2 Corinthians 3:17

Now the Lord is the Spirit (o de Kurio to pneuma estin). Some, like E. F. Scott (The Spirit in the N.T.), take Kurio here to be Christ and interpret Paul as denying the personality of the Holy Spirit, identifying Christ and the Holy Spirit. But is not Bernard right here in taking Kurio (Lord) in the same sense here as in Exodus 34:34 (enanti Kuriou, before the Lord), the very passage that Paul is quoting? Certainly, the Holy Spirit is interchangeably called in the N.T. the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ ( Romans 8:9 ). Christ dwells in us by the Holy Spirit, but the language here in 2 Corinthians 3:17 should not be pressed unduly (Plummer. See also P. Gardner, The Religious Experience of St. Paul, p. 176f.). Note "the Spirit of the Lord" here. Liberty (eleuqeria). Freedom of access to God without fear in opposition to the fear in Exodus 34:30 . We need no veil and we have free access to God.