Where the Spirit of the Lord is...

What is liberty?

Liberty means “the quality or state of being free; permission especially to go freely within specified limits; privilege.”  I especially like the last two definitions of liberty because I think it goes well with our relationship with the Lord.  Today I read 2 Corinthians 3 and boy-oh-boy did it hit me hard.  The first part of 2 Corinthians, Paul talks about what our ministry is.  He says that it is not written in words.  Our ministry is written “on tablets of human hearts”(3:3).  I love how he says that we show others that we are the ministry of Christ; we are the work of Christ, “written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God”(3:3).  I just love that.  I think that it shows me that my God is bigger than the stories that portray Him. 

In the next verses (3:7-18) Paul talks about the Old Covenant and the New Covenant.  The Old Covenant is the Commandments given to Moses, which came before Jesus, the New Covenant being Jesus.  If you remember the 10 Commandments story, you recall them being carved in stones.  The Commands were placed among the Israelites to keep them from sinning (Exodus 20:20).  This Old Covenant was given to save the Israelites from eternal damnation.  Remember this was before they could just ask the Lord to forgive them of their sins and all was forgiven.  Jesus had to come to the earth as a human and die a death that He didn’t deserve in order for us to be under a New Covenant.  So here Paul says, “Now if the ministry that brought death which was engraved in letters on stone came with glory…” (3:7) “…will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious?  If the ministry that condemns men is glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!”  Our ministry is our testimony!  It’s true!  My innocence in front of the Almighty Father God is not from following a set of rules or living a certain way.  It is from Jesus, His Son who came to set me free from the burden of my sin.  How glorious is this New Covenant that comes to give all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the blamelessness in front of God the Creator of the Universe?  Oh how glorious it is!  The Old Covenant was good but the New Covenant is far greater.  “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where that the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty!” (3:17).  The Spirit of our Lord is placed inside each and every one of us, if we have accepted Christ to be the Ruler of our hearts.

2 Corinthians 3

God’s New Agreement

3 Are we once again bragging about ourselves? Do we need letters to you or from you to tell others about us? Some people do need letters that tell about them. ² But you are our letter, and you are in our^[a] hearts for everyone to read and understand. ³ You are like a letter written by Christ and delivered by us. But you are not written with pen and ink or on tablets made of stone. You are written in our hearts by the Spirit of the living God.

⁴ We are sure about all this. Christ makes us sure in the very presence of God. ⁵ We don’t have the right to claim that we have done anything on our own. God gives us what it takes to do all that we do. ⁶He makes us worthy to be the servants of his new agreement that comes from the Holy Spirit and not from a written Law. After all, the Law brings death, but the Spirit brings life.

⁷ The Law of Moses brought only the promise of death, even though it was carved on stones and given in a wonderful way. Still the Law made Moses' face shine so brightly that the people of Israel could not look at it, even though it was a fading glory. ⁸ So won’t the agreement that the Spirit brings to us be even more wonderful? ⁹ If something that brings the death sentence is glorious, won’t something that makes us acceptable to God be even more glorious? ¹⁰ In fact, the new agreement is so wonderful that the Law is no longer glorious at all. ¹¹ The Law was given with a glory that faded away. But the glory of the new agreement is much greater, because it will never fade away.

¹² This wonderful hope makes us feel like speaking freely. ¹³We are not like Moses. His face was shining, but he covered it to keep the people of Israel from seeing the brightness fade away. ¹⁴ The people were stubborn, and something still keeps them from seeing the truth when the Law is read. Only Christ can take away the covering that keeps them from seeing.

¹⁵ When the Law of Moses is read, they have their minds covered over ¹⁶ with a covering that is removed only for those who turn to the Lord. ¹⁷ The Lord and the Spirit are one and the same, and the Lord’s Spirit sets us free. ¹⁸ So our faces are not covered. They show the bright glory of the Lord, as the Lord’s Spirit makes us more and more like our glorious Lord.