The Key-Verse on Growth in Grace
Probably no better key-verse on growth in grace can be found than Second Corinthians 3:18, and in that verse is gathered up the messages of these other passages that have been considered: “But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.” As we look unto Jesus, and grow in his knowledge and grace, we are changed, as one scholar has translated it, “from one degree of glory to another degree of glory.”
As we get to know the Lord Jesus better and better, sin becomes more horrible to us; we see its true character. This does not mean that we become worse sinners, for we are growing from one degree of glory to another. But we appreciate more and more what sinners we were by nature, apart from grace; we see the depravity that follows sin, and we exalt the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ which has saved and is saving us from such sin and corruption.
The margin of Second Corinthians 3:18 adds a final glorious touch: instead of “beholding as in a mirror” there is the translation which many believe more accurate, “reflecting as in a mirror the glory of the Lord.” It is ours to behold and then to reflect. Do they see Jesus in us? It is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). He himself is the secret of growth in grace, as of all else.