2 Corinthians 3:18Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

"As we," he says, "had no need of a veil, so neither do you who have received the Gospel. Although the New Testament glory is far greater than the old, since it is not the glory of our face, but of the Spirit, you can nevertheless behold it equally with us.

"The Jews could not see even through a mediator. You, without a mediator, can contemplate a much greater glory. They could not look even upon the glory of Moses, but you can contemplate the glory of the Spirit."

Therefore, if the Spirit were lower, he would not have placed the New Testament above the Old Testament.

What then does it mean, "beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image"? This was clearer when the gifts of miracles were active. Yet even now it is not hard to understand for one who has the eyes of faith.

As soon as we are baptized, our soul, cleansed by the Spirit, becomes brighter than the sun. We not only become able to look upon the glory of God, but we ourselves receive from it a certain radiance.

Pure silver placed before the rays of the sun emits rays, not only from its own nature, but also from the sun's brightness. So the soul, cleansed by the Spirit of God and made more brilliant than silver, receives a ray from the glory of the Spirit and reflects it.

Therefore the Apostle says, "beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image from the glory of the Spirit into our" glory. This is the glory of which we are deemed worthy, such glory as is fitting "from the Lord's Spirit."

Do you see how here also he calls the Spirit Lord?

For being Lord, He also has sovereign lights. Through baptism all believers are filled with the Holy Spirit, and their soul is enlightened.

Moses too, seeing the divine glory, was himself transformed into it. That is, he himself received radiance, and his face was illumined, prefiguring us.

"We are transformed into the same image," that is, we are changed so as to become like the glorified Christ even here on earth.

"From glory to glory," that is, we pass from one degree of greatness to another, cf. Rom 1:17; Ps 83:8.

"As from the Lord's Spirit" is more correctly, "from the Lord, Who is the Spirit," cf. 2 Cor 3:17. Our transformation advances insofar as the Lord, the Spirit, sends us strength. Here πνεύματος is a genitive of quality.

"More than this," says St. John Chrysostom, "as soon as we are baptized, our soul, cleansed by the Spirit, becomes brighter than the sun. We not only become able to look upon the glory of God, but we ourselves receive from it a certain illumination.

"As pure silver placed before the sun's rays itself emits rays, and as bodies able to receive and reflect light also reflect light, so it is with the faithful. When they attain this, they already leave all earthly things and live by heavenly things alone."

Being transformed from glory to glory, as from the Lord's Spirit, one must be transformed according to the image of God and His perfections. One must remember the commandment of Jesus Christ: "Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48).

This is the glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father, who laid the firm foundations of the kingdom of grace. It is now invisibly glorious, but after the Lord’s Second Coming and the restoration of all things, it will shine forth openly with wondrous glory.

“We are transformed into the same image,” the very image we contemplate, the image of the Lord. According to this image we have been re-created.

In this re-creation we received, as it were, the design according to which the re-creation begun in us must continue to the end.

Thus it is nothing other than our transformation, our change from one image into another.

“We are transformed.” We put off one thing and receive another. Our nature and all the powers of nature remain the same, with the same inherent and inalienable laws natural to them.

Yet everything receives another direction, another spirit, another image. It is not according to the image of the old Adam, but according to the image of the new Adam.

“We are transformed from glory to glory,” because the pattern according to which we are transformed is boundless. Therefore transformation according to it can have no end.

It must go ever farther and farther, ascending from one degree to another, from glory to glory. Consequently, the beginning is glorious, and each new degree is glorious, while what lies ahead is still more glorious.

For this reason what is behind must necessarily be forgotten, as it is darkened by what is before, and we must stretch forward to what lies ahead.

“As from the Lord, the Spirit.” All this is accomplished in us as the Spirit of the Lord wills. This most glorious life is begotten by Him, matures under His influence and guidance, and everything in it is from Him.

“Beholding the glory of the Lord,” κατοπτριζομενοι, means both “seeing clearly,” as through a magnifying glass constructed according to the laws of catoptrics, and “clearly reflecting in oneself” this glory and seeing it there.

The latter thought is visible in all our commentators. Theodoret writes, “This belongs to those who have acquired a pure heart. As clear water reflects the faces of those who look into it, the disk of the sun, and the vault of heaven, so a pure heart becomes a kind of imprint and mirror of the glory of God. Thus the Lord also said, ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God’” (Mt 5:8).

“From glory to glory,” Oecumenius understands in this way: “We are changed, he says, into the same radiance, because the transformation proceeds from the glory of the Spirit into our glory. That is, we attain such glory as belongs to one illumined by the Spirit, the Comforter, and reflecting upon himself the image of His glory.”

Theophylact adds, “We are transformed from the glory of the Spirit into our glory, and moreover into such glory as belongs to those illumined by the Spirit of the Lord, who is subject to no one. Since He is Lord, His illuminations are also sovereign. For all believers are filled with the Holy Spirit through baptism, and their soul shines with light.”

Saint Chrysostom says, “What do the words mean: ‘beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image’? This was clearer to believers in apostolic times, when miraculous gifts were active. Yet even now, for one who has the eyes of faith, it is not difficult to understand.

As soon as we are baptized, our soul, cleansed by the Spirit, becomes brighter than the sun. We not only become able to look upon the glory of God, but also receive from it a certain illumination.

Pure silver placed opposite the sun’s rays itself emits rays, not only from its own nature, but also from the splendor of the sun. So the soul, cleansed by the Spirit of God and made brighter than silver, receives into itself a ray from the glory of the Spirit and reflects from itself a ray of the same glory.

Therefore the Apostle says, ‘beholding the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image, from the glory of the Spirit into our glory,’ of which we are counted worthy, into such glory as is fitting from the Lord, the Spirit.

Bodies capable of receiving and reflecting light, when illumined by self-luminous bodies, themselves pour light upon other bodies near them. The same happens with the faithful.

When they attain this, they leave behind all earthly things and live by heavenly things alone. But what of us? We can only groan, because although we have been counted worthy of such great benefits from God, we do not even understand what is said to us about them.

This happens because we quickly destroy in ourselves everything spiritual and become attached only to what is sensory. This ineffable and fearful glory remains in us no more than one or two days.

Afterward we again extinguish it. We are tossed by worldly affairs and cover its radiance with the density of passionate clouds. For worldly affairs are storms, and more violent even than storms.”