2 Cor 3:16-18 – “But when one turns the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
Paul uses the veil that Moses wore to picture the veil that lies over every unbelieving heart. The veil is our sinful unbelief. The veil is the inability for an unbeliever to grasp spiritual truth. The veil is blindness to the glory of Christ and the Gospel. Repentance removes the veil! The result of conversion is that unbelief, inability to accept spiritual truth, and blindness to the beauty of Christ all are removed! When the veil is lifted, by grace, through the new birth, one really sees the glory of God for the first time!
Paul equates the removal of this veil with freedom because while under the veil we are enslaved to sin and darkness. However, once the veil is removed, we are truly free in the Lord! It is the Lord who brings this about. The Spirit of the Lord convicts us of sin, opens our eyes, removes the veil, and changes our hearts so that we can see with unveiled faces the beauty of the Gospel in Christ!
And that is not all! To behold the glory of God is to be changed by the glory of God! God not only frees us to look upon him, he also works within us so that we would reflect him, point to him, glorify him! It is the Spirit also who brings this change about. The more we gaze upon his glory, the more we mirror that glory! To truly see Christ is to be changed and continually changed by Christ! Beholding makes a difference!
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