When we with unveiled face are beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord, He infuses us with the elements of what He is and what He has done. Thus, we are being transformed metabolically to have His life shape by His life power with His life essence, transfigured, mainly by the renewing of our mind (Rom 12:2), into His image. The words “being transformed” in 3:18 indicate that we are in the process of transformation.
We need to be deeply impressed with what it means to be transformed. To be transformed is to have Christ added into our being to replace what we are so that Christ may increase and our natural life may decrease. As the process of transformation takes place within us, the old element of our natural being is carried away, and the glory, the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit, is added into us to replace the natural element. This is what it means to be transformed.
Second Corinthians 3:18 tells us that we are being transformed into “the same image.” This image is the image of the resurrected and glorified Christ. The “same image” means that we are being conformed to the resurrected and glorified Christ, being made the same as He is (Rom. 8:29).
In 3:18 we are also told that we are being transformed into the same image “from glory to glory.” This means that we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another degree. This indicates a continuing process in life in resurrection.
The process of being transformed from glory to glory is “from the Lord Spirit.” “From” indicates that transformation is proceeding from the Spirit rather than being caused by Him.
Today glory is the resurrected Christ, and this Christ is the Spirit. This means that the Lord as the glory is the Spirit living in us and dwelling in our spirit. Now that we have the Spirit indwelling our spirit, we need to exercise our spirit to contact the Lord. The more we exercise our spirit with an unveiled face, the more we shall behold the Lord. As we are gazing on Him, we shall also reflect Him. While we are beholding and reflecting Him in this way, His element, His essence, will be added to our being. This new element will replace and discharge the element of our old, natural life. Then we shall experience transformation, a metabolic change. We shall be transformed into the Lord’s image.
In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” Here we have another symbol of the believers-earthen vessels. God’s shining, which is God’s dispensing, in our hearts (2 Cor. 4:6) brings into us a treasure, the Christ of glory, who is the embodiment of God to be our life and our everything. Because of the shining in our hearts, we have this treasure, a treasure that is wonderful, precious, and marvelous. However, we who contain this treasure are earthen vessels, worthless and fragile. A priceless treasure is contained in these worthless vessels.
The Christ of glory as the excellent treasure is received by the believers through the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ. Second Corinthians 4:4 speaks of “the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” Here we have four matters: illumination, gospel, glory, and Christ. Verse 6 goes on to say, “The God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” God’s shining in our hearts results in the illumination of knowing the glory of God in the face of Christ, that is, in the enlightenment that causes us to know the glory of the gospel of Christ. This illumination, this enlightenment, that makes the glory of Christ’s gospel known to us issues from the shining of God in our hearts. God’s shining in the universe produced the old creation. His shining in our hearts has made us a new creation, for this shining brings into us, earthen vessels, the marvelous treasure of the Christ of glory.
In our preaching of the gospel there should be an illumination, a shining. We need to preach the gospel in a very illuminating way. This means that while we are preaching, God shines into the hearts of those to whom we are speaking. To preach in this way is to present not merely a gospel of certain facts but a gospel of glory. Those who receive the gospel of glory will have Christ as the precious treasure dispensed into them. Then, like us, they will be earthen vessels containing this treasure.
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