Verse Catalyst:
I was surprised to get a text message from my sister, asking for my help to explain the meaning of the Greek word “katoptrizo”. She probably have read some of my email blast from my https://ekpotamou.wordpress.com blog site so she knows that I’m interested with these kind of stuff.
She mentioned in the text that she needs to understand this word because she will use it as name for their choir group. So I pray that she will be able to find what she needs from this article.
Verse Focus:
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory,
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord,
who is the Spirit. (NIV)ημεις δε παντες ανακεκαλυμμενω προσωπω την δοξαν κυριου κατοπτριζομενοι την αυτην εικονα μεταμορφουμεθα απο δοξης εις δοξαν καθαπερ απο κυριου πνευματος (Koine Greek)
ēmeis de pantes anakekalummenō prosōpō tēn doxan kuriou katoptrizomenoi tēn autēn eikona metamorphoumetha apo doxēs eis doxan kathaper apo kuriou pneumatos (Transliterated Greek)
Verse Meaning:
This word, katoptrizomenoi, which only occurred in 2 Cor 3:18, can be pronounced as (kat-op-trid’-zom-ahee). This word, when used in 2 Cor 3:18, was in the form of participle. By the way, a participle usually takes a base form of verb and add a suffix -ing , making it a verbal noun. So whenever there is a verb in a the form of a participle, the clause where it belongs is called a participial phrase. Therefore, the more accurate form of this word should have been “reflecting” or “beholding” but NIV translators focuses more on meaning not form so they intentionally retained the base form of the verb since essentially the it means the same.
Now, the base form of katoptrizomenoi is katoptrizo and it is pronounced as (kät-op-trē’-zō). “Katoptrizo”, according to Strong’s concordance, is said to be a combination of two words, “kata” and “optrizo”. Now, “kata” is a preposition which semantically means either “according to” or “against” while “optrizo” is synonymous to gaze, see, look and etc. So when combined, it is supposed to mean as “gazing oneself against something”. This is probably why, the KJV version used the phrase “beholding as in a glass” because a glass or a mirror (which is more accurate) is what we use to look into oneself. Therefore, the main idea then is “reflecting something”.
Now, the idea of reflecting God’s glory goes way back since the time of Moses. The story can be found in Exodus 33:11-23 and while I have yet to make a comprehensive study of this narrative block (in Hebrew), by just scratching at the surface, we can quickly understand that Paul is clearly echoing this famous narrative and he is using it to express the idea of having a intimate encounter with God.
So what Paul was saying then to the Christians in Corinth, just like Moses, is that our encounter with God comes without intermediaries. And just as Moses spoke to Yahweh, face to face, seeing his full glory (which literally means weight or figuratively, importance), we too can see Jesus face to face, just like a reflection from a mirror. And since it is a mirror, the reflection is the exact representation of one being reflected. Therefore, Paul was summoning the Christians in Corinth to be transformed in the image which is exactly what Paul said in the next clause: “transformed into the same image from glory to glory”.
Moreover, the idea of being transformed in to the likeness of Jesus whenever his glory is beheld was also affirmed by John in his book at (1:14):
And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Although the Greek word used here was not “katoptrizomenoi” but “theaomai, according to Strong’s concordance, they essentially meant the same (gaze, look, see). Therefore, John was also referring to same idea which Paul said in Corinthians. Also, we can see from this verse from John that the idea of beholding God’s glory came from the narrative of Moses in Exodus 33:11-23.
How?
You can notice that I highlighted the word “dwelt” in the verse above. The connection is not obvious here because dwelt here has been popularly understood outside of the Old testament. So most of the time, it is understood as Jesus coming here on earth, the sending of God’s son, Jesus living in the flesh as a human. However, if we are to understand the idea of God dwelling among us, we need to understand this within John’s Jewish understanding of the word.
The Hebrew equivalent of the word dwelt, in Greek or in English, is “miskan”. This word when used in the Old testament is always translated as “tabernacle”. This is the same idea why tabernacle was the name of the tent where Moses meets Yahweh because the word literally meant “to dwell”. Therefore, when John used this idea of tabernacle as miskan, he implied here that Jesus, coming in the flesh, is the new miskhan of God, the new tabernacle, the new temple of the living God. This is why the idea of God being with us has always been referred to as the foreshadowing of the temple built in Jerusalem. This is also why Jesus, when he came into the temple in Jerusalem, placed his judgment against that temple saying that God will rebuild it in three days! Imagine everyone’s surprise when they heard it because the last temple took 46 years to built. But just like what John commented in (2:19-21). Jesus was talking about the raising of his body, the tabernacle of God in the flesh, in the third day, his resurrection.
Both Paul and John referred to the these idea from Moses which they used in order to make sense of becoming like Jesus, the tabernacle of the living God whose ever increasing glory we behold with unveiled faced, becoming like him and being transformed in his likeness.