ABSTRACT
In one major section of 2 Corinthians, Paul describes the process of transformation with which this book has been concerned. This verse is at the heart of the passage (2:14-5:21):
And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18)
‘All of us … seeing the glory of the Lord … are being changed into the same image …’ We have examined earlier (pp. 158-9) how ‘glory’ is associated with God’s immortality. It is a quality of the invisible God that can be ‘seen’ or perceived by humankind. It is the loss of this perception that characterizes the fall according to Paul (Rom 1:23). Central to Paul’s description of transformation is revelation (apokalupsis) which means literally, in both English and Greek, ‘the lifting of a veil or curtain’. It is the removing of this veil that enables the glory of God to be seen.
