2 Corinthians 3:12-18 Study Guide: Transformed by God

Community Group Study Guide — Transformed by God

2 Corinthians 3:12-18

Study Information:

Self improvement is a big business right now. For decades you’ve been able to walk into a bookstore and find books on change, self discipline and growth, but now you also have Youtube content creators, social media influencers and even growth plan programs you can buy. This strikes a core human desire to want to things to be easier, or to change and improve. All of us have things we wish were different about ourselves or our situations. Some of this comes from a desire to improve, but often it comes from a place of discomfort with our lives. A challenge we experience in the 21st century is that people will often come to Christianity with that same kind of mindset. They hope for small changes, or a new rule of life to live by. God desires something more than that for us, he desires transformation. God does not offer us a quick fix or rules to live by, God offers us a new heart and a new spirit which gives us a new life, we are new creations and given new desires. In our passage, Paul described how when we behold Christ we are transformed into the same image as Jesus by one degree of glory to another. To make his point, Paul used the story from Exodus 34 of Moses standing before God with an unveiled face to make the point that Christians have that same kind of access to God and are transformed by the Spirit as we behold the glory of the Lord.

The Need for Unveiled Hearts

2 Corinthians 3:12-15

Paul just finished explaining the difference between the Old Covenant Law and the New Covenant life we have in the Spirit. His point was the Law was a temporary covenant and even called it a ministry of death and condemnation. This sounds like a harsh condemnation of the Law, but don’t forget that Paul also called the Law glorious; it was just that the Law was limited in what it could do. The Law pointed to our sin, it could not save us, but it showed us our need for a savior. Moses continues that thought into 2 Cor 3:12 when he compared his boldness to Moses who would veil his face before the people after being in God’s presence. Exodus 34 talked about how Moses would stand in God’s presence and speak to him face to face and then Moses would come down the mountain and radiate God’s glory with a shining face. This freaked the people of Israel out, so Moses put on a veil to hide that the glory faded or as Paul wrote “was being brought to an end (2 Cor 3:13).” Paul was the minister of a better Covenant that would not fade or come to an end. The Law pointed to Christ, and the Covenant Christ inaugurated would be permanent. There was just one problem, people did not see this, especially the Jews during the days of Paul. Why not?

Paul said that some rejected his message because their minds were hardened, and a veil remained over them. They were spiritually unable to see that the Law pointed to Jesus and how Christ was the fulfillment of the Old Testament. They needed a soft heart to hear the gospel and repent. In fact, Paul wrote that when they read the Old Covenant that veil remained and they’d ultimately not be able to understand Christ in it with that veil in place.

The Power of the Spirit

2 Corinthians 3:16-17

The transformation God promises us in Christ is so powerful because it is an inside out transformation that begins with new desires. Jeremiah 31:31-34 is a helpful passage about the New Covenant and how it differs from the Old in that in the New, God promised to give them a new spirit, to put his law on their hearts and to be their people. What is the role of the Spirit in our transformation? First, the Spirit removes the veil and helps us to see Christ. Paul wrote that when one turned to the Lord the veil was removed and later that this is from the Lord who is the Spirit. This is the work of regeneration and illumination. Regeneration is being made alive in Christ and illumination is having the eyes and minds to understand the scripture. Paul wrote about this in his first letter to the Corinthians where he explained that we cannot understand spiritual truths without the help of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:6-16). Second, the Spirit brings freedom. This is a freedom from legalism, works based righteousness and sinful desires. Freedom is not the absence of all constraints or being able to follow our own desires, rather freedom in the Christian sense is being freed to the right desires and to know, love and follow Christ.

What we have in Christ, by the Holy Spirit is the same kind of access that Moses enjoyed with God. Just as Moses could be in God’s presence with unveiled face and behold the glory of God, so too we have that same kind of access.

The Holy Spirit is the very presence of God with his people and that should give us great confidence that our transformation and growth are ensured and empowered by God. God is all about our freedom from sin and desires that we know him, which is why he removes the veil.

Transformed to Radiate the Glory of God

2 Corinthians 3:18

The goal of this transformation is to become more and more like Jesus as we behold him. This means a few really important things for us. First, the word for “behold” in the Greek text is the word used for looking in a mirror. Most people when they look into a mirror will often draw closer to the mirror to get a better look. It is a weird phenomenon, but that idea here is to gaze intently or to draw near to see Christ. Some people have read this passage and concluded that all we need to do is look at Jesus to be changed and thus have minimized the role of our actions to fight sin. We do not need to put those two things against each other. In fact things like reading scripture, prayer, generosity and being in community with other believers are ways we can practically behold Christ. It is hard to find a Christian who is growing in their faith and not regularly reading the scripture, praying and attending church. So we should consider what has our attention, because usually what we attend to is what we become like.

Second, this passage also teaches us that as we spend time with Christ we will radiate his glory to the people around us. We become more and more like Jesus in our thoughts, words and actions and others can see that glory of Christ in us.

Finally, if you’re a Christian your growth is assured. Paul wrote that we’d be transformed from one degree of glory to another, which is another way of saying that instead of the glory we radiate coming to an end like with Moses, the glory we radiate grows as we walk with Christ. It should be normal in the Christian life to look back and think “I was a mess!” or “I didn’t know anything about God!” This should give us incredible confidence that we are not what we once were and are not yet what we will be.

At your community group:

Take 15-20 minutes to share about how God has been at work in your life, prayer concerns and pray for one another.

How did God speak to you through the scripture and the sermon this week?

Discussion Questions:

2 Corinthians 3:12-18

What gave Paul so much boldness or confidence in verse 12?

Describe what it means to have your mind hardened or a veil over your heart? What impact did that have on people reading the Old Covenant?

Paul wrote about the work of the Holy Spirit in this passage and even called the Spirit “the Lord” twice. How does the Spirit transform us?

2 Corinthians 3:18 taught that followers of Jesus have unveiled faces and are transformed as they behold the glory of the Lord. What does beholding God look like in your life right now and how can someone grow in beholding the glory of the Lord?