2 Corinthians 3:17

Context

This verse belongs to chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians, the second letter Paul wrote to the church at Corinth. In defending his apostolic ministry, Paul contrasts the old covenant engraved on tablets of stone with the new covenant written on the heart by the Spirit, and he sets "the letter" against "the spirit" (3:3-6). He then draws on the scene in Exodus 34 in which Moses covered the radiance of his face with a veil. Paul says that even now, when the old covenant is read, that veil lies upon the heart, but that "when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away" (3:16). Verse 17 explains who this "Lord" is. The passage then continues into verse 18, which speaks of beholding the glory of the Lord with unveiled face and being changed into the same image.

Interpretation

• Reading as exposition of the text: On this view, "the Lord" in verse 16 refers to the Lord (Yahweh) to whom Moses went in Exodus 34:34, and Paul is explaining that the way to meet that Lord today is through the Holy Spirit. "The Lord is that Spirit" is read not as an equation of identity but as commentary on the Old Testament text. Many commentators support this reading.
• Reading as a statement about Christ and the Spirit: In the Pauline epistles, "the Lord" usually refers to Christ. Accordingly, this verse is read to mean that the risen Christ is present with believers through the Holy Spirit. Denominations that confess the Trinity point out that the same verse also uses the expression "the Spirit of the Lord," which distinguishes the two. They explain that the verse does not blur the distinction between the persons of the triune God but indicates that the two persons work as one.
• The nature of the liberty: In context, the liberty in view is freedom from the veiled condition and from "the ministration of condemnation" (3:9), a freedom to behold the glory of God with boldness (3:12). The Reformed and Lutheran traditions tend to emphasize freedom from the condemnation of the law. The Wesleyan tradition and Pentecostal movements, reading the verse together with verse 18, tend to place greater emphasis on the freedom of sanctification, in which the Holy Spirit releases people from the dominion of sin and transforms them.

Debates and Issues

• Relation to modalism: Proponents of modalism, which regards the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as three modes of one God, sometimes cite the expression "the Lord is that Spirit" in support of their view. Most denominations that confess the Trinity reject this reading, noting that the sentence is an exposition of the Old Testament text and that the verse itself distinguishes "the Spirit of the Lord."
• Charge of citation out of context: The verse is also cited in support of freedom in forms of worship or of social liberation. Critics respond that the liberty in the text refers to the removal of the veil of the old covenant, so such uses stretch its scope too far. Those who cite the verse in these ways hold that the freedom the Spirit gives extends to the whole of life.
• Translation: The Greek word rendered "liberty" is eleutheria. The Revised Korean Version (New Revised Edition) and the New Korean Standard Version translate it as jayu ("freedom"), while the Korean Revised Version translates it as jayuham. Unlike English, Korean does not use capitalization to distinguish yeong as the Holy Spirit from yeong as a spiritual principle. Nevertheless, the word is generally understood as referring to the Holy Spirit when read in connection with the earlier part of chapter 3.

In the Korean Church

The verse is commonly cited in gatherings that emphasize the presence of the Holy Spirit and in charismatic praise and worship services when speaking of freedom in worship. Together with verse 18, it is also frequently used as a sermon text on the theme of sanctification.

Related Passages

• 2 Corinthians 3:3-6
• 2 Corinthians 3:18
• Exodus 34:29-35
• Galatians 5:1
• John 8:34-36