Second Corinthians 3:17 says, "The Lord is the Spirit." The "Lord" spoken of here, of course, is the Lord Jesus; and "the Spirit," of course, is the Holy Spirit. Does this not clearly and definitely tell us that the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit? Our Lord is the Holy Spirit. He is the Father, and He is also the Spirit. He is everything!

Many brothers and sisters have Darby's New Translation of the Bible. Darby was considered the one with the greatest knowledge of the Bible in the previous century. Some called him the king of expositors. In his New Translation of the New Testament, he puts the verses preceding 2 Corinthians 3:17, from verses 7 through 16, in parentheses, indicating that verse 17 immediately follows verse 6. The last part of verse 6 says, "The spirit giveth life." Therefore, according to Darby's realization, verse 17, "The Lord is the Spirit," indicates that the Lord is that Spirit which gives life, as mentioned in verse 6, and this Spirit which gives life, of course, is the Holy Spirit. Therefore, this proves that Darby acknowledged that the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit.

Besides Darby, according to our knowledge, there were the following persons who, in their writings, based on 2 Corinthians 3:17, also acknowledged that the Lord Jesus is the Holy Spirit:

1. In his book The Spirit of Christ, chapter twenty-five, Andrew Murray says, "It was when our Lord Jesus was exalted into the life of the Spirit that He became 'the Lord the Spirit.'...The disciples knew Jesus long, without knowing Him as the Lord the Spirit....There may in the ministry be much earnest gospel preaching of the Lord Jesus as the Crucified One, without the preaching of Him as the Lord the Spirit....It is as the knowledge and acknowledgement of Christ as the Lord the Spirit, and of the Spirit of Christ as changing believers into His likeness, lives in the Church, that the ministry among believers will be in Life and Power,—in very deed, a Ministry of the Spirit."

2. Henry Alford (an authority on the meaning of Greek words of the New Testament) in The New Testament for English Readers, vol. II, page 265, says, " 'The Lord' as here (2 Cor. 3:17) spoken of, 'Christ,' 'is the Spirit,' is identical with the Holy Spirit....Christ, here, is the Spirit of Christ."

3.Marvin R. Vincent in his Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. III, page 308, says, "The Lord Christ of verse 16 is the Spirit who pervades and animates the new covenant."

4. J. Oswald Sanders in his Spiritual Maturity (published by Moody Press), page 144, says, "William Barclay comments: Paul seems to identify the Risen Lord and the Holy Spirit. We must remember that Paul was not writing theology; he was setting down experience. And it is the experience of the Christian life that the work of the Spirit and the work of the Risen Lord are one and the same. The strength, the light, the guidance we receive come alike from the Spirit and from the Risen Lord. It does not matter how we express it so long as we experience it."

We are not the only ones who have seen from the revelation in 2 Corinthians 3 that the Lord is the Spirit; a number of spiritual men have seen it as well. Christ the risen Lord today is the life-giving Spirit. That is why the apostle Paul called Him the "Lord Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:18, Gk.). He is not only the Lord, but also the Lord Spirit.