12/16/2023 0 Comments We with unveiled faces![]() 403) uses it in this sense of the priests who saw their faces in the polished brass of the lavers of purification, supply an instance of its use with a more appropriate meaning. This meaning, however, is inapplicable here and the writings of Philo, who in one passage ( de Migr. Thus Socrates advised drunkards and the young to “look at themselves in a mirror,” that they might learn the disturbing effects of passion ( Diog. ![]() There is no doubt that the active voice signifies to “make a reflection in a mirror.” There is as little doubt that the middle voice signifies to look at one’s self in a mirror. Paul obviously had some special reason for choosing it, instead of the more familiar words, “seeing,” “beholding,” “gazing stedfastly ” and it is accordingly important to ascertain its meaning. 1Corinthians 11:7 but see Note on 2Corinthians 3:15.)īeholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.-The Greek participle which answers to the first five words belongs to a verb derived from the Greek for “mirror” (identical in meaning, though not in form, with that of 1Corinthians 13:12). We are as Moses was when he stood before the Lord with the veil withdrawn.” If the Tallith were in use at this time in the synagogues of the Jews, there might also be a reference to the contrast between that ceremonial usage and the practice of Christian assemblies. There is no veil over our hearts, and therefore none over the eyes with which we exercise our faculty of spiritual vision. “We,” says the Apostle, after the parenthesis of 2Corinthians 3:17, “are free, and therefore we have no need to cover our faces, as slaves do before the presence of a great king. Lord, thank You for the promise that as I look at You, I become like You.Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(18) But we all, with open face.-Better, And we all, with unveiled face.-The relation of this sentence to the foregoing is one of sequence and not of contrast, and it is obviously important to maintain in the English, as in the Greek, the continuity of allusive thought involved in the use of the same words as in 2Corinthians 3:14. Notice what he says: this comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. Your life is deepening as it is losing its shallowness you are more understanding of things. You are becoming a loving person, easier to live with, more attractive, more compelling. When you do, you suddenly discover the Spirit of God has been at work making gradual changes. It happens as you keep your eyes on the glory of the Lord and not on the face of Moses, not on self-effort but on what He is already giving you. It does not happen in one great transformation when you are suddenly sanctified, filled with the Spirit, or baptized. And love is the fulfilling of the Law the very demand that God made in the Law that you tried so hard to fulfill by your self-effort will be fulfilled without your even realizing it when you begin to love out of the grace and forgiveness of God. ![]() Without even knowing that you are doing it, just by rejoicing in what you have and serving the Lord who gave it to you, you suddenly discover-and other people will discover-that you are becoming a loving person. When you start looking at the one who is doing this in your life, the Lord Jesus, and beholding Him with all your veils taken away so you are not afraid to look at your own evil capacity, then a wonderful thing happens. You do not have to earn His favor, and your performance is not going to affect it. The faith He gives continually accepts anew the gift of righteousness of already being pleasing to God, and, on that basis, you serve Him out of a heart of gratitude for what you already have. His acceptance and approval are gifts to you. Being yourself and having freedom does not mean denying the potential for all the evil that is possible in your heart and in your life, because you have another basis on which you receive God's acceptance and approval. The Word of God teaches us it is quite another process. We are being taught in the world that the way to be me is to think about my advantage, my efforts, and to defend and demand them. The only thing wrong is the way we do it. I've got to be me, we hear, and there is nothing wrong with that. Everywhere today people are longing for this type of freedom. Those who are free are those who do not have any reputation to defend, no image to hide behind, nothing to preserve about themselves. ![]() Paul identifies Him: the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.įreedom is being out in the open, having boldness, having nothing to hide. Their hope of freedom comes from that great fact, for the one who is within them is God Himself. The apostle reminds the Corinthians immediately that the Lord is in their hearts, in their human spirits. ![]()
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