man in this life is perfectly and at all times filled with the Spirit of Christ, he is never in this life a partaker of the full liberty of which Christ is the author.
18. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, (even) as by the Spirit of the Lord.
This verse is connected with the preceding by the simple particle of transition Se, but. The natural consequence of the liberty mentioned in v. 17 is what is here stated. We all, i. e. all whom the indwelling of the Spirit of the Lord has made free. They are delivered from the bondage of the law, the veil has been removed from their face, and being turned to the Lord, they behold his glory icith open face, cti/aKeKaXv/x/xeVw Trpoo-coTTw, i. e. with a face which has been, and which remains unveiled. The darkness arising from alienation, ignorance, misconception and prejudice has been dissipated, so that we can see clearly. Beholding as in a glass or mirror. This is l^robably the proper interpretation of the word here used. KaroTTTptCw, in the active voice, means to shoio in a mirror, and in the middle, (the form here used,) it generally means, to see one'^s self in a mirror. This is its constant use in the classics. But in Philo it is used to express the idea of seeing by means of a mirror. As this sense is perfectly suited to this passage it is generally adopted by commentators, because the other exi^lanations given to the word are either contrary to usage or to the context. Some render it simply beholding. But to this it is objected that it overlooks the special etymo- logical signification of the ^rord, and that drci/t^o), which occurs twice in this chapter, vs. 7 and 13, is the proper term for that idea. Besides, this interpretation loses sight of the figure in- volved in the passage. It is an image we see, and therefore we see, as it were, by reflection, or as in a glass. Luther, after Chrysostom, renders the word, reflecting as in a mirror. This explanation is adopted by Bengel, Billroth, Olshausen and others. They understand the apostle to say that Chris- tians reflect, with an unveiled face, the glory of the Lord. They suppose that allusion is had to the glory of God as re- flected from the face of Moses, which was transient and veiled ; whereas, in the case of Christians, the glory of the Lord is