But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (ASV)

I have often heard the phrase “glory to glory” to refer ever so sweetly to the long road of human transformation. Or to the expectation of heaven and the afterlife. Or to the transformation of history itself.

Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, or any number of other birth and development metaphors, “to go from glory to glory” is one of those encouragements to take heart and look forward to the complete revealing of who we are. Between here and then we, the old story goes, we are being gradually sanctified, transformed, or revealed. This bottom line, according to this story, is that we are not yet who we will become.

And many English translations of the Bible seem to agree:

• “being transformed with… ever-increasing glory” (NIV)
• “being transformed… from one degree of glory to another” (ESV, NET Bible, )
• “being transformed… with intensifying glory” (Berean)
• “the Lord… makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (NLT)
• “our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him” (The Message)

The Amplified Bible is even more explicit, putting the word “progressively” into italics for emphasis: we “are progressively being transformed into His image from [one degree of glory] to [even more] glory, which comes from the Lord, [who is] the Spirit.”

You get the picture—progressively, by degrees, with intensifying degrees, we are being transformed, as The Voice translates it, “into His same image from one radiance of glory to another.”

But is this passage really about a hopeful promise of what is to come? A gradual dawning of some kind of light? Is the full transformation into that “same image” wait till the afterlife or the resurrection or some other future?

No, no, and again I say, no.

out with the old

Let’s look at context. In 1 Cor 3, Paul mentions the word “glory” 9 times. It is the Greek word doxa. This doesn’t mean an abstract radiance or beauty, but something more substantial, like identity, a manifestation of God’s identity and presence.

And throughout this chapter, Paul is comparing two “glories,” two kinds of doxa: the former glory of the old covenant/law to the glory of the new covenant in Christ. He contrasts this in several ways:

• messages written on stone with physical ink (law) vs. messages written on the human heart with the Holy Spirit (life)
• a covenant of grammar/rules (law) vs. a covenant of Spirit (life)
• a ministry of condemnation (law) vs. the ministry of righteousness (life)
• a shadowy vision of God’s identity (the law, the Torah) vs. a clear revelation of who He is (Christ)

To put it simply, he is contrasting law vs. life, fading shadows vs. Christ.

In the older covenant was law, written on stone, external to us and telling us what to do—and bringing condemnation for not doing it. Paul actually calls this the ministry of death! The new covenant is fully revealed in Christ and this is pure life (the ministry of life!), written in the heart and giving us righteousness without something external we needed to follow.

As the story goes, when Moses descended from Mt. Sinai with the stone tablets of the law, he was not aware that his face was radiant from speaking with God. It frightened all the people, so Moses wore a veil to hide his face and ease their fear. Even then, Paul tells us, this radiance (glory) would gradually fade. (See Exodus 34:29-34.)

Paul is explicit that the veil covering Moses’ fading radiance is a metaphor for the fading significance of the law. As beautiful as that “glory” might have been—so much so that others couldn’t look at it—it was always going to be transitory. It was always going to come to its end. And the far greater glory was completely—and clearly—unveiled in Christ.

in with the new

In this context, and only in this context, “going from glory to glory” happened in the revelation of Christ. Don’t think that means Christ is being gradually revealed. He was revealed once and for all in time and place as the fullest revelation of both God and man. How much we comprehend or believe that does not matter. A bird is a bird regardless of whether I see it poised on the branch.

Neither is it a process that happens to us. It is a permanent transition that happened in Christ! When we look at Christ (the greater glory), we no longer look at ourselves through the old mindset of the law (the glory that faded). When we look at Christ, we are encountering our accurate image, the truth of who we are.

Paul couldn’t have been more clear! He tells us that “to this day, whenever Moses is read aloud, a veil lies on their heart.” That lament wasn’t just for the Jews of his day but for us as well—are we reading through the “veil” of law and ideals, afraid to see the glory that is ours in Christ?

Trying to “see” oneself through the lens of the law, the old covenant, or any kind of spiritual or moral external “laws” is seeing through a veil. In Christ, we have our perfect mirror and freedom. This is not just a reflection of who we will be in the future. Jesus is not a crystal ball in which we see a prediction, nor is he an image giving us a new set of ideals or promises waiting to be fulfilled in the future. He is a mirror—he is the statement of our identity now.

So if we interpret “glory to glory” as a gradual transition or unveiling, we are missing the whole point of the passage: Christ.

but what about sanctification?

There is more to be said on this subject, because the all-too-common Christian understanding of it often throws a wet blanket over otherwise very good news.

Many translations are repeating the same “gradual revealing” language because they are translating through that sanctification filter, and losing the meaning in the process. For example, the ESV says “we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another,” but the word “degree” is not in the original Greek. In fact, there’s a strong case to be made that there is nothing progressive at all in the original Greek, in either the phrase “glory to glory” or in the verb “metamorphosed” (usually translated as “being transformed”).

So here is how I would paraphrase this verse:

And now we all (all humans!) have a new unveiled understanding—seeing ourselves directly in Him as in a mirror. In Christ, we no longer have to look at ourselves through imperfect symbols and fading ideals. In staring right at this mirror, we behold our true identity. A transformation! His Spirit reveals this! And in that looking, we are at once led away from a type of glory to a new and better glory—from that imperfect fading image to our perfect reflection in Christ.

While our confidence in our “in-Christ identity” may grow, it’s better to say that we are fully unveiled and revealed in Him even regardless of our experience. And while there are Bible passages that seem to support gradual refinement or awakening processes, this is not one of them.

the torn veil

A veil is like a curtain. It’s in the shadow business, dimming the light. But we no longer need to see through shadows. Again, Paul could not have been more clear: “The Law had a shadow of the things yet to come, but the reality is found in Christ” (Col. 2:17). And “the law was only a shadow of the good things that have come” … “but a new, living way was opened for us through the veil of his body” (Heb. 10:1, 20).

Don’t be fooled by lovely curtains.

The veil has been torn.

The revelation of Jesus is no longer a future expectation! Do not allow the old mindset of a future tense glory to intoxicate you and distract you from the relevance of this moment!

Francois du Toit

Image credit: Moses Breaking the Tablets of the Law, Rembrand van Rijn (Wikipedia)