Bible Strands
2 Corinthians 3:17
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Paul is writing to the Corinthian church, mid-argument contrasting the old covenant (Moses, the veil, the letter that kills) with the new covenant, immediately after stating that turning to the Lord removes the veil (v. 16) and immediately before saying we reflect the Lord's glory because He is the Spirit (v. 18).
The words — κὺριος (kurios, "Lord") is the same title used for YHWH in the Greek Old Testament; πνεῦμα (pneuma, "Spirit") is the same word for wind or breath. The verse's force is the equation: the Lord is the Spirit, not merely accompanied by or expressed through the Spirit.
The thread — Romans 8:2 names the Spirit as the agent who sets free from the law of sin and death; John 8:32 ties freedom to knowing the truth; Galatians 5:13 warns that this freedom is not a license for the flesh.
Why it lands — The verse refuses to let the Spirit remain a vague power or a gift one receives; it identifies the Spirit with the person of the Lord, so the freedom named is not moral autonomy but release from the old covenant's condemning framework.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Cross-references
- Romans 8:2 For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
- John 8:32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
- Galatians 5:13 For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love.
- Galatians 4:6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
- Galatians 5:1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
- Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
- John 6:63 The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life.
- 2 Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
- Romans 8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
- Psalms 51:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain me with a willing spirit.