The Mirror
But, according to Paul we are not seeing the Lord’s glory directly but, as it were, reflected in a mirror [made of polished metal in Paul’s day]. Paul’s metaphor may have sounded strange to his listener. He used a term—reflected—found nowhere else in our Bible, although it is very good Greek. The “mirror” he speaks of is the Gospel. It reflects the light, the glory of God. “[The gospel] is the power of God” [Romans 1:18]. Paul went further in 2 Corinthians 3:2 saying of the believers: “You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.” It was as if he was saying, “When we share the gospel story, we excitedly share your testimony as living proof of what we are proclaiming.” It is reflected in your lives!
Understanding Paul here is difficult but somehow every believer knows exactly what he is saying, even if his words are draped in a metaphor. We are not above wanting to take Paul’s thought and rework it in a way we might better appreciate its inspiration.
The Change
We are being changed, Paul told them. It is a process. It is ongoing. We might want to use the word “sanctification” but I think that deserves a different context and emphasis—howbeit, just as exciting to study.
When most believers read the word “changed” [the Greek means “underwent a metamorphosis”] they probably think of the butterfly. I, for one, do. It is the perfect analogy, even though, Paul might not have meant it that way because no Greek writer used this word of the butterfly. The butterfly’s Chrysalis was first explained in the 17th century, by the German naturalist, Maria Sibylla Merian. Aristotle “didn’t connect the caterpillar to the butterfly in a life cycle.” A.I. reads, “The transformation of caterpillars into butterflies was noticed in ancient times but misunderstood.” [Aristotle saw it as a “spontaneous generation” assuming the caterpillar had died.]
There is an exciting truth “cocooned” in this account of our being changed through a metamorphosis which is best explained using the butterfly metaphor. The caterpillar pupa undergoes a “cellular reprogramming: cells are being destroyed, repurposed, or transformed into entirely new cell types”[A.I.]. My mind is racing on ahead in excited anticipation as to how this might apply to the new you and me! Paul exclaimed, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 1 Corinthians 5:17 ] Through cellular reprogramming some larvae cells, we continue to learn, “lose their … identity and take on new roles as … the … butterfly.”
Though Paul was not likely to be referencing the butterfly as nature’s parable, we agree with Richard Trench: “Around [man] is a sensuous world … being so framed as … continually to lift him above itself – a visible world to make known the invisible things of God, a ladder leading him up to the contemplation of heavenly truth. … It is God’s world, the world of the same God who is leading us into spiritual truth.”
The butterfly analogy is limited in that we are not being made simply into another form at salvation. Paul said we are being transformed “into the same image.” Same? Yes, same as Jesus! Romans 8:29].
This word “image” has special meaning. To say we are Christlike would not be as clear and emphatic as Paul’s language is here and in Romans using the word “image.” He is our model. We are saying that God, the Master Sculptor that He is, is remaking us using Jesus as His model. This is not just outward behavior but inward nature. We are not becoming gods but we are being brought to the standard of His holiness which Jesus, Himself, lives and represents. The resemblance is eventually so complete that Paul could say “For me to live is Christ” [Galatians 2:20]. John could say “we will be like Him [God]” [1 John 3:2]. John uses the word “like” [we will look at shortly] because the reference is to our becoming holy not god. John adds, “We will see Him just as He is. I John 3:3 is the frosting on this cake: “And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.”
At His return, we will shed the Chrysalis of this mortal body—for good [1 Corinthians 15:53ff.].
The Model
An “image” assumes a model! My mind goes to my programming days when I was ask to present a proof of concept in code to satisfy an interest a client had in processing some kind of financial data. I would work off a business specification as my model. I coded what we called “the prototype.” The prototype was a proof that a business idea could be coded at a reasonable cost. Like the Germans might say: an abbild [image] assumes a vorbild [model]. The Greeks might call a child: the εμψυχος [vivid or living] εικων [image or reproduction] of his parents. The “image” implies an archetype [an original] from which it has been derived and drawn.
The Likeness
We are not using the word “likeness” because this word would mean a resemblance or maybe some similar features. Image is more exact. An image copies the model. In Philippians 2:7 Jesus was said to be born in our likeness of sinful men which is accurate because He was unlike us in one point—He was sinless [Romans 8:3]. My sins were “after the similitude of Adam’s” [Romans 5:14] but my disobedience was not in eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Paul taught: “we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” [Romans 6:5]. “Likeness” is a good word because Jesus death [crucifixion] and resurrection [glorification] was as the God-man, both God and man; These are more than historical events to us because He gave as newness of life: our death and resurrection [on this Aristotle would have gotten it right].
But Jesus is not just an example, He is the model! His is the spiritual image God is transforming us into up to and including our glorified bodies someday! Paul called “the Glory of the Lord,” i. e. Our glorified Lord [2 Corinthians 3:18] the “same” image which the Spirit’s work is using to model us after! “Even as by, ” that is “according to” the counsel, desire, and plan, of the Spirit of the Lord.
The Spirit
“The Spirit of the Lord” is all but a moniker for Who He is in our lives. This name refers specifically to God’s might and ability to do what He proposes to do in us. Here is an Old Testament description: “And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;” [Isaiah 11:2].
In our verse it is the power and wisdom behind the perfecting of our transformation. This moniker for an omniscient and omnipotent God is first used during the period of the Judges and was especially the source of Samson’s strength. “The Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him”[Judges 14:6]. And now He has come mightily upon us not to burn wheat fields but to be formed in His image.
The Perception
In closing this little talk, I ask you, how reasonable would all this sound to the caterpillar were it privileged to understand the process—if it had a Bible that promised it that someday it would take to flight. Or would it spend its time crawling around in the dirt dreaming how nice it would be to be able to fly—but alas, I am only a caterpillar.
