The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Corinthians — Section 75

inclinations and fancies, the spiritual glory of the Saviour is not discernible, It only needs that, under the guidance of the Spirit of God, the mind should look away from self t.o Chr(st, in order that at once the scales should fall from the eyes of the beholder, and the veil should drop from the face of the Redeen1er; and a true re--velation. should take place. IV. WHAT J>?ES,TH~ Rlt~0VAL OF :RE VEIL EFFEci:? -~· The transitory character of preparatory dispensations 1s clearly discerned; the veil bemg dropped, it is seen that the glory of the older covenant has gone., 2. The true glory of Christ and of Christianity is made manifest; the new covenant appears in all its splendour, unfad.ing and etemal.-T. Ver. 17.-The spirit of liberty. If there are two words especially dear to St. Paul they are these-the spirit 38 distinguished from the form and the letter, and liberty a; distinguished from religious bondage. • . . I. MAN's NEED OF LIDEBATION. 1. Sin is bondage, however he may confuse between liberty and licence. There is no slave so crippled and so pitiable 38 is the bondman of sin. 2. Man's happiness and well-being depend upon his deliverance from this spiritual serfdom. 3. No earthly power can effect this great enfranchisement. II. THE DIVINE LIBERATOR. Many of the df/signations· applied to our Lord Jesus imply this character and function. He is the Saviour, who saves from the yoke of sin, the doom of death; the Redeemer, who ransoms from a spiritual captivity, who pays the p1ice, and sets the prisoner free. "The Lord is the Spirit; n i.e. the work of red.emp- t.ion was wrought by Jesus in the body,and is:applied and made actual to the individual soul by the unseen but mighty and ever-present Spirit, in whose operatioilll the Lord Christ perpetuates his action and achieves his dominion. III. THE ESSENCE OF 6PIBITUAL LIBERTY. lt is irrespective of personal condition; for the slave can enjoy its sweets, even when hie ·clanking chains remind him of his earthly bondage. It is emancipation from the curse and penalty of the Law, as this oppresses every sinner who is at all aware of. his real condition. It is freedom from what St. Paul calls the dominion of sin. It.is the glad consecration ofall powers to the service of the Divine Redeemer. It is "the. glorious liberty of the children of God." IV. THE FRUITS OF FREEDOM, 1. Obedience, strange and paradoxical as the asser- tion seems, is the consequence of the gracious· enfranchisement of the soul. The service of the heart, which cannot be rendered in bondage, is natural in the state of emancipa- tion. 2. Joy is natural to the emancipated. slave, who realizes the dignity and the blessedness of freedom. 3. Praise of the Deliverer never ceases, but ascends in uninter- mitting strains to the Author and Giver of spititual and everlasting liberty.-T. Ver. 18.-The glorious traniformation. An exulting joy seems to have moved the soul of the apostle, when he meditated upon the present immunities and honours, and upon the prospects or fnture blessedness and glory which, through Christ, belong to all true believers and followers of the.Lord. . A kind of spiritual exhilaration pervades nnd exalts his spirit, and adds eloquence and poetry to bis enraptured languaii;e. I. UNINTERRUPTED VISION. The figure of the veil continues to haunt the mind of the inspired writer, even after it has answered the purpose of its first introduction. Asso- ciating bis brethren in the faith with himself, be affirms, concerning Christians, tbnt the veil was in their case removed, so that for them was actually realized a wonderful approach to the unseen Saviour. Before their enligbtonmeut by the Spirit of God, the scales were upon their eyes and the veil was before their countenance. Now, in Heaven's light they see light. 'l'he sin, the prejudice, the unhelief, which bid the Saviour from their view, have been removed, and nothing comes between the soul and its Saviour. IJ. SPIRITUAL REFLECTION. Instead of the countenance being conceale<l by 11 veil, it is, in the case of true Christians, converted into a mirror, which receives and then reflects the rays of light. Thus the glory of the Lord, which is ever manifested in nature, and which shone in the face of our inearnate Hedeemer, is gathered up and given forth by the renewed and purified characb~r of the Obristian. This is n. moral process. A spiritual nature alone is capable of attracting nnd receiving such light, alone is capable c,f giving it forth in uncontaminated, though reflected, rays. Thus the disciple mirrors di, IIL 1-18.J THE SEC0ND EPISTLE 'l'O THE CORINTHUNS. 75