Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

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, 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., 115 a. 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.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

2 Corinthians 3:17

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