In verse 18 Paul goes on to say, “And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” “And” here indicates something further. First, the heart turns to the Lord that the veil may be taken away (v. 16); second, the Lord as the Spirit frees us from the bondage of the law (v. 17); and last, with unveiled face we, as a mirror, behold and reflect the glory of the Lord and thus are transformed into His image from glory to glory.
In verse 18 “we” denotes the apostles, who, as examples and representatives of all believers, are the ministers of Christ. Although these verses describe the apostles, we should not think that these verses are not for us. The apostles are examples and representatives of the believers. This means that what the apostles should be, we should be also. Therefore, these verses are also related to us.
The unveiled face is in contrast to the veiled mind, the veiled heart (vv. 14-15). It means that our heart has turned to the Lord so that the veil has been taken away, and the Lord as the Spirit has freed us from the bondage, the veiling, of the law, so that there is no more insulation between us and the Lord.
According to verse 18, we behold and reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord. Beholding is to see the Lord by ourselves; reflecting is for others to see Him through us. We are such a mirror beholding and reflecting the glory of the Lord. As such, our face should be fully unveiled that we may see clearly and reflect accurately.
The glory in verse 18 is the glory of the Lord as the resurrected and ascended One, who is both God and man, passing through incarnation, human living on the earth, and crucifixion, entering into resurrection, accomplishing full redemption, and becoming a life-giving Spirit. This Spirit dwells in us to make Him and all He has accomplished, obtained, and attained real to us so that we may be one with Him and be transformed into His image from glory to glory.
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. Being transformed indicates that we are in the process of transformation.
The constitution of life involves the life essence, the life power, and the life shape. Every kind of life has these three things—the essence, the power, and the shape. For example, a carnation flower has an essence and a power. Therefore, it is formed into a certain shape. As it grows with the life essence and by the life power, it is shaped into a particular form. It is the same with the divine life. This life has its essence, power, and shape. The shape of the divine life is the image of Christ. Thus, in verse 18 we have the thought of being transformed into the same image. This means that we shall be shaped into the image of Christ. Based upon this fact and upon Paul’s use of the word transformed, we speak of being metabolically constituted. This term is based upon the concept of transformation into the image of Christ.
According to 2 Corinthians 4, we are vessels. As vessels we need to have an unveiled face; that is, we need to be open to the divine life with its power, essence, and shape. As we open to the Lord, He as the life-giving Spirit enters into our being to infuse His life essence into us, to operate within us by His life power, and to shape us into His image. This is the constitution of life to make us ministers of the new covenant.
The image in verse 18 is the image of the resurrected and glorified Christ. The “same image” means we are being conformed to the resurrected and glorified Christ, being made the same as He is (Rom. 8:29).
To be transformed into the same image from glory to glory means from one degree of glory to another degree. This indicates a continuing process in life in resurrection. This is “from the Lord Spirit.” “From” indicates that the transformation is proceeding from the Spirit rather than caused by Him.
The Lord Spirit may be considered a compound title like the Father God and the Lord Christ. This expression again strongly proves and confirms that the Lord Christ is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord Christ. In this chapter, this Spirit is revealed as the inscribing Spirit (v. 3), the life-giving Spirit (v. 6), the ministering Spirit (v. 8), the freeing Spirit (v. 17), and the transforming Spirit (v. 18). Such an all-inclusive Spirit is crucial to the ministers of Christ and to their ministry for God’s new covenant economy.
After speaking about the ministry of the new covenant, the apostle continues to speak about the ministers of the new covenant. From verse 12 through 18 he first depicts the new covenant ministers as persons whose hearts have turned to the Lord, whose faces are unveiled, who are enjoying the Lord as the Spirit, freeing them from the bondage of the law, and who are being transformed into the image of the Lord by beholding and reflecting Him. Through such a process of transformation they are constituted to be ministers of Christ by the Spirit with the elements of Christ’s Person and work. Hence, their person is a constitution of Christ and with Christ, and their ministry is to minister Christ to others, infusing them with the all-inclusive Christ as the indwelling, life-giving Spirit. All believers should imitate them to be the same kind of person and to accomplish the same kind of ministry.