Second Corinthians 3:18 says that we are gradually transformed into His same image “from glory to glory.” This means that we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another degree of glory. This indicates an ongoing process in life in resurrection. Transformation is not a once-for-all matter; rather, it is a gradual process, from one degree of glory to another degree of glory.
This glory is actually the Christ in glory. When the Lord Jesus was on the earth, He was God incarnated. God was concealed in the physical body of the Lord Jesus. Inwardly, there was God, but outwardly there was the flesh, and this flesh had no glory. Before going to the cross, the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You” (John 17:1). In this prayer the Lord was praying that the Father would let Him enter into glory through death and resurrection. After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus said to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26). Therefore, for Christ to enter into His glory is to be in resurrection. The resurrection of Christ was His glorification.
Furthermore, Christ in glory is the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, the glory in 2 Corinthians 3:18 is in reality the life-giving Spirit. Through a process of gradual transformation, the more we live and walk in the life-giving Spirit, the more glory is added into our whole being, and the more we are transformed into His same image from glory to glory.
Finally, 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that transformation is “from the Lord Spirit.” The word from denotes that the transformation proceeds from the Spirit rather than just being caused by Him. The Lord Spirit is a compound title like “the Father God” and “the Lord Christ.” This expression strongly proves and confirms that the Lord Christ is the Spirit and the Spirit is the Lord Christ. This Lord Spirit is the transforming Spirit carrying out a metabolic function in us, dispensing the divine life, nature, element, and essence into us and transforming us in our life, nature, essence, element, shape, expression, and in every aspect of our entire being. For this transformation, we need to live by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, and walk according to the mingled spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25; Rom. 8:4b) so that Christ’s divine life can correct us, transforming us into the image of Christ in glory. The Spirit with our spirit issues not only in a metabolic function within us but also in the divine life of Christ correcting our being and regulating our actions. This kind of regulating leads to inward transformation. Therefore, within us there is not only a metabolic function but also correction and regulation by the life of Christ. This results in our transformation, and we are being transformed into His same image from one degree of glory to another degree of glory.
The believers, in their continuous experience of God’s redemption, need to experience and enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity. The believers experience and enjoy the processed Triune God for their transformation which issues in our divine conformation to the image of Christ. This is through transformation by the Lord Spirit. Transformation is not outward correction or adjustment; rather, it is an inward metabolic change through the Lord Spirit, that is, the transforming Spirit, carrying out a metabolic function in us by adding the element of Christ’s divine life into our entire being so that our being may be transformed and outwardly express the image of Christ.
To be transformed, we must remove the veil of our natural inward constitution by turning our heart to the Lord. Whenever we turn our heart to the Lord, the veil is taken away; then the Lord who is the Spirit frees us from the bondage of the letter of the law. With unveiled face, we also need to behold and reflect like a mirror the glory of the resurrected and ascended Lord. In this way, He may supply Himself with all that He has accomplished, obtained, and attained as the new elements into us to replace and discharge the elements of our old natural life, and He may become our reality, making us one with Him and gradually transforming us by the renewing of our minds into the same image of the resurrected and ascended Christ.
Our being transformed into the same image as Christ is not a once-for-all matter; rather, it is continuous and gradual, involving transformation from one degree of glory into a higher degree of glory. This glory is the resurrected Christ who is now the life-giving Spirit. By living and walking in this Spirit, we receive the addition of glory into our entire being, transforming us more and more into the same image of Christ. Therefore, this transformation is from the Lord Spirit. For this transformation, we must live by the Spirit, walk by the Spirit, and walk according to the mingled spirit so that the divine life of Christ can regulate us, transforming us into Christ’s image in glory.