But we all with open face
We are not like Moses, who had a veil on his face; nor like the
Jews, who have one on their hearts: "but we all"; not ministers
and preachers of the Gospel only, but all believers, whether Jews
or Gentiles, greater or lesser believers, who are enlightened by
the Spirit of God, and are converted to Christ: "with open face";
which may regard the object beheld, the glory of Christ unveiled,
that has no veil on it, as Moses had on his face, when he
delivered the law; or the persons beholding, who are rid of
Jewish darkness; the veil of the ceremonial law, and of natural
darkness and blindness of mind; and so clearly and fully,
comparatively speaking,
beholding as in a glass;
not of the law, but of the Gospel, and the ordinances of it; not
with the eyes of their bodies, but with the eyes of their
understandings, with the eye of faith; which sight is spiritual,
delightful, and very endearing; throws a veil over all other
objects, and makes souls long to be with Christ: the object
beheld is
the glory of the Lord;
Jesus Christ: not the glory of his human nature, which lies in
its union to the Son of God, and in its names which it has by
virtue of it; and in its being the curious workmanship of the
Spirit of God, and so is pure and holy, and free from all sin;
and was outwardly beautiful and glorious, and is so at the right
hand of God, where we see him by faith, crowned with glory and
honour; and shall behold him with the eyes of our bodies, and
which will be fashioned like to his glorious body; but this sight
and change are not yet: rather the glory of his divine nature is
meant, which is essential and underived, the same with his
Father's; is ineffable, and incomprehensible; it appears in the
perfections he is possessed of, and in the worship given to him;
it was manifested in the doctrines taught, and in the miracles
wrought by him; there were some breakings forth of this glory in
his state of humiliation, and were beheld by the apostles, and
other believers, who saw his glory, as the glory of the only
begotten of the Father. Though the glory of Christ as Mediator,
being full of grace and truth, seems to be chiefly designed; this
he has from God, and had it from everlasting; this he gives to
his people, and is what makes him so glorious, lovely, and
desirable in their eye: and whilst this delightful object is
beheld by them, they are
changed into the same image;
there was a divine image in man, in his first creation; this
image was defaced by sin, and a different one took place; now in
regeneration another distinct from them both is stamped, and this
is the image of Christ; he himself is formed in the soul, his
grace is wrought there; so that it is no wonder there is a
likeness between them; which lies in righteousness and holiness,
and shows itself in acts of grace, and a discharge of duty. The
gradual motion of the change into this image is expressed by this
phrase,
from glory to glory:
not from the glory of the law to the glory of the Gospel; or from
the glory of Moses to the glory of Christ; rather from the glory
that is in Christ, to a glory derived in believers from him; or
which seems most agreeable, from one degree of grace to another,
grace here being signified by glory; or from glory begun here to
glory perfect hereafter; when this image will be completed, both
in soul and body; and the saints will be as perfectly like to
Christ, as they are capable of, and see him as he is: now the
efficient cause of all this, "is the Spirit of the Lord". It is
he that takes off the veil from the heart, that we may, with open
face unveiled, behold all this glory; it is he that regenerates,
stamps the image of Christ, and conforms the soul to his
likeness; it is he that gradually carries on the work of grace
upon the soul, increases faith, enlarges the views of the glory
of Christ, and the spiritual light, knowledge, and experience of
the saints, and will perfect all that which concerns them; will
quicken their mortal bodies, and make them like to Christ; and
will for ever rest as a spirit of glory on them, both in soul and
body: some read these words,
by the Lord of the Spirit,
and understand them of Christ, others read them, "by the Lord the
Spirit", as they very well may be rendered; and so are a proof of
the true and proper deity of the Holy Spirit, who is the one
Jehovah with the Father and the Son. The ancient Jews owned this;
``the Spirit of the living God, (say F11 they,) (arwbh wnyyh) , this is the Creator himself, from him all spirits are produced; blessed be he, and blessed be his name, because his name is he himself, for his name is Jehovah.''