Now we want to see something further concerning 2 Corinthians 3:17. Most of us have probably been contented with our interpretation of this verse. The traditional teachings avoid saying that Christ is the Spirit. They say that the Lord in 2 Corinthians 3:17 does not refer to Jesus Christ, but that it is a general address referring to God. We have argued in the past that 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). According to the context of 2 Corinthians 2 through 4 there is no other way to interpret 2 Corinthians 3:17 but to acknowledge that the Lord in this verse is Jesus Christ.
When I studied this verse further, I realized that it is in the functional sense that the Lord is the Spirit. In order to see that what is mentioned in 2 Corinthians 3:17 is a matter of function, we must take care of the context of this verse. Darby indicates that verse 7 through verse 16 of chapter three is a parenthetical section. With this understanding as a basis, verse 17 is a direct continuation of verse 6 which ends with the word “the Spirit gives life.” Verse 6 tells us what kind of Spirit the Lord is. He is a life-giving Spirit. Life-giving is a function. Verse 17 also tells us that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. Freedom refers to the work of freeing. Life-giving is a function and freeing is also a function. Then the following verse, verse 18, tells us that “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.” In this verse we see the transforming function of the Spirit. These are the three main functions of the Spirit in chapter three—life-giving, freeing, and transforming. In such functions, Christ today is the Spirit.
This shows us that we should not be contented with whatever understanding we have of the divine revelation. We must realize that the holy Word is not so simple. It is a big mine which no one can exhaust. Even though I have presented something more concerning Isaiah 9:6 and 2 Corinthians 3:17 there is still more concerning these two verses. Who can say that he has exhausted any verse or any point in the Bible? The Bible is too profound.
I want to give you another illustration of how we should never be contented with what we have. In John 6:57 the Lord tells us, “he who eats Me shall also live because of Me.” A few hymns in our hymnal tell us that “eating is the way.” We must ask ourselves what the eating way is. How do we eat Jesus? In my writings I have only given you a small amount of information on this subject. Because I did not give you an adequate definition of the way to eat Jesus, you must study this point. To fully understand this point you must take care of the entire context of John 6:57. In verse 63 the Lord says, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and are life.” This indicates that to eat Jesus is to receive Him into us as life. This corresponds with the principle of eating. Eating is to receive some organic nourishment into your being as your life. Eating is to take in the life supply. Some might say that it is heretical to say that people can eat Jesus. The Bible, however, says to eat Jesus.
We must realize that to eat Jesus is a figure of speech. It indicates that we need Jesus as our life supply so we receive Him into us as life supply just as we eat food. The Lord uses bread to illustrate that He is the life supply by saying that He is the bread of life (John 6:48). We eat bread by receiving it into our organic body, by digesting it into our blood, fibers and tissue. Therefore, to eat Jesus is to receive Him into our being. He is the Spirit and the Spirit is in the Word, so we have to take His Word by exercising our spirit. Then we receive the Spirit in the Word. This is Jesus becoming our inner life supply. Here we could see the way to eat Jesus.
Chapter six of John also indicates the Lord’s death, that is, His being slain. Verse 54 tells us that His blood is drinkable and that His flesh is eatable. Here flesh and blood are mentioned separately. When blood is separate from flesh, it indicates death. This helps us further to see how to eat Jesus. To eat Jesus means to receive the crucified and resurrected Christ through His Word by exercising our spirit to receive the life-giving Spirit as our life supply.
The way to carry out the vision is by taking care of the crucial points, by taking care of the outline, the bird’s-eye view, and by never being contented. Go on and on to further study and further seeking. I hope that you would do this work. Do not wait for me to do it.