This is a collection of writings dealing with the liberty that believers have in the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

1. THE HOLY SPIRIT OF LIBERTY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
2 Corinthians3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is freedom.
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)
Phillips:For the Lord to whom they could turn is the
spiritof the new agreement, and wherever the Spirit of
the Lord is, men's souls are set free. (Phillips:
Touchstone)
The Liberty Of The Spirit
by PastorJack Hyles
(Chapter 16 from Dr. Hyle's excellentbook, MeetThe Holy Spirit)
Those who misunderstand law and grace oftencall those who have standards
and strong convictions "legalists."In so doing, they revealtheir
misunderstanding of the Scriptures. A legalistis one who adds something to

2. salvationapart from grace through faith. Legalism is adding goodworks,
baptism, church membership, communion, confirmation, or confession, to
faith. These sometimes sincere but misguided ones point us to II Corinthians
3:17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty." However, they do not understand the meaning. They would say that
since the coming of the Holy Spirit during this age, rules are no longer
important and that standards are of little value, but they misunderstand II
Corinthians 3:17. They interpret the words, "Where the Spirit of the Lord,
there is, liberty," to mean that where the Spirit of the Lord is, the Christian is
at perfect liberty. All he must do is follow the leadershipof the Holy Spirit,
and this is the only law, rule or standard. They forgetthat the Spirit of the
Lord WROTE the Book and that the Book IS Spirit! John 6:63, "It is the
spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto
you, they are spirit, and they are life." Hence the Holy Spirit does not have to
lead a person when He has already spoken. Forexample, it is very plain in the
Bible that the Holy Spirit wants ladies to wearmodest clothing. I Timothy 2:9,
"In like manner also, that womenadorn themselves in modestapparel, with
shamefacedness andsobriety; not with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or
costlyarray." It is likewise plain that a man is not to have long hair. I
Corinthians 11:14, "Doth not even nature itself teachyou, that, if a man have
long hair, it is a shame unto him?" Now when the Spirit writes in His Book a
standard or rule, it is as much the Spirit's leading as if we ask Him in prayer
to lead us in some intangible way.
These interpreters of the Bible also misunderstand the work "liberty." The
liberty here is not talking about the liberty of the believer. God is not saying
here that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty for the believer to do
as he wills. He is talking about where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty
for the Holy Spirit to work and do as HE wills.
These students of the Bible also would lead us to believe that in this age all of
the rules and standards have been broken down and that there has been a
change now. They are right in one thing. There has been a change. Theyare
wrong, however, in their teaching that God's expectations ofus and from us
are less than they were in the Old Testament. Notice Romans 8:2, "Forthe
law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin

3. and death." This verse teaches us that on this side of Calvary we have moved
to a new country. Hence, we are under a different law. We are now under the
law of love. However, God expects more from us under the law of love than
He did under the written law.
Notice Matthew 5:17-22, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the
prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you,
Till heavenand earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoevertherefore shallbreak one of these least
commandments, and shall teachmen so, he shall be called the least
commandments, and shall teachmen so, he shall be called the leastin the
Kingdom of Heaven: but whosoevershalldo and teachthem, the same shall
be called greatin the Kingdom of Heaven. ForI say unto you, That except
your righteousness shallexceedthe righteousness ofthe scribes and Pharisees,
ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. Ye have heard that it
was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoevershallkill
shall be in dangerof the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoeveris
angry with his brother without a cause shallbe in danger of the judgment:
and whosoevershallsayto his brother, Raca, shallbe in danger of the
counsel:but whosoevershallsay, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire."
Now, decide in your own mind during which age Godexpectedthe most. He
tells us that under the old law man was not to kill, but under the new law a
man that is angry or calls his brother a fool commits an equal sin.
Now notice Matthew 5:27, 28, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old
time, Thou shalt not commit adultery: But I say unto you, that whosoever
lookethon a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her
already in his heart." Under the old law man was not to commit adultery;
under the new law he is not to look at a woman and lust after her in his heart.
In which age does Godexpect the most?
Now notice Matthew 5:31, 32, "It hath been said, Whosoevershallput away
his wife, let him gibe her a writing of divorcement: But I sayunto you, That
whosoevershallput away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth
her to commit adultery: and whosoevershallmarry her that is divorced
committeth adultery." The old law said if a man puts awayhis wife, let him

4. giver her a writing of divorcement; the new law said that there is only one
reasonfor this divorce.
Now read Matthew 5:38-40, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for
an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resistnot evil: but
whosoevershallsmite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And
if any man will sue thee at the law, and take awaythy coat, lethim have thy
cloak also."Notice, the stricterlaw is the law of love.
Now read Matthew 43, 44, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt
love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do goodto them that hate you, and pray
for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." Notice in how many
casesour Lord reminds us that under the law of love we are to go beyond the
law of the letter.
Now turn to II Corinthians 3:6, "Who also hath made us able ministers of the
new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the
spirit giveth life." These words teachus clearlythat we are to do the same in
this age of the law of love and the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus as we
were to do under the law of sin and death. However, there is a DIFFERENT
REASON for our actions. The letter killeth and has been pronounced guilty.
Now the spirit has brought life. The law was never punished by spiritual death
but by physical death. Hence, we keepit, not to avoid death but in order that
we may realize the only way to receive life is through Jesus Christ. Basically,
the difference betweenthe old law and the new law is that we have just
changedreasons fordoing the same thing.
Here is a person who goes to work in a new job. He does his job because he
has character. He doesn't particularly like his boss, but he realizes his
responsibilities and fulfills them. For months he works under those conditions
until one day it dawns on his that the boss is a nice person, and whereas he
used to have a distaste for the boss, now he loves him. He still does the same
responsibilities under this new found love that he did under his old legalism.
He is doing the same thing he always did, maybe even a little more, but he has
a new purpose and a new motive.

5. Here is a teenagerwho is made to iron her dad's shirts. She doesn't want to,
but she has characterand so she obeys the orders given to her by her parents.
Then one day she gets married. Now she irons the same number of shirts that
she ironed before, but she does it through love. She doesn't have the liberty to
quit ironing shirts; she irons shirts just as she always did, but now she does it
through love, not through the letter of the law. The same standard prevails,
but the is a different reasonand incentive.
The story is told of slaves who were emancipated by Abraham Lincoln and yet
who chose to return to their masters and serve as they always had. These were
calledbond slaves. Hence, shouldnot we in this age have stricter standards
and go beyond those of the letter of the law?
God has not changedHis mind about right and wrong. What was wrong in the
Old Testamentis wrong in the New. What was wrong 3500 years ago is wrong
today.
Now let us return to II Corinthians 3:17, "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and
where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." We are not the ones who have
that liberty mentioned in this verse;`its the Holy Spirit Who has the liberty to
tell us what to do! This means, where the Spirit of the Lord is in a life, the
Holy Spirit may feel free to have liberty to controlus and to command us.
This is not our having liberty to work as we will, but the Holy Spirit having
liberty to be able to work through us as HE wills.
Here is a dating couple. They think they like eachother enough to go steady.
The young man asks the young lady if she will give up all other young men
and not go with anyone else. This she does. Then the day comes when he asks
her to marry him. Now he is saying, "From now on, you go only with me."
These are two ways of saying the same thing. Right and wrong have not
changed, but the reasonhas changed.
It is necessaryto begin with the law in the life of a child. We tell him he can't
do this and he can't do that, and we chastenhim if he disobeys. There comes a
time in his life, however, when he can transfer his actions to love. He still does
not do the wrong and he still does the right, but he does it because oflove.

6. This is what the liberty of the Spirit means. When the Spirit of the Lord is
present in a life, the is liberty. There is liberty for him to tell us what to do and
what not to do. These may be things that we did not do before because of rules
and standards, but in every case, the manner of behavior exceeds under the
law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus that which was under the law of the
letter.
Liberty by the Holy Spirit
Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty. (2Co_3:17)
As we have seen, the old covenantof law produces spiritual bondage in those
who attempt to live under it. The greatheavenly remedy for that bondage is
the new covenant of grace, becauseit produces spiritual liberty. This liberty is
a work of the Holy Spirit. "Now the Lord is the Spirit." The life-giving Lord
of grace is the Spirit of God: "the new covenant, not of the letter but of the
Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2Co_3:6).
Living by rules and regulations ("of the letter") has a deadening, binding
spiritual effecton people. This is how the Pharisee's "ministered." "Forthey
bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders"
(Mat_23:4). Jesus came to liberate people, to set them free. This is why Jesus
ministered by the Holy Spirit. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He
has anointed Me to preachthe gospelto the poor. He has sent Me to heal the
brokenhearted, to preachdeliverance to the captives and recoveryof sight to
the blind, to setat liberty those who are oppressed" (Luk_4:18). As Jesus, the
Son of God, humbly servedthe Father, the Holy Spirit empoweredHim to
rescue captives, to release the oppressed.
Rescuing people from sin and unrighteousness is the fundamental, liberating
work of Jesus. "And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of

7. righteousness"(Rom_6:18). Now, we are free to grow in a life of
righteousness. Ournewfound freedom is not for personalindulgence. It is for
the serving the Lord. "As free, yet not using your liberty as a cloak for vice,
but as servants of God" (1Pe_2:16). Now that we are free, we canuse our
freedom to lovingly minister to others. "Foryou, brethren, have been calledto
liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through
love serve one another" (Gal_5:13).
Another wonder of Christ's rescuing, liberating work is that He wants to save
us from self-dependent striving to develop a life of godliness and loving
service. He accomplishes this by the work of the Holy Spirit. "Forthe law of
the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and
death" (Rom_8:2). As we walk in humble dependence, the Holy Spirit imparts
to us the life that is in Christ Jesus. This liberates us from the tendency to rely
upon fleshly human resources, whichare inadequate (due to sin and spiritual
deadness).
[COLOR=Red]DearGodof all spiritual liberation, I praise You for setting me
free from sin and the service of self. Now I ask You to work in and through
me by Your Holy Spirit, setting me free from self-striving in my service of
You, in Jesus name, Amen.[/COLOR]
Bob Hoekstra
The Liberty Of The Holy Spirit By EvangelistSamBiggers
Steve schultz February 19, 2019 Comments Off
on The Liberty Of The Holy Spirit By EvangelistSam Biggers
Nevertheless whenone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord
is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all,

8. with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of
the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 NKJV
The Apostle Paul was writing about the glory of the New Covenantwhich
removes the veil of blindness to spiritual truth. In the verses that proceed
those mentioned above, Paul wrote about how a veil had to be placed over the
face of Moses whenhe came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten
Commandments which were itched in stone. This old wayled to death though
it beganwith such glory that the Children of Israel could not look upon the
face of Moses whichshone with the glory of God. Their hearts were hard and
stony and they refused to repent (turn from their sin).
Paul instructs us that the New Covenantgives a far greaterglory than the Old
Covenantnow that the Holy Spirit is giving life. This new way is glorious
making us right with God without the need for a veil to hide us from the glory
of God. In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the
overwhelming glory of this new way. The old way has been replacedwith a
new glorious way, which remains forever!
Paul goes onto share with us that this new way gives us confidence and that
we should be bold to share this glorious waywith others. The Children of
Israel’s minds were veiled and they could not and still do not understand the
glory of the new way. The only way anyone can understand this new wayof
life is for the veil to be removed by believing in Christ.
Whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil separating man from Godis
removed and takenawayby the power of the Holy Spirit. As a new personin
Christ Jesus, theirspiritual eyes and ears are openedto the things of the Holy
Spirit and they can then experience the liberty that is found only in Christ.
The removal of the veil gives eternal life and freedom from bondage. Thus, as
servants and followers ofChrist, we become like a mirror reflecting God’s
glory.
Those who attempt to be savedby keeping the Old Testamentlaw are tied up
in rules and ceremonies. However, under the New Covenant Godprovides

9. freedom from sin and condemnation (Romans 8:1). When we place our full
trust and confidence in Christ alone, He removes our heavy burden of
attempting to please Him and our associatedguilt because we fail to do so. By
trusting in Christ we are loved, fully accepted, totallyforgiven and given
freedom to live for Him and commune with Him.
“Whereverthe Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” This love, as we drew
closerand closerto God makes us more and more like Him as we are changed
into his glorious image. Thus, we must cherish the freedom that is given to us
and not use this freedom to our advantage but to serve others and point them
to Jesus Christ and a life of liberty in the Holy Spirit.
Let us boldly declare that the work of the Holy Spirit is to bring men and
women to repentance. Jesus describedthe work of the Holy Spirit in John,
chapter 16. Without the Holy Spirit, we are nothing. BecauseofHim (the
Holy Spirit), we are filled with power and boldness. If you are not aware of
the Holy Spirit in your life today, begin to pray for Him to enlighten your
heart to a full understanding of his work in the life to those who follow Christ.
The Work of the Holy Spirit
“But now I go awayto Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where
are You going? But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled
your heart. Nevertheless Itell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go
away;for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart,
I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of
sin, and of righteousness, andof judgment: of sin, because theydo not believe
in Me; of righteousness, because Igo to My Fatherand you see Me no more;
of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged (emphasis by author).
“I still have many things to sayto you, but you cannot bear them now.
However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all
truth; for He will not speak onHis own authority, but whateverHe hears He
will speak;and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will
take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are
Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. John
16:5-15 NKJV

10. Sam Biggers
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
2 Corinthians 3:17 Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the
Lord is, there is liberty.
The Spirit of God is always the spirit of liberty; the spirit that is not of God is
the spirit of bondage, the spirit of oppressionand depression. The Spirit of
God convicts vividly and tensely, but He is always the Spirit of liberty. God
who made the birds never made birdcages;it is men who make birdcages, and
after a while we become cramped and can do nothing but chirp and stand on
one leg. When we getout into God’s greatfree life, we discoverthat that is the
way God meant us to live "the glorious liberty of the children of God." -
OswaldChamber
- Imagine being given a check for a million dollars and never cashing it.
- Imagine having a freezerand cupboard full of food and never eating.
- Imagine dangling precariouslyon a rope when there is a ladder within your
grasp.
- Imagine living a life of defeatand despair when there is no reasonto do so.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
If you read 2 Corinthians 3 you will discover that God does not want us under
the bondage of law keeping or self-effort. Instead He wants us to have the
freedom of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. Becausethe Holy Spirit is
present within us, all we need to do is reachfor it by faith. We live such self-
defeating lives that God never intended us to live.
I. FREEDOM TO BELONG -

11. - Rom 8:15 KJV For ye have not received the spirit of bondage againto fear;
but ye have receivedthe Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
- Rom 8:16 KJV The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
the children of God:
- Rom 8:17 KJV And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with
Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
You are a child of God and therefore part of the family of God.
II. FREEDOMTO SERVE -
- 2 Cor 3:5 KJV Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of
ourselves;but our sufficiency is of God;
- 2 Cor 3:6 KJV Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament;
not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
We are ministers of God. His sufficiency to serve comes from God.
III. FREEDOM TO BE GUIDED -
- Rom 8:14 KJV For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons
of God.
- Psa 32:8 KJV I will instruct thee and teachthee in the waywhich thou shalt
go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Liberty is the right to discipline ourselves in order not to be disciplined by
others.
IV. FREEDOM TO WITNESS-
- Acts 1:8 KJV But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghostis come
upon you: and ye shall be witnessesunto me both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
The gospelis not something we go to church to hear; it is something we go
from the church to tell. When Christians live the gospel, sinners will listen to
the gospel. Let’s reachout to a world in need with the Word it needs.

12. V. FREEDOMTO LEARN -
- John 16:13 KJV Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth: for he shall not speak ofhimself; but whatsoeverhe shall
hear, that shall he speak:and he will show you things to come.
- John 16:14 KJV He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall
show it unto you.
- John 16:15 KJV All things that the Fatherhath are mine: therefore said I,
that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.
VI. FREEDOM TO PRODUCE-
- Gal 5:22 KJV But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith,
- Gal 5:23 KJV Meekness, temperance:againstsuch there is no law.
Love is the key. Joy is love singing. Peace is love resting. Long-suffering is love
enduring. Kindness is love’s touch. Goodness is love’s character. Faithfulness
is love’s habit. Gentleness is love’s self-forgetfulness. Self-controlis love
holding the reins. - Donald Grey Barnhouse
God bless you and yours!
On behalf of this generation,
Your friends in the service of Christ,
Tony and Marge Abram
Abundant Life Crusades

13. BIBLEHUB.COMRESOURCES
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

14. 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.
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
liberty.
2 Corinthians 3:17
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

15. 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."

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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).

21. 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

22. 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, 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 — 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

23. 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

24. 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.

25. 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.

26. 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 —

27. 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.

28. 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

29. 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.)

30. COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(17) Now the Lord is that Spirit.—Better, the Lord is the Spirit. The
words seem at first inconsistent with the formulated precision of the
Church’s creeds, distinguishing the persons of the Godhead from
each other. We apply the term “Lord,” it is true, as a predicate of
the Holy Spirit when we speak, as in the Nicene Creed, of the Holy
Ghost as “the Lord, and Giver of life,” or say, as in the pseudo-
Athanasian, that “the Holy Ghost is Lord;” but using the term “the
Lord” as the subject of a sentence, those who have been trained in
the theology of those creeds would hardly say, “The Lord” (the term
commonly applied to the Father in the Old Testament, and to the
Son in the New) “is the Spirit.” We have, accordingly, to remember
that St. Paul did not contemplate the precise language of these later
formularies. He had spoken, in 2Corinthians 3:16, of Israel’s
“turning to the Lord;” he had spoken also of his own work as “the
ministration of the Spirit” (2Corinthians 3:8). To turn to the Lord—
i.e., to the Lord Jesus—was to turn to Him whose essential being, as
one with the Father, was Spirit (John 4:24), who was in one sense,
the Spirit, the life-giving energy, as contrasted with the letter that
killeth. So we may note that the attribute of “quickening,” which is
here specially connected with the name of the Spirit (2Corinthians
3:6), is in John 5:21 connected also with the names of the Father and
the Son. The thoughts of the Apostle move in a region in which the
Lord Jesus, not less than the Holy Ghost, is contemplated as Spirit.
This gives, it is believed, the true sequence of St. Paul’s thoughts.
The whole verse may be considered as parenthetical, explaining that

31. the “turning to the Lord” coincides with the “ministration of the
Spirit.” Another interpretation, inverting the terms, and taking the
sentence as “the Spirit is the Lord,” is tenable grammatically, and
was probably adopted by the framers of the expanded form of the
Nicene Creed at the Council of Constantinople (A.D. 380). It is
obvious, however, that the difficulty of tracing the sequence of
thought becomes much greater on this method of interpretation.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.—The Apostle
returns to the more familiar language. To turn to the Lord, who is
Spirit, is to turn to the Spirit which is His, which dwelt in Him, and
which He gives. And he assumes, almost as an axiom of the spiritual
life, that the presence of that Spirit gives freedom, as contrasted
with the bondage of the letter—freedom from slavish fear, freedom
from the guilt and burden of sin, freedom from the tyranny of the
Law. Compare the aspect of the same thought in the two Epistles
nearly contemporary with this:—the Spirit bearing witness with our
spirit that we are the children of God, those children being
partakers of a glorious liberty (Romans 8:16-21); the connection
between walking in the Spirit and being called to liberty (Galatians
5:13-16). The underlying sequence of thought would seem to be
something like this: “Israel, after all, with all its seeming greatness
and high prerogatives, was in bondage, because it had the letter, not
the Spirit; we who have the Spirit can claim our citizenship in the
Jerusalem which is above and which is free” (Galatians 4:24-31).
Benson Commentary
2 Corinthians 3:17-18. Now the Lord Christ is that Spirit — Of the
law of which I spake before, to whom the letter of it was intended to

32. lead; and it is the office of the Spirit of God, as the great agent in his
kingdom, to direct the minds of men to it. And where the Spirit of
the Lord is — Enlightening and renewing men’s minds; there is
liberty — Not the veil, the emblem of slavery. There is liberty from
servile fear, liberty from the guilt and power of sin, liberty to behold
with open face the glory of the Lord. Accordingly it is added, we all
— That believe in him with a faith of his operation; beholding as in
a glass the glory of the Lord, &c. — By the glory of the Lord here,
we are to understand his divine attributes, his wisdom, power, and
goodness; his truth, justice, mercy; his holiness and grace, and
especially his love; these, and his other moral perfections, are his
greatest glory. But these cannot be beheld by man immediately and
directly, while he is in the body: they can only be seen as in a glass,
or through a glass darkly; (1 Corinthians 13:12;) namely, 1st, In
that of the works of creation, as the apostle states, Romans 1:20,
where see the note.
Invisible in himself, he is “dimly seen In these his lowest works,
which all declare His goodness beyond thought, and power divine.”
2d, In the dispensations of his providence, in which glass not only his
natural, but also his moral attributes are manifested; his long-
suffering in bearing with sinful individuals, families, cities, nations;
his justice in punishing when they persist in their iniquities; his
mercy in pardoning them when they break off their sins by
repentance. 3d, In the work of redemption; a work in which divine
goodness in designing, wisdom in contriving, and power in
executing, are conspicuously declared; in which justice and mercy

33. meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other: a wonderful
plan! in which God demonstrates that he is just, while he is the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. See on Romans 3:25-26. 4th,
In the glass in which all these are united, and set in a clear point of
view, namely, the Word of God, or the gospel of Christ, in which the
divine character is clearly and fully delineated; as it is also still more
manifestly, and in a more striking light, in his incarnate Son, the
brightness of his glory, the express image of his person; the Word
made flesh; God manifest in the flesh. But by whom is the divine
glory beheld in these glasses? Only by those from whose faces the
veil of ignorance, prejudice, and unbelief is removed; so that with
open, ανεκεκαλυμμενω, with unveiled face, and with the eyes of
their understanding opened, they behold, view attentively, and
contemplate this glory of the Lord.
Now, observe the effect produced on those who behold this glory;
they are changed into the same image. While we steadfastly and
with open face behold the divine likeness exhibited in these glasses,
we discern its amiableness and excellence, and the necessity of a
conformity thereto, in order to our happiness here and hereafter.
And hence arises sincere and earnest desire after that conformity,
and an endeavour to imitate such perfections as are imitable by us.
Add to this, the very beholding and meditating on the divine glories,
has a transforming efficacy. For instance, by contemplating his
wisdom, as manifested in his works and word, we are enlightened
and made wise: by viewing his power, and by faith arming ourselves
with it, we become strong; able to withstand our enemies, as also to
do and suffer his will. The contemplation of his truth, justice, mercy,
and holiness, inspires us with the same amiable and happy qualities,

34. and knowing and believing the love that he hath to us, and all his
people, we learn to love him who hath first loved us; and loving him
that beget, we are disposed and enabled also to love all that are
begotten of him; and even all mankind, if not with a love of
approbation and complacency, yet with a love of benevolence and
beneficence, knowing that he is the Father of the spirits of all flesh,
and that the whole race of Adam are his offspring. Thus we become
godlike, and put on the new man, which is renewed in and by this
spiritual knowledge, after the image of him that created him,
Colossians 3:10. From glory to glory — That Isaiah , 1 st, As the
light and glory of the moon and planets are by reflection from the
sun; so from the unbounded, absolutely perfect, and underived
glory of the Creator, when beheld and contemplated, results this
limited, increasing, and derived glory in the creature: increasing,
observe; for, 2d, this expression, from glory to glory, (which is a
Hebraism, denoting a continued succession and increase of glory,)
signifies from one degree of this glorious conformity to God to
another: this on earth. But it implies also, 3d, from grace, (which is
glory in the bud,) to glory in heaven, which is the ripe fruit. It is of
importance to notice likewise the grand agent in this work, namely,
the Spirit of the Lord. 1st, He hath prepared these glasses,
particularly the two last mentioned, the Holy Scriptures, indited by
his inspiration, and the human nature of Christ, formed by his
agency in the womb of the virgin. And he causes the glory of the
Lord to be reflected from them. 2d, He rends the veil from our
minds, and opens the eyes of our understanding, that we may be
enabled to behold the divine glory in these glasses. 3d, He causes the
sight to be transforming, communicating his own renewing and
sanctifying influences, and thereby imparting his likeness and
nature.

35. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
3:12-18 It is the duty of the ministers of the gospel to use great
plainness, or clearness, of speech. The Old Testament believers had
only cloudy and passing glimpses of that glorious Saviour, and
unbelievers looked no further than to the outward institution. But
the great precepts of the gospel, believe, love, obey, are truths stated
as clearly as possible. And the whole doctrine of Christ crucified, is
made as plain as human language can make it. Those who lived
under the law, had a veil upon their hearts. This veil is taken away
by the doctrines of the Bible about Christ. When any person is
converted to God, then the veil of ignorance is taken away. The
condition of those who enjoy and believe the gospel is happy, for the
heart is set at liberty to run the ways of God's commandments. They
have light, and with open face they behold the glory of the Lord.
Christians should prize and improve these privileges. We should not
rest contented without knowing the transforming power of the
gospel, by the working of the Spirit, bringing us to seek to be like the
temper and tendency of the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, and into union with Him. We behold Christ, as in the
glass of his word; and as the reflection from a mirror causes the face
to shine, the faces of Christians shine also.
Barnes' Notes on the 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 observed in
general in regard to this word, that where it occurs in the New
Testament unless the connection require us to understand it of God,
it refers to the Lord Jesus. It was the common name by which he
was known; see 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

36. account for 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
stated that the Old Testament was not understood by the Jews who
adhered to the literal interpretation of the Scriptures. He here says,
that the Lord Jesus was "the Spirit" to which he referred, and by
which he was enabled to understand the Old Testament so as to
speak plainly, and without obscurity. The sense is, that Christ was
the Spirit; that is, the sum, the substance of the Old Testament. The
figures, types, prophecies, etc. all centered in him, and he was the
end of all those institutions. If contemplated as having reference to
him, it was easy to understand them. This I take to be the sentiment
of the pas sage, though expositors have been greatly divided in
regard to its meaning. Thus explained, it does not mean absolutely
and abstractly that the Lord Jesus was "a Spirit," but that he was
the sum, the essence, the end, and the purport of the Mosaic rites,
the spirit of which Paul had spoken in 2 Corinthians 3:6, as
contradistinguished from the letter of the Law.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty - This is a
general truth designed to illustrate the particular sentiment which
he had just advanced. The word "liberty" here (ἐλευθερία
eleutheria) refers, I think, to freedom in speaking; the power of
speaking openly, and freely, as in 2 Corinthians 3:12. It states the
general truth, that the effect of the Spirit of God was to give light
and clearness of view; to remove obscurity from a subject, and to
enable one to see it plainly. This would be a truth that could not be
denied by the Jews, who held to the doctrine that the Spirit of God
revealed truth, and it must be admitted by all. Under the influence

37. of that Spirit, therefore, Paul says, that he was able to speak with
openness, and boldness; that he had a clear view of truth, which the
mass of the Jews had not; and that the system of religion which he
preached was open, plain, and clear. The word "freedom," would
perhaps, better convey the idea. "There is freedom from the dark
and obscure views of the Jews; freedom from their prejudices, and
their superstitions; freedom from the slavery and bondage of sin;
the freedom of the children of God, who have clear views of him as
their Father and Redeemer and who are enabled to express those
views openly and boldly to the world."
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
17. the Lord—Christ (2Co 3:14, 16; 2Co 4:5).
is that Spirit—is THE Spirit, namely, that Spirit spoken of in 2Co
3:6, and here resumed after the parenthesis (2Co 3:7-16): Christ is
the Spirit and "end" of the Old Testament, who giveth life to it,
whereas "the letter killeth" (1Co 15:45; Re 19:10, end).
where the Spirit of the Lord is—in a man's "heart" (2Co 3:15; Ro
8:9, 10).
there is liberty—(Joh 8:36). "There," and there only. Such cease to
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 longer the spirit of bondage, but of
free sonship (Ro 8:15; Ga 4:7). "Liberty" is opposed to the letter (of
the legal ordinances), and to the veil, the badge of slavery: also to
the fear which the Israelites felt in beholding Moses' glory unveiled
(Ex 34:30; 1Jo 4:18).
Matthew Poole's Commentary

38. The Lord Christ was a man, but not a mere man; but one who had
the Divine nature personally united to his human nature, which is
called the
Spirit, Mark 2:8. But some think, that the article here is not merely
prepositive, but emphatical; and so referreth to 2 Corinthians 3:6,
where the gospel (the substance of which is Christ) was called the
Spirit. So it is judged by some, that the apostle preventeth a question
which some might have propounded, viz. how the veil should be
taken away by men’s turning unto the Lord? Saith the apostle:
The Lord is that Spirit, or he is that Spirit mentioned 2 Corinthians
3:18; he is a Spirit, and he gives out of the Spirit unto his people, the
Spirit of holiness and sanctification.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, ( that holy, sanctifying Spirit,
which is often called the Spirit of Christ),
there is liberty; for our Saviour told the Jews, John 8:36: If the Son
make you free, then shall ye be free indeed: a liberty from the yoke
of the law, from sin, death, hell; but the liberty which seemeth here
to be chiefly intended, is a liberty from that blindness and hardness
which is upon men’s hearts, until they have received the Holy Spirit.
Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now the Lord is that Spirit,.... "The Lord", to whom the heart is
turned, when the veil is removed, is Jesus Christ; and he is "that

39. Spirit", or "the Spirit": he, as God, is of a spiritual nature and
essence; he is a spirit, as God is said to be, John 4:24 he is the giver
of the Spirit of God, and the very life and spirit of the law, without
whom as the end of it, it is a mere dead letter: or rather as by Moses
in 2 Corinthians 3:15 is meant, the law of Moses, so by the "Lord"
here may be meant the Gospel of Christ: and this is that Spirit, of
which the apostles were made ministers, and is said to give life, 2
Corinthians 3:6.
And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; which may be
understood of the third person in the Godhead; where he is as a
spirit of illumination, there is freedom from former blindness and
darkness; where he is as a spirit of regeneration and sanctification,
there is freedom from the bondage of sin, and captivity of Satan;
where he is as a comforter, there is freedom from the fear of hell,
wrath, and damnation: where he is as a spirit of adoption, there is
the freedom of children with a father; where he is as a spirit of
prayer and supplication, there is liberty of access to God with
boldness, Though rather the Gospel as attended with the Spirit of
God, in opposition to the law, is here designed; and which points out
another difference between the law and the Gospel; where the law
is, there is bondage, it genders to it; it has a natural tendency to it:
quite contrary is this to what the Jews (i) say, who call the law,
"liberty": and say,
"that he that studies in the law, hath , "freedom from everything":''
whereas it gives freedom in nothing, but leads into, and brings on
persons a spirit of bondage; it exacts rigorous obedience, where
there is no strength to perform; it holds men guilty, curses and
condemns for non-obedience; so that such as are under it, and of the
works of it, are always under a spirit of bondage; they obey not

40. from love, but fear, as servants or slaves for wages, and derive all
their peace and comfort from their obedience: but where the Gospel
takes place under the influence of the Spirit of God, there is liberty;
not to sin, which is contrary to the Gospel, to the Spirit of God in
believers, and to the principle of grace wrought in their souls; but a
liberty from the bondage and servitude of it: a liberty from the law's
rigorous exaction, curse, and condemnation, and from the veil of
former blindness and ignorance.
(i) Zohar in Gen. fol. 90. 1. & in Exod. fol. 72. 1. & in Numb. fol. 73.
3.
Geneva Study Bible
Now the {n} Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty.
(n) Christ is that Spirit who takes away that covering, by working in
our hearts, to which also the Law itself called us, though in vain,
because it speaks to dead men, until the Spirit makes us alive.
EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)
Meyer's NT Commentary
2 Corinthians 3:17. Remark giving information regarding what is
asserted in 2 Corinthians 3:16.
δέ, [the German] aber, appends not something of contrast, i.e. to
Moses, who is the letter (Hofmann), but a clause elucidating what
was just said, περιαιρ. τὸ κάλ.,[175] equivalent to namely. See
Hermann, ad Viger. p. 845; Hartung, Partikell. I. p. 167. Rückert

41. (comp. de Wette) is of a different opinion, holding that there is here
a continued chain of reasoning, so that Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:16-17
means to say: “When the people of Israel shall have turned to the
Lord, then will the κάλυμμα be taken from it; and when this shall
have happened, it will also attain the freedom (from the yoke of the
law) which is at present wanting to it.” But, because in that case the
ἘΛΕΥΘΕΡΊΑ would be a more important point than the taking
away of the veil, 2 Corinthians 3:18 must have referred back not to
the latter, but to the former. Seeing, however, that 2 Corinthians
3:18 refers back to the taking away of the veil, it is clear that 2
Corinthians 3:17 is only an accessory sentence, which is intended to
remove every doubt regarding the ΠΕΡΙΑΙΡΕῖΤΑΙ ΤῸ
ΚΆΛΥΜΜΑ.[176] Besides, if Rückert were right, Paul would have
continued his discourse illogically; the logical continuation would
have been, 2 Corinthians 3:17 : ΟὟ ΔῈ ΠΕΡΙΑΙΡΕῖΤΑΙ ΤῸ
ΚΆΛΥΜΜΑ, ΤῸ ΠΝΕῦΜΑ ΚΥΡΊΟΥ ἘΣΤΊΝ· ΟὟ ΔῈ ΤῸ ΠΝ.
ΚΥΡ. Κ.Τ.Λ.
Ὁ ΔῈ ΚΎΡΙΟς ΤῸ ΠΝΕῦΜΑ ἘΣΤΙΝ] Ὁ ΚΎΡΙΟς is subject, not
(as Chrysostom, Theodoret, Oecumenius, Theophylact, Estius,
Schulz held, partly in the interest of opposition to Arianism)
predicate, which would be possible in itself, but cannot be from the
connection with 2 Corinthians 3:16.[177] The words, however,
cannot mean: Dominus significat Spiritum (Wetstein), because
previously the conversion to Christ, to the actual personal Christ,
was spoken of; they can only mean: the Lord, however, is the Spirit,
i.e. the Lord, however, to whom the heart is converted (note the
article) is not different from the (Holy) Spirit, who is received,
namely, in conversion, and (see what follows) is the divine life-power

42. that makes free. That this was meant not of hypostatical identity,
but according to the dynamical oeconomic point of view, that the
fellowship of Christ, into which we enter through conversion, is the
fellowship of the Holy Spirit, was obvious of itself to the believing
consciousness of the readers, and is also put beyond doubt by the
following τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίου. And Christ is the Spirit in so far as at
conversion, and generally in the whole arrangements of salvation,
He communicates Himself in the Holy Spirit, and this Spirit is His
Spirit, the living principle of the influence and indwelling of
Christ,—certainly the living ground of life in the church, and the
spirit of its life (Hofmann), but as such just the Holy Spirit, in whom
the Lord reveals Himself as present and savingly active. The same
thought is contained in Romans 8:9-11, as is clear especially from 2
Corinthians 3:10-11, where Χριστός and ΤῸ ΠΝΕῦΜΑ ΤΟῦ
ἘΓΕΊΡΑΝΤΟς ἸΗΣΟῦΝ and ΠΝΕῦΜΑ ΧΡΙΣΤΟῦ (2 Corinthians
3:9) appear to be identical as the indwelling principle of the
Christian being and life, so that there must necessarily lie at the
bottom of it the idea: ΧΡΙΣΤῸς ΤῸ ΠΝΕῦΜΑ ἘΣΤΙ. Comp.
Galatians 2:20; Galatians 4:6, Php 1:19, Acts 20:28, along with
Ephesians 4:11. As respects His immanence, therefore, in His
people, Christ is the Spirit. Comp. also Krummel, l.c. p. 97, who
rightly remarks that, if Christ calls Himself the light, the way, the
truth, etc., all this is included in the proposition: “the Lord is the
Spirit.” Fritzsche, Dissert. I. p. 42, takes it: Dominus est ita Sp. St.
perfusus, ut totus quasi τὸ πνεῦμα sit. So also Rückert, who
nevertheless (following Erasmus and Beza) believes it necessary to
explain the article before πνεῦμα by retrospective reference to 2
Corinthians 3:6; 2 Corinthians 3:8.[178] But in that case the whole
expression would be reduced to a mere quasi, with which the further
inference οὗ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίου would not be logically in accord;

43. besides, according to analogy of Scripture elsewhere, it cannot be
said of the exalted Christ (and yet it is He that is meant), “Spiritu
sancto perfusus est,” or “Spiritu gaudet divino,” an expression
which can only belong to Christ in His earthly state (Luke 1:35;
Mark 1:10; Acts 1:2; Acts 10:38); whereas the glorified Christ is the
sender of the Spirit, the possessor and disposer (comp. also
Revelation 3:1; Revelation 4:5; Revelation 5:6), and therewith Lord
of the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3:18. The weakened interpretation:
“Christ, however, imparts the Spirit” (Piscator, L. Cappellus,
Scultetus, and others, including Emmerling and Fiatt), is at variance
with the words, and is not to be supported by passages like John
14:6, since in these the predicates are not concretes but abstracts. In
keeping with the view and the expression in the present passage are
those Johannine passages in which Christ promises the
communication of the Spirit to the disciples as His own return (John
14:18, al.). Others have departed from the simple sense of the words
“Christ is the Spirit,” either by importing into τὸ πνεῦμα another
meaning than that of the Holy Spirit, or by not taking ὁ κύριος to
signify the personal Christ. The former course is inadmissible,
partly on account of the following οὗ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίον, partly
because the absolute τὸ πνεῦμα admits of no other meaning
whatever than the habitual one; the latter is made impossible by 2
Corinthians 3:16. Among those adhering to the former view are
Morus: “Quum Dominum dico, intelligo illam divinitus datam
religionis scientiam;” Erasmus and Calvin: “that τὸ πνεῦμα is the
spirit of the law, which only becomes viva et vivifica, si a Christo
inspiretur, whereby the spirit comes to the body;” also Olshausen:
“the Lord now is just the Spirit, of which there was mention above”
(2 Corinthians 3:6); by this is to be understood the spiritual
institute, the economy of the Spirit; Christ, namely, fills His church

44. with Himself; hence it is itself Christ. Comp. Ewald, according to
whom Christ is designated, in contrast to the letter and compulsion
of law, as the Spirit absolutely (just as God is, John 4:24). Similarly
Neander. To this class belongs also the interpretation of Baur,
which, in spite of the article in τὸ πνεῖμα, amounts to this, that
Christ in His substantial existence is spirit, i.e. an immaterial
substance composed of light;[179] comp. his neut. Theol. p. 18 7 f.
See, on the contrary, Räbiger, Christol. Paul. p. 36 f.; Krummel, l.c.
p. 79 ff. Among the adherents of the second mode of interpretation
are Vorstius, Mosheim, Bolten: “ὁ κύριος is the doctrine of Jesus;”
also Billroth, who recognises as its meaning: “in the kingdom of the
Lord the Spirit rules; the essence of Christianity is the Spirit of the
Lord, which He confers on His own.” For many other erroneous
interpretations (among which is included that of Estius, Calovius,
and others, who refer ὁ κύριος to God, and so explain the words of
the divinity of the Holy Spirit), see Pole and Wol.
ἐλευθερία] spiritual freedom in general, without special
limitation.[180] To have a veil on the heart (see 2 Corinthians 3:15),
and to be spiritually free, are opposite; hence the statement
περιαιρεῖται τὸ κάλυμμα, 2 Corinthians 3:16, obtains elucidation by
our ἘΛΕΥΘΕΡΊΑ. The veil on the heart hinders the spiritual
activity, and makes it fettered; where, therefore, there is freedom,
the veil must be away; but freedom must have its seat, where the
Spirit of the Lord is, which Spirit carries on and governs all the
thinking and willing, and removes all barriers external to its sway.
That Paul has regard (Erasmus, Beza, Grotius, Bengel, Fritzsche) to
the conception that the veil is an outward sign of subjection (1
Corinthians 11:10), is to be denied all the more, seeing that here

45. what is spoken of is not a covering of the head (which would be the
sign of a foreign ἐξουσία), as 1 Cor. l.c., but a veiling of the heart, 2
Corinthians 3:15.
[175] Bengel aptly says: “Particula autem ostendit, hoc versn
declarari praecedentem. Conversio fit ad Dominum ut spiritual.”
Theodoret rightly furnishes the definition of the δέ as making the
transition to an explanation by the intermediate question: τίς δὲ
οὗτος πρὸς ὅν δεῖ ἀποβλέψαι;
[176] There is implied, namely, in ver. 17 a syllogism, of which the
major premiss is: οὗ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίου, ἐλευθερία, “where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;” the minor premiss is: “this
Spirit he who is converted to the Lord has, because the Lord is the
Spirit;” the conclusion: “consequently that κάλυμμα can no longer
have a place with the converted, but only freedom.”
[177] For the most complete, historical, and critical conspectus of
the many different interpretations of this passage, see Krummel, p.
58 ff.
[178] Quite erroneously, since no reader could hit on this
retrospective reference, and also the following τὸ πνεῦμα κυρίον is
said without any such reference. Paul, if he wished to express
himself so as to be surely intelligible, could not do otherwise than
put the article; for, if he had written ὁ δὲ κύριος πνεῦμα ἐστι, he

46. might have given rise to quite another understanding than he
wished to express, namely: the Lord is spirit, a spiritual being, as
John 4:24, πνεῦμα ὁ Θεός,—a possible misinterpretation, which is
rejected already by Chrysostom. Comp. 1 Corinthians 15:45. We
may add that τὸ πνεῦμα is to be explained simply according to
hallowed usage of the Holy Spirit, not, as Lipsius (Rechtfertigungsl.
p. 167) unreasonably presses the article, “the whole full πνεῦμα.” So
also Ernesti, Uspr. d. Sünde, I. p. 222.
[179] Weiss also, bibl. Theol. p. 308, explains it to the effect, that
Christ in His resurrection received a pneumatic body composed of
light, and therefore became entirely πνεῦμα (1 Corinthians 15:45).
But the article is against this also. Besides, the body of Christ in His
resurrection was not yet the body of light, which it is in heaven (Php
3:21).
[180] Grotius understands it as libertas a vitiis; while Rückert, de
Wette, and others, after Chrysostom, make it the freedom from the
law of Moses. According to Erasmus, Paraphr., it is free virtue and
love.
Expositor's Greek Testament
2 Corinthians 3:17. ὁ δὲ Κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν: but the LORD, i.e.,
the Jehovah of Israel, spoken of in the preceding quotation, is the
Spirit, the Author of the New Covenant of grace, to whom the new
Israel is invited to turn (cf. Acts 9:35). It is quite perverse to
compare 1 Corinthians 15:45 (where it is said that Christ, as “the
last Adam,” became πνεῦμα ζωοποιοῦν) or Ignatius, Mag., § 15,

47. ἀδιάκριτον πνεῦμα ὅς ἐστιν Ἰησοῦς Χριστός, and to find here an
“identification” of Christ with the Holy Spirit. ὁ Κύριος is here not
Christ, but the Jehovah of Israel spoken of in Exodus 34:34; and in
St. Paul’s application of the narrative of the Veiling of Moses, the
counterpart of ὁ Κύριος under the New Covenant is the Spirit,
which has been already contrasted in the preceding verses (2
Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 3:6) with the letter of the Mosaic
law. At the same time it is true that the identification of “the Lord”
(i.e., the Son) and “the Spirit” intermittently appears afterwards in
Christian theology. See (for reff.) Swete in Dict. Chr. Biog., iii.,
115a.—οὖ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα κ.τ.λ.: and where the Spirit of the Lord is,
there is liberty; sc., in contradistinction to the servile fear of Exodus
34:30; cf. John 8:32, Romans 8:15, Galatians 4:7, in all of which
passages the freedom of Christian service is contrasted with the
bondage of the Law. The thought here is not of the freedom of the
Spirit’s action (John 3:8, 1 Corinthians 12:11), but of the freedom of
access to God under the New Covenant, as exemplified in the
removal of the veil, when the soul turns itself to the Divine glory.
“The Spirit of the Lord” is an O.T. phrase (see reff.). We now return
to the thought of 2 Corinthians 3:12, the openness and boldness of
the Apostolical service.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
17. Now the Lord is that Spirit] Literally the spirit, i.e. the spirit
which was to replace the letter. The sense is as follows: ‘The Lord
(of whom I have just spoken—see last verse) is the spirit of which I
have said (2 Corinthians 3:6) that it should be substituted for the
letter.’ For the Lord, even Jesus Christ, is Himself that new power—
that higher inspiration—through which man finds what he ought to
do written, no longer in precepts external to himself, but in his own

48. regenerate heart. The new birth of the Spirit is but the implanting in
man the humanity of Jesus Christ. ‘The last Adam was made a life-
giving spirit.’ 1 Corinthians 15:45. This expression like John 4:24,
refers, not to the person, but to the essential nature of God, just as in
John 6:63, the expression is applied even to the words of God, when
they communicate to man essential principles of God’s spiritual
kingdom. Cf. also John 1:13; John 3:3; John 3:5; Romans 8:2;
Romans 8:4. Other explanations of this most difficult passage have
been given. (1) ‘The Spirit is the Lord,’ (Chrysostom); and he
remarks on the order of the words in the Greek of John 4:24 in
support of his translation. (2) ‘The Lord is identical with the Holy
Spirit.’ (3) ‘The Lord with Whom Moses spoke is the Holy Spirit.’
(4) ‘The Lord is the Holy Ghost in so far as the Holy Ghost is the
living principle of the indwelling of Christ.’ (5) ‘The Lord no dout is
a sprete,’ Tyndale, whom Cranmer follows. It seems on the whole
best to interpret the words as above. St Paul now boldly declares
that the ‘spirit’ of which he has spoken is nothing less than Christ
Himself.
and where the Spirit of the Lord is] Hitherto St Paul has been
speaking of the Divine Nature of Him who transforms the heart of
man. He now speaks of the personal agency through Whom that
work is achieved. Christ does these things by His Spirit, who is also
the Spirit of the Father. Romans 8:9. Cf. also Galatians 4:6; Php
1:19; 1 Peter1:11, with John 14:16-17; John 14:26; John 15:26; 1
Corinthians 2:10-12, &c. This interpretation involves no incongruity
with the rest of the passage. The Three Persons in the Blessed
Trinity are one in essence, and that essence is Spirit. But the
personal agency whereby God works His purpose in man’s heart is

49. the Holy Spirit, as Scripture everywhere declares. See the passages
cited above.
there is liberty] Liberty not only to speak openly (2 Corinthians
3:12), but (2 Corinthians 3:18) to gaze with unveiled face upon the
glory of God, and thus to learn how to fulfil the law of man’s being.
This liberty is the special privilege assured to man by the Gospel.
See John 8:32; Romans 6:18; Romans 6:22; Romans 8:2; James
1:25; James 2:12; 1 Peter 2:16.
Bengel's Gnomen
2 Corinthians 3:17. Ὁ δὲ Κύριος τὸ πνεῦμά ἐστιν, but the Lord is
that Spirit) The Lord is the subject. Christ is not the letter, but He is
the Spirit and the end of the law. A sublime announcement: comp.
Php 1:21; Galatians 3:16. The particle but, or now, shows that the
preceding is explained by this verse. The turning (conversion) takes
place [is made] to the Lord, as the Spirit.—οὗ δὲ τὸ πνεῦμα Κυρίου,
and where the Spirit of the Lord is) Where Christ is, there the Spirit
of Christ is; where the Spirit of Christ is, there Christ is; Romans
8:9-10. Where Christ and His Spirit are, there is liberty: John 8:36;
Galatians 4:6-7.—ἐκεῖ) there, and there only.—ἐλευθερία) liberty,
opposed to the veil, the badge of slavery: liberty, without such fear
in looking, as the children of Israel had, Exodus 34:30.
Pulpit Commentary
Verse 17. - Now the Lord is that Spirit. The "but" (Authorized
Version, "now") introduces an explanation. To whom shall they
turn? To the Lord. "But the Lord is the Spirit." The word "spirit"
could not be introduced thus abruptly and vaguely; it must refer to

50. something already said, and therefore to the last mention of the
word "spirit" in ver. 3. The Lord is the Spirit, who giveth life and
freedom, in antithesis to the spirit of death and legal bondage (see
ver. 6; and comp. 1 Corinthians 15:45). The best comment on the
verse is Romans 8:2, "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death." All life and all
religion had become to St. Paul a vision of all things in Christ. He
has just said that the spirit giveth life, and, after the digression
about the moral blindness which prevented the Jews from being
emancipated from the bondage of the letter, it was quite natural for
him to add, "Now the Lord is the Spirit to which I alluded." The
connection in which the verse stands excludes a host of untenable
meanings which have been attached to it. There is liberty. The
liberty of confidence (ver. 4), and of frank speech (ver. 12), and of
sonship (Galatians 4:6, 7), and of freedom from guilt (John 8:36); so
that the Law itself, obeyed no longer in the mere letter but also in
the spirit, becomes a royal law of liberty, and not a yoke which
gendereth to bondage (James 1:25; James 2:12) - a service, indeed,
but one which is perfect freedom (Romans 5:1-21; 1 Peter 2:16).
PRECEPTAUSTIN.ORGRESOURCES
THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST IS GOD:
ANIMATING, GLORIFYING,

51. 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…

52. 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.