sanctification and transformation

2 Corinthians 3:18
But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

Romans 12:2
And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.

The original Greek word for transformation is metamorphosis, and is, according to Merriam-Webster, “a profound change in form from one stage to the next in the life history of an organism, as from the caterpillar to the pupa and from the pupa to the adult butterfly.”

Merriam-Webster also gives the meaning of the word “transformation,”, .. “a complete or major change in someone or something’s appearance, form, etc.”


In becoming a new creation the change comes from within just as the life of a butterfly follows from the life of a caterpillar. In beholding and reflecting that which God reveals to us we continue to minister as persons whose hearts have turned to the Lord, with faces unveiled, enjoying the Spirit as our food, and as the butterfly flows naturally from the caterpillar so shall we be transformed into His image. Deeper fellowship is wonderful in sharing with others the foods needed for the new creations growth.

1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.

Sanctification, setting of oneself apart to God, it seems then that transformation is the process to glory just as real as the journey to becoming a butterfly. Stages will be gone thru but we fix our gaze on the outcome, glorified in Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:16-17
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

aiki said:

What stands out to me in 2 Corinthians 3:18 is the word "beholding." It seems to me to be a vital key to being transformed. In the verse, beholding precedes transformation, it is the ground out of which transformation occurs. What is "beholding," exactly? And how does simply beholding the glory of the Lord transform a person? Isn't there more to it? Shouldn't the Christian labour to be transformed? Shouldn't they strive and strain to be like Christ?

"Beholding" refers to looking at something, to observing or perceiving it - in the case of 2 Corinthians 3:18 in a mirror. Hebrews 12:2-3 speaks of this looking, too:

Hebrews 12:2-3
2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews adds to the idea of "beholding" by the use of the word "consider." Beholding isn't just a blank, passive staring at a thing, but the contemplation of it, a meditation upon its characteristics. Philippians 4:8 mentions this sort of contemplation:

Philippians 4:8
8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things.

In the King James, "meditate" is rendered "think on" and in the NASB is translated as "dwell on." Both Bible versions emphasize contemplative, thoughtful consideration. It is this kind of consideration, this meditative contemplation upon God's glory, by which the Christian person is transformed. Why? Because we are made to be conformed to that upon which we focus. Advertising companies make billions every year taking advantage of this fact. God, too, knowing that He has made us to be shaped by the focus of our attention, urges us to meditate, to think upon, to contemplate, Himself. And the more He occupies our thinking, the more like Him we end up being.

Every time I encounter a believer who is, after decades of being a Christian, essentially as they were at the time they were saved, I inevitably discover that they are profoundly ignorant of Scripture and badly confused about the nature of God and of Christ and the Gospel. They have not regularly and persistently occupied their minds with Christ, but with everything but. And it shows.

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Thank you for that informative post. When we can see the glory of the Lord for ourselves it is exactly like when we first believed and in continuing to see the glory of the Lord is progress and growth. Reflecting that glory is to enable others to see Him also.

Psalms 27:4
One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
and to inquire in his temple.