, might we
despond, when contemplating the powers of darkness, if we could not
associate withour religion the attributes of spirit. But, said Christ, "the words
that I speak unto you are spirit and life." And our subjectalso teaches
charity. Can there be any heart unaffectedwhen the promise of "liberty," in
its highest state and completestmeasure, is before us? Canyou dwell upon the
hard bondage of the souls of men, both in civilised and uncivilised conditions,
and not long to "preachdeliverance to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound"?
(A. J. Morris.)

Liberty of the spiritual life
A. Bonar.
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 mechanicalconstraint, 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 man's soul must be liberty, not
bondage.
(A. Bonar.)
The spirit of liberty
J. Vaughan, M. A.
1. It is remarkable that, when our Lord expounded in the synagogue of
Nazareth, He chose a passageofwhich two-fifths relatedto "liberty." Between
that passageand 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 CONSTITUTEDTHAT THERE MUST BE A
CERTAIN SENSE OF FREEDOM TO MAKE A PLAY OF THE
AFFECTIONS.
1. Satanknew this quite well when he destroyed the loving allegiance ofour
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 secondAdam made Himself a "servantof
servants," that He might restore to us a greaterfreedom 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 ofbondage, 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
againsttoo much "liberty." In fact, it is almostalways those who have felt
themselves too shut up who break out into lawlessness ofconduct. Just as the
stopped river, bursting its barrier, runs into the more violent stream.
II. THAT YOU SHOULD "STAND FAST IN THE LIBERTY
WHEREWITHCHRIST MAKES HIS PEOPLE FREE," UNDERSTAND
WHAT YOUR REAL "LIBERTY" IS.
1. "By and by," somebodysays, "whenI 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 considerwhether he is yet goodenough 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 God's own grace, andhis "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 man's
real sanctificationbegins.
2. There are many whose minds are continually recurring to old sins. They
have prayed over them againand 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 washedneedethnot save to washhis 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 washedall 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 man's forgiveness. To obeythe 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 exactstate of a
Christian. He has studied the commands till he has reachedto the spirit of the
commands. He has gathered"the mind of God," and he follows that. A
command prescribes, and whateverprescribes 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 Sonhas made him free," goes
to read his Bible, like a man who has gotthe free range of all its pastures, to
cull flowers whereverhe 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 fearof death never hurts that man. Why?
Becausehis death is over.(4)And, because he is so very free, you will find
there is a large-heartednessand a very charitable judgment in that man. He
lives above party.
(J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The liberty of the Spirit
H. Stowell, M. A.
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 ofthe 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. LIBERTYFROM CONDEMNATION. Ifa man is under sentence ofdeath
he cannot find liberty. He may forget his imprisonment in mirth and feasting,
but it is not the less realbecause he forgets it. The morning will come when he
will be draggedoff to his fearful doom. We are under the sentence ofGod's
broken law. "The soul that sinneth, it shall die." How beautiful, then, the
language ofthe apostle!(Romans 8:1).

II. LIBERTY FROM LAW. The law knows nothing of mercy and forgiveness,
nor does it afford the leasthelp 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 "whatthe law could not do," etc. (Romans 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 afterall. The way in which a man may convince himself of his
slavery is to try to be what he ought to be. He cando nothing of himself, and
he must be brought to feel that he can do no goodthing without God. But
what the flesh cannotdo the Spirit will enable him to do. "It is God which
workethin us, both to will and to do of His goodpleasure";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, andhis swordis a swordof 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 discernedexcept a man has it revealedto 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
Canon Liddon.
1. To possessthe Lord Jesus Christis to possess the Holy Ghost, who is the
minister and guardian of Christ's presence in the soul. The apostle's
conclusionis that those who are converted to Jesus have escapedfrom 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 Jewishthought the exercise
of any real insight into the deepersense of Scripture. That sense is seized by
the Christian student of the ancientlaw, 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 calledthe Spirit of Christ because He is sent by Christ,
and for the purpose of endowing us with Christ's nature and mind. His
presence does not supersede that of Christ: He co-operatesin, He does not
work apart from, the mediatorial work Of Christ. To possessthe Holy Spirit
is to possessChrist; to have lost the one is to have lost the other. Accordingly
our Lord speaks ofthe gift of Pentecostas if it were His ownsecondcoming
(John 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 ofsin." Here Christ's "being in" the Christian, and the
Christian's "having the Spirit of Christ," are equivalent terms.
3. Freedomis not an occasionallargess ofthe Divine Spirit; it is not merely a
reward for high services orconspicuous devotion. It is the very atmosphere of
His presence. WhereverHe 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. Forno political or socialemancipationcan give real liberty to an
enslavedsoul. And no tyranny of the state or of societycan 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 constraintfor the
affections, freedomfor the will from the tyranny of sinful and human wills.
4. The natural images which "are used to setforth the presence and working
of the Holy Spirit are suggestive ofthis 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 "cloventongue 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 — suchare our Lord's own chosensymbols of
the Pentecostalgift. All these figures prepare us for the language of the
apostles whenthey are tracing the results of the greatPentecostalgift. 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,"whichgives us Christians our
freedom, with the enslaving "law of sin and death." According to St. Paul, the
Christian slave is essentiallyfree, even while he still wears his chain (1
Corinthians 7:22). Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is —
I. MENTALLIBERTY.
1. From the first God has consecratedliberty of thought by withdrawing
thought from the controlof society. Societyprotects 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 almostindefinitely the
thought of man. He has vindicated for human thought the liberty of its
expressionagainstimperial tyranny and official superstition. The blood of the
martyrs witnessedto the truth that, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
mental liberty.
2. In the judgment of an influential schooldogma 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 gospelare hardly consistentwhen they are elaborating their own theories.
Dogma is essentialChristiantruth 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 againstthose
sentimental theories which empty revelationof 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 Testamentthan in
Fathers and Councils. It is speciallyembodied in our Lord's later discourses,
in the sermons of His apostles, in the epistles of St. Paul. The Divine Spirit,
speaking through the clearutterances of Scripture, is the realauthor of
essentialdogma;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 teachus that obedience to
law is fatal to freedom. The heavens would ceaseto "declare the glory of God"
if the astronomers were to destroy those invariable forces whichconfine the
movement of the swifteststars to their fixed orbits. And when man himself
proceeds to claim that empire which Godhas given him over the world of
nature, he finds his energies bounded and controlled by law in every direction.
We men cantransport ourselves to and fro on the surface of this earth. But if
in an attempt to reachthe skies we should succeedin mounting to a region
where animal life is impossible, we know that death would be the result of our
success. Meanwhile ouraeronauts, 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 freestand most exactscience
known to the human mind. We cannotdemonstrate them, we cannotreject
them; but the submissive glance by which reasonaccepts them is no unworthy
figure of the action of faith. Faith also submits, it is true; but her submission
to dogma is the guarantee atonce of her rightful freedom and of her enduring
power.(3)So submission to revealed truth involves a certainlimitation of
intellectual licence. To believe the dogma that God exists is inconsistentwith a
liberty to deny His existence. Butsuch liberty is, in the judgment of faith,
parallel to that of denying the existence ofthe 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 Londonat night, and who remarked that the lamp-
posts were an obstruction to traffic.
4. They only cansuppose that Christian dogma is the antagonistof intellectual
freedom whose misery it is to disbelieve. Fordogma stimulates and provokes
thought — sustains it at an elevationwhich, 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 canspeak 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. Godis everywhere, and
to have a fixed belief in Him is to have a perpetual interestin all that reflects
Him. What compositioncan 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, exceptfor 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 weaknessto the everlasting Christ upon His
throne; when that glorious series oftruths, which begins with the Incarnation,
and which ends with the perpetual intercession, is really graspedby the soul
as certain — then assuredly freedom is possible. It is possible, for the Son has
takenflesh, and died, and risen again, and interceded with the Father, and
given us His Spirit and His sacraments, expresslythat 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 schoolof
freedom. In obeying God you escapeall the tyrannies which would fain rob
you of your liberty. In obeying God you are emancipatedfrom the cruel yet
petty despotisms which enslave, sooneror later, all rebel wills. As in the
material world all expansionis proportioned to the compressionwhich

precedes it, so in the moral world the will acts with a force which is measured
by its powerof 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." Politicalliberty is a blessing; liberty of thought is a
blessing. But the greatestblessing is liberty of the conscienceand the will. It is
freedom from a sense of sin when all is knownto have been pardoned through
the atoning blood; freedom from a slavish fear of our Father in heaven when
conscienceis 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 actualtruth; freedom
from the depressing yoke of weak healthor narrow circumstances, since the
soul cannotbe crushed which rests consciouslyupon the everlasting arms;
freedom from that haunting fear of death which holds those who think really
upon death at all, "alltheir lifetime subject to bondage," unless they are His
true friends and clients who by the sharpness ofHis own death has led the
way and "openedthe kingdom of heavento all believers." It is freedom in
time, but also, and beyond, freedom in eternity. In that blessedworld, in the
unclouded presence ofthe 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 necessitythe service of the free.
(Canon Liddon.)
Spiritual liberty
C. H. Spurgeon.
Liberty is the birthright of every man. But where do you find liberty
unaccompaniedby religion? This land is the home of liberty, not so much
because ofour 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
greaterand 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
wretchedman 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 engagedin as
hopeless a task as the daughters of Danaus, whenthey attempted to fill a vast
vesselwith bottomless buckets. He has a bow without a string, a sword
without a blade, a gun without powder.
5. Slavishfear of law. Many people are honest because they are afraid of the
policeman. Many are soberbecause they are afraid of the eye of the public. If
a man be destitute of the grace of God, his works are only works ofslavery; he
feels forcedto do them. But now, Christian, "Love makes your willing feetin
swift obedience move." We are free from the law that we may obey it better.
6. The fear of death. I recollecta good old woman, who said, "Afraid to die,
sir! I have dipped my foot in Jordan every morning before breakfastfor the
last fifty years, and do you think I am afraid to die now?" A goodWelsh 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 ofAges, 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 heaven's charter. Heaven's 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
greatprivilege, but I am a freeman of a better city. Now some of you have
obtained the freedom of the city, but you won't take it up. Don't remain
outside the Church any longer, for you have a right to come in.
4. To heaven. When a Christian dies he knows the passwordthat 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
R. Sibbes, D. D.
Wheresoeverthe Spirit of Godis, there is —
I. A LIBERTYOF HOLINESS, TO FREE US FROM THE DOMINION OF
SIN (Luke 1:75). As children cangive 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 awaywith a cord about him is catchedby the cord again;so, having
Satan's cords about us, he canpull us in when he lists. From this we are freed
by the Spirit.

II. A BLESSED FREEDOMAND AN ENLARGEMENTOF HEART TO
DUTIES, God's people are a voluntary people. Those that are under grace are
"anointed by the Spirit" (Psalm 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 God's motives may help
as the sweetencouragements andrewards. 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 OPPOSITIONWHATSOEVER, JOINED
WITH LIGHT AND STRENGTHOF FAITH, BREAKING THROUGH ALL
OPPOSITIONS.Oppositionto a spiritual man adds but courage and strength
to him to resist. In Acts 4:23, seq., when they had the Spirit of God, they
encounteredopposition; and the more they were opposed, the more they grew.
They were castin prison, and rejoiced;and the more they were imprisoned,
the more courageous they were still. There is no setting againstthis wind, no
quenching of this fire, by any human power. See how the Spirit triumphed in
the martyrs. The Spirit of Godis a victorious Spirit (Romans 8:33, 34; Acts
6:10, 15).
IV. BOLDNESS WITHGOD 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.)

END OF BIBLEHUB
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
Amplified: Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty (emancipation from bondage, freedom). [Is 61:1, 2] (Lockman)
THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IS GOD:
ANIMATING, GLORIFYING,
LIBERATING & TRANSFORMING
Vincent writes that
The Lord Christ of 2Co 3:16 is the (Holy) Spirit Who pervades and animates
the New Covenantof which we are ministers (2Co 3:6-note), and the ministry
of the Spirit is with glory (2Co 3:8-note) (Ed: And the Spirit liberates us [2Co
3:17] and transforms us from glory to glory - 2Co 3:18-note).
Lord (2962)(kurios from kuros = might or power)has a variety of
meanings/uses in the NT and therefore one must carefully examine the context
in order to discernwhich sense is intended by the NT author. The main sense
of kurios is that of a supreme one, one who is sovereignand possessesabsolute
authority, absolute ownership and uncontestedpower.
The Lord is the Spirit… the Spirit of the Lord - The Lord is Jesus Christ (see
previous verse 2Co 3:16) and the Spirit of the Lord is the Holy Spirit
(although not everyone agrees with the interpretation).
Dr Charles Ryrie comments that the Lord is the Spirit is…

A strong statementthat Christ and the Holy Spirit are one in essence,though
Paul also recognizedthe distinctions betweenthem (2Co 13:14). (The Ryrie
Study Bible: New American Standard Translation:1995. MoodyPublishers)
The KJV Bible Commentary offers a well reasonedexplanationthat
Paul is not saying “the Lord is Spirit” (in the same sense that is indicated in
Jn 4:24) but “the Lord is the Holy Spirit, the Third Personof the Godhead.”
It is also important to note here that Paul is not confusing the two Persons.
Jesus saidearlier, “I and my Fatherare one” (Jn 10:30). He bears the same
relationship to the Holy Spirit. Here is the ineffable mystery of the Trinity,
one in essenceyetthree distinct personalities. (Dobson, E G, Charles Feinberg,
E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV Bible Commentary:
Nelson)
In a "Trinitarian passage"in Romans 8 Paul clearly identifies Jesus with the
Spirit which helps us understand the phrase the Spirit of the Lord…
However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God
(the Father) dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ
(the Son), he does not belong to Him. And if Christ is in you, though the body
is dead because ofsin, yet the spirit is alive because ofrighteousness. Butif the
Spirit of Him (Father) who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who
raisedChrist Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies
through His Spirit who indwells you. (Ro 8:9-note, Ro 8:10, 11-note, see also
Jn 14:16 and Jn 14:18 which also identifies Jesus Christwith the Holy Spirit)
There is liberty - The Spirit of Christ turns a person to the Lord Jesus Christ,
taking the veil from their heart so they can "see" Christin the New Covenant,
at the same time bringing them into the broad pastures of spiritual liberty in
Christ. The false teachers atCorinth were apparently holding forth the Law
as the way to change one's life, but Paul teaches thatit is only the Spirit of the
Lord Who can transfer one from a life of legalistic bondage and into a life of
liberty.
Paul describes this liberty declaring

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has setyou free (eleutheroo)
from the law (the principle) of sin and of death.
For you have not receiveda spirit of slaveryleading to fear again(contrast the
reactionof the sons of Israelin Ex 34:29), but you have receiveda spirit of
adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit Himself
bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Ro 8:15, 16).
Becauseyou are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts,
crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave (bondage), but a
son (liberty); and if a son, then an heir through God. (Ga 4:6, 7)
Liberty (freedom) (1657)(eleutheria from eleutheros - that which is capable of
movement, freedom to go whereverone likes, unfettered; see word study on
verb eleutheroo)describes the state of being free and stands in oppositionto
slavery or bondage. Liberty describes the state of being free from restraint. In
NT terms, freedom is not the right to do as you wish, but the powerto behave
as you should.
Vine writes that…
liberty is rendered freedom in Gal 5:1 “with freedom did Christ setus free.”
The combination of the noun (freedom) with the verb stressesthe
completeness ofthe act, the aorist(or point) tense indicating both its
momentary and comprehensive character;it was done once for all.
The word is twice rendered “freedom” in the RV of Gal 5:13 (KJV, “liberty”).
The phraseologyis that of manumission from slavery, which among the
Greeks was effectedby a legalfiction, according to which the manumitted
slave was purchased by a god; as the slave could not provide the money, the
master paid it into the temple treasury in the presence ofthe slave, a
document being drawn up containing the words “forfreedom.” No one could
enslave him again, as he was the property of the god. In 2Co 3:17 the word
denotes “freedom” of access to the presence ofGod. (Vine, W E: Vine's
Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New TestamentWords. 1996.
Nelson)
Guzik feels that in this context the liberty which Paul is emphasizing is…

the liberty of access. He is building on his words from 2Co 3:12 (note): we use
greatboldness of speech. Boldnessis a word that belongs with liberty. Because
of the greatwork of the Holy Spirit in us through the New Covenant, we have
a bold, liberated relationship with God.
Jamiesoncommenting on there is liberty writes that…
There and there only. Such ceaseto be slaves to the letter, which they were
while the veil was on their heart. They are free to serve God in the Spirit, and
rejoice in Christ Jesus (Php 3:3): they have no longerthe spirit of bondage,
but of free sonship (Ro 8:15; Ga 4:7). Liberty is opposedto the letter (of the
legalordinances), and to the veil, the badge of slavery: also to the fear which
the Israelites feltin beholding Moses’gloryunveiled (Ex 34:30;1Jn 4:18) (Ed:
This removal of fear facilitates the believer's bold accessinto the very Throne
Roomof God!).
Adam Clarke adds that…
Wherever this Gospelis received, there the Spirit of the Lord is given; and
whereverthat 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.
Jesus expounds on the essence oftrue liberty in Himself as addressedJews
who had ostensiblybelieved Him (but subsequent verses indicate their believe
was not genuine saving faith - see Jn 8:39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 58, 59)…
If you continue in (stay with, abide in, dwell in, "stayat home" with, to abide
by, continue to live in) My Word, then (When?) you are truly (What
implication? true vs ___)disciples of Mine and you will know the truth (Not
just "knowledge" but ultimately a Person - Jn 14:6), and the truth will make
you free (eleutheroo - liberate from slavery to Sin [Ro 6:18-note, Ro 6:22-note]
and bondage to the Law, cp Gal5:1). They answeredHim, “We are
Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslavedto anyone; how is it
that You say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answeredthem, “Truly, truly, I
say to you, everyone who commits sin (continually, as their habitual practice)
is (continually) the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house

forever; the sondoes remain forever. “So if the Sonmakes you free
(eleutheroo), you will be free (eleutheros)indeed. (Jn 8:31-36).
Matthew Henry writes that…
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, and where He works, as He does under the
Gospel-dispensation, there is liberty (2Co 3:17), freedom from the yoke of the
ceremoniallaw and from the servitude of corruption (Acts 15:10 Ga 5:1 Mt
11:28, 29, 30); liberty of accessto God (Ro 5:1-note, Ro 5:2KJV-note), and
freedom of speechin prayer (He 4:16-note, He 10:19, 20, 21-note, He 10:22,
23-note). The heart is setat liberty, and enlarged, to run the ways of God’s
commandments.
Andrew Bonar- Liberty of the spiritual life…
entrance of true life or living truth into man’s soul must be liberty, not
bondage.
J H Jowettspeaks ofthe liberty wrought by the Holy Spirit…
IN the Holy Spirit I experience a large emancipation. “Where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is liberty.” I am delivered from all enslaving bondage—from
the bondage of legalism, and ritualism. I am not hampered by excessive
harness, by multitudinous rules. The harness is fitting and congenial, andI
have freedom of movement, and “my yoke is easyand my burden is light.”
And I am to use my emancipationof spirit in the ministry of contemplation. I
am to “behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord.” My thought has been set
free from the cramping distractions devised by men, and I am now to feastmy
gaze upon the holy splendors of my Lord. It is like coming out of a little and
belittling tent, to feastupon the sunny amplitude of the open sky!I can “cease
from man,” and commune with God.

And the contemplation will effecta transformation. “We are changed into the
same image from glory to glory.” The serene brightness of the sky gets into
our faces. The Lord becomes “the health of our countenance,”and we shine
with borrowedglory. (JowettDaily Meditation)
C H Spurgeon on Spiritual Liberty…
because ofour 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
greaterand 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 wretchedman that I
am, who shall deliver me” from it? But the Christian is free.
2. The penalty of sin — eternal death.
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 greaterforce. A man without
grace attempting to save himself is engagedin as hopeless a task as the
daughters of Danaus, when they attempted to fill a vast vesselwith bottomless
buckets. He has a bow without a string, a swordwithout a blade, a gun
without powder.
5. Slavishfear of law.

Many people are honest because they are afraid of the policeman. Many are
soberbecause they are afraid of the eye of the public. If a man be destitute of
the grace ofGod, his works are only works of slavery; he feels forcedto do
them. But now, Christian, “Love makes your willing feetin swift obedience
move.” We are free from the law that we may obey it better.
6. The fear of death.
I recollecta goodold woman, who said, “Afraid to die, sir! I have dipped my
foot in Jordan every morning before breakfastfor the last fifty years, and do
you think I am afraid to die now?” A goodWelsh 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 heaven’s charter.
Heaven’s Magna Carta 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 senda petition to
Parliament; and it is the privilege of a believer that he can always senda
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 greatprivilege, but I am a
freeman of a better city. Now some of you have obtained the freedom of the

city, but you won’t take it up. Don’t remain outside the Church any longer,
for you have a right to come in.
4. To heaven.
When a Christian dies he knows the passwordthat can make the gates wide
open fly; he has the white stone whereby he shall be knownas a ransomed
one, and that shall pass him at the barrier.
Richard Sibbes speaks aboutthe Signs of spiritual liberty: —
Wheresoeverthe Spirit of Godis, there is —
I. A LIBERTYOF HOLINESS, TO FREE US FROM THE DOMINION OF
SIN
(Luke 1:75). As children cangive 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 beastthat
runs awaywith a cord about him is caught by the cord again;so, having
Satan’s cords about us, he canpull us in when he lists. From this we are freed
by the Spirit.
II. A BLESSED FREEDOMAND AN ENLARGEMENTOF HEART TO
DUTIES
God’s people are a voluntary people. Those that are under grace are
“anointed by the Spirit” (Ps 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 extrinsic 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 extrinsic motive. A child needs not extrinsic 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 God’s motives may help as the sweet
encouragements andrewards. But the principle is to do things naturally.
Artificial things move from a principle without them, therefore they are
artificial. Clocks andsuch 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 OPPOSITIONWHATSOEVER, JOINED
WITH LIGHT
AND STRENGTHOF FAITH, BREAKING THROUGH ALL
OPPOSITIONS.
Opposition to a spiritual man adds but courage and strength to him to resist.
In Acts 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
castin prison, and rejoiced;and the more they were imprisoned, the more
courageousthey were still. There is no setting againstthis 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 (Ro 8:33, 34; Acts 6:10, 15).
IV. BOLDNESS WITHGOD 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.”
J A Stowellon liberty of the Spirit…
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 ofcorruption.” Men are
content to be slaves within who would be very indignant at any attempt to
make them slaves without. The apostle, speaking ofthe 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. LIBERTYFROM CONDEMNATION.
If a man is under sentence ofdeath he cannotfind liberty. He may forgethis
imprisonment in mirth and feasting, but it is not the less realbecause he

forgets it. The morning will come when he will be draggedoff to his fearful
doom. We are under the sentence ofGod’s broken law. “The soul that sins
shall die.” How beautiful, then, the language ofthe apostle!(Ro 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, “bythe deeds of the law “ shall no man have peace with God.
But “whatthe law could not do,” etc. (Ro 8:2, 3, 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 afterall. 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 feelthat
he can do no goodthing without God. But what the flesh cannot do the Spirit
will enable him to do. “It is God which workethin us, both to will and to do of
His goodpleasure”;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 swordof liberty. The
drunkard becomes sober, the impure chaste, the vindictive forgiving, by the
powerof the Spirit of God.
V. LIBERTY OF ACCESS TO GOD.
The one true and living way is open, but it cannotbe discernedexcept a man
has it revealedto him by the Spirit of God. Through Christ we have accessby
one Spirit unto the Father.
VI. LIBERTY OF HOLY BOLDNESS AND FORTITUDE IN THE
SERVICE OF GOD.
J C Philpot on liberty of the gospel(the New Covenant)…

A third feature of the gospelis, that it is the perfectlaw of liberty "for "where
the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;" (2Co 3:17) and, therefore, all the
precepts of the gospel, as animated by the Spirit, harmonize with this perfect
liberty. Under the law, all is bondage; under the gospel, all is liberty.
Whatever, therefore, does not breathe liberty, callit what you will, wrap it up
and disguise it how you may, is not the gospel. Here many teachers and
preachers have erred in handling and enforcing the precept. They have read
and heard of the liberty of the gospel, for that is too plainly revealedand
insisted upon in the New Testamentto be questioned or denied, but they have
been afraid of extending this liberty to the precept, as if the necessary
consequence wasthat we were at liberty to obey it or not, just as we pleased.
Now this is a thorough misconceptionof the nature of the liberty of the gospel,
and of the liberty of the precept as a part of that gospel. To this timorous
though mistakenapprehension we may trace the tenacity with which so many
have held that the Mosaic law is the believer's rule of life. Their poor,
timorous, servile minds, drenched and drowned in legalbondage, were afraid
of the gospel, as if it were a kind of tamed lion, which would be very quiet and
do nobody any harm as long as it was keptin a cage, but must not be allowed
to get out, lest it should work incalculable mischief.
Or, to change the figure, they treated it almost as if it were a ticket of license.
Man, who, though, from his goodconduct in prison, he might be setat a kind
of half liberty, yet was to be carefully watched, lest he should associatehimself
with thieves, or commit a burglary. And thus the free, noble, glorious gospel
of the grace ofGod, containing in its bosom and holding forth the eternal love
of the Father, the blood and righteousness ofthe Son, and the teaching and
testimony of the Holy Spirit—this pure and precious gospel, which proclaims
liberty to the captive and the opening of the prison to those who are bound,
has been shut up, caged, andconfined within all sorts of bars, conditions, and
limitations, as if it were a wild beastwhich "had three ribs in the mouth of it
betweenthe teeth of it;" and which, if let loose, would"arise and devour
much flesh." (Dan. 7:5.) Yes, this pure and precious gospelhas been suspected
of all manner of evil deeds; and if, by its goodand excellentbehavior it has
sometimes been alloweda half liberty, yet has it been most carefully watched
with the jealous eyes ofa whole host of clericaland lay police, lestit should

plot a murder or accomplisha robbery. What so much troubles the clergyman
of some quiet country parish as the appearance in it of a preacher of the
gospel, and the opening of a little cottage where a few poor people meet to
hear it? What an immediate outcry is raised. "O these dreadful, those
dangerous doctrines!Are they come at last into my parish—my domain?" As
if this poor, humble minister were come to burn down the parish rectory; or
as if his few hearers, probably by his own confessionthe best-living people in
the parish, met together to getdrunk, or strengtheneachother's hands in all
manner of sin and wickedness.
And this terribly outcry of "dangerous doctrines" is raised by men who see no
danger in the careless profanity of the rich, and the loose licentiousnessofthe
poor; no dangerin, or at leastwho raise no warning cry against, the stealthy
advance of Popery; no dangerin the rapid growth of infidelity; no danger in
bishops and deans denying the verbal inspiration of the Scriptures. But they
are not the first, and will not be the last, who have sparedthe thief and
arrestedthe honestman, justified the wickedand condemned the righteous.
But these blind judges are not the only men who bark at the gospel. How the
greatbulk of preachers and writers, far and near, whether they call
themselves churchmen or dissenters, are of one mind either wholly to castout
the precious gospel, or, by abridging it of its liberty, to stop its vital breath.
And to do this wretched work more effectually, they have constructeda cage
for the gospelout of the precepts of the gospel;and thus not only made it a
prisoner, but have found or fashioned chains and fetters to tie it hand and foot
by strips torn from its own clothes.
But how ignorant are all such men of what the liberty of the gospelis; and
that it is a liberty not to sin—but from sin—a holy, heavenly freedom of spirit
which engages everywilling affectionof the heart to yield the obedience of
faith. In fact, liberty is the very essence ofthe gospel—its vital breath, its
animating spirit; for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." (2Cor.
3:17.) The gospelis "the perfect law of liberty," therefore the very perfection
of liberty, and thus thoroughly and entirely free from the leasttaint of
bondage, the slightesttincture of servitude. It is this perfectfreedom which
distinguishes it from the law which "works wrath" (Ro 4:15) and "genders to
bondage." (Gal. 4:24.) It is, therefore, a freedom from sin—(Ro 6:18;) from

the guilt of sin, as having "the heart sprinkled from an evil conscience;" (Heb
10:22;) from the filth of sin, by "the washing of regenerationand renewing of
the Holy Spirit;" (Titus 3:5;) from the love of sin, through "the love of God,
shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit;" (Ro 5:5;) from the dominion of
sin, as "not being under the law but under grace;" (Ro 6:14;) and from the
practice of sin, by becoming servants to God, so as to have our fruit unto
holiness, and the end everlasting life." (Ro 6:22.)
How, then, can this pure, holy, and precious gospelbe condemned as leading
to licentiousness? Itis because its power, its preciousness, its happy, holy,
heavenly liberty have never been experimentally known by them that some,
like the Galatians, do all they can to frustrate the grace ofGod, by turning
againto the weak and beggarlyelements whereunto they desire to be in
bondage;(Gal 2:21; 4:9;) while others, like those monsters of wickedness
whom Jude and Peterdenounce with such burning words, pervert and abuse
the liberty of the gospelunto licentiousness, "Theyare blots and blemishes,
reveling in their pleasures," and, "while they promise others liberty, are
themselves the servants of corruption." (2Pe 2:13, 19.)
Now the liberty of the gospel, as revealedin the Scriptures, and made
experimentally known to the soul, steers, so to speak, betweenthe two
extremes, and is as perfectly free from the leastintermixture of legalbondage
as from the leasttaint of Antinomian licentiousness. It is, indeed, this holy
liberty, heavenly power, and gracious influence of the precious gospel, under
the teaching and testimony of the Holy Spirit, which makes it so suitable to
our case andstate when first convinced of sin, and cast into prison under guilt
and condemnation. What releasebut a perfectrelease would suit our
deplorable case as prisoner—inthe pit where there is no water, shut up under
wrath and guilty fear through a condemning law and an accusing conscience?
This pure and precious gospel, therefore, comes downto us poor miserable
captives, shut up in bondage under the law, under a guilty conscience, under
the tormenting accusations ofSatan, and the doubts and fears of our own
trembling, misgiving heart. Yes, it comes down to our pitiable state and
condition as a messageofpure mercy, as revealing and proclaiming pardon
and peace through a Saviour's blood; and when, by grace, we canreceive,

embrace, and entertain it as a word from God to us, proclaiming liberty as
with a jubilee trumpet through every court and ward of the soul.
And shall we take, or willingly allow any one else to take prisoner this
heavenly messengerand shut her up in the condemned cell? Shall we stand
tamely by and not lift up our voice with indignation when we see this
beauteous visitant, fresh, as it were, from the very courts of heaven, and
radiant with the glory of God, laid hold of by a villainous jailer, as if she came
to rob and murder? What were we before this precious gospelreachedour
ears and hearts? Were we not bondslaves to sin, serving diverse lusts and
pleasures, takenand led captive by Satanat his will—and while we talked
about enjoying life, were, through fear of death, subject to bondage? When we
saw the saints of God not daring to do what we did greedily, we thought that
they were the slaves, and we the free men, not knowing that "to whom we
yield ourselves servants to obey, his servants we are, whether of sin unto
death, or of obedience unto righteousness;" (Ro 6:16;) not knowing that
"whoevercommits sin is the servant of sin," and that our boastedfreedom
was real servitude, while their apparent bondage was real freedom; for they
had an interest in that precious declaration—"Ifthe Son, therefore, shall
make you free, you shall be free indeed." (Jn 8:36.)
As, then, the spirit of liberty is the spirit of the gospel, it must be the very
spirit of the precept also as an integral part of the gospel. If, therefore, you
have never known the spirit of liberty in the gospel, you have never known the
spirit of the precept, which is a part of that liberty; and if you have never
known the spirit of the precept, you have never once performed one of the
precepts aright. All your obedience has been not in newness ofthe spirit, but
in the oldness of the letter.
O how pious and religious some of you have been, if not now are!How you
have setthe precepts before your eves and tried to keepthem—how harshly
you have judged others who were not so strict in keeping the commandments
as you believed you were—how youspied out the liberty of some of the dear
family of God which they had in Christ Jesus, that you might, by your
conversation, oryour preaching, your letters of advice, your solemn warnings,
your sharp and angry reproofs, your praying at them, and, as you thought

and said, for them, bring them into bondage. (Gal 2:4) How dangerous you
consideredmust be the liberty of the gospelif it should set anyone who
professedgodliness free from all those shackles andfetters which, the more
self-imposedand the stricterthey were, the more closelyyou hugged them to
your self-righteous bosom!Thus you took the precepts of the gospelout of
their connectionwith the liberty of the gospel, and turned them into moral
duties to feedyour legal, self-righteous spirit. And what was the consequence?
Bondage, guilt, and fear in your own conscience, foryou could never keepthe
precept even according to your owninterpretation of it; harsh judgment of all
who did not partake of your legalspirit, whatevermight be their experience
or consistency;close alliance with shallow professors held fastin the same
bonds with yourself; and a gradual departure from the truths of the gospel,
until a miracle of grace put you into the furnace, there to learn what your own
arm could do for you, and that nothing but the gospel, in its blessedliberty
and power, could save your soul.
We have rather wandered from our point, but we could not show the liberty
of the precept as animated by the spirit of the precept, and its harmony with
the whole tenor and current of the gospel, without entering a little into the
nature of the liberty of the gospel;and, as this is a subject of great
importance, and very dear to us, we have been tempted to stray somewhat
from our due limits. But now observe the connectionbetweenthe 'spirit of the
precept' and the 'liberty of the gospel'. In order, then, that this liberty of the
gospelshould not be abused unto licentiousness,it is guided and regulatedby
the precept, and by the spirit of the precept as animating the letter. The
liberty of the gospelis a living, animated principle—not a dead letter, but a
gracious powerand influence. This is one of its main blessings. The precept
therefore, in guiding and regulating this liberty, must be animated, too, with
spirit and life, or you would have the strange anomaly, the gross and palpable
inconsistency, ofa living body walking with dead feet, or served by paralyzed
hands. (The Precepts ofthe Word of God)"

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Adam Clarke Commentary

Now the Lord is that Spirit - In 2 Corinthians 3:6, 2 Corinthians 3:8, the word
το πνευμα, spirit, evidently signifies the Gospel;so calledbecause it points out
the spiritual nature and meaning of the law; because it produces spiritual
effects;and because it is especiallythe dispensationof the Spirit of God. Here
Jesus Christ is representedas 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, andinfluences.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is - Wherever this Gospelis received, there
the Spirit of the Lord is given; and whereverthat Spirit lives and works, there
is liberty, not only from Jewishbondage, but from the slaveryof sin - from its
power, its guilt, and its pollution. See John 8:33-36;(note), and the notes
there.
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Bibliography
Clarke, Adam. "Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3:17". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/acc/2-
corinthians-3.html. 1832.
return to 'Jump List'
Albert Barnes'Notes onthe Whole Bible
Now the Lord is that Spirit - The word “Lord” here evidently refers to the
Lord Jesus;see 2 Corinthians 3:16. It may be observedin generalin regardto
this word, that where it occurs in the New Testamentunless 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 John 20:13;John 21:7, John
21:12;Ephesians 4:1, Ephesians 4:5. The design of Paul in this verse seems to
be to accountfor the “liberty” which he and the other apostles had, or for the
boldness, openness, and plainness 2 Corinthians 3:12 which they evinced in
contradistinction from the Jews. who so little understood the nature of their

institutions. He had said 2 Corinthians 3:6, that he was a minister “not of the
letter, but of the Spirit;” and he had statedthat the Old Testamentwas 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 enabledto understand the Old Testamentso 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 centeredin him, and he was the end of all those
institutions. If contemplatedas having reference to him, it was easyto
understand them. This I take to be the sentiment of the pas sage, though
expositors have been greatlydivided in regard to its meaning. Thus explained,
it does not mean absolutelyand 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 spokenin 2 Corinthians 3:6, as
contradistinguishedfrom the letter of the Law.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty - This is a generaltruth
designedto illustrate the particular sentiment which he had just advanced.
The word “liberty” here ( ἐλευθερία eleutheria) refers, I think, to freedom in
speaking;the powerof speaking openly, and freely, as in 2 Corinthians 3:12.
It states the generaltruth, that the effectof the Spirit of Godwas to give light
and clearnessofview; 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 revealedtruth, 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 clearview of
truth, which the mass of the Jews had not; and that the systemof religion
which he preachedwas 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 slaveryand bondage of sin; the freedom of the children of
God, who have clear views of him as their Father and Redeemerand who are
enabled to express those views openly and boldly to the world.”

Copyright Statement
Bibliography
Barnes, Albert. "Commentaryon 2 Corinthians 3:17". "Barnes'Notes onthe
New Testament". https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/bnb/2-
corinthians-3.html. 1870.
The Biblical Illustrator
2 Corinthians 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 greatprinciples in the text.
1. Christianity is a spirit.
2. Christ is the Spirit of Christianity.
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 anddisobedient.” 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 ofleaving us at liberty upon many points; moral excellence is its
requirement, not ceremonialexactness. 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 gospelis spiritual in its form, because it is spiritual in its
power. In the following verse a sublime truth is setbefore us. The liberty of

the gospelis 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 cando this. The letter
may keepsin 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 gospelof His Son, free to have accessto Him with
the spirit of adoption, free to run the way of His commandments, because
“enlargedin heart”? He is the slave whose will is in fetters; and nothing but
the Spirit, the Lord, can setthat free.
II. The subjectis fruitful in reflections and admonitions.
1. The text is one of a large class which intimate and require the divinity of
Christ. The place assignedto Christ in the scheme and providence of God is
such that only on the supposition of His Divine nature canit be understood
and explained. DestroyHim, take Him away, and you do not merely violate
the language, but annihilate the very life of God’s covenant. If Christianity be
what we are accustomedto regard it, He who is its Spirit, in the way and for
the reasons whichitself explains, canbe no other than the “true God and
eternal life.”
2. We see the greatness ofthe privileges with which, as Christians, we have
been favoured, and the source of their derivation. The apostles do employ
language severelydepreciating in its tone, when contrasting previous
economies with our own. “Darkness,”“flesh,”“letter,” “bondage,”“the
world,” are setagainst“light,” “spirit,” “grace,”“liberty,” and “the kingdom
of God” and “of heaven.” And the reasonof our being so blessedis 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,” andthe great
worth of this position is in the facilities for sanctificationwhich it affords.
3. Let us give to the personalelement in Christianity its proper place and
power. In the apostles’writings there was an indestructible connectionof
every principle of the gospelwith the personalChrist. Everything was “in
Him.” Christ was Christianity. He is “the Truth,” “the Way,” “the Life,” the
“peace,”“hope,”and “resurrection” ofmen; He is their “wisdom,”

“righteousness,”“sanctification,”and “redemption.” Religionis 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 subjectinstructs and encouragesus in connectionwith the diffusion of
our religion through the earth. The gospelis a spirit. Well, indeed, might we
despond, when contemplating the powers of darkness, if we could not
associate withour religion the attributes of spirit. But, said Christ, “the words
that I speak unto you are spirit and life.” And our subjectalso teaches charity.
Can there be any heart unaffected when the promise of “liberty,” in its
highest state and completestmeasure, 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 “preachdeliverance to the captives, and the opening of the
prison to them that are bound”? (A. J. Morris.)
Liberty of the spiritual life
entrance of true life or living truth into man’s 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 passageofwhich two-fifths relatedto “liberty.” Between
that passageand 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 offreedom
to make a play of the affections.

1. Satanknew this quite well when he destroyed the loving allegiance ofour
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 secondAdam made Himself a “servantof
servants,” that He might restore to us a greaterfreedom 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 ofbondage, 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
againsttoo much “liberty.” In fact, it is almost always those who have felt
themselves too shut up who break out into lawlessness ofconduct. 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. “Byand by,” somebodysays, “whenI 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 considerwhether he is yet goodenough 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 God’s own grace, andhis “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 man’s
real sanctificationbegins.

2. There are many whose minds are continually recurring to old sins. They
have prayed over them againand 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 washedneedeth not save to wash his feet, but is cleanevery
whit.” All he feels he has to do is to bring his daily sins to that Fountain where
he has washedall 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 man’s forgiveness. To obeythe 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 exactstate of a
Christian. He has studied the commands till he has reachedto the spirit of the
commands. He has gathered“the mind of God,” and he follows that. A
command prescribes, and whateverprescribes circumscribes, and is so far
painful. But the will of God is an unlimited thing, and therefore it is
unlimiting.
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 ofcorruption.” Men are content to be slaves within who would be
very indignant at any attempt to make them slaves without. The apostle,
speaking ofthe 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 ofdeath 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
draggedoff to his fearful doom. We are under the sentence ofGod’s broken

law. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” How beautiful, then, the language of
the apostle!(Romans 8:1).
II. Liberty from law. The law knows nothing of mercy and forgiveness,nor
does it afford the leasthelp 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 “whatthe law could not do,” etc. (Romans 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 afterall. 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 goodthing without God. But what the flesh
cannot do the Spirit will enable him to do. “It is God which workethin us,
both to will and to do of His goodpleasure”;therefore “work out your own
salvation,” etc.
IV. Liberty to fight the goodfight 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 swordof 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 wayis open, but it cannot
be discerned excepta man has it revealedto him by the Spirit of God.
Through Christ we have accessby 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 possessthe Lord Jesus Christis to possess the Holy Ghost, who is the
minister and guardian of Christ’s presence in the soul. The apostle’s
conclusionis that those who are converted to Jesus have escapedfrom 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 Jewishthought the exercise
of any real insight into the deepersense of Scripture. That sense is seized by
the Christian student of the ancientlaw, 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 calledthe Spirit of Christ because He is sent by Christ,
and for the purpose of endowing us with Christ’s nature and mind. His
presence does not supersede that of Christ: He co-operatesin, He does not
work apart from, the mediatorial work Of Christ. To possessthe Holy Spirit
is to possessChrist; to have lost the one is to have lost the other. Accordingly
our Lord speaks ofthe gift of Pentecostas if it were His ownsecondcoming
(John 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 ofsin.” Here Christ’s “being in” the Christian, and the
Christian’s “having the Spirit of Christ,” are equivalent terms.
3. Freedomis not an occasionallargess ofthe Divine Spirit; it is not merely a
reward for high services orconspicuous devotion. It is the very atmosphere of
His presence. WhereverHe 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. Forno political or socialemancipationcan give real liberty to an
enslavedsoul. And no tyranny of the state or of societycan 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 constraintfor the
affections, freedomfor 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 ofthis freedom. The Dove, which pictures His

gentle movement on the soul and in the Church, suggestsalso the power of
rising at will above the dead level of the soil into a higher region where it is at
rest. The “cloventongue 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 Lord’s own chosensymbols of the
Pentecostalgift. All these figures prepare us for the language ofthe apostles
when they are tracing the results of the greatPentecostalgift. 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 Jerusalemwhich is “free”;
in contrastwith the bondwoman the Christian is to stand fastin 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,” whichgives us Christians our freedom, with
the enslaving “law of sin and death.” According to St. Paul, the Christian
slave is essentiallyfree, even while he still wears his chain (1 Corinthians
7:22). Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is--
I. Mentalliberty.
1. From the first God has consecratedliberty of thought by withdrawing
thought from the controlof society. Societyprotects 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 almostindefinitely the
thought of man. He has vindicated for human thought the liberty of its
expressionagainstimperial tyranny and official superstition. The blood of the
martyrs witnessedto the truth that, where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
mental liberty.
2. In the judgment of an influential schooldogma 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 gospelare hardly consistentwhen they are elaborating their own theories.
Dogma is essentialChristiantruth 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 againstthose
sentimental theories which empty revelationof 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 Testamentthan in
Fathers and Councils. It is speciallyembodied in our Lord’s later discourses,
in the sermons of His apostles, in the epistles of St. Paul. The Divine Spirit,
speaking through the clearutterances of Scripture, is the realauthor of
essentialdogma;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.
4. They only cansuppose that Christian dogma is the antagonistof intellectual
freedom whose misery it is to disbelieve. Fordogma 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 canspeak 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. Godis everywhere, and
to have a fixed belief in Him is to have a perpetual interestin all that reflects
Him. What compositioncan 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. Moralliberty.
1. There is no such thing as freedom from moral slavery, exceptfor 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 weaknessto the everlasting Christ upon His
throne; when that glorious series oftruths, which begins with the Incarnation,
and which ends with the perpetual intercession, is really graspedby the soul
as certain--then assuredlyfreedom is possible. It is possible, for the Son has
takenflesh, and died, and risen again, and interceded with the Father, and
given us His Spirit and His sacraments, expresslythat 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 schoolof
freedom. In obeying God you escapeall the tyrannies which would fain rob
you of your liberty. In obeying God you are emancipatedfrom the cruel yet
petty despotisms which enslave, sooneror later, all rebel wills. As in the
material world all expansionis proportioned to the compressionwhich
precedes it, so in the moral world the will acts with a force which is measured
by its powerof 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.” Politicalliberty is a blessing; liberty of thought is a
blessing. But the greatestblessing is liberty of the conscienceand the will. It is
freedom from a sense of sin when all is knownto have been pardoned through
the atoning blood; freedom from a slavish fear of our Father in heaven when
conscienceis 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 actualtruth; freedom
from the depressing yoke of weak healthor narrow circumstances, since the
soul cannotbe crushed which rests consciouslyupon the everlasting arms;

freedom from that haunting fear of death which holds those who think really
upon death at all, “alltheir lifetime subject to bondage,” unless they are His
true friends and clients who by the sharpness ofHis own death has led the
way and “openedthe kingdom of heavento all believers.” It is freedom in
time, but also, and beyond, freedom in eternity. In that blessedworld, in the
unclouded presence ofthe 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 necessitythe service of the free. (Canon
Liddon.)
Spiritual liberty
because ofour 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
wretchedman that I am, who shall deliver me” from it? But the Christian is
free.
2. The penalty of sin--eternaldeath.
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 engagedin as

hopeless a task as the daughters of Danaus, whenthey attempted to fill a vast
vesselwith bottomless buckets. He has a bow without a string, a sword
without a blade, a gun without powder.
5. Slavishfear of law. Many people are honest because they are afraid of the
policeman. Many are soberbecause they are afraid of the eye of the public. If
a man be destitute of the grace of God, his works are only works ofslavery; he
feels forcedto do them. But now, Christian, “Love makes your willing feetin
swift obedience move.” We are free from the law that we may obey it better.
6. The fear of death. I recollecta good old woman, who said, “Afraid to die,
sir! I have dipped my foot in Jordan every morning before breakfastfor the
last fifty years, and do you think I am afraid to die now?” A goodWelshlady,
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 ofAges, 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 certainrights and privileges.
1. To heaven’s charter. Heaven’s 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
greatprivilege, but I am a freeman of a better city. Now some of you have
obtained the freedom of the city, but you won’t take it up. Don’t remain
outside the Church any longer, for you have a right to come in.

4. To heaven. When a Christian dies he knows the passwordthat 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
Wheresoeverthe Spirit of Godis, there is--
I. A liberty of holiness, to free us from the dominion of sin (Luke 1:75). As
children can give a bird leave to fly so it be in a string to pull it back again, so
Satanhath men in a string if they live in sin. The beastthat runs awaywith a
cord about him is catchedby the cord again; so, having Satan’s cords about
us, he can pull us in when he lists. From this we are freed by the Spirit.
II. A blessedfreedom and an enlargementof heart to duties, God’s people are
a voluntary people. Those that are under grace are “anointedby the Spirit”
(Psalms 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, forfear, 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 extrinsicalmotive. A child needs not extrinsicalmotives 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 God’s motives may help as the sweetencouragements
and rewards. But the principle is to do things naturally. Artificial things move
from a principle without them, therefore they are artificial. Clocks andsuch
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 againstallopposition whatsoever, joinedwith light and strength
of faith, breaking through all oppositions. Oppositionto a spiritual man adds

but courage andstrength to him to resist. In Acts 4:23, seq., when they had
the Spirit of God, they encounteredopposition; and the more they were
opposed, the more they grew. They were castin prison, and rejoiced;and the
more they were imprisoned, the more courageous theywere still. There is no
setting againstthis 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 (Romans 8:33-34;Acts 6:10; Acts 6:15).
IV. Boldness with God himself, otherwise a “consuming fire?” Forthe 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.)
Copyright Statement
Text Courtesyof BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliography
Exell, JosephS. "Commentary on "2 Corinthians 3:17". The Biblical
Illustrator. https:https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/tbi/2-corinthians-
3.html. 1905-1909.New York.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty.

The holy spirit of freedom

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