5 - The pattern of the Christian ministry: glory through shame

Summary

In the last two chapters we have examined Paul's verdict on those who fail to appreciate the superlative glory of his ministry. In a word, a veil has darkened their vision (2 Corinthians 4:3). This could well be the veil of self-exaltation and pride, like Paul's own veil before his conversion. To test this theory we must discover two things: how divine glory is actually manifested in Paul and how such a manifestation would have been viewed by those enmeshed in the environment of first-century Corinth. In the first half of the chapter we shall consider Paul's understanding of how his glory works out in practice. In the second half we shall consider how his converts interpret that glory. By finding answers to these questions we shall be in a position to make sense of Paul's paradoxical teaching of power through weakness.

Transformed into the image of the cross

We may begin by considering Paul's own description of the glory manifested in his ministry. The most illuminating text is 2 Corinthians 3:18:

ἡμεῖς δὲ πάνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώῳ τὴν δόξαν κνρίον κατοπτριζόμενοι τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα μεταμορφούμεθα ἀπὸ δόξης δόξαν, καθάπερ ἀπὸ κυρίου πνεύματος.

This verse presents many interpretive difficulties, each of which must be resolved before the text as a whole can be understood.

First is the meaning of the participial phrase άνακεκαλμμένῳ προσώπῳ.