II Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
The “Spirit” of God touches the heart (the “it” in II Corinthians 3:16) and turns “it” to the Lord, Who guides “it” to believe the Gospel and to find the “liberty” that is heralded by the Gospel. Not only does the “Spirit” give us Spiritual Life (John 3:1-8), but He also turns our hearts to believe and rejoice in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. In Jesus Christ, we find a most pleasant “liberty”. That is, we are freed from the weighty rules and requirements and restrictions of the Old Testament Law Service, which was a practical prophecy of the coming Messiah, Who, when He came, both kept and fully satisfied the Law on our behalf (Matthew 5:17). While we are wonderfully freed from the Law Service, we rejoice to learn that we are now the highly blessed servants of our Lord Jesus Christ (I Peter 2:16). The object of the Old Testament Law service was to obtain and to maintain daily blessings and protective care from the Lord. When Israel was not faithful to obey the Law Service, they found out what the “wrath of God” (Psalms 78:31) was like. From the very beginning of the Christian Church, there have been many who reached back and brought forward certain elements of the Law Service, which is Legalism. This Legalism quickly evolved into systematic requirements for becoming a Child of God and maintaining our Eternal Relationship with God. For example, where Circumcision was first brought forward in Biblical Times (Acts 15:24); now many require Baptism to consummate our Eternal Relationship with God, others would have folks recites some passage of Scripture, others require the hands of a Minister, others require taking Communion, and some require a code for daily living else Salvation will be lost. It is true that, if the Lord has given us Spiritual Birth, we ought to gladly make a public profession of our faith in Him, be baptized and be an active part of His Church, and we ought to live in such a way that no one would have to ask us if we are a Christian. But, those who are Children of God, were “chosen” in Christ Jesus “before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4), of whom Jesus declared that He had lost “nothing” and He will raise them up to Glory on the Last day (John 6:39), furthermore there is absolutely nothing that “shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:39). God is the perfect Father, for whom He “loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:6) to correct our disobedience, but He will never disown us. It is our joyous duty to show our “love” to our Lord by keeping His “commandments” (John 14:15) and it grieves us when we fail, causing us to flee to Him in humble repentance.