“Wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” 2 Corinthians 3:17 NLT.
This verse from 2 Corinthians is part of Paul’s response to people looking to the law and legalism to find acceptance with God. And even though we have the scriptures to remind us over and over again that we are saved by grace, we still can fall prey to the ‘performance’ trap.
We get in our minds that God loves us when we do good and punishes us when we do bad. That is a horrible trap and many, many Christians are under this false teaching.
Let’s look at Paul’s entire context so we can get an accurate picture of this text and a more accurate picture of grace and what it means to be under grace.
Paul begins this chapter with the reminder that the law, the old covenant, ends in death. The old covenant is what Moses wrote and what religious leaders added to and added to. This law ends in death. Why? Because if you break just one of theses commands you are guilty of breaking the entire law. And the result of breaking the law is death. Once the law is broken, you can’t fix it again. It’s like Humpty Dumpty and all the king’s horses and all the king’s men... The law condemns the very best of us because we have all committed at least one violation.
But God has given us a new covenant. And in this covenant the Spirit gives life. In this covenant,the penalty of sin has already been bought and paid for. We will still fall short of God’s glorious standard as revealed in the law, but we are not held under it’s condemnation when we violate it.
Now please don’t misunderstand. God still hates sin. He is a just God and sin must be punished. But His Son Jesus already took the punishment for our sin before we even committed them. By the way, that also includes the sin we commit after we are believers. He didn’t just pay the price for the sin we commit before we knew Jesus, He poured out all His blood so all our sins would be forgiven.
Now, back to the law. Remember when Moses went on the mountain to receive the law and when he came down his face was glowing and so the people asked him to put on a veil? Remember that? Paul says if you thought that one was glorious, the old covenant that makes us ‘wrong’ with God, how much more glorious is the new covenant, the one that makes us ‘right’ with God. And God seals this covenant with His own Spirit. What an awesome covenant!
You see, we are no longer defined in God’s eyes by what we do, but rather by what we believe. We are 'justified by faith'. We are made right with God by believing in His Son not by ‘making a list and checking it twice’.
So then is this a license to sin? Can I do whatever I want since all my sin is paid for?
Paul answers this. “Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound? By no means. We died to sin. How can we live any longer therein.” Romans 6
But I really love how he answers this in 2 Corinthians 3. Read this. 16 But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 For the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.
If you try to overcome the flesh by looking at the law and comparing yourself to it you will only condemn yourself. The ONLY way to overcome the flesh is to look at Jesus.
In this month, we celebrate the freedom we have Americans. A greater freedom is the freedom we have in Christ. The freedom to not be bound by a bunch of rules that only condemn us. The freedom that comes from faith in Christ and the change only God can make by God Himself working within us. And this freedom can never be taken away by a ruling from the Supreme court.
RP
