To Be Changed . . . μεταμορφουσθε (Monday with Mounce 34)

I have been thinking a lot lately about my personal mission statement.

In past years, I never liked mission statements. They seemed to be unnecessary wastes of time when I could actually be doing something.

But when I went into the pulpit and a thousand different needs and many people presented their pet projects and needs, I realized that if there was not a focus in ministry there would be nothing accomplished. I was opposed to "church programs" as a general rule because so often they detracted from the most important things, but what were those "most important things"?

So I worked hard to try and focus on a Biblical mission statement — what was at the core of Jesus’ expectations for his children? I came up with this: "We exist to worship God; by proclaiming the glory of God, the supremacy of Christ, and the power of the Spirit; in the making of new and fully devoted disciples." Pretty good, but too long for people to remember and it did not contain the Greatest Commandment, to love God and one another.

As I kept working on the statement, I came to realize two things. As the leader of the church, the mission of the organization had to be wrapped up in my personal mission, since it was my understanding of who I was and what Christ had called me to do that was controlling what I preached about. Secondly, there were two ideas that kept coming to my mind. (a) All things exist for the glory of God. (b) My life is to be changed: transformation.

There are so many things that can cause a church to turn into a spiritual mall, a place that exists for the ungodly trinity of me, myself, and I. Many cloak it in religious language, showing their true fathers to be the Pharisees, but God knows the heart. The highest good is my comfort, my kind of music, my kind of preaching, my kind of programs, my human traditions that so often set aside the will of God.

After all, I drop a few dollars into the plate as it comes by every Sunday so certainly I have a right to control of the mall. And everyone knows that American democracy is the highest biblical principle (can you hear my sarcasm?). How hard it is to focus on God, to seek not the things of God (the perks like love, joy, and peace), but to seek God himself, to love him.

But how do you do this? Thankfully, the Bible tells us. "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples" (John 15:8). The word I keep coming back to is "transformation,"

μεταμορφοω. When I see dead or dying spiritual malls known to the community as churches (which of course does not apply to all “churches”), their lack of spiritual vitality is often due to this one central truth — they have forgotten their mission. They have forgotten that they are to be changed, individually and corporately, from one degree of glory to the next, and this change is seen in their love for God and one another, in the doing of good works as proof of their true conversion.

So where’s the Greek! Check out a Greek word study of μεταμορφοω.

The progression of thought through the verses is wonderful. The word occurs four times.

1. We have a picture of what transformation looks like in Jesus “transfiguration” (μεταμορφωθη; Matt 17:2; Mark 9:2). It is to be changed. It is not that Jesus’ true self shined through; that would be docetism. It is that the shades of human sin and frailty were pulled back and the disciples saw who the incarnate Jesus fully was. In a sense, that is the goal of our lives. To so seek the glory of God that our sinful self fades into the distance, to die to ourselves and live as one crucified to all that would detract us from God.

2. Likewise, we who are followers of Jesus are “not [to] be conformed to this world, but be transformed (c) by the renewal of your mind” (Rom 12:2; ESV). After all, we have been born again, made into a new creation. Our heart of stone was replaced with a heart of flesh. How can we who have died to sin still live it? μη γενοιτο.

3. But how does this transformation happen? There are two clues (outside of Rom 12:2). Paul tells the Corinthians, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed (μεταμορφοθμεθα) into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Cor 3:18).

The change happens incrementally. We are changed slowly, periodically, from one degree to the next. Walking on the path of discipleship is not a sprint but a marathon.

But notice what these four uses of μεταμορφοω all have in common: they are all passives. The power to change does not naturally well up from within us but is the gift and the work of God’s Spirit. As we work out the implications of our salvation with fear and trembling, we at the same time acknowledge that the ability and in fact the very desire to change comes from the Spirit.

Why do I exist? What is my personal mission statement? “I exist to glorify God by being transformed.” Why do you exist? Why does your church exist?

William D. [Bill] Mounce posts every Monday about the Greek language, exegesis, and related topics at Koinonia. He is the author of numerous books, including the bestselling Basics of Biblical Greek, and general editor for Mounce's Complete Expository Dictionary of the Old and New Testament Words. He served as the New Testament chair of the English Standard Version Bible translation. Learn more and visit Bill's blog (co-authored with scholar and his father Bob Mounce) at www.billmounce.com.

Comments

[Bert de Haan]

Mr Mounce: Do you mind giving a clarification?
Regarding Jesus' transfiguration you wrote: "It is to be changed. It is not that Jesus’ true self shined through; that would be docetism".
I agree that it isn't Jesus' self shining through. His "self" includes his humanity.
Then you wrote: "It is that the shades of human sin and frailty were pulled back and the disciples saw who the incarnate Jesus fully was." When you write "The shades of human sin and frailty" I am assuming you mean shades (like sunglasses or drapes) that normally hindered the disciples to see Jesus for who he was. If that is indeed what you meant then Jesus didn't really transfigure but that for a short time the disciples' view was unobstructed.
Can you clarify please?
Thanks.
Bert de Haan.

[Andrew Faris]

Dr. Mounce,

Beautiful stuff. I praise God for you and your ministry and pray that more pastor-scholars/scholar-pastors like yourself would rise up to lead His people.

Thanks for this reflection. It encourages me so much as an associate pastor at a small church. I pray also that God would teach us to think similarly.

Andrew

[Robert Drouhard]

I totally agree with you, that we have lost our way, having been transformed by being infected with the idea that growth is the best measure of success. To that end, church has become big business. We hire "senior-executive pastors" and "assistant executive..." We love "mission statements" and "program goals." Our "worship centers" look more like giant board rooms or auditoriums rather than places of worship. Our worship itself is driven by entertaining people so as to keep them from going to another McChurch down the road, all the while believing and arguing that entertainment is what the "unchurched" are looking for. Indeed we have turned Paul's admonition in Rom. 12 around by refusing to be transformed and conforming to the world's mentality.
Thank you for reminding us that Christianity is about transformation by God, and that the mark of true success is spiritual growth.

[Paul]

Your first point on Christ's transfiguration is a very important Christological point; one I had not thought of previously. It's us who were changed by Christ's μεταμορφωθη! The glory of the incarnate Christ became transparent for a time that we may see through the thin veil that separates heaven from earth (I hear N. T. Wright coming through here!). Thanks so much for this new angle!

[Bill Mounce]

I must say that this is how I have viewed the transfiguration, but I haven't really done much work on the idea. My guess is that yes, the shades over the eyes of the disciples were miraculously pulled back so they could see how Jesus fully was.

[John B.]

I'll just point to Bert de Haan's question above.

[Milton Stanley]

Excellent and very helpful article, but I have a question: You mention four uses of μεταμορφοω, but in your essay I find only three discussed. What am I missing here?