II Cor. 3:18 ... "We all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."
When God created the universe, He made man the crown of His handiwork by endowing him with a character unique among all creatures. We are told in Gen. 1:27 that "God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him." God is a Spirit (Jno. 4:24), so when He created man "in His own image," He enshrined in man's physical body a similar spirit (or soul)." No other living creature was thus honored. All of them received nothing more than the gift of biological life. Because every human being has within him an image of God, each person owes respect to every other person. Thus, James (3:9) argues that no one should curse another since he is "made in the likeness of God." To abuse or exploit another human is, in a significant sense, to render such ill treatment to God. Although people nevertheless offend others, none of us violates anyone more than he violates his own character. This is the point made in Rom. 3:23 when it declares that "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." God's glory is planted in each of us in the soul made in His own image. When we abuse our soul with sin, we violate that indwelling glory. Sin contaminates the soul with moral filth and deforms it to the place where it loses its original resemblance to God. Then we must cry out so pitifully with Isaiah of old, "Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips," (Isa. 6:5).
How fortunate we are that God does not abandon us as we continue daily the destruction of our souls with sin. The psalmist proclaims that God "redeems your life from the pit" by "pardoning all your iniquities," (Psa. 103:3-4). The way by which He renews and recreates our souls is by the work of Christ, revealed and administered to us through the New Testament, (see II Cor. 3:6). This remarkable Book is like a perfectly clear mirror that portrays the living image of God's Holy Son. With this capacity as a mirror, it contains a power like no other book ever written. The word in the lead text above that is translated "beholding" conveys both the idea of seeing a separate object and seeing the reflection of one's own image. Any ordinary mirror will reflect one's own image, but this unique mirror also projects the perfect image of Christ's nature. Not only that, but it also has a transforming power that operates upon those who will dare let it. When anyone looks into this mirror, he sees a hideous image of a life deformed, wasted and fouled by sin. But our text declares that by "beholding ... the glory of the Lord" contained therein, he is "transformed into the same image from glory to glory."
At first, one sees a double image, the beautiful and perfect image of Christ and the sin-warped image of himself. But as he continues to behold (the sense of the Greek present tense) his own image, it is "changed" gradually into the glorious image of Christ. As the power of the gospel in the New Testament works its wonderful improvements in the life of the individual, the difference between the two images is decreased. The word translated "transformed" is one that denotes a fundamental change in one's very nature rather than a mere superficial change. In other words, the "house" of one's character is not just remodeled, it is taken apart and built anew after the blueprint of Christ's. That this is not accomplished in a day is made clear by the phrase "from glory to glory." This means from one stage of development to another as one progresses toward the fullness of the glory of Christ. Such perfection, in fact, is never accomplished in this life. When Christ returns, however, it will be accomplished, for we are told in I Jno. 3:2-3 that "when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And every one who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure."
