Beholding God's Glory is transforming; thus recommendable.
Romans 12:1-2 tells us to be transformed.
2 Cor 3:18 indicates that it is beholding God's glory as in a mirror which transforms.
James uses mirror for the Word of God, thus I take it that such is its meaning in 2 Cor 3:18.
I take it that we may behold the Glory of God in the mirror of the Bible and thus be transformed from glory to glory (from the source of glory in God's word to glory produced in ourselves=Christians).
Transformation = metamorphosis.
Morphē is a deeper word than schēma (more outward form).
The Christian has 2 natures, 2 forms, 2 morphai or Gestalts, Old Man & New Man.
Prophet Paul said that he was in travail until Christ be morphed/formed in the readers.
All that is preamble to the value of contemplating God's Glory.
I will post a passage or two; others are invited to share Glory Passages on this Thread. These are much the same as "What God Looks Like." God is invisible; yet sometimes we get a representation of "What He Looks Like" (figuratively speaking) in the Bible.
Habakkuk 3 has a favorite:
God came from Teman,
And the Holy One from mount Paran. [Selah.
His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of his praise.
4 And his brightness was as the light;
He had rays coming forth from his hand;
And there was the hiding of his power.
5 Before him went the pestilence,
And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.
6 He stood, and measured the earth;
He beheld, and drove asunder the nations;
And the eternal mountains were scattered;
The everlasting hills did bow;
His goings were as of old.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
8 Was Jehovah displeased with the rivers?
Was thine anger against the rivers,
Or thy wrath against the sea,
That thou didst ride upon thy horses,
Upon thy chariots of salvation?
9 Thy bow was made quite bare;
The oaths to the tribes were a sure word. [Selah.
Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw thee, and were afraid;
The tempest of waters passed by;
The deep uttered its voice,
And lifted up its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation,
At the light of thine arrows as they went,
At the shining of thy glittering spear.
12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation;
Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.
13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
For the salvation of thine anointed;
Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked man,
Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck. [Selah.
14 Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors:
Rev 4 has another:
and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne; 3 and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: [red colored]
and there was
a halo round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold.
5 And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were
seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6 and before the throne, as it were a sea of glass like unto crystal;
and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures . . . saying,
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.
9 And when the living creatures shall give glory and honor and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that liveth for ever and ever, 10 the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.
Romans 12:1-2 tells us to be transformed.
2 Cor 3:18 indicates that it is beholding God's glory as in a mirror which transforms.
James uses mirror for the Word of God, thus I take it that such is its meaning in 2 Cor 3:18.
I take it that we may behold the Glory of God in the mirror of the Bible and thus be transformed from glory to glory (from the source of glory in God's word to glory produced in ourselves=Christians).
Transformation = metamorphosis.
Morphē is a deeper word than schēma (more outward form).
The Christian has 2 natures, 2 forms, 2 morphai or Gestalts, Old Man & New Man.
Prophet Paul said that he was in travail until Christ be morphed/formed in the readers.
All that is preamble to the value of contemplating God's Glory.
I will post a passage or two; others are invited to share Glory Passages on this Thread. These are much the same as "What God Looks Like." God is invisible; yet sometimes we get a representation of "What He Looks Like" (figuratively speaking) in the Bible.
Habakkuk 3 has a favorite:
God came from Teman,
And the Holy One from mount Paran. [Selah.
His glory covered the heavens,
And the earth was full of his praise.
4 And his brightness was as the light;
He had rays coming forth from his hand;
And there was the hiding of his power.
5 Before him went the pestilence,
And fiery bolts went forth at his feet.
6 He stood, and measured the earth;
He beheld, and drove asunder the nations;
And the eternal mountains were scattered;
The everlasting hills did bow;
His goings were as of old.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
8 Was Jehovah displeased with the rivers?
Was thine anger against the rivers,
Or thy wrath against the sea,
That thou didst ride upon thy horses,
Upon thy chariots of salvation?
9 Thy bow was made quite bare;
The oaths to the tribes were a sure word. [Selah.
Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw thee, and were afraid;
The tempest of waters passed by;
The deep uttered its voice,
And lifted up its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation,
At the light of thine arrows as they went,
At the shining of thy glittering spear.
12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation;
Thou didst thresh the nations in anger.
13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people,
For the salvation of thine anointed;
Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked man,
Laying bare the foundation even unto the neck. [Selah.
14 Thou didst pierce with his own staves the head of his warriors:
Rev 4 has another:
and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne; 3 and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: [red colored]
and there was
a halo round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold.
5 And out of the throne proceed lightnings and voices and thunders. And there were
seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; 6 and before the throne, as it were a sea of glass like unto crystal;
and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, four living creatures . . . saying,
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.
9 And when the living creatures shall give glory and honor and thanks to him that sitteth on the throne, to him that liveth for ever and ever, 10 the four and twenty elders shall fall down before him that sitteth on the throne, and shall worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
11 Worthy art thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power: for thou didst create all things, and because of thy will they were, and were created.