In this book of 2 Corinthians there is no doctrine. But in telling us of his life, Paul did give us a hint about some of the things we have in Christ. While he is testifying of the kind of life he has in Christ, spontaneously he reveals some things about Christ to us. Therefore, the things about Christ in this book are more precious than in other books.
The first thing that Paul tells us is that we have been firmly attached to the anointed One. “Now he who firmly attaches us with you unto the anointed one, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest [foretaste] of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor. 1:21-22, Gk.). God has firmly attached us unto Christ, God’s anointed One. To be attached means to be put together. Christ is the anointed One, and God has firmly attached us to this Christ.
Then Paul tells us that we have been sealed by God, and He has given us the foretaste of the Spirit. God’s anointing brings us His divine essence, and God’s sealing impresses us with His likeness. Whenever you seal something, the likeness of the image will be impressed upon it. The foretaste of the Spirit is for our enjoyment. So we must realize Christ as God’s anointed One. This means that He is the very realization of the Triune God. God has attached us to such a One, and He spontaneously becomes a seal upon us. We all have been sealed with the Triune God by the living Spirit.
Many Christians can testify that there is no need to ask certain persons if they are Christians. When you look at them, there is a seal. They bear the impression that they are in Christ. That is the likeness of the Triune God. God is expressed in their face, and that is the sealing. At the same time it is the enjoyment of God. We all have been attached to the Triune God, and He is our expression through our enjoyment of Him.
This is altogether related to the indwelling of Christ. The indwelling of Christ is the attaching, the sealing, and the enjoyment of the Spirit. In no other book has there been anything said about the attachment. It is only in 2 Corinthians. This means that from Paul’s own experience he testifies that he is one who has been attached to the Triune God. He did not live by himself. He lived by the One to whom he had been attached.
Then Paul tells us that we do not need anything of the letter, which means the knowledge of the doctrine of the Scriptures. “Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life” (2 Cor. 3:6). We do not need the letter; we need the Spirit that gives life. Paul mentioned this in Romans 8, but it is not so clear as in 2 Corinthians 3.
Eventually Paul declares that today the Lord Jesus is that Spirit that gives life. “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor. 3:17). The Lord Jesus today is that life-giving Spirit; He is the Spirit that gives life. In no other book is Paul so thorough and so clear in telling us that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Spirit. There is only this one verse that tells us so strongly, so bravely, so clearly, and so emphatically that Jesus the Lord today is that Spirit that gives life.
After this, he says that this Spirit, who is the Lord Jesus Himself, is within us liberating us. He is liberating us from the letter of the law; from the letter of the doctrines, teachings, and knowledge, and from regulations, rituals, etc. He is the liberating Spirit. Human culture is a bondage. Religion is another bondage. Every doctrine in letter is so binding. Even knowledge can be a snare. Religion, culture, doctrine, and knowledge confine people. They may restrain them from being wild, but in another sense they bind them and kill them spiritually. But now the Lord Jesus is not only the life-giving Spirit, but also the liberating Spirit. He is within us, and wherever the Lord is, there is liberty. He is the liberating Spirit.
Again I say that in no other book do you have such a verse that clearly tells us that Jesus today is the liberating Spirit, liberating us from within by being our life. Most Christians think that Jesus liberates us from outside. But in this chapter, Paul tells us that the liberation Jesus affords us is from within. It is mainly not His power, but by His life. He is the life-giving Spirit, liberating us from within. The more we take Him as our life and person, the more we are liberated from all bondage.