In the life aspect of God’s full salvation, every step, from regeneration to glorification, gradually progresses forward and upward. Regeneration leads to renewing; renewing leads to ultimate sanctification; ultimate sanctification leads to transformation; and transformation is followed by maturity, conformation, and glorification. We will now consider the matter of transformation.
1) “Being transformed into the same image [of the Lord]” (2 Cor. 3:18).
In the original Greek the word “transformation” is a compound word composed of two parts. The first part means “change,” while the second part means “the inward form,” which implies “element” and “essence.” Thus, in the New Testament, transformation refers to a change of essence in our inward form. This reveals that the transformation of life which we enjoy in our experience of God’s full salvation is the transformation of our inward essence. It is the adding of the element of the divine life of Christ to our human element, producing a metabolic effect, which causes a change of essence, a transformation of our inward being into the image of the Lord.
1) “But whenever it [the heart] turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away” (2 Cor. 3:16).
The veil refers to the covering on those who are under the law and who intend to keep the law. Being under the law and desiring to keep the law turn a man away from the Lord to take the law as his goal. These things cover him like a veil so that he is unable to see the Lord face to face. Self-improvement and trying to do good, apart from the Lord, have the same effect. They cause a man to turn away from the Lord and to aim at good deeds; hence, being covered by good deeds, like a person with a veil, he cannot see the Lord face to face. Since we have believed in the Lord and have turned to the Lord from things such as the law and good deeds, our heart should turn from our former aims to the Lord, that the veils which cover us may be removed and that we may see the Lord face to face.
1) “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor. 3:17).
When we turn to the Lord from all other goals, such as the law and good deeds, the Lord, who is the Spirit, immediately frees us. If we aim at any matter other than the Lord, we will be occupied and bound by it, so that the Lord Spirit will be unable to do anything for us. Once we turn to the Lord from that goal, the Lord immediately has the ground in us to free us.
1) “We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Since we have turned to the Lord to take Him as our goal, the veil has been removed from our face, and with an unveiled face we are able to behold and reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord. At this moment, our face is open to the Lord, and as an unveiled mirror we are able, on the one hand, to behold His glory and, on the other hand, to reflect His glory.
1) “...beholding and reflecting...the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image” (2 Cor. 3:18).
When we behold and reflect the glory of the Lord with an open and unveiled face, we are gradually transformed into the Lord’s image, and as a mirror we reflect the Lord for others to see. This is the glorious result of our beholding the Lord face to face without any veil.
1) “...transformed into the same image [of the Lord] from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Our beholding the Lord face to face to reflect the Lord and our being transformed into the same image of the Lord are progressive, advancing from one degree of glory to another higher degree of glory.
1) “...transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit” (2 Cor. 3:18).
In the process of His death and resurrection, Christ, who died, resurrected, and accomplished redemption for us, was transfigured to become a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). The Lord Spirit spoken of here is Christ Himself as the life- giving Spirit. After we receive the redemption accomplished through Christ’s death and resurrection and are regenerated, this life-giving Spirit works in us, from our spirit through our soul, continually transforming us into the image of the Lord from glory to glory, progressing from one degree of glory to a higher degree of glory. This is the metabolic transformation that is being accomplished in us by the Lord, who is the Spirit of life, continually infusing the essence of His life into us, until we are raptured and our body is transfigured to be the same as His glorious body.
1) “...transformed by the renewing of the mind” (Rom. 12:2).
The glorious transformation mentioned previously takes place also by the renewing of our mind. Our mind is the entrance of our heart. Whatever enters into us must first pass through our mind before it enters into our heart. The Lord Spirit transforms us inwardly by passing through this entrance of the mind, bringing the divine essence of the Lord’s life into us through the understanding and receiving of the mind in our heart, the desire of the emotion in our heart, and the approving of the will in our heart, in order to transform our whole being from within into the image of the Lord.