Latest / Reformed Thinking / From Veil to Glory: New Covenant Freedom and Transformation (2 Corinthians 3:16–18)

Transcript

From Veil to Glory: New Covenant Freedom and Transformation (2 Corinthians 3:16–18) · Reformed Thinking

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So if you walk into a modern eye clinic because your vision is
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starting to fail, the doctors are going to subject you to a
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massive battery of physical tests.
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Oh, absolutely. They sit you down in that
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sterile room right away. Right.
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And they place your face behind that massive metal machine, the
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four opter, and they start dropping all these different
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glass lenses in front of your eyes.
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Yeah, and they shine those highly concentrated abrasive
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lights directly into your pupils to look at your optic nerve.
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It's intense. It is, and then they ask you to
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read the decreasing lines of letters on the far wall.
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But you know, the assumption in that room from the second you
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walk in is that the diagnosis is entirely physical.
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Well, sure, it might be a developing cataract clouding the
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lens, or maybe a severe astigmatism that's warping the
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shape of your cornea. Yeah, or even the early stages
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of macular degeneration. And because the diagnosis is
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physical, the solution they offer is exclusively physical
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too. Right, like you might need a
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localized surgical procedure, or maybe you just need a
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specialized set of corrective glasses to manipulate how the
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light hits your eye. But I want you to consider a
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completely different scenario. What happens when the blindness
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is not located in the physical tissue of the retinas?
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Oh wow. That changes the entire
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paradigm. It really does.
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I mean, what happens when the brightest, most radiant light in
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the entire universe is shining directly in front of someone and
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their physical eyes are wide open, staring right at it, yet
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they perceive absolutely nothing?
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Well, then the diagnosis has to move away from the physical
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realm completely. You have to enter the spiritual
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realm. Yes, precisely.
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In that scenario, you are looking at a catastrophic
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blindness of the soul. And that is a terrifying place
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to be. It is so welcome to Reformed
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thinking. Today we are opening up one of
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the most glorious and weighty passages in all of the New
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Testament. We're looking at 2nd Corinthians
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chapter 3, verses 16 through 18. Yeah, and this specific text
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operates as the absolute theological summit of the
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Apostle Paul's defense of the New Covenant ministry.
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It really is the peak of his argument.
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So our mission today for this deep dive is to breakdown the
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massive seismic shift from the fading, terrifying shadows of
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the Old Covenant to the abiding, permanent glory of the New
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Covenant. And we are going to look
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specifically at how the Holy Spirit sovereignly shatters that
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spiritual blindness. Right, so that you as a believer
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can actually see Jesus Christ and be conformed into his image.
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But you know, before we get to the text itself, we have to set
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the stage. Yeah, we really do, because Paul
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is leaning heavily on a historical event from the Old
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Testament here. Right.
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To understand the cure for this blindness, we first have to
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understand the veil that historical context is an
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absolute prerequisite for making sense of Paul's argument.
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So take us back. Where are we starting?
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Well, to grasp of the apostles doing in Second Corinthians, we
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have to travel back thousands of years in redemptive history to
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the book of Exodus, specifically Exodus chapter 34.
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OK, so we are at the base of Mount Sinai.
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Yes, you have to put yourself in the sandals of the Israelites at
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the base of that mountain. Moses has just been up there,
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speaking face to face with the Lord, receiving the moral law
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written on tablets of stone. And the environment was
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terrifying, right? I mean thick darkness, smoke,
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fire, and the sound of a trumpet growing louder and louder.
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It was sheer terror. And when Moses finally descends
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the mountain, his physical face is literally glowing.
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Like actually emitting visible light.
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Yeah, it is emitting a visible radiant light because he is
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absorbed the residual glory of the presence of God.
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The physical skin of his face is shining with such an intense
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alien brightness that his own brother Aaron and the rest of
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the Israelites are absolutely terrified to come anywhere near
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him. Wow, so it is a terrifying
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holiness. It really is so Moses institute
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a very specific mediation tactic.
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Whenever he speaks God's words to the people, his face is
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exposed. OK, so they can see the glory
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when he delivers the message. Right.
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But as soon as he finishes relaying the divine commands, he
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takes a thick physical veil and places it over his face.
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And he he wears this veil to shield the people from the
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blinding radiance, I assume. He does, but the biblical text
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tells us there is a secondary tragic reason.
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As time goes on, he wears the veil to hide the fact that the
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glory on his face is actively fading away.
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Oh. That is such a crucial detail.
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The glory was temporary. Yes, the old administration, the
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law given on stone tablets, possessed A genuine glory
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because it was authored by God Himself.
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But it was a temporary preparatory glory.
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Because it was a ministry of condemnation, right?
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It was designed to expose human sin.
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Precisely, and therefore its glory was designed to fade and
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give way to a superior permanent administration.
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So how does Paul use this in his letter to the Corinthians?
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Well, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit,
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what Paul does is brilliant. He takes that historical literal
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event from Exodus and uses it as a massive theological metaphor.
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Right. He flips it.
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He argues that the physical cloth veil Moses wore over his
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face now represents A dense, impenetrable spiritual veil, and
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this veil lies over the minds and hearts of all fallen
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humanity. So whenever the Old Covenant is
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read, apart from saving faith in Christ, there is a thick veil of
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spiritual blindness draped over the human heart.
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Absolutely. Well, I want to stop you right
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there to make sure we are clarifying a core distinction
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for the listener, because when you talk about the Old Covenant
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being a ministry of condemnation or the law causing terror,
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someone might assume the flaw is within the text itself.
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Oh I see what you mean. Like the Bible itself is broken.
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Yeah, someone might think the Old Testament is somehow
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defective or overly harsh or, you know, confusing by design.
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But you are saying the issue is not the text, the issue is the
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reader. Precisely that distinction
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guards US against a massive heresy.
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The problem is never located within the law of God.
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So it's not Moses fault. No, not at all.
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The problem is never with Moses or the historical prophets or
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the clarity of the ancient scriptures.
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Scriptures are absolutely perfect.
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The Law is holy, righteous, and good.
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So where is the defect? The defect is located entirely
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in the dead, sinful heart of man.
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The natural heart aggressively resist the true meaning of God's
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Word. The natural man descended from
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Adam constantly suppresses the truth in unrighteousness.
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He just lacks the fundamental spiritual perception, right?
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Yeah, he lacks the perception required to see that all of
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those Old Testament animal sacrifices, all those ceremonial
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washings, and all of those precise moral laws were pointing
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directly forward to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
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So without the illuminating work of the Spirit, the Old Testament
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is basically a locked room and the.
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Regenerate Reader is standing outside in the dark.
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The veil does not signify a mere lack of intelligence or a lack
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of historical education. Right, it's not an IQ issue.
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Not at all. The veil signifies an active
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hostile resistance and utter inability to grasp the saving
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reality of God's revelation. OK, let's unpack this.
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We have this grim, devastating diagnosis, a heavy veil of
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spiritual blindness covering the fallen human heart.
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And nothing human can lift it. Right.
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The moral law cannot remove it. Intellectual willpower cannot
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remove it. Getting a PhD in ancient Hebrew
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cannot remove it. So we arrived at the critical
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turning point in verse 16. Yes, verse 16 is where
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everything shifts. Paul writes.
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But whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken
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away. Now, as someone reading that in
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English, I have to play the skeptic for a second.
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The phrase whenever a person turns sounds highly active.
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It sounds like the person is generating the effort to turn
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themselves around. I completely understand why it
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sounds that way. How do we reconcile that
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specific phrasing with the Reformed doctrine that God does
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the initial work of waking the dead Sinner?
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That is the crucial tension, and it is the hinge upon which the
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entire argument of this passage swings.
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Turning to the Lord is the standard biblical language for
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conversion. So we are talking about the
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moment of salvation. We are talking about the
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decisive, radical moment when spiritual blindness begins to
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give way to spiritual sight. When Paul says turns, he is not
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talking about a superficial outward adjustment.
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Like just turning over a new leaf.
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Right. He is not talking about someone
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deciding to adopt A new moral lifestyle, or join a
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conservative community or vote a certain way.
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This is a radical, comprehensive reorientation of the entire
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inner man. It involves massive repentance,
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doesn't it? Absolutely a violent turning
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away from sin, from unbelief, and from the exhausting idol of
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self righteousness. And simultaneously involves
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faith, a turning toward the Lord Jesus Christ in desperate,
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humble, dependent trust. True conversion means abandoning
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yourself as the ground of your own justification and looking to
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Christ alone for mercy. Yes.
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Now, regarding your question about the active nature of that
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turning, we had to look closely at the Greek grammar, because
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the original language crushes the modern philosophy of human
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self-reliance. Oh, I love looking at the Greek.
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What does it say? What the verb Paul uses for
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turns is a pistrup. So in the Greek text, this is an
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aorist active subjunctive. OK, so break that down for us.
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The aorist tense denotes a decisive, singular, snapping
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action. It implies A definitive break
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with the past. Yes, the human being is the one
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doing the turning. God does not believe for you.
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You must believe. You must actively repent.
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But the question is, why does the dead Sinner suddenly decide
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to turn? Where does that desire come
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from? Exactly the answer is found in
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the second verb in the sentence. And this is where the theology
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gets incredibly sharp. What is the second verb doing?
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The verb 4 is taken away. Referring to the veil is
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perrieri tie. This is a present passive
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indicative. So it's passive.
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Yes, the vital word there is passive.
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Theologians historically referred to this as a divine
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passive. It signifies that the action is
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being performed upon the subject by an external unseen agent.
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And in this case, that external agent is God Almighty, yes.
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Paul deliberately avoids using a reflexive verb here.
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If he had used a reflexive verb, it would imply that a person
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reaches up and lifts the veil through their own intellect,
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their own spiritual sensitivity, or their own free will.
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But the grammar demands A monarchistic interpretation.
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Absolutely monarchistic simply means one working the dead blind
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Sinner does not and completely cannot lift the veil of their
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own depravity. The Holy Spirit sovereignly
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shatters the blindness. So the Spirit acts upon the
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heart first. Yes, and the immediate,
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inevitable result of that sovereign action is that the
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person willingly, joyfully turns to the Lord.
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And this sequence aligns perfectly with historic Reformed
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theology. Right, it does.
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Specifically, the Westminster Confession of Faith in its 10th
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chapter on effectual calling. Which says the natural man is
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entirely dead in sin. Right.
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Completely averse to spiritual good, and totally incapable of
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converting himself for even preparing himself for
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conversion. God takes away the heart of
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stone and give a heart of flesh. The removal of the veil is a
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pure, unadulterated act of sovereign conquering grace.
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So think of it like a patient lying in a hospital room.
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But this patient is not just suffering from a mild cold, they
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are completely paralyzed from the neck down.
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That is a stark picture. Yeah, and they have a thick,
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heavy leather blindfold tied tightly over their eyes.
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They're sitting in total suffocating darkness.
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And they can't do anything about it.
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Right. Because they are paralyzed, they
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possess absolutely no physical capacity to raise their arms,
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reach behind their head, untie the knot on that blindfold, and
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expose their eyes to the light. They could sit in that room for
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1000 years wanting the light, but they cannot access it.
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They must rely entirely on the Great Physician to walk into
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that room, reach down, graciously untie the knot, and
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pull the blindfold away from their face.
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That is such a vivid illustration.
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The patient contributes absolutely nothing to the
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removal of the blindness. So when you realize that the
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divine passive means God takes the blindfold away, how does
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that reality, the reality of monarchistic grace, crush human
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pride and magnify the sheer mercy of God?
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Your analogy captures the essence of total depravity and
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effectual calling brilliantly. It crushes human pride because
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it violently removes any possible room for human
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boasting. Because you didn't untie the
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knot. Right.
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If you can see the beauty of Christ today, well your Co
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worker or your neighbor cannot. You cannot look in the mirror
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and pat yourself on the the back.
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You cannot say, well, I was just a little more logical, a little
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more spiritually sensitive, or a little less stubborn than my
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neighbor. No, if you see Christ today, it
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is exclusively because the Great Physician walked into the locked
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room of your dead heart and sovereignly stripped away the
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blindfold. Well, you were dead and he spoke
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life into you. This grammatical and theological
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reality guards the Church against several massive errors
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that constantly plague us. What kind of errors?
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1st guards against Arminianism, which suggests that fallen man
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still retains a sliver of autonomous free will, a little
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island of uncorrupted goodness, allowing him to choose God
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without the prior regenerating work of the Spirit.
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Right, which we know from scripture is false.
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Second, it guards against moralism, which suggests that we
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can earn God's favor by cleaning up our outward behavior.
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And 3rd, it fiercely refutes modern evangelical pragmatism.
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I'm so glad you brought up pragmatism because that ideology
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dominates the modern church landscape.
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It really is everywhere. It is the reigning assumption
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that if we just find the correct marketing strategy, or install
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the right dynamic lighting in the sanctuary, or play the right
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emotional chord progression during the worship set, we can
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maneuver people into seeing the truth.
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That is the tragedy of pragmatism.
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It operates on the entirely false assumption that the
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primary problem is just a lack of interest or a lack of modern
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engagement. It treats church like a concert.
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Yeah, pragmatism assumes that if we just make the presentation
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sleek enough and the environment appealing enough, the Sinner
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will look inward, find their free will, and choose to remove
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their own veil. But Paul is clearly stating that
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the veil is a judicial blindness.
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It is a fundamental spiritual inability.
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You can deploy all the smoke machines, all the entertaining
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anecdotal sermons, and all the seeker sensitive demographic
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strategies in the world and you will not cure a single dead
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heart. Only the Holy Spirit can remove
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the veil. Yes, and he promises to do so
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through the plain, unvarnished, offensive preaching of the
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Gospel. When a church grasps this
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monarchistic reality, it stops trying to psychologically
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manipulate people into the Kingdom.
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Instead, the church starts pleading with God in desperate
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prayer to do the miraculous work of granting spiritual sight.
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It humbles us to the dust, but simultaneously it provides
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massive confidence in evangelism.
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You realize that the efficacy of the message does not depend on
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your rhetorical cleverness or your persuasive skills.
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It depends entirely on the sovereign agency of the Spirit.
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If God violently tears away that veil, what happens to the lungs
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of the soul? They breathe freedom for the
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very first time. And that moves us directly into
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verse 17. A beautiful transition in the
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text. Paul continues his theological
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progression by writing Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where
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the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
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I want to stop right at the beginning of that sentence
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because this phrase, the Lord is the Spirit, can cause
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significant confusion for a modern reader.
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You really can if you aren't careful.
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If you read that quickly without a robust theological framework,
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it sounds like Paul is blurring the lines between the distinct
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persons of the Trinity. That is a huge risk.
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Right, someone might ask, does this phrase mean that Jesus and
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the Holy Spirit are actually the exact same person, just
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operating under different titles depending on the situation?
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That is a highly critical question, and we must handle the
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biblical text with intense systematic and theological
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precision right here. Because if we get this wrong, we
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fall into heresy. Exactly.
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If we isolate this one phrase and divorce it from the rest of
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Scripture, we could easily fall into a devastating historical
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heresy known as civilianism. Break that down for us.
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What is civilianism? Civilianism, which emerged in
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the 3rd century, taught that there was only one solitary
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person in the Godhead, and this one person simply wears
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different masks or operates in different modes at different
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times. Like an actor changing costumes.
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Right. Sometimes acting as the Father
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in creation, sometimes it's the sun and redemption, and
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sometimes it's the Spirit and sanctification.
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But we must adhere to the rule of faith.
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Scripture interprets Scripture. And the Bible universally and
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consistently maintains the eternal personal distinctions
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within the Godhead. Yes.
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The Father is not the Son. The Son is not the Spirit.
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The Spirit is not the Father. We see this distinct plurality
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clearly at the baptism of Jesus. Oh, that's a great example.
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The Incarnate Son is standing in the physical water of the Jordan
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River. The Father speaks audibly from
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heaven, declaring his pleasure, and the Spirit descends visibly
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like a dove. And throughout the gospel the
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Son prays earnestly to the Father.
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The Father sends the Son into the world.
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Later the resurrected Son sends the Spirit.
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So we know with absolute certainty that Paul is not
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dissolving the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity in this verse.
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So if Paul is not talking about their fundamental essence, their
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arm, illogical identity within the eternal Godhead, what
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specific relationship is he describing here?
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He is describing their economic unity.
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Now, economic in theology doesn't mean money, right?
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Right. The term economic in theology
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refers to the divine economy, how the distinct persons of the
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Trinity function and relate to creation and the application of
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redemption. Paul is stressing the tight,
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functional, working unity of the risen Christ and the Holy Spirit
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in applying salvation to the individual believer.
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So they work together in complete harmony.
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Yes, in the context of the New Covenant administration, the
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exalted Lord Jesus Christ acts upon us and is mediated to us
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entirely through the agency of the Holy Spirit.
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The Spirit does not act independently of Christ's
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finished work. Not at all.
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He does not point to himself or seek his own glory.
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The Spirit's entire mission is to communicate Christ, to apply
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Christ's saving benefits like justification and adoption, and
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to make the presence of Christ a living reality in the church.
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I think John Calvin captured this dynamic beautifully when he
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stated that the Holy Spirit is the bond by which Christ
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effectually unites us to themselves.
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That is a perfect quote. So when Paul writes The Lord is
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the Spirit, he means that the Lord Jesus whom we encounter in
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the New Covenant is encountered precisely and exclusively
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through the illuminating ministry of the Holy Spirit.
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That distinction brings such incredible clarity.
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Christ accomplished the objective work of redemption on
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the cross in history, and the Spirit applies that accomplished
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work subjectively to our individual hearts today.
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It's a beautiful partnership. And the immediate, undeniable
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result of the Spirit's presence is stated right in the
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second-half of the verse. Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
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there is liberty. Now we need to define this
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liberty very carefully. Yes, because the word freedom or
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liberty is an incredibly loaded term in our modern context.
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How should a faithful Christian understand biblical liberty?
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Let's start with what it is not before we explain what it
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actually is. We absolutely must understand
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liberty within its specific covenantal and redemptive
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context. We cannot drag our modern
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Western democratic definitions of freedom backward into the
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ancient biblical text. So he isn't talking of voting
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rights. No, Paul is not talking about
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political freedom from tyranny or civil rights or economic
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mobility. He is certainly not talking
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about the modern secular idol of absolute autonomy.
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You mean the pervasive idea that you have the inherent right to
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define your own truth? Right.
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The idea that you can live however you want without
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consequence and be the sovereign master of your own destiny.
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Biblical liberty is never synonymous with human autonomy.
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That is a vital point for our culture to hear.
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Furthermore, given the landscape of church history and various
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modern charismatic movements. We need to clarify that this
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liberty is not a theological permission slip for chaotic,
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unbiblical, ecstatic experiences.
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Right, coming from a cessationist perspective, which
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aligns tightly with the historic Reformed confessions, yes.
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The true freedom of the Spirit is not found in seeking out
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extra biblical revelations, bizarre physical manifestations
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in a worship service, or esoteric words of knowledge.
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So what is it? True stabilizing freedom is the
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Spirit granted ability to behold the objective, glorious truth of
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God revealed in the closed sufficient Canon of Scripture.
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If true biblical liberty is not political autonomy and it is not
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a license for chaotic mysticism, what is the actual nature of
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this freedom Paul is celebrating?
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It is fundamentally freedom from the letter that kills.
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Paul used that specific, terrifying phrase earlier in
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this very chapter. Talking about the law.
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Yes, the Old Covenant law, when divorced from the saving grace
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and fulfillment found in Christ, operates exclusively as a
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ministry of condemnation. Because the moral law demands
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absolute flawless perfection, but it provides 0 internal
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strength to actually obey its demands.
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Exactly. It only functions as a mirror to
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expose our guilt, highlight our corruption, and pronounce a just
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death sentence upon us. But the Holy Spirit frees the
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believer from that terrifying legal condemnation.
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The Spirit frees us from the spiritual blindness we discussed
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in verse 16. He frees us from the enslaving
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tyranny and dominion of sin. Chapter 19 of the Westminster
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Confession of Faith deals extensively with the law of God
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and Christian liberty. And what does it say?
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It teaches that believers in Christ are completely delivered
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from the moral law as a covenant of works.
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We are no longer justified by our obedience to the law, nor
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are we condemned by our failure to keep the law perfectly.
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We are permanently freed from the wrath of God, the curse of
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the moral law, and the bondage of Satan.
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We now have free, unhindered access to God the Father, and we
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are unable to yield obedience unto Him, not out of a slavish,
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terrified fear of punishment, but out of a childlike love and
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a willing mind. That is the essence of true
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Christian liberty. It is not the freedom to sin
22:13
with impunity. It is the freedom to obey God
22:15
joyfully because the threat of damnation has been removed.
22:18
That is precisely it. We see people today who hear the
22:21
word liberty and immediately swerve their cars into one of
22:24
two deadly ditches on either side of the theological Rd.
22:27
Oh, this happens all the time. On one side you have the ditch
22:30
of legalism, the exhausting, joyless attempt to earn God's
22:34
favor or maintain God's favor favor through strict adherence
22:38
to behavioral rules. It is the attempt to pay off a
22:40
debt that Christ has already paid in full.
22:42
Exactly on the opposite side you have the ditch of antinomianism,
22:46
the gross abuse of grace where someone essentially says well my
22:51
sins are completely forgiven past, present and future so it
22:54
doesn't matter how I live. They think they can indulge
22:56
their flesh, act like the world, and God's grace will just cover
23:00
it. Both of those ditches will
23:01
destroy a church. So how does the active presence
23:05
of the Spirit, this true liberty Paul is talking about, keep a
23:09
believer perfectly centered on the narrow path, actively
23:12
avoiding both the legalist and the antinomian traps?
23:15
Well, the Holy Spirit keeps us out of the legalistic ditch by
23:19
constantly, relentlessly pointing our hearts back to the
23:22
finished, objective work of Jesus Christ.
23:24
Reminding us of our justification.
23:26
Yes. When your conscience starts to
23:27
panic, when you feel the crushing weight of your own
23:30
inadequacy and failure, the Spirit testifies with your
23:33
Spirit that you are an adopted child.
23:35
The Spirit applies the massive reality of justification.
23:38
The truth that you are declared fully righteous in the courtroom
23:41
of heaven based solely on Christ's imputed righteousness,
23:45
not your own fluctuating performance.
23:48
When you believe that, it breaks the back of legalism.
23:51
You stop trying to bribe God with your good works.
23:54
But at the exact same time, the Spirit keeps us out of the
23:57
antinomian ditch by actually changing the core of our
24:00
desires. Because antinomianism assumes
24:02
the heart doesn't change. Right.
24:04
Antinomianism operates on the false assumption that the human
24:07
heart remains entirely unchanged after conversion, and that grace
24:11
is just a legal fiction that lets a rebel escape hell while
24:14
still loving their rebellion. But the promise of the new
24:17
covenant prophesized in Ezekiel and Jeremiah is that God will
24:20
put His Spirit within us and actively cause us to walk in His
24:23
statutes. The Spirit writes the moral law
24:26
on the flesh of our hearts. So true liberty means you no
24:29
longer view obedience as a crushing burden or a strict
24:33
condition for your acceptance. You view obedience as the
24:35
natural, joyful response of a liberated captive who now deeply
24:39
loves the king who freed him. The Spirit frees you from the
24:43
eternal penalty of sin, and He simultaneously frees you from
24:47
the dominating daily grip of sin.
24:50
Which brings us to the breathtaking climax of this
24:53
entire passage in verse 18. This is such a glorious verse.
24:57
Paul writes. But we all with unveiled face,
25:00
beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord.
25:04
Let's pause right at the very beginning of that verse.
25:07
But we all that opening phrase feels incredibly inclusive.
25:11
It really does. It feels democratized,
25:13
especially when you hold it up against the historical backdrop
25:16
of Moses in Exodus chapter 34 that we discussed earlier.
25:19
That sharp contrast is the entire point Paul is making.
25:22
In the Old covenant arrangement, access to the unshielded
25:26
presence of God was severely physically restricted.
25:28
The architecture of the Tabernacle on the temple proved
25:31
it didn't. Oh absolutely.
25:32
Only the High Priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and even
25:35
then he could only do it once a single year, year on the Day of
25:38
Atonement. And he had to enter with the
25:40
blood of a substitute sacrifice. He did, and he had to be
25:43
surrounded by a thick, obscuring cloud of incense smoke to
25:47
protect his physical life from the lethal, unapproachable
25:51
holiness of God. And when Moses originally went
25:53
up Mount Sinai, the rest of the people had to stay at the
25:55
absolute bottom, behind a strict physical barrier, under the
25:59
threat of death if they crossed it.
26:01
Moses alone possessed that close proximity to the glory, and as
26:05
we established, even his face had to be heavily veiled when he
26:08
returned to the camp. So the Old Covenant was defined
26:11
by distance, restriction, fear, and mediation through a highly
26:14
specialized Levitical priesthood.
26:16
But now, in verse 18, Paul announces A radical, permanent
26:20
shift in redemptive history. But we all.
26:23
Notice he does not say but we apostles or but we super
26:26
spiritual elite or but we theologically trained scholars.
26:30
He says we all. Every single genuine believer,
26:32
from the newest, weakest convert to the most mature, seasoned
26:36
St., possesses equal unveiled access to the presence of God
26:40
through their union with Jesus Christ.
26:42
The massive curtain in the temple was violently torn from
26:45
top to bottom at the crucifixion.
26:46
The privilege granted to the New Covenant community is
26:49
staggering. There are no second class
26:52
citizens in the Kingdom of God. We all possess this unveiled
26:55
face. I want to dig into the specific
26:58
mechanism of how we see this glory, because here's where it
27:00
gets really interesting. I agree, the terminology here is
27:03
fascinating. Paul says we are beholding as in
27:05
a mirror, the specific Greek word he uses.
27:08
There is katoptrizomenoy. When a person listening to this
27:12
right now thinks of a mirror, they think of perfectly clear
27:16
silver backed glass hanging in their bathroom that gives a
27:19
flawless high definition and reflection.
27:21
But that is absolutely not what Paul had in mind or what his
27:24
original audience in Corinth would have pictured.
27:27
Tell us about the physics and the reality of 1st century
27:29
mirrors and what that ancient technology implies for our
27:33
spiritual site right now in this life.
27:35
Importing our modern understanding of a glass mirror
27:38
into this text will actually distort Paul's theological
27:41
point. In the ancient Greco Roman
27:44
world, particularly in a city like Corinth which was famous
27:47
for its bronze manufacturing, mirrors were not wind of glass.
27:51
What were they made of? They were made of highly
27:53
polished metal, typically bronze, copper, or if a person
27:57
was incredibly wealthy, polished silver.
27:59
So the reflection wouldn't be perfect.
28:01
Exactly. While these metal mirrors
28:03
provided A functional reflection, the image was always
28:06
somewhat indirect, slightly dim, and inherently mediated.
28:11
It was prone to distortion and lacked the crisp clarity of a
28:14
modern photograph. So by selecting this specific
28:17
word catopters on Menoy, Paul is making a massive, nuanced
28:21
theological point about the current nature of our spiritual
28:24
sight. He is saying that we see the
28:26
glory of the Lord truly and accurately, but we see it
28:29
indirectly. Our site is currently mediated.
28:33
We do not yet see Christ face to face in His raw, unveiled
28:37
majesty. And this terminology maintains a
28:39
crucial distinction in our eschatology, right or theology
28:42
of the end times. It does.
28:44
As Reformed believers, we maintain a pre tribulational or
28:47
premillennial anticipation of the future consummation, meaning
28:50
we look forward to the physical bodily return of Christ to
28:53
earth. We currently live in the tension
28:54
of the already, but not yet. We possess the down payment of
28:58
the Holy Spirit right now, but we are still groaning, waiting
29:02
for the bodily return of Christ and our own physical
29:04
glorification. We see him truly through the
29:07
mirror of the written word and the physical sacraments, but we
29:10
do not yet possess the beatific vision.
29:13
Right, the unmediated direct physical sight of Christ in
29:16
glory. We walk by faith, not by sight,
29:20
as Paul explicitly states later in this very letter.
29:23
I think about it using this analogy.
29:25
Trying to walk outside on a clear, cloudless summer day and
29:29
stare directly into the sun is a physical impossibility.
29:32
It will literally physically blind you.
29:34
Yeah, your physical retinas simply cannot handle the raw,
29:37
unmediated, violent intensity of that nuclear light.
29:41
But if you look down at a perfectly still pool of water on
29:43
the ground, you can look at the reflection of the sun.
29:46
And you are seeing the true light.
29:47
When you look at that reflection, you are seeing the
29:49
real sun. It is not a fake light or a
29:51
synthetic substitute, but the light is being mediated to you
29:55
through a surface that your eyes can actually handle, process,
29:58
and appreciate without being destroyed.
30:01
That is a phenomenal illustration.
30:03
Scripture acts as that perfectly still pool of water.
30:07
The mirror Paul is talking about is the written word of God.
30:10
We are looking at the true blazing glory of Jesus Christ,
30:14
but it is mediated to us through the text, through the syntax,
30:17
through the gospel promises, so that we can apprehend it and be
30:20
changed by it without being completely consumed by His
30:23
unshielded holiness. That illustration of the sun in
30:27
the water captures the protective and revealing nature
30:29
of the Word so well. The mirror of Scripture does not
30:32
distort the truth of Christ. It makes the truth of Christ
30:35
accessible to our current frail earthly state.
30:38
And we have to be exceptionally clear about the specific object
30:41
of our gaze. What are we actually looking at
30:43
when we stare into this mirror? Paul states we are beholding the
30:47
glory of the Lord. We must not allow that phrase to
30:50
dissolve into a vague, abstract, or purely mystical concept.
30:54
The glory of the Lord is not some generic warm spiritual
30:57
feeling or an indescribable aura of floating light.
31:00
No. In the rigorous context of
31:01
Paul's theology, the glory of the Lord has a specific face,
31:05
and that face belongs to Jesus of Nazareth.
31:07
In the very next chapter of this letter, Paul talks explicitly
31:10
about the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
31:13
of Christ. The glory we are commanded to
31:16
behold is the radiant historical beauty of the person and work of
31:20
the Incarnate Son of God. We are looking at His perfect
31:23
holiness, His spotless, active obedience to the law.
31:26
His agonizing substitutionary death on the cross where he
31:30
absorbed the wrath of God. His triumphant physical
31:33
resurrection from the tomb, and His current sovereign session at
31:37
the right hand of the Father. His glory is His sovereign
31:40
grace. When you look into the mirror of
31:42
the written word, you are not looking for a moral checklist to
31:44
complete. You are looking for a Savior to
31:46
worship. You are apprehending the
31:48
objective, historical and saving realities of exactly who Jesus
31:53
is and what He has definitively accomplished in space and time.
31:57
And that leads us directly into the effect of that beholding.
32:00
We don't just stare at the mirror and gather theological
32:02
trivia and walk away unchanged. We certainly do not.
32:05
The second-half of verse 18 details the actual mechanics of
32:08
our sanctification. Paul says that as we behold this
32:12
glory, we are being changed into the same image from glory to
32:17
glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit.
32:20
This is where the rubber meets the road.
32:22
Now earlier in verse 16, we spent a lot of time talking
32:24
about a divine passive verb. When the veil was removed, we
32:29
encounter another crucial defining verb right here,
32:32
metamorphometha. We get the English word
32:35
metamorphosis directly from it. Yes, another incredibly
32:38
important verb. Breakdown the grammar of the
32:41
specific verb and explain what it teaches us about how a
32:43
Christian actually grows in practical holiness overtime.
32:47
This verb metamorphometha is a present passive indicative.
32:51
Let's take those grammatical pieces 1 by 1 because they
32:54
dismantle a lot of bad teaching. Start with the present tense.
32:56
1st, the present tense indicates an ongoing, continuous
32:59
progressive action. This completely rules out the
33:03
false idea. The sanctification is an
33:05
instant, overnight leap into sinless perfection.
33:08
It also thoroughly refutes the idea of a higher life theology
33:11
or a second blessing theology. Right where a believer
33:14
supposedly has an elite spiritual experience that
33:17
instantly catapults them into a permanent state of total victory
33:21
over all conscious sin. No.
33:23
Biblical sanctification is a steady, agonizing, lifelong
33:26
progression. But the most vital part of the
33:28
grammar is once again the passive voice are being changed.
33:33
The believer is the one being acted upon.
33:35
We are the recipients of the conforming action.
33:38
The Holy Spirit is the active driving agent executing the
33:42
change. This aligns perfectly with
33:44
Chapter 13 of the Westminster Confession of Faith.
33:46
It does, which states that they who are once effectually called
33:49
and regenerated, having a new heart and a new spirit created
33:53
in them, are further sanctified really and personally through
33:56
the virtue of Christ's death and resurrection by His Word and
33:59
Spirit dwelling in them. Sanctification is fundamentally
34:02
a work of God's free grace. Yes.
34:04
Wait. If the verb is passive, again,
34:06
someone might hear that and conclude, well, if the Spirit is
34:09
doing the changing, I guess I just sit back, relax, let go,
34:12
and let God handle my sin. I don't need to strive or fight.
34:15
That is a very common, very dangerous assumption.
34:17
How do we correct that fatalistic assumption?
34:20
Because the secular world and sadly, large portions of the
34:23
visible church operate on a paradigm of rigorous self help.
34:28
If you want to improve, you need better atomic habits, stronger
34:31
mental willpower, a new psychological technique, or a
34:35
ten step pragmatic accountability program.
34:37
But Paul is saying the deepest engine of Christian growth is
34:40
not your own carnal effort. How do we balance the passive
34:43
reception of grace with the active fight against sin?
34:46
We must vehemently avoid the trap of moralism and the trap of
34:50
fatalism. To be crystal clear, this
34:52
passive voice does not mean the believer is inanimate like a
34:55
lifeless block of wood. Right, we aren't robots.
34:58
The rest of Scripture heavily commands us to strive to
35:01
actively mortify the deeds of the flesh, to run the race with
35:04
endurance, and to work out our salvation with fear and
35:06
trembling. John Owen wrote extensively on
35:09
the active, brutal necessity of killing sin.
35:11
Yes, we are highly active in the daily pursuit of holiness.
35:14
However, the theological key is this.
35:17
Our action is always a subordinate response to and
35:19
entirely fueled by the prior and sustaining agency of the Holy
35:23
Spirit. We work strictly because God is
35:26
already at work within us. And the primary mechanism by
35:29
which the Spirit does this conforming work is our act of
35:33
beholding. We inevitably become like
35:35
whatever we behold. That is a massive truth.
35:38
If you constantly, daily gaze at the idols of this modern
35:41
culture. If you obsess over wealth,
35:44
social status, political rage or physical appearance, you will be
35:48
conformed into the hideous image of those idols.
35:51
You will become shallow, perpetually anxious, bitter, and
35:55
entirely worldly. But as the Holy Spirit enables
35:58
you to contemplate the supreme glory of Christ in the gospel,
36:01
he uses that spiritual vision to fundamentally remake your inner
36:05
man. And the specific goal of this
36:07
process is not just general moral improvement, Paul says We
36:10
are being changed into the same image.
36:12
This points us all the way back to the opening chapters of
36:15
Genesis, doesn't it? It points directly to the
36:17
original design and the tragic fall of humanity.
36:19
Right. The process of sanctification is
36:21
a intensely restorative and thoroughly Christological
36:24
process. In the beginning, God created
36:27
man in his own image, endowing him with true knowledge,
36:30
righteousness, and holy. But the historical fall of Adam
36:34
in the garden shattered that image.
36:36
Sin brought profound ruin, corruption, and severe
36:40
distortion to human nature. The image of God and man was
36:43
severely defaced, though not entirely eradicated.
36:47
The grand cosmic purpose of redemption is not simply to
36:50
legally forgive us so we can escape the fires of hell.
36:53
The purpose of redemption is to fully restore that broken image.
36:57
And Jesus Christ is the perfect, exact, unblemished imprint of
37:00
the Father's nature. He is the ultimate true image of
37:03
God. Therefore, the supreme goal of
37:04
your sanctification is to make you look, act, and think like
37:07
Jesus. As you look at Christ's stunning
37:09
humility in the Scriptures, the Spirit actively humbles your
37:13
innate pride. As you look at his absolute,
37:15
uncompromising purity, the spirit creates a violent hatred
37:18
for sin in your own heart. As you look at His sacrificial,
37:21
agonizing love for His enemies on the cross, the Spirit softens
37:24
your deep seated bitterness and trains you to love those who
37:27
wrong you. We are being remade piece by
37:29
piece, trial by trial, into the likeness of the Savior.
37:32
And Paul states this massive reconstruction project happens
37:36
from glory to glory. I want to press into the
37:39
specific phrase because if we just read it on the page, it
37:42
sounds incredibly triumphant, almost victorious in a way that
37:45
doesn't match our daily experience.
37:46
Let's be brutally honest about that.
37:48
Yeah, for the average listener right now, for someone driving
37:51
to a stressful job or folding a massive pile of laundry or
37:56
sitting at a desk feeling completely overwhelmed, the
37:59
daily Christian life rarely feels like a steady, unbroken
38:03
March of triumph. Most true believers feel
38:06
painfully, acutely aware of the remaining sin.
38:11
They struggle with the exact same temptations year after
38:13
year. They lose their temper with
38:14
their kids. They battle crippling anxiety.
38:17
They feel like they are taking two agonizing steps forward and
38:20
three massive steps back. That is the normal Christian
38:22
life. What does this phrase from glory
38:24
to glory actually look like in the muddy trenches of a
38:27
believer's life? Who feels anything but glorious
38:30
today? That question cuts to the
38:32
pastoral heart of this entire text.
38:34
From glory to glory absolutely does not mean a life free from
38:37
brutal struggle, struggle, internal groaning or painful
38:40
failure. So the struggle isn't proof that
38:42
we are failing. In fact, the presence of a
38:44
fierce, exhausting struggle against sin is actually the
38:47
primary proof that the Holy Spirit is actively at work
38:50
within you. A dead body does not fight back.
38:54
Only a living soldier feels the pain of the battle.
38:56
That is incredibly reassuring. The phrase from glory to glory
39:00
is meant to offer massive, stabilizing pastoral comfort to
39:04
the weary Christian. It means that the overarching
39:06
trajectory of your life, despite the daily stumbles and the tears
39:10
of repentance, is upward and forward.
39:12
It means that the glory of the new covenant never fades away
39:15
like the temporary glory on Moses face.
39:17
It only deepens its roots in your soul.
39:20
The movement begins with the initial blinding glory of
39:23
conversion and legal justification.
39:25
It continues through the slow, often agonizing, but undeniably
39:29
real progress of daily sanctification.
39:31
And it will absolutely, infallibly conclude in the final
39:35
glory of your physical glorification, when you are
39:38
resurrected and made perfectly, permanently sinless.
39:42
When you feel crushed and discouraged by your own
39:44
weakness, this text calls you to violently look away from
39:48
yourself. Stop obsessing over your own
39:50
spiritual temperature. Stop morbidly analyzing your own
39:54
failures. Look back at the mirror.
39:56
Fix your eyes entirely on the sufficiency of Jesus Christ.
39:59
The Holy Spirit personally guarantees your progressive
40:02
renewal. It does not depend on your
40:04
fluctuating resolve or your emotional stability.
40:07
The Lord who began the good work in you will sovereignly complete
40:10
it. So what does this all mean?
40:12
We have covered a massive amount of theological ground today.
40:14
We really have. We have examined the total
40:16
depravity of the human heart, monarchistic regeneration of the
40:20
Spirit, the functional economy of the Trinity, true Christian
40:23
liberty, mediated spiritual sight, and progressive
40:26
sanctification. But Reformed theology insists,
40:29
without exception, that high doctrine must lead to deep
40:32
devotion. Theology must always result in
40:35
doxology and practical daily obedience.
40:38
So let's transition into the practical application of this
40:40
text for the listener. We like to break this down into
40:43
3 categories, the head, the heart and the hands.
40:46
Let's start with the head, the intellect.
40:48
How does this passage fundamentally rewire the way a
40:51
believer thinks about their faith?
40:53
First and foremost, it demands that we rigorously grasp the
40:57
objective reality of the gospel with our intellect.
41:00
Our faith is not based on a subjective, internal,
41:03
fluctuating feeling. It is grounded entirely on the
41:06
historical reality of Jesus Christ's life, death and
41:09
resurrection. For the intellect, we must
41:11
maintain a sharp, unyielding distinction between
41:14
justification and sanctification.
41:16
Justification is your legal standing before God.
41:19
A1 time definitive courtroom declaration that you are
41:22
perfectly righteous because of Christ's finished work.
41:25
Sanctification is the ongoing progressive internal renewal of
41:29
your nature. If you confuse those two
41:31
categories in your head, you will absolutely destroy your
41:33
peace. If you begin to think your
41:36
justification depends on your daily progress and
41:38
sanctification, you will live in constant suffocating terror
41:42
trying to earn what can only be received as a free gift.
41:45
Secondly, this passage requires the intellect to actively,
41:49
violently reject the secular philosophy of self-reliance.
41:52
We have to constantly train our minds to stop thinking.
41:55
I just need to try harder and start thinking.
41:58
I need to look closer at Christ. We have to intellectually accept
42:02
our absolute total dependence on the Holy Spirit for every single
42:06
ounce of spiritual growth. Moving from the head to the
42:09
heart, the realm of our affections, our emotions, and
42:12
our deepest desires, this text puts a massive, inescapable
42:16
target on the back of one of our favorite, most heavily guarded
42:18
idols, self righteousness. It is so incredibly easy to want
42:23
the glory for ourselves, to want to be perceived by others as the
42:25
good Christian, the moral pillar of the community, the one who
42:28
has their life completely together.
42:30
But this text ruthlessly strips that illusion away.
42:33
It completely dismantles the idol of self righteousness
42:37
because it shows us that any goodness, any patience, any love
42:40
we possess is entirely A granted gift.
42:43
We possess no inherent light, we are simply reflecting the
42:46
blazing glory of another. When the heart truly grasps this
42:50
reality, the result is not a cold detached theological pride.
42:55
The result is a gospel wrought joy and a holy trembling all.
42:59
What does it actually mean to feel the glory of the Lord?
43:03
It means that your deepest affections are stirred by the
43:06
sheer unmerited grace of God. It means you were moved to tears
43:10
of profound gratitude that the Great Physician walked into your
43:13
dark lock room and took off the blindfold when you offered him
43:16
nothing but rebellion. It means you begin to find your
43:19
supreme satisfaction not in the fading, trivial plastic
43:23
pleasures of this world, but in the permanent, unshakable beauty
43:27
of Christ. And for the weary, battered St.
43:29
the heart application is immense abiding comfort when you were
43:32
exhausted by the daily battle against your own flesh.
43:35
You don't have to muster up your own synthetic strength.
43:37
You rest entirely in the unbreakable promise that the
43:40
Spirit of the Lord is actively, relentlessly working within you,
43:44
changing you even on the days when you cannot perceive the
43:47
millimeter of growth that happened.
43:49
And finally we move to the hands, the realm of physical
43:52
action, obedience, and how we live this out in the corporate
43:56
gathered life at the church. This is where we talk about the
43:59
third use of the law. The moral law no longer condemns
44:02
us to hell, but it now acts as a loving guide for our gratitude.
44:06
Because we are united to Christ, we look at His commands and we
44:09
actually desire to walk in them. But practically speaking, the
44:13
specific action commanded or strongly implied in this text is
44:17
the daily disciplined habit of looking into the mirror.
44:20
Yes, the active, relentless pursuit of the means of grace.
44:23
You cannot behold Christ if you never open the physical book
44:26
where He reveals Himself. The practical application for
44:28
the hands is to fiercely prioritize the reading,
44:31
studying, and hearing of the written Word of God.
44:34
But this extends far beyond private morning devotions.
44:37
It has massive non negotiable implications for the corporate
44:40
worship of the local church. If believers are changed
44:43
exclusively by beholding the glory of Christ, then pastors
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have a solemn, terrifying mandate to preach Christ
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plainly. The pulpit is not a place for
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stand up comedy routines, political punditry or
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therapeutic self help moralism. The church is not gathered on
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Sunday morning to be entertained.
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Pastors must open the biblical text, explain the biblical text,
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and hold up the radiant, bleeding, resurrected persons of
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Jesus Christ so the congregation can behold Him.
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If a pastor obscures Christ with theatrical excess, emotional
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manipulation, or human cleverness, he is actively
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starving the sheep of the exact specific food that sanctifies
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them. That reality applies directly to
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the sacraments as well, doesn't it?
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The Lord's Supper and Baptism. In the Reformed tradition we
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call them the visible words. They are physical mirrors.
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Absolutely. In the Lord's Supper, the
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physical bread and the physical wine act as a tangible new
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covenant mirror. When we come to the communion
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table in faith, we're not just going through a dry intellectual
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memorial ritual. We are spiritually communing
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with the living, risen Savior. The Holy Spirit uses the
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physical elements to confirm the promises of the Gospel to our
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hearts, allowing us to vividly behold Christ's broken body and
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shed blood. In baptism we have the visible
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initial sign of what Paul describes in verse 16, the
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washing away of sin, the sovereign removal of the veil,
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the decisive turning to the Lord, and our unbreakable union
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with Christ in his death and resurrection.
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The entire corporate worship service, the singing of
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theologically robust psalms and hymns, the public reading of the
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Word, the expositional preaching, the administration of
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the sacraments is designed by God to set the objective glory
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of Christ clearly before the eyes of the congregation so that
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the Spirit can execute His renewing work.
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It's a comprehensive vision for church life.
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Let. Me.
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Ask a highly practical question to land the plane on this
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specific section. Let's take all of this towering
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theology out of the church sanctuary and drag it into the
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secular world. OK, let's do it.
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How does keeping our eyes fixed on the mirror of Scripture,
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actively beholding the glory of Christ, actually change how a
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believer physically reacts to the intense stress of a normal
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Tuesday morning? That is where the theology gets
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intensely practical. Imagine you wake up, the
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toddlers are screaming, the car battery is dead, your boss sends
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an incredibly aggressive, unfair e-mail, and the financial
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pressure is suffocating you. How does this massive theology
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of beholding and becoming intersect with the cortisol in
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the panic of a stressful Tuesday?
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It intersects by completely altering your internal center of
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gravity. When you are not beholding
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Christ, your center of gravity is entirely located within
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yourself. Right, you are the center of
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your universe. O On that stressful Tuesday, if
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your boss criticizes you unfairly, your core identity is
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immediately threatened and you react with intense physiological
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anxiety or bitter defense of anger.
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If your kids are acting up, your deep desire for a peaceful,
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comfortable, uninterrupted Kingdom is thwarted and you
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react with harshness and volume. Your reactions are completely
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dictated by your external circumstances because you are
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looking to those circumstances to provide your glory, your
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peace, and your justification. But if you have been actively
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looking into the mirror of the Word, if you have been beholding
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the sovereign, unshakable, loving Christ who governs the
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universe, your center of gravity is relocated outside of
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yourself. It is anchored in heaven.
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When the aggressive e-mail comes, you realize your ultimate
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justification is not found in your boss's approval or your
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career trajectory. It is found exclusively in
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Christ's perfect righteousness. That theological reality
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diffuses the panic. You are suddenly free to respond
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to your boss with grace, patience and integrity rather
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than terrified defensiveness. When the morning descends into
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total chaos with the kids, you remember that the Holy Spirit is
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actively using even these frustrating, exhausting moments
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to chip away at your selfish impatience and conform you to
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the gentle, enduring image of the Savior.
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Beholding Christ provides you with an eternal ballast that
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keeps your small boat from capsizing in the choppy,
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unpredictable waters of a Tuesday morning.
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It fundamentally changes your reflexes.
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Over time, you slowly begin to react to the hostile world with
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the character of the one you have been watching.
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An eternal ballast. I love that.
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As we wrap up this deep dive, let's summarize the magnificent,
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sweeping progression Paul lays out for us in these 3 short
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verses. It is a complete, masterful
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summary of the entire Christian experience.
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It truly covers the entire landscape of redemption.
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Paul gives us the full sweep of gospel grace.
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First conversion happens through a decisive turning to the Lord,
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which is entirely the sovereign monarchistic work of the Holy
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Spirit, removing the heavy veil of spiritual death and
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blindness. Second, true liberty is secured
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by the active presence of that same spirit, a glorious,
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permanent freedom from the terrifying condemnation of the
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moral law and the enslaving dominion of sin.
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And finally, ongoing progressive sanctification occurs as we with
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unveiled faces, continually behold the historical glory of
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Jesus Christ in the mirror of the written Word being steadily,
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relentlessly remade into His exact image from 1° of glory to
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the next. The terrifying Old Covenant
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shadows have faded. The blinding veil of hostility
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has been violently torn away. The New Covenant reality is that
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we possess open, unhindered access to the Ling God through
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our perfect Mediator, Jesus Christ.
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It is a phenomenal truth to rest your life upon.
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As we close our time together today, I want to leave you with
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a final thought to Mull over as you go about your week.
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We have spent an hour establishing the absolute truth
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that you become like what you behold.
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Paul makes it abundantly clear that gazing at Christ in the
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mirror of the Word conforms us to his glorious image.
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But human beings are worshipping creatures.
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We are always beholding something.
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We are constantly obsessively looking into mirrors.
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So my question to you is this, what other mirrors are you
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staring into throughout the week?
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That is a piercing question. Are you staring for hours into
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the mirror of a glowing smartphone screen, scrolling
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endlessly through curated, artificial, materialistic lives?
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Are you staring into the mirror of the 24 hour news cycle,
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absorbing its manufactured anxieties, it's political
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outrage and it's secular definition of success?
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Are you staring into the mirror of other people's opinions,
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desperate to see a reflection of social approval?
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If it is true that we shaped by what we look at, whose image are
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those secular mirrors quietly, subtly shaping you into?
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If you want to reflect the peace, the holiness, and the
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sacrificial love of Jesus Christ, you have to ruthlessly
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prioritize the mirror of His Word.
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Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into the Scriptures.
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Until next time, keep your eyes fixed on the Savior.
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This has been Reformed thinking. Goodbye.