III. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF TRANSFORMATION
A. Not Merely an Outward Change
Transformation is not merely an outward change. When I came to the United States in 1962, I began to stress in my messages the truth concerning the human spirit for us to contact God and to enjoy Christ. The second thing I stressed was the all-inclusive Christ with the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. The third thing I stressed was transformation. In 2 Corinthians 3:18 the King James Version uses the word changed instead of the word transformed. But this is an inadequate translation, because the Greek word here means transformed. We need to see that transformation is not a mere outward change.
In order to explain what transformation is, let us consider the example of a healthy person. The healthy color in this person’s face is not from applying cosmetics to his skin. The application of cosmetics is a mere outward change by outward makeup. The way to have a healthy appearance is by eating healthy food. The healthy food metabolically makes us healthy, giving us a healthy appearance outwardly. In order to grow in life and have the transformation in life, we need to eat Christ as our healthy, spiritual food. When we eat, digest, and assimilate Christ as our spiritual food, the essence of this food gets into our being and produces transformation. Many Christians today are weak because they do not eat Jesus. If we eat Jesus every day, we will be spiritually energetic and will be transformed in life.
B. An Inward Transformation
in Nature and Essence
Transformation is not merely an outward change, but an inward transformation in nature and essence. It is an inward, metabolic change. For us to have a metabolic change we need a new element added into us. Then the new element replaces the discharged old element, and we have an inward, metabolic change in nature and in essence.
(The Constitution and the Building Up of the Body of Christ, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee)
