Tuesday, April 23, 2024

Larry Kreitzer on 2 Corinthians 3:17: "The Lord is the Spirit"

  

‘The Lord Is the Spirit’ (3:17)

The interpretation of this phrase has long been a matter of debate, particularly as it so closely identifies ‘the Lord’ ( κύριος) and ‘the Spirit’ (τὸ πνεῦμα). In addition, the place that 3:17 has in the overall argument of 3:12–18 is very difficult to determine. The tension here is so great that some interpreters have suggested removing the verse altogether, on the grounds that it is a post-Pauline interpolation, perhaps deriving from Gnostic circles. It is not surprising that the relationship of κύριος to τὸ πνεῦμα remains crucial to any interpretation of the passage, and most exegesis has focused on this question. Many commentators take κύριος to refer to Jesus Christ, although its precise relationship to the articular use of τὸ πνεῦμα remains a matter of considerable debate and in the opinion of some calls into question this line of interpretation. Alternatively, some commentators take κύριος to refer to Yahweh Himself, based upon a parallelism of thought with 3:16a. Such an interpretation has the added attraction of allowing a firm linkage of thought with 3:18b to be established. Thus, the troublesome phrase in 3:18b καθάπερ ἀπὸ κυρίου πνεύματος (with which Paul concludes the chapter) can be paraphrased as, ‘Such is the influence of the Lord (Yahweh), who, after all, is present with us in the form of the Spirit (of Christ)’. In the end, it may be impossible to make a firm decision between the two possibilities, in that the Spirit serves as the medium of the Christian’s experience of Christ, and through him, the experience of the living God he represents. (Larry Kreitzer, 2 Corinthians [Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1996], 99-100)

 

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