{Now the Lord is the Spirit} (ho de Kurios to pneuma
estin). Some, like E. F. Scott (_The Spirit in the N.T._), take
Kurios here to be Christ and interpret Paul as denying the
personality of the Holy Spirit, identifying Christ and the Holy
Spirit. But is not Bernard right here in taking Kurios (Lord)
in the same sense here as in  Ex 34:34  (enanti Kuriou, before
the Lord), the very passage that Paul is quoting? Certainly, the
Holy Spirit is interchangeably called in the N.T. the Spirit of
God and the Spirit of Christ ( Ro 8:9f. ). Christ dwells in us by
the Holy Spirit, but the language here in  2Co 3:17  should not
be pressed unduly (Plummer. See also P. Gardner, _The Religious
Experience of St. Paul_, p. 176f.). Note "the Spirit of the Lord"
here. {Liberty} (eleutheria). Freedom of access to God without
fear in opposition to the fear in  Ex 34:30 . We need no veil and
we have free access to God.