Re: unanswerd question
Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Sun, 16 Nov 1997 20:15:38 -0500
At 11:15 AM 11/17/97 +1030, Andrew Kulikovsky wrote:
>I posted the following to b-greek a while ago but only got one off-list
>response. I didn't think it was that silly a question - I guess everyone
>was too busy at the time. Anyway, I'll try again....
>> in 2 Cor. 3:18 we find the phrase "from glory to glory" (NIV: "with
>> ever-increasing glory"). How should we understand this phrase
>> grammatically/semantically? It does seem rather idiomatic. Is the
>> NIV's rendering a good and accurate one?
If I understand this phrase correctly, I think it is helpful to start with verse 7 in this chapter. When Moses had been face-to-face with God, the Israelites could not look intently at him because of "the glory of his face" DIA THN DOKSAN TOU PROSWPOU AUTOU. In verse 9, we see that what had glory (the Mosaic ministry of condemnation) now has no glory, because there is a new glory that surpasses it (the ministry of righteousness).
But I don't think that "from glory to glory" means simply that we went from the old covenant glory to the new covenant glory; instead, we stand before God directly, with unveiled face, being transformed into his image - and at each step, our new glory surpasses the old one. I rather like the RSV "from one degree of glory to another". Which is why it is not helpful to try to hang onto yesterday's glory, to rely on what we have achieved instead of standing before God and letting ourselves be transformed day by day.
Hope this helps,
Jonathan