2 Corinthians 3:17

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Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

Verse 16 Read Chapter 3 Verse 18

Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

Just like children, so are the Jews also under a tutor. The law is our tutor; a tutor brings us to the master; Christ is our only master… A tutor is feared, the master points out the way to salvation. Fear brings us to liberty, liberty to faith, faith to love, love obtains adoption, adoption an inheritance. Therefore, where there is faith, there is freedom, for a slave acts in fear, a free man through faith. The one is under the letter, the other under grace; the one in slavery, the other in the spirit; for “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

1 min1/8

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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

The same, then, is the Lord, who is the Spirit of the Lord; that is, he called the Spirit of the Lord, Lord, just as also the apostle says: “Now the Lord is a spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” You have then, the Lord called also the Holy Spirit; for the Holy Spirit and the Son are not one person but one substance. .

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Ambrosiaster

AD 400

Because God is Spirit, he has given through Christ the law of the Spirit, which persuades us to believe in invisible things which our reasoning understands spiritually. This law gives liberty because it demands only faith, and because it believes what it does not see, we are able to be rescued from our condition. Commentary on Paul’s Epistles.

< 1 min3/8

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Cornelius a Lapide

AD 1637

Now the Lord is that Spirit. (1.) The Father, Song of Solomon , and Holy Spirit are not body but spirit. Spirit in this explanation is taken essentially for what is common to the Three Persons. So S. Ambrose. (2.) Spirit here way stand for the Holy Spirit: the Greek MSS. have the definite article, and Roman Bibles and others spell it with a capital; for the Jews acknowledge one Lord and God, but deny that there is a plurality of Persons, and that the Holy Spirit is God. When the Jews shall have the veil taken away and shall be converted to the Lord and to belief in the Blessed Trinity then will they serve the Lord their God, not in the letter, with dumb corporeal ceremonies, but in the spirit. The God to whom they shall be converted is Spirit, and the Holy Spirit will give them the law of the Spirit of liberty, that with the eyes of their spirit they may see Christ veiled, under the law, and may worship Him in spirit and in truth. Cf. S. John iv23. S. Augustine (ad Serapion) thus expla... Read More

5 mins4/8

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

Now the Lord is a Spirit. Many expound it, the Spirit is the Lord. And where this Lord and this Spirit is, there is liberty; i.e. by this Spirit, they who are sanctified are freed from the slavery of sin and the devil. (Witham) We must recollect what he had said before, that the letter killeth and that the Spirit giveth life; that by the Spirit was meant the gospel, and by the letter was meant the law of Moses. Here he says that God is the Spirit, in opposition to the law of Moses; that he is the Author of the liberty of the children of God, in the new law; that in the new law are found the true adorers in spirit and truth, in opposition to the spirit of servitude which animated the Jews. (Calmet)

1 min5/8

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

Now the Spirit is the Lord. This too is Lord, he says. And that you may know that he is speaking of the Paraclete, he added, And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. For surely you will not assert, that he says, 'And where the Lord of the Lord is.' Liberty, he said, with reference to the former bondage. Then, that you may not think that he is speaking of a time to come, he says,

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

We did not say “The Lord is a spirit” but “The Spirit is the Lord.”

< 1 min7/8

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Severian of Gabala

AD 425

The person who has been blessed with the Spirit of the Lord has been set free from the condemnation of the law, for the spiritual gifts are given their power through the Spirit. Moreover, the gift is given freely to those who are ready to receive it. .

< 1 min8/8

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Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation - 2 Peter 1:20