2 Corinthians 3:17

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 2 Corinthians 3:17

This verse explains the former one. The Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:3; 2 Corinthians 3:6; 2 Corinthians 3:8) is the member of the Trinity who causes a person to understand and believe that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the law. Paul here described the Spirit’s function and equated Him with Christ (cf. 2 Corinthians 3:14). Believing in Jesus liberates one from sin, death, and the Mosaic Law but not from obligation to respond obediently to God’s new revelation in Christ, of course. Even... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:1-18

This chapter is closely connected with what goes before, and carries on the vindication of the Apostle’s conduct.1-6. Paraphrase. ’In speaking thus highly of my motives I am not writing a letter to commend myself, nor do I need (like these opponents of mine) letters of recommendation either to you or from you. (2) You, my converts, are my best recommendation, for I think of you with gratitude as do all who know your faith and works. (3) You are, indeed, a very letter of Christ who has used me... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - 2 Corinthians 3:17

(17) Now the Lord is that Spirit.—Better, the Lord is the Spirit. The words seem at first inconsistent with the formulated precision of the Church’s creeds, distinguishing the persons of the Godhead from each other. We apply the term “Lord,” it is true, as a predicate of the Holy Spirit when we speak, as in the Nicene Creed, of the Holy Ghost as “the Lord, and Giver of life,” or say, as in the pseudo-Athanasian, that “the Holy Ghost is Lord;” but using the term “the Lord” as the subject of a... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - 2 Corinthians 3:1-18

2 Corinthians 3:3 Dr. Deissmann speaks of 'the beautiful figure in 2 Corinthians 3:3 , according to which St. Paul has a letter to write for Christ This characteristic expression includes a parallel to the technical term "letter of Augustus," i.e., Imperial letter, which is found in an inscription of the Imperial period at Ancyra.' Light from the Ancient East, p. 379. References. III. 3. J. G. Greenhough, The Mind of Christ in St. Paul, p. 194 Expositor (5th Series), vol. ix. p. 14. Our... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 3:12-18

Chapter 10THE TRANSFIGURING SPIRIT2 Corinthians 3:12-18 (R.V)THE "hope" which here explains the Apostle’s freedom of speech is to all intents and purposes the same as the "confidence" in 2 Corinthians 3:4. It is much easier to suppose that the word is thus used with a certain latitude, as it might be in English, than to force upon it a reference to the glory to be revealed when Christ comes again, and to give the same future reference to "glory" all through this passage. The new covenant is... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:1-18

4. The Ministry of the New Covenant in Contrast with the Old. CHAPTER 3 1. The Epistle of Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:1-3 ) 2. The True Sufficiency. (2 Corinthians 3:4-6 ) 3. The Old and New Ministry Contrasted. (2 Corinthians 3:7-11 ) 4. The Glory in the Face of Moses and the Glory in the Face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:12-18 .) It was customary in the church to give letters of commendation (Acts 18:27 ; Romans 16:1 ). Did the Apostle need, as some others, epistles of commendation to the... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:17

3:17 Now the {n} Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord [is], there [is] liberty.(n) Christ is that Spirit who takes away that covering, by working in our hearts, to which also the Law itself called us, though in vain, because it speaks to dead men, until the Spirit makes us alive. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Corinthians 3:1-18

Did the Corinthians assume that Paul was merely commending himself or defending himself in penning the last verse of chapter 2? It was not so; but necessity demanded that they should recognize that he was giving them the pure, plain truth of God, not a mere human interpretation of it. He required no letter of commendation to them; for they knew him, and were themselves the commendation of his work. For this latter reason too he needed no letter from them: their own established assembly was... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 3:1-18

TRIUMPHS OF PAUL ’S MINISTRY Pursuing the consideration of his principles of action, Paul now shows his ministry to have been a triumphant one, notwithstanding the opposition of his enemies (2 Corinthians 2:14-17 ). The triumph however, was of God’s power and grace, and not in himself. Note the comparison between himself and the false teachers (2 Corinthians 2:17 ). It was not only a triumphant ministry but one fully accredited by themselves (2 Corinthians 3:1-5 ). It was a spiritual... read more

Joseph Parker

The People's Bible by Joseph Parker - 2 Corinthians 3:1-18

The Two Ministrations 2Co 3:9 What is the meaning of the expression, "ministration of condemnation"? The answer is in the seventh verse of this chapter, "But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away;" whence it is obvious hat the phrase "ministration of condemnation" relates to the law which Moses received amid the... read more

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