Verse 18 says, “But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” We are mirrors that reflect while we behold. However, we must have an unveiled face. If our face is veiled and covered, the mirror will not function. As we behold the Lord, we reflect His glory, and by this beholding and reflecting, we are gradually transformed to the image of the Lord from glory to glory. This transformation is the work of the transforming Spirit. In chapters 1 and 3 there are eight items related to the Spirit: anointing, sealing, pledging, inscribing, ministering, life-giving, liberating, and transforming. The first seven aspects are all for the purpose of transformation. The Spirit within us continually anoints us, seals us, and gives us the assurance that God is ours. He also inscribes Christ into us, ministers Christ to us, imparts life to us, and liberates us from bondage. All this is so that He can transform us into the image of Christ.
I would ask you all, especially the young brothers and sisters, to memorize all these items: anointing, sealing, pledging, inscribing, ministering, life-giving, liberating, and transforming. What we must always do is open ourselves to Him, not only from our heart but also from our spirit. We must open ourselves from the depths of our being so that we may truly have an unveiled face, a face with no covering or hindrance. If we are open to Him, the transforming Spirit will be free to work within us to transform us into the glorious image of Christ from glory to glory.
Verse 7 of chapter 4 says, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us.” Then verse 16 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” The outer man is the old soul with the body as its organ to express it, and the inner man is our regenerated human spirit with our renewed soul as its organ to express it. This implies that the life of the soul must be “whittled down,” crossed out, but the function of the soul must be renewed so that the soul as an organ can be used by the regenerated spirit.
The treasure in verse 7 is Christ in our regenerated spirit. Now we need to cooperate with the indwelling Spirit to live no longer by the soul but always by the spirit. The outer man must be crossed out so that we can give the Spirit the opportunity to renew our inner man day by day. This renewing of the inner man is mainly not in the spirit but in the soul—the mind, emotion, and will. Our spirit has been renewed and regenerated already, but now our soul must be renewed. Therefore, we must always cooperate with the indwelling Spirit so that He may spread Christ as the treasure from our spirit into our soul for the renewing of the soul day by day.
Verse 5 of chapter 5 says, “Now He who has wrought us for this very thing is God, who has given to us the Spirit as a pledge.” Again we have the Spirit as the guarantee, the pledge, but here the guarantee is for a heavenly tabernacle, a glorious body (vv. 1-2). At the present time we are in a temporary, earthen body, but the Lord promises us that one day He will change our body into a glorious one. The guarantee and foretaste of this is the Spirit. The apostle Paul was not waiting to die; rather, he was expecting to have a change from his temporary tabernacle to an eternal, permanent one, which is a glorious body. Because our body is very weak, it is a real bothering to us. By the Spirit, however, even this weak body is enlivened and strengthened. This is a foretaste of the change awaiting our body.
In 12:8 and 9, Paul says about the thorn in his flesh, “Concerning this I entreated the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He has said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather boast in my weaknesses that the power of Christ might tabernacle over me.” The Lord would not take away the thorn. Rather, He supplied Paul with sufficient grace for his suffering. Grace is the Lord’s power, and this power is the Lord Himself. The Lord Himself as the power to us is the grace we enjoy.
The Lord’s sufficient grace is in our spirit. Galatians 6:18 says, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.” Philemon 25 says, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.” Regrettably, many Christians know, “My grace is sufficient,” but very few know that this sufficient grace is in our spirit. In order to enjoy, apply, and appropriate this sufficient grace, we need to know that it is in our spirit, and we need to know how to exercise our spirit.
Some may say that since Paul’s suffering in 2 Corinthians 12 was in his body, the grace must also be in the body. This is not the case. Grace is in our spirit. When our spirit is strong, we can endure any kind of suffering in the body, but when our spirit is weak, the suffering of the body becomes a suffering to our whole being. Even if there is a certain amount of suffering in our body, our whole being will not suffer if our spirit within is strong. We are strengthened and we can endure any suffering because we have grace in our spirit.
Verse 14 of chapter 13 concludes, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.” In this verse we have the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. God is in Christ, and Christ is the Spirit. God as the source is love, Christ as the course is grace, and the Spirit as the flow is fellowship. Second Corinthians shows us how to enjoy Christ as our sufficient grace. The source of this grace is the love of God, and the course of this love is grace. In other words, love is the source, and grace is the expression of the source. This grace comes into us by the flow, the fellowship, the transmission, of the Spirit.
Love, grace, and fellowship are simply the Triune God Himself. Love is God, and this love, who is God Himself, is the source. Out of this love, Christ comes as our grace, and Christ as grace comes into us by the transmission of the Holy Spirit. Christians often use this verse as a benediction, but it is regrettable that many do not know what it means. This verse reveals the work of the transforming Spirit to transmit into us Christ as the grace from God Himself as love, the source. Out of God Himself as love, the transforming Spirit continually transmits and communicates Christ into us as our sufficient grace. Now we simply enjoy and experience this grace, and it is in this grace that day by day we are being transformed into His image. The process of this transforming work is being carried out by the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, at the conclusion of this book Paul commends to us the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit so that we may be transformed.