(1.) The matter of it ^l•as terrible, tending to the shame, confusion of face, and condemnation of the hearers ; insomuch as they were not able to stand before him, nor stedfastlj' to behold his face, it was such a dazzling and amazing light that shincd in his ministry.
(2.) TJie manner of deUrenj was in obscnre and dark expressions, that ' the children of Israel could not see to the end of that which is abolished ; ' that is, they could not see the drift and scope of his ministry, by reason of the types and shadows, which was ' the veil he put upon his face.' (- (3.) Their minds ivere blinded. There was ' a veil upon their hearts,' ■ which is evident by experience in the Jews at this day, who so cleave in their afiection to Moses, and to the shadows and ceremonies of his ministry,
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that they reject the scope and end of it, which is Jesus Christ crucified. And they can do no other. For although the veil that was upon Moses's face be removed, as it is by the doctrine of the gospel, which sheweth us in all possible plainness what the drift and meaning of Moses was in all those types and ceremonies, yet until the gospel in the spirit and efficacy of it Cometh home to their hearts, and taketh ofi' ' the veil that is upon their hearts ' also ; that is, until their natural blindness and obstinacy be taken away, which cannot be, but is rather increased, by the law — ' For although Moses be read, yet until this day remaineth the same veil un taken away,' 2 Cor. iii. 14 — the Jews will unavoidably abide in their ignorance and bondage.
Now, in opposition to this darkness and obscurity of the law in all those respects, the apostle exalteth the gospel in this high and excellent privilege of it, that it is plain, and evident, and full of demonstration, and that the light of it is not terrifying and amazing, but sweet and comfortable. So that we may with much liberty and boldness of spirit look constantly upon the great and glorious things set before us in it, although it be no other but the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
[5. J And there is, moreover, such an efficacy and working power in this ministry of the gospel, as it will not sufier men to remain the same without alteration, as they did under Moses's ministry, though he was read daily, but it will ' change ' them even ' into the image of Jesus Christ, and carry them on still in that image and likeness, from one degree of glory to another,' after a most admirable and spiritual manner of working, jf This special excellency and prerogative of the gospel is laid down in the two last verses of this chapter, which are the words upon which we shall more largel}' insist in the following discourse.
Verse 17. 'Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.'
' The Lord is that Spirit ' that takes away the veil that is spoken of before.
He sets down what Christ is by what he doth ; Christ is ' that Spirit,' because he gives the Spirit.
And then a sweet effect of the Spirit of Christ, ' Where the Spirit of Christ is, there is liberty.'
The Spirit here is not taken for the person of God, as if the Holy Ghost had said, ' The Lord is a Spirit,' and not a bodily thing, though that be a truth.
And as it is not meant naturally,* so not personally, ' Christ is that Spirit,' as if Christ were the Holy Ghost. That were a confusion of per- sons. Nor as restrained to the third person. The Holy Ghost is the Spirit. Neither, as some heretofore would have it, to shew that the Spirit is Jehovah, God. It is neither to shew that Christ is God, nor that the Spirit is God, nor that Christ is the Holy Ghost. But it is meant in regard of a special dispensation. * The Lord is that Spirit ; ' that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of his church by marriage, office, &c., 'is that Spirit ; ' that is, he
(1.) Hath the Spirit in himself eminently ; and
(2.) Dispenseth and giveth the Spirit unto others ; all receiving the Spirit from him as the common root and fountain of all spiritual gifts.
First, He was 'that Spirit,' as having the Holy Ghost in himself as man. The Holy Ghost filled the human nature and made it spiritual. The Spirit * That is, as speaking of the nature of God, or of the Holy Spirit, the third person. — G.
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is all in all in the Imman nature of Christ ; antl whatsoever he doth, he doth, as it were, being full of the Spirit, in liimself. He gives the Spirit as God, and receives it as man. So he both gives and receives. The Spirit procecdeth from the Father and the Son as God, but the Spirit sanctified Christ as man, as it did in the virgin's womb. The Holy Ghost sanctified that blessed mass of his body. It sanctified him, and filled him with all graces and gifts ; whereupon it is said, ' He received the Spirit without measure,' John iii. 34 ; that is, in abundance. Christ hath the Spirit in himself in a more eminent excellent manner than all others ; and it must needs be so for these reasons :