NOTES for Co2 3:17

In the third chapter of the epistle to Corinthians, Apostle Paul speaks about the understanding of the Old Testament as a code of bans and permissions, which God expects man to accomplish. He underlines that it is only by Christ that the Old Testament opens to us as a testimony of God, Creator of the Heaven and the earth.

The face of Moses shone with the reflection of the glory of the Almighty - says the apostle, but this glory remains hidden without Christ for those who see Moses, and for those who read his books. For those who address Christ, this "cover" is removed, this veil retaining us from the vision of the glory of God. And here after these words, the apostle writes: "the Lord is that Spirit, and where the Spirit of Lord is, there is liberty".

Relationships with God are thus similar not literally bans and permissions, but to the liberty of the spirit. But it doesn’t in any case mean that in the liberty of the New Testament we can violate the commandments, of which the Jews were forbidden to violate.

The non-liberty consists of the fact that the “cover” is in our human hearts, and not giving to us the possibility of seeing the glory of God. That is why the apostle says of those who address God: "we all, with open face beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed". Consequently, he understands by the word liberty the real possibility of meeting with God and our capacity to come to this meeting.