Becoming What We Behold (2 Cor. 3:18)

Becoming What We Behold

2 Corinthians 3:18

The change is progressive, so that willing exposure to the sunlight of God’s presence will burn his image ever deeper into our character and will.

Kent Hughes

“You become what you behold.” “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see…” “Good company corrupts good morals.” We’ve all perhaps heard these songs and sayings throughout our lives. We’ve heard them so often that the driving truth behind them is glossed over. We consume without regard to consequence. We watch, listen, and scroll taking in copious amounts of transformative information without careful discernment. We are being changed. As believers, we ought to be concerned about which direction that change is heading. We have an eternal home and a glorious Father to whom we are headed. Our gaze should be fixed on the unseen, eternal things. And where we fix our gaze has an impact on the progressive transformation that God is performing in us.

In 2 Corinthians, Paul encourages them saying, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (3:18). The Lord promises that there is a transformation process, a change happening, that molds believers into a different image, a more glorious image: the image of the One who created him. 

Notice that this change is not for everyone. It is for those with “unveiled face.” In the verses prior to verse 18, Paul had explained that those who do not turn to the Lord in belief and for salvation are like those who have a veil over their mind and heart. But those who have turned to the Lord have had the veil taken away. The veil is “removed in Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:14). This promise of radical change is for those who have turned to the Lord. This is the first necessary change that must occur before any other change is possible. We must actually be able to see the beauty and glory of Christ before we can behold it and find it wonderful. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). Transformation is for those who are born again.

Next, notice that this transformation is by the Spirit. Paul said, “…this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” At salvation, the Spirit Himself comes to dwell in believers (1 Corinthians 6:19). The work of the Spirit is manifold in the life of the believer. He brings us into union with both Christ and the Church, empowers us to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, seals us for the day of redemption, and gives us gifts for the edification of the body. The Holy Spirit directs our spiritual eyes to Christ, and He works in us to help us become like Christ. And Paul encourages believers in Ephesians 3 that we can be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man. And thus we should pray for this power, “power to be holy, power to think, act, and talk in ways utterly pleasing to Christ, power to strengthen moral resolve, power to walk in transparent gratitude to God, power to be humble, power to be discerning, power to be obedient and trusting, power to grow in conformity to Jesus Christ” (Praying with Paul, Don Carson). The Holy Spirit delights to make us what we ought to be in Christ.

And while our transformation is dependent on God’s work in us, He uses our purposeful beholding to perform some of that work in us. And 2 Corinthians 3:18 directs us to behold His glory, “beholding the glory of the Lord” we are being transformed. How do we behold His glory? We can see and contemplate the radiance of God in Christ, in His Word, in others, and in the world around us. Christ Himself is the “radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Hebrews 1:3), so learning about Christ and His life, death, resurrection, ministry, the work He accomplished on our behalf, and what we have in Him directs our attention to the glory of the Lord and helps us rejoice in His magnificence. This will change us. We can see His glory in His Word. He gave us His perfect and holy Word in order that we might know Him. He has revealed who He is to us in the 66 books of the Old and New Testament. Giving ourselves regularly to the reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating of His Word will change us. These changes may be unnoticeable at first, perhaps imperceptible to us, but “the change is progressive, so that willing exposure to the sunlight of God’s presence will burn his image ever deeper into our character and will” (Kent Hughes). In 2 Corinthians 3:18 Paul says that it is “from one degree of glory to another” which demonstrates the progressive nature of our sanctification. Beholding His glory in others can be transformative for us. People were made in the image of God, and while that image was marred in the Fall, He is at work to restore that image in His children. And when we see others acting generously, encouraging others, living sacrificially and joyfully, or any other number of ways, we are seeing a glimpse of the glory of God and that glimpse can focus our attention on our Savior and help us become more like Him. And we see His glory in creation. The Puritans did this regularly. They noticed things in creation: plants, trees, stars, the sun and they considered how this reflected the truth of Scripture and pointed to the Creator of it all. We too can make it a habit to look at the world around us and consider how it directs our attention to the Lord. These “are but shadows but the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the fountain. These are but dross; but God is the ocean” (Jonathan Edwards). 

Do we really become what we behold? Yes, according to 2 Corinthians 3:18, believers by the work of the Spirit are becoming what they behold of the Lord. So, pray, behold His glory, and trust. This transformation process, this sanctification, is promised by God (Philippians 1:6) and wrought by the Holy Spirit. The key to the effecting of our efforts on our soul is the Holy Spirit’s work. We work out our salvation with fear and trembling and then look to the Lord to work in us what He wills according to His good pleasure (Philippians 2:11-12).  

Prayer suggestions:

• Pray for those in your life whose hearts and minds are still veiled that they too would have unveiled face to behold the glory of the Lord and be transformed.
• Pray for yourself and others that you would behold the glory of the Lord in Christ, in His Word, in others, and in the world around you and it would turn our thoughts to the Lord and eternal things.
• Pray for yourself and others to be transformed by beholding the glory of the Lord. What change needs to take place in yourself or others? In what ways could you behold more of the glory of the Lord in your daily routine?
• Is there a specific way in which you desire to reflect God’s glory in your life? Perhaps you desire to live more faithfully, demonstrate a particular aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, or put a certain sin to death. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s power to accomplish that in you.
• Praise the Lord for the work of the Holy Spirit in yourself and other believers and the transformation that He is working in yourself and in them.