"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."
Because of the nature of where I work, we don't have internal cameras and our only mirrors are in the bathrooms.
So I can relate to this First Century verse showing us that the way people could see what they looked like back then was to use a piece of glass with something opaque behind it. I have actually resorted to going to a computer with a privacy screen over it to check my hair or see whether I have broccoli in my teeth!
But what I saw in my study here today is that Paul is telling these First Century people that they looked in their version of a mirror and saw Jesus looking back at them. This seems to have been the case during their entire sanctification process, not just at the end when they had grown for years and years and were getting ready to go be with Jesus. The verse is openended to all Christians in all centuries, too. Paul puts no limits on it.
That is a startling thought. Once we are saved, we see Jesus' reflection in our mirror as we go through the process of growing to be like Him.
Since I always think of lots of questions, this passage brought a few to mind to either think about or discuss.
Questions: Did the First Century believers have an easier time of the sanctification process than we do? Did they arrive at a higher level of sanctification in their lifetimes than we do? This passage and similar verses tempt us to think so but some of the quarrels they had (put on public display forever in Acts or Paul's letters) would suggest otherwise. They may very well have had our very same struggles with pride and putting ourselves first when we get the opportunity to do so.
And have I misunderstood anything in this verse? I love First Century history and cannot wait to ask those believers how life was, in all its details!!!
II Corinthians 3:16 has a buried treasure in it, too, I think.
“Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the LORD, the vail shall be taken away.”
I went looking for what that pronoun “it” referred to, because none of the four nouns in the previous verse seem to fit as the antecedent/noun being replaced.
In the Greek, that pronoun αν (an) has no equivalent in English. It is a pronoun that is conditional and was translated by the KJV team elsewhere as “whosoever.” So it seems to say “whosoever (among the Jews) turns to the LORD in these New Testament days has that Old Testament vail removed.” That would be consistent with the verse, the passage around it, and the entire teaching of the Bible about salvation. The Jews receive Jesus Christ individually, as we do.
Hallelujah, as Pastor said just yesterday these are days we can sharpen our witnessing tools to reach our Jewish friends by thanking them for their role in bringing us the Messiah.
And he also said these Greek tools (online or in a hard copy concordance) can enrich Scripture study for everyone, not just those who studied Greek.
This gem gave me lots of joy today. Pastor Alex and the Dominguezes have recently shown me/us other online tools to use for Greek work (I use Blue Letter Bible but all the tools have different features to add to our study). I look forward to exploring more.
I know I have a tendency to shove a lot of things in the millennial reign of Christ, but I believe we are going to have the opportunity to learn a lot of these things, Mary, before eternity when earthy things are wiped away. I love to hear people’s testimonies about how they were brought to salvation in Christ. I believe we are going to hear them!
If it helps anyone jump into studying the text without commentaries or devotionals (which also have their place), the only things I have looked up while studying this chapter for two weeks (then my BFF and I compare notes) is when glass was invented (4000 years ago in Mesopotamia) and the order of the New Testament books because the KJV references the “New Testament” and the “Old Testament” in this chapter. Since II Corinthians was about the sixth New Testament book to be written, Paul would not have been referencing the Old and New Testaments as we understand them today (halves of the Bible). Probably more like Old and New Covenant. I need to look at that further, drilling down into the Greek words.