The underlying thought in Paul’s writing here is related to dispensing. In his ministry Paul was a good dispenser. He was dispensing the elements of the Triune God, of Christ, and of salvation and redemption. Because Paul was such a dispenser, his ministry was a ministry of the Spirit in glory and a ministry of righteousness abounding in glory. His ministry caused others to be alive, and it enabled them to be righteous. No one receiving Paul’s ministry remained in a deadened condition, and no one continued to be unrighteous. Those under his ministry were enlivened and were made righteous, for his dispensing ministry was both a ministry of the Spirit and a ministry of righteousness.
Thus far, in chapter three of 2 Corinthians, we have covered three matters: the letter of Christ ministered by the apostles, inscribed with the Spirit of the living God (v. 3); God having made the apostles competent as ministers of a new covenant, ministers of the Spirit who gives life (3:6); and God having constituted the ministry of the Spirit in glory and of righteousness abounding in glory (3:8-9). All these matters are related to the constitution of life and ministry. Now in verses 17 and 18 we shall go on to consider the matter of transformation.
Concerning transformation, we need to see that the Lord is the Spirit. In verse 17 Paul says, “And the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” In chapter three of 2 Corinthians the Lord is the liberating Spirit, the life-giving Spirit, and the transforming Spirit. Life-giving, liberating, and transforming are all aspects of the divine dispensing of the Divine Trinity. As the Spirit, the Lord is the divine Dispenser, and He is dispensing Himself into us.
In 3:17 Paul twice speaks of the Lord. According to the context of this section, which starts at 2:12, the Lord here must refer to Christ the Lord (2:12, 14, 15, 17; 3:3, 4, 14, 16; 4:5). This then, is a strong word in the Bible telling us emphatically that Christ is the Spirit. “The Lord Christ of verse 16 is the Spirit who pervades and animates the new covenant of which we are ministers (v. 6), and the ministration of which is with glory (v. 8). Compare Romans 8:9-11; John 14:16, 18” (Vincent). Regarding the Lord being the Spirit, Alford says, “The Lord of verse 16 is the Spirit,...which giveth life, verse six, meaning, ‘the Lord’, as here spoken of, ‘Christ’, ‘is the Spirit’, is identical with the Holy Spirit:...Christ, here, is the Spirit of Christ.” Furthermore, Williston Walker says, “All that transforming and indwelling Spirit is Christ Himself. ‘The Lord is the Spirit.’”
In verse 17 Paul first tells us that the Lord is the Spirit, and then he goes on to speak of the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord is the Lord Himself, with whom there is freedom. The Spirit, who is the ultimate expression of the Triune God, was “not yet” in John 7:39, because at that time Jesus was not yet glorified. He had not yet finished the process which He, as the embodiment of God, must pass through. After His resurrection, that is, after the completion of all the processes, including incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection, which the Triune God had to pass through in man for His redemptive economy, He became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). This life-giving Spirit is called “the Spirit” in the New Testament (Rom. 8:16, 23, 26-27; Gal. 3:2, 5, 14; 6:8; Rev. 2:7; 3:22; 14:13; 22:17), the Spirit who gives us the divine life (2 Cor. 3:6; John 6:63) and frees us from the bondage of the law.
In 3:18 Paul continues, “And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” The word “and” at the beginning of verse 18 indicates something further. First, the heart turns to the Lord so that the veil may be taken away (v. 16). Second, the Lord as the Spirit frees us from the bondage of the law (v. 17). Last, with unveiled face we, as a mirror, behold and reflect the glory of the Lord and are thus being transformed into His image from glory to glory.
According to verse 18, with an unveiled face we are beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord. Here “unveiled face” is in contrast to the veiled mind, the veiled heart, in verses 14 and 15. This means that our heart has turned to the Lord so that the veil has been taken away, and the Lord as the Spirit has freed us from the bondage, the veiling, of the law so that there is no longer any insulation between us and the Lord. Now we can behold Him and reflect Him. To behold is to see the Lord for ourselves; reflecting is for others to see Him through us.
Paul specifically says that we behold the glory of the Lord. This is the glory of the Lord as the resurrected and ascended One. As such a One, who is both God and man, He passed through incarnation, human living, and crucifixion, and entered into resurrection, accomplishing full redemption and becoming a life-giving Spirit. Now as the life-giving Spirit He dwells in us to make Himself and all that He has accomplished, obtained, and attained real to us so that we may be one with Him and be transformed into His image from glory to glory.