The Spirit of Freedom Today's Three-minute Bible Study Print, Study and Apply Title: The Spirit of Freedom Keywords: "freedom" "liberty" "Spirit" "veil" Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand strong in the face of sexual temptation. Passage: 2 Corinthians 3:17* Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Questions 1. According to 2 Corinthians 3:17, what is the unmistakable mark of the presence of the Spirit of the Lord? Where He is, there is always ________?   2. What pictures does the word "liberty" bring to your mind?   3. If liberty is present wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, what must necessarily be not present in His presence?   Practical help Every verse in Scripture has a context, a setting. 2 Corinthians 3:17 is set in a context in which Paul is describing the actions of Moses in the Old Testament. After Moses would meet with God in the Tabernacle his face would literally shine from being in the presence of God. To protect the people from God's glory, Moses would place a veil over his face. After a while, though, Moses' face would cease shining. Yet he kept the veil on his face. Paul says that this practice of keeping the veil on his face after the glory had faded was an indication of a lack of liberty on Moses' part. He wasn't "free" to let the people see him as he really was. He felt that he had to keep the veil on so that they would think he was still shining with the glory of God. Paul says that it is not to be like this with Christians. Rather, "we all, with unveiled faces are beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). Being in Christ means having the freedom to be exactly who we are, freedom to take the veil off. The invitation to walk in liberty in 2 Corinthians 3 is an invitation to allow God to transform us — but we first have to stop pretending we are better than we are, or that things are better than they are. If you are struggling with Internet porn, admit it to the Lord (and to a trustworthy friend in Christ). When we take off the veil, we are walking in liberty, and the Lord performs His wonderful work of transforming us into the image of Jesus. eXXit homepage Index of three-minute studies Copyright 1998, 2003 by eXXit *"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission."