“18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. (2 Corinthians 3:18)
“BUT WE ALL WITH UNVEILED FACE BEHOLDING AS IN A MIRROR THE GLORY OF THE LORD”
Here we see Paul give an invitation to every Christian, speaking of an intimacy of relationship and a transforming power that is not the property of just a few, selected and privileged Christians, but rather it can belong to everyone. Everyone who has an unveiled face.
Warren Wiersbe comments that “This verse is the climax of the chapter, and it presents a truth so exciting that I marvel so many believers have missed it—or ignored it. You and I can share the image of Jesus Christ and go “from glory to glory” through the ministry of the Spirit of God!”
Paul speaks of a mirror, but what exactly does this mirror represent?
MacDonald suggests that the mirror is the word of God. “As we go to the Bible, we see the Lord Jesus revealed in all His splendour. We do not yet see Him face to face, but only as mirrored in the Word. And note that it is the glory of the Lord that we behold. Here Paul is not thinking so much of the moral beauty of Jesus as a Man here on earth, but rather of His present glory, exalted at the right hand of God.
As we are occupied with the glory of the risen, ascended, exalted Lord Jesus Christ, we are being transformed into the same image. Here, in a word, is the secret of Christian holiness—occupation with Christ. Not by occupation with self, that brings only defeat. Not by occupation with others, that brings disappointment. But by occupation with the glory of the Lord, we become more and more like Him.”
J Vernon McGee further explains that this is “the reason we need to stay in the Word of God and behold the Lord Jesus. As you behold Him, you are transformed. In other words, the Word of God does more than regenerate you (we are regenerated by the Spirit of God using the Word of God).”
There is an interesting story by Nathaniel Hawthorne which illustrates this point. A little lad lived in a village where there was a mountain with a rock formation which they called the great stone face. The people had a legend that someday someone would come to the village who would look like the great stone face. He would do wonderful things for the village and be a means of great blessing.
That story really took hold of the lad. During his lifetime he would gaze at the great stone face at every opportunity that he had, and he would dream of the time someone looking like the great stone face would come to the village. Years passed and as time went by, he became a young man, then an old man. He was tottering down the street one day when someone looked up and saw him coming and shouted, “He has come. The one who looks like the great stone face is here.” This man had looked at the great stone face for so long that now he bore its image.
ARE BEING TRANSFORMED INTO THE SAME IMAGE FROM GLORY TO GLORY JUST AS FROM THE LORD THE SPIRIT
Beholding really is becoming. This is the only Christian way to change behaviour so that it honours God. We change because we have seen a beauty, of worth and excellence that is superior to anything else. If we look into the face of Christ and then look to Instagram or even YouTube and are not moved by the superior beauty and worth and excellence and desirability of Christ, then we likely still have a lot of maturing to do.
“You need to cry out, “Open my eyes to see wonderful things out of your Word!” And your life will show it. Where your treasure is—your desire, your delight, your beauty—there will your heart be also (Mt 6:21)—and your evenings and your Saturdays and your money.” (John Piper)
Being made in his image doesn’t mean that we will become omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent. “It means that His character and attitudes should increasingly be reflected by our lives, the way a mirror reflects the image of a king or as the moon reflects the light of the sun. Someone put it this way: “God doesn’t want us to become a god; He wants us to become godly.” (Robert Morgan)
The Christian life does not consist in rituals but in a relationship to Jesus Christ; not in ceremonies but in “the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3). As believers single-mindedly focus on the Scriptures, they will see God’s glory reflected in the face of Jesus and be transformed into His image by the powerful internal work of the Lord, the Spirit. (John MacArthur)
If you want to be transformed, submit to God’s glory. Stop trying to share His glory, let Him be God, and let the light of the glory of God transform you. (Evans, A. T. Our God is awesome. Chicago: Moody Press)
This scripture should teach us that Christians are to be like mirrors. We cannot forget that Paul said our faces are not to be veiled. This is logical. No one buys a mirror only to put a curtain over it. A covered mirror will not fulfil the purpose of reflecting the objects before it.
We may wonder why we are still so far from being like Christ in our thinking and behaviour. Perhaps we need to ask “Whose life are we trying mirror, and do we have any curtains in the way?”
God Bless
My Sunday Skl 