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Scripture Reading: 2 Cor. 3:16-18
In the foregoing messages we have pointed out that Paul is a pattern of living Christ for the church. In 2 Corinthians this pattern is revealed in a number of aspects. We have already covered four of these aspects. First, a person who lives Christ for the church does not trust in himself, but trusts in God who raises the dead. Paul refers to this aspect in 1:9: “But we ourselves had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not have confidence in ourselves, but in God, Who raises the dead.” Related to this aspect are the matters of conducting ourselves not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God and of being one with the unchanging Christ of the faithful God. In 1:12 Paul says, “For our boasting is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in singleness and sincerity of God, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we conducted ourselves in the world, and more abundantly toward you.” In 1:18 Paul declares that God is faithful; in verse 19, that in Christ is yes; and in verse 20, that “whatever promises of God there are, in Him is the Yes.” Therefore, we speak of the unchanging Christ of the faithful God.
The second aspect involves being attached, anointed, sealed, captured, subdued, and led to scatter the incense of Christ. Paul speaks concerning these matters in 1:21 and 22 and 2:14-16.
In 3:3-6 Paul comes to the third aspect of the pattern of living Christ for the church. This aspect is that we are competent of Christ as the spiritual alphabet to write living letters with the life-giving Spirit of the living God. The fourth aspect of this pattern is that of shining the glory of the new covenant (3:7-11), and the fifth aspect, which we shall consider in this message and in the message following, is that of being transformed into the image of the Lord from glory to glory as from the Lord Spirit by beholding and reflecting His glory with unveiled face.
I appreciate all these aspects of Paul as a pattern of living Christ for the church. Paul and the other apostles lived a life in which they had no confidence in themselves. Rather, their confidence was altogether in the God of resurrection. They did not conduct themselves in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God. They were also one with the unchanging Christ of the faithful God; that is, they were one with the Christ who is the Yes. Furthermore, they were attached to God’s anointed One, and they were anointed by God and sealed. As those attached to the anointed One, they were also captured, subdued, and led by God to celebrate Christ’s victory. As captives marching in Christ’s triumphal procession, they scattered the incense of Christ wherever they went. Actually the apostles’ journey of ministry was not an ordinary journey; it was a triumphal procession celebrating Christ’s victory in the universe.
Paul and his co-workers were also competent of Christ as the heavenly alphabet to write living letters of Christ, with Christ, and for Christ. The “ink” used in writing these letters was the life-giving Spirit of the living God. The apostles inscribed Christ into the saints and in this way wrote living letters with the Spirit as the ink. As a result, the saints became living letters of Christ for others to read.
Furthermore, Paul and his co-workers were shining forth the glorified, resurrected Christ. In their lives the blossoming Christ, the Christ in resurrection, could be seen. They were shining forth the Christ who is the life-giving Spirit. With them there was such a shining, such a glory.
Daily and even hourly, they were also in the process of being transformed into the same image, the image of the glorified Christ. “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” (3:18). This transformation did not happen once for all; it was a gradual matter. The apostles were transformed from one degree of glory to another. They were transformed from glory to glory, as from the Lord Spirit.
It is possible to understand the word rendered “even as” in 3:18 to mean “that is.” Hence, the apostles were being transformed from glory to glory, that is, from the Lord Spirit. They were being transformed into the image of the Lord from the Lord Spirit.
According to the book of 2 Corinthians, the pattern of living Christ for the church includes the aspect of daily transformation. Anyone who lives Christ for the church must be one who is daily being transformed. If we are not in the process of transformation, then something is wrong with us in our Christian life. Day by day we need to be transformed.
The word transformed is a good word; however, it does not convey the full meaning of the Greek word. Instead of transformed, some versions of the Bible use the word “changed.” This word is very inadequate; it is a poor equivalent of the Greek word. The King James Version renders this Greek word transformed in Romans 12:2, but translates it as changed in 2 Corinthians 3:18.
We need to know the difference between change and transformation. Transformation involves the process of metabolism. However, something may change without being affected metabolically. Many things may change in an outward way without any inward metabolic transformation.
In the process of metabolism a new element is supplied to an organism. This new element replaces the old element and causes it to be discharged. Therefore, as the process of metabolism takes place within a living organism, something new is created within it to replace the old element, which is carried away. Metabolism, therefore, includes three matters: first, the supplying of a new element; second, the replacing of the old element with this new element; and third, the discharge or the removal of the old element so that something new may be produced.
The digestion and assimilation of the food we eat involves metabolism. First we take the food into our stomach. Then the food is digested metabolically to supply our being so that new elements may be added to replace the old and that new cells may be brought into being. Through this process of metabolism we grow and are strengthened. Also through proper metabolism we may be healed of certain illnesses. Constantly a healing is taking place in our physical bodies through the process of metabolism. This healing is not caused by medicine given by a physician; it is the healing that is caused by the proper functioning of the body itself. Daily by the process of metabolism we can experience healing.
I wish to emphasize the fact that transformation is a metabolic process, a metabolic change. We may define transformation as spiritual metabolism. Concerning this, I appreciate Paul’s care in choosing words. Paul, a marvelous writer, is always precise in his choice of words. In 3:18 he deliberately chose a Greek word which is best translated by the English word transformed.
We have pointed out that transformation involves metabolism and that metabolism includes the supplying of new elements to replace what is old. Now we must ask what in Paul’s concept is the new element supplied to us as we undergo transformation. According to Paul’s understanding, this new element is the glory of the Lord. The glory of the Lord is actually the resurrected Christ. We have seen that the glory of the Lord in 3:18 is the glory of the Lord Jesus as the resurrected and ascended One, the One who is both God and man and who has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection to become the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit dwelling in our spirit. How rich is this resurrected Christ! The resurrected Christ with all His riches is the new element added to us for our transformation. This element, the resurrected Christ with His riches, is the glory of the Lord. This is not simply the meat of the Word; it is a choice portion of the meat.
The word transformed implies the unsearchably rich supply of Christ. As we receive this supply, it replaces the old element within us and causes it to be discharged and carried away. The result is that something new will be brought forth in us, just as new cells and tissues are produced in our body through the process of metabolism. This is Paul’s concept of transformation in 3:18. Otherwise, Paul would not have said that we are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. We are being transformed from glory to glory, that is, from one degree of glory to another.
For many years I have been trying to understand the phrase “from glory to glory” used in 3:18. I consulted a number of books, but I failed to find a satisfactory explanation. We should not take this matter for granted or assume that we understand it. What is the glory here, and what is the meaning of “from glory to glory”? From glory to glory means from the Lord Spirit to the Lord Spirit. The Lord Spirit is upon the Lord Spirit. This means that the Lord Spirit as the rich supply is continually added into our being.
We may use an illustration from our eating to understand the continual addition of the Lord Spirit into us. Suppose you are invited to stay with a family that eats a great deal of chicken. Day after day they serve you a meal containing chicken. In your eating you go from chicken to chicken. Eventually, by eating so much chicken, you will become constituted of the element of chicken. This element will permeate your tissues and cells. In a sense, your physical body will be transformed inwardly into chicken. Day by day and hour by hour Christ, the heavenly chicken, is being added to us, and we are being transformed into His image. This transformation is from glory to glory, from the Lord Spirit to the Lord Spirit.
In a previous message I pointed out that it is possible for the parents of young people in the church to read the Christ who has been inscribed into them. After that message was given, many testified that whenever they visit their parents, their parents read them, paying attention to the change in them because they have had Christ inscribed into them. I believe that eventually some of the parents will give a testimony in which they say something like this: “When our daughter came into the church life, we opposed her at first. But when she came home to visit us, we realized that something about her was different. Each time she came to see us, we noticed that the change in life had become greater and greater. To us the change was marvelous. Finally, after she paid us several more visits, we could no longer resist what was happening in her. We were subdued, and now we are here in the meeting testifying that we have read the Christ who has been written in our daughter.” If the parents of this young person had the adequate understanding, they would speak not merely of change, but of transformation. They would say, “We have realized that over the years our daughter has been experiencing transformation. She is being transformed from glory to glory, from the Lord Spirit to the Lord Spirit.”
In one of the foregoing messages we said that the glory in 3:18 is Christ blossoming in resurrection. We illustrated this glory by referring to the blossoming of a carnation flower. Christ’s resurrection was His blossoming. This blossoming Christ, the resurrected Christ, is glory. Now we are in the process of being transformed from this glory to this glory. This glory is our supply day by day. This is the reason that to be transformed from glory to glory far surpasses a mere outward improvement of behavior according to religious or ethical teaching.
Confucius had much to say concerning ethics. The ethical teachings of Confucius may be compared to copper, but what the Bible reveals regarding the Christian life may be compared to gold. Sometimes in appearance copper can be made to look like gold. This is the reason people may adulterate gold by using copper, just as they adulterate wine with water.
Some missionaries to China could not discern the difference between the ethical teachings of Confucius and the teachings of the Bible concerning the Christian life. I heard certain missionaries say that what the Bible teaches is exactly the same as what is written in Confucius’ books. If this were true, then why did the Chinese need the Bible, since they already had the writings of Confucius? What was the need, then, for missionaries to come to China to teach ethics? In Ephesians 5 Paul talks about a wife submitting to her husband. But Confucius instructed a woman to have a threefold submission: first to her father, then to her husband, and then, in the case of her husband’s death, to her son. It seems that Confucius teaches more regarding submission than the Bible does. However, I do not care for how much is said concerning submission; I care for the nature of that submission. Is it a “copper” submission or a “golden” submission? The submission taught by Paul in Ephesians 5 is golden, but the threefold submission taught by Confucius is copper. Do you want a golden submission or a copper one? Certainly, we all would prefer gold.
If we did not have the Bible, I would surely treasure the writing of Confucius. But praise the Lord that we have the Bible and that it is filled with gold! As I read the Word, I want to gain more and more gold and forget about the copper of ethical teachings concerning improving our behavior. In the Lord’s recovery we are not teaching others merely to improve their behavior in an outward way. That kind of teaching would do nothing more than help the saints to polish their copper and cause it to shine more brightly. We are not here for that kind of religious or ethical teaching. In the recovery we are having our copper replaced with gold. The more we receive the Lord’s supply, the more our copper is replaced with gold.
Today most of us are a mixture of copper and gold. Some may be twenty-five percent gold and seventy-five percent copper. But no matter what the percentage of copper and gold may be at present, gradually the percentage of copper is being reduced and the percentage of gold is increasing. The gold is being added into us to replace the copper and to discharge it.
Let us take as an example a young person in the church life who is submissive to his parents and obedient to them. He behaves himself and is a good boy. Nevertheless, we need to ask him an important question: Is this submission and obedience copper or gold? Does it come from merely trying to behave properly as a human being, or does it come from exercising the regenerated spirit to live the indwelling Spirit? It may be that his good behavior, his submission and obedience, is all derived from himself. If this is the situation, then he is a “copper” boy. His submission, his obedience, and even his love — all are copper. This copper is not glorious, for it is not the resurrected Christ. His behavior may be very good, but it is not glory.
What should we do when we realize that our behavior is copper and not gold? We should go to the Lord desperately and say to Him, “Lord, now I have the revelation. I see what is You and what is me. The best I can be is bright, shining copper. But, Lord, You are gold. When I compare myself to You as the gold, I begin to loathe my copper behavior. I hate my own submission, obedience, and love. Lord, I need You to be my submission. Lord, I want to experience You as my obedience and love. Lord, if You don’t love in me, I won’t love either. Lord, I don’t want to do anything without You. Lord, You live in me. Come in to replace my copper with Your gold. O Lord Jesus, replace me!” Then, throughout the day we should contact the Lord by calling on Him and allow Him to replace us with Himself. Gradually, we shall experience the Lord’s living in us. We shall realize that our behavior does not originate with ourselves. Rather, it is the resurrected Christ Himself. This is glory.
If we practice this day by day, we shall be transformed from glory to glory. Furthermore, others will notice the difference in us. They will see a difference in our submission, obedience, and love. Yes, we are still submissive, but this submission is different in nature. Formerly, our behavior was copper; now it is gold. Because it is gold, it is much brighter than before. It is even glorious.
I hope we shall all see the difference between the copper and the gold. Once we were going from copper to copper, but now we are being transformed from gold to gold, from glory to glory. Over the years I have often said to myself, “You are still a mixture of copper and gold.” However, I can testify that the copper has been decreasing and that the gold has been increasing.
We all need to be 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 blossoming Christ, the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit, is added into us to replace the natural element. Today is different from yesterday, and tomorrow will be different from today, for each day we have less of the natural element and more of Christ. This is what it means to be transformed from glory to glory.
I did not acquire this understanding of transformation merely from reading books. None of the books I have read helped me to have a thorough understanding of “from glory to glory.” Throughout the years, I have learned from my own experience and from my observations in the church life what it means to be transformed from glory to glory. More than twenty years ago I could not have given such a message as this. At that time I still did not have a clear understanding concerning Paul’s expression “from glory to glory.” Now I see that the glory here is the blossoming Christ, Christ in resurrection. Furthermore, this Christ as the glory is the life-giving Spirit. Therefore, both from my experience and observation I can testify that the glory in 3:18 is actually the life-giving Spirit.
The more we live and walk in this life-giving Spirit, the more glory is added into our being. Therefore, we live glory to glory. We are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, that is, from the Lord Spirit to the Lord Spirit. This is the experience of everyone who lives Christ for the church. Paul was a pattern of this kind of life, and this was his experience.
