SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:18
Por tanto nosotros todos, puestos los ojos como en un espejo en la gloria del Seor con cara descubierta, somos transformados de gloria en gloria en la misma semejanza, como por el Espíritu del Seor.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - 2 Corinthians 3:18
Verse 18. But we all, with open face] The Jews were not able to look on the face of Moses, the mediator of the old covenant, and therefore he was obliged to veil it; but all we Christians, with face uncovered, behold, as clearly as we can see our own natural face in a mirror, the glorious promises and privileges of the Gospel of Christ; and while we contemplate, we anticipate them by desire and hope, and apprehend them by faith, and are changed from the glory there represented to the enjoyment of the thing which is represented, even the glorious image-righteousness and true holiness-of the God of glory. As by the Spirit of the Lord.] By the energy of that Spirit of Christ which gives life and being to all the promises of the Gospel; and thus we are made partakers of the Divine nature and escape all the corruptions that are in the world. This appears to me to be the general sense of this verse: its peculiar terms may be more particularly explained.
The word katoptrizomenoi, catoptrizomenoi, acting on the doctrine of catoptries, which we translate beholding in a glass, comes from kata, against, and optomai, I look; and properly conveys the sense of looking into a mirror, or discerning by reflected light. Now as mirrors, among the Jews, Greeks, and Romans, were made of highly polished metal, (see the note on 1 Cor. xiii. 12,) it would often happen, especially in strong light, that the face would be greatly illuminated by this strongly reflected light; and to this circumstance the apostle seems here to allude. So, by earnestly contemplating the Gospel of Jesus, and believing on him who is its Author, the soul becomes illuminated with his Divine splendour, for this sacred mirror reflects back on the believing soul the image of Him whose perfections it exhibits; and thus we see the glorious form after which our minds are to be fashioned; and by believing and receiving the influence of his Spirit, metamorfoumeqa, our form is changed, thn authn eikona, into the same image, which we behold there; and this is the image of God, lost by our fall, and now recovered and restored by Jesus Christ: for the shining of the face of God upon us, i.e. approbation, through Christ, is the cause of our transformation into the Divine image.
DR. WHITBY, in his notes on this chapters produces six instances in which the apostle shows the Gospel to be superior to the law; I shall transcribe them without farther illustration:- 1. The glory appearing on mount Sinai made the people afraid of death, saying: Let not God speak to us any more, lest we die; Exodus xx. 19; Deut. xviii. 16; and thus they received the spirit of bondage to fear, Rom. viii. 15. Whilst we have given to us the spirit of power, and love, and of a sound mind, 2 Tim. i. 7; and the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father! and to this difference the Epistle to the Hebrews alludes, Heb. xii. 18-24.
2. Moses, with all his glory, was only the minister of the law, written on tables of stone; the apostles are ministers of the Gospel, written on the hearts of believers. Moses gave the Jews only the letter that killeth; the apostles gave the Gospel, which is accompanied with the spirit that gives life.
3. The glory which Moses received at the giving of the law did more and more diminish, because his law was to vanish away; but the glory which is received from Christ is an increasing glory; the doctrine and the Divine influence remaining for ever.
4. The law was veiled under types and shadows; but the Gospel has scarcely any ceremonies; baptism and the Lord's Supper being all that can be properly called such: and BELIEVE, LOVE, OBEY, the great precepts of the Gospel, are delivered with the utmost perspicuity. And indeed the whole doctrine of Christ crucified is made as plain as human language can make it.
5. The Jews only saw the shining of the face of Moses through a veil; but we behold the glory of the Gospel of Christ, in the person of Christ our Lawgiver, with open face.
6. They saw it through a veil, which prevented the reflection or shining of it upon them; and so this glory shone only on the face of Moses, but not at all upon the people. Whereas the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, shines as in a mirror which reflects the image upon Christian believers, so that they are transformed into the same image, deriving the glorious gifts and graces of the Spirit, with the Gospel, from Christ the Lord and Distributor of them, 1 Cor. xii. 5; and so, the glory which he had from the Father he has given to his genuine followers, John xvii. 22.
It is, therefore, rather with true Christians as it was with Moses himself, concerning whom God speaks thus: With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord (thn doxan kurion, the glory of the Lord) shall he behold; Num. xii. 8. For as he saw the glory of God apparently, so we with open face behold the glory of the Lord: as he, by seeing of this glory, was changed into the same likeness, and his face shone, or was dedoxasmenh, made glorious; so we, beholding the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ, chap. iv. 6, are changed into the same glory.
Thus we find that in every thing the Gospel has a decided superiority over the law and its institutions.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 18. But we all with open face , etc..] We are not like Moses, who had a veil on his face; nor like the Jews, who have one on their hearts: but we all; not ministers and preachers of the Gospel only, but all believers, whether Jews or Gentiles, greater or lesser believers, who are enlightened by the Spirit of God, and are converted to Christ: with open face; which may regard the object beheld, the glory of Christ unveiled, that has no veil on it, as Moses had on his face, when he delivered the law; or the persons beholding, who are rid of Jewish darkness; the veil of the ceremonial law, and of natural darkness and blindness of mind; and so clearly and fully, comparatively speaking, beholding as in a glass ; not of the law, but of the Gospel, and the ordinances of it; not with the eyes of their bodies, but with the eyes of their understandings, with the eye of faith; which sight is spiritual, delightful, and very endearing; throws a veil over all other objects, and makes souls long to be with Christ: the object beheld is the glory of the Lord ; Jesus Christ: not the glory of his human nature, which lies in its union to the Son of God, and in its names which it has by virtue of it; and in its being the curious workmanship of the Spirit of God, and so is pure and holy, and free from all sin; and was outwardly beautiful and glorious, and is so at the right hand of God, where we see him by faith, crowned with glory and honour; and shall behold him with the eyes of our bodies, and which will be fashioned like to his glorious body; but this sight and change are not yet: rather the glory of his divine nature is meant, which is essential and underived, the same with his Father's; is ineffable, and incomprehensible; it appears in the perfections he is possessed of, and in the worship given to him; it was manifested in the doctrines taught, and in the miracles wrought by him; there were some breakings forth of this glory in his state of humiliation, and were beheld by the apostles, and other believers, who saw his glory, as the glory of the only begotten of the Father. Though the glory of Christ as Mediator, being full of grace and truth, seems to be chiefly designed; this he has from God, and had it from everlasting; this he gives to his people, and is what makes him so glorious, lovely, and desirable in their eye: and whilst this delightful object is beheld by them, they are changed into the same image ; there was a divine image in man, in his first creation; this image was defaced by sin, and a different one took place; now in regeneration another distinct from them both is stamped, and this is the image of Christ; he himself is formed in the soul, his grace is wrought there; so that it is no wonder there is a likeness between them; which lies in righteousness and holiness, and shows itself in acts of grace, and a discharge of duty. The gradual motion of the change into this image is expressed by this phrase, from glory to glory : not from the glory of the law to the glory of the Gospel; or from the glory of Moses to the glory of Christ; rather from the glory that is in Christ, to a glory derived in believers from him; or which seems most agreeable, from one degree of grace to another, grace here being signified by glory; or from glory begun here to glory perfect hereafter; when this image will be completed, both in soul and body; and the saints will be as perfectly like to Christ, as they are capable of, and see him as he is: now the efficient cause of all this, is the Spirit of the Lord.
It is he that takes off the veil from the heart, that we may, with open face unveiled, behold all this glory; it is he that regenerates, stamps the image of Christ, and conforms the soul to his likeness; it is he that gradually carries on the work of grace upon the soul, increases faith, enlarges the views of the glory of Christ, and the spiritual light, knowledge, and experience of the saints, and will perfect all that which concerns them; will quicken their mortal bodies, and make them like to Christ; and will for ever rest as a spirit of glory on them, both in soul and body: some read these words, by the Lord of the Spirit , and understand them of Christ, others read them, by the Lord the Spirit, as they very well may be rendered; and so are a proof of the true and proper deity of the Holy Spirit, who is the one Jehovah with the Father and the Son. The ancient Jews owned this; the Spirit of the living God, (say they,) arwbh wnyyh , this is the Creator himself, from him all spirits are produced; blessed be he, and blessed be his name, because his name is he himself, for his name is Jehovah.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 12-18 - It is the duty of the ministers of the gospel to use great plainness or clearness, of speech. The Old Testament believers had only cloud and passing glimpses of that glorious Saviour, and unbelievers looke no further than to the outward institution. But the great precepts of the gospel, believe, love, obey, are truths stated as clearly a possible. And the whole doctrine of Christ crucified, is made as plai as human language can make it. Those who lived under the law, had veil upon their hearts. This veil is taken away by the doctrines of the Bible about Christ. When any person is converted to God, then the vei of ignorance is taken away. The condition of those who enjoy an believe the gospel is happy, for the heart is set at liberty to run the ways of God's commandments. They have light, and with open face the behold the glory of the Lord. Christians should prize and improve thes privileges. We should not rest contented without knowing the transforming power of the gospel, by the working of the Spirit bringing us to seek to be like the temper and tendency of the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and into union with Him We behold Christ, as in the glass of his word; and as the reflectio from a mirror causes the face to shine, the faces of Christians shin also __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
ημεις 2249 P-1NP δε 1161 CONJ παντες 3956 A-NPM ανακεκαλυμμενω 343 5772 V-RPP-DSN προσωπω 4383 N-DSN την 3588 T-ASF δοξαν 1391 N-ASF κυριου 2962 N-GSM κατοπτριζομενοι 2734 5734 V-PMP-NPM την 3588 T-ASF αυτην 846 P-ASF εικονα 1504 N-ASF μεταμορφουμεθα 3339 5743 V-PPI-1P απο 575 PREP δοξης 1391 N-GSF εις 1519 PREP δοξαν 1391 N-ASF καθαπερ 2509 ADV απο 575 PREP κυριου 2962 N-GSM πνευματος 4151 N-GSN
Vincent's NT Word Studies
18. All. Contrasted with Moses as the sole representative of the people. Open (anakekalummenw). Rev., correctly, unveiled, as Moses when the veil was removed."Vainly they tried the deeps to sound E'en of their own prophetic thought, When of Christ crucified and crown'd His Spirit in them taught: But He their aching gaze repress'd Which sought behind the veil to see, For not without us fully bless'd Or perfect might they be. The rays of the Almighty's face No sinner's eye might then receive Only the meekest man found grace To see His skirts and live. But we as in a glass espy The glory of His countenance, Not in a whirlwind hurrying by The too presumptuous glance, But with mild radiance every hour From our dear Savior's face benign Bent on us with transforming power, Till we, too faintly shine. Sprinkled with His atoning blood Safely before our God we stand, As on the rock the prophet stood, Beneath His shadowing hand."
Keble, "Christian Year," Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity.
Beholding as in a glass (katoptrizomenoi). So American Rev. Rev., reflecting. Only here in the New Testament. The verb in the active voice means to show in a mirror; to cause to be reflected. In the middle voice, to took at or behold one's self in a mirror. Rev., reflecting seems to be preferred on internal grounds, as better suiting the comparison with the divine glory as mirrored in the unveiled face of Moses. But this is unwarranted by usage. Stanley, who adopts this rendering, admits that there is no actual instance of the sense of reflecting. This sense, however, is not sacrificed by the translation beholding, but is conveyed by the succeeding clause, changed into the same image, etc. As Heinrici observes, beholding expresses the fact from which the process of change into God's image proceeds. When Moses beheld Jehovah's glory, his own face reflected that glory. The mirror is the Gospel, which is called the Gospel of the glory of Christ, ch. iv. 4.
Are changed (metamorfoumeqa). Rev., transformed. See on Matthew xvii. 2. The present tense expresses the change as in progress; are being changed, which is further defined by from glory to glory.
The same image (thn authn eikona). See on Apoc. xiii. 14. Compare especially 1 John iii. 2; also Rom. viii. 29; John xvii. 24; Colossians iii. 4; Rom. viii. 17; 1 Cor. xv. 48-53.
By the Spirit of the Lord (apo Kuriou pneumatov). Better, as Rev., from the Lord the Spirit. Compare ver. 17. The preposition ajpo from depicts the transformation as proceeding from rather than as caused by.
Robertson's NT Word Studies
3:18 {We all} (hemeis pantes). All of us Christians, not merely ministers. {With unveiled face} (anakekalummenwi proswpwi). Instrumental case of manner. Unlike and like Moses. {Reflecting as in a mirror} (katoptrizomenoi). Present middle participle of katoptrizw, late verb from katoptron, mirror (kata, optron, a thing to see with). In Philo (_Legis Alleg_. iii. 33) the word means beholding as in a mirror and that idea suits also the figure in #1Co 13:12. There is an inscription of third century B.C. with egkatoptrisasqai eis to hudwr, to look at one's reflection in the water. Plutarch uses the active for mirroring or reflecting and Chrysostom takes it so here. Either makes good sense. The point that Paul is making is that we shall not lose the glory as Moses did. But that is true if we keep on beholding or keep on reflecting (present tense). Only here in N.T. {Are transformed} (metamorfoumeqa). Present passive (are being transformed) of metamorfow, late verb and in papyri. See on Mt 17:2; Mr 9:2 where it is translated "transfigured." It is the word used for heathen mythological metamorfoses. {Into the same image} (ten auten eikona). Accusative retained with passive verb metamorfoumeqa. Into the likeness of God in Christ (#1Co 15:48-53; Ro 8:17,29; Col 3:4; 1Jo 3:2). {As from the Lord the Spirit} (kaqaper apo kuriou pneumatos). More likely, "as from the Spirit of the Lord."
