"Beholding"

Yesterday, I was reading and meditating a few verses that speak of our being transformed. What a wonderful realization that God's purpose is that those He has called, chosen, and justified, He will  transform into His image. He never loses sight of that. He never gives up. As Paul said, we are confident that He will complete the work that He has begun in us.

One of the passages I went to was 2 Corinthians 3:17-18  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord,  are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

I was surprised by the wording in verse 18. Most versions say something like "beholding and reflecting" or "beholding as in a mirror". The English Standard Version, which I was reading,and a version I have found to be very reliable, simply said "beholding".

I checked the word on my Bible software, and found that the word translated behold is the Greek word
katoptrizomai, a compound word made of two Greek words:
KATA: a preposition which means down, about, according to, among, covered... basically a word that joins two words, with varied meanings depending on the words it joins.
OPTANOMIA:  to gaze upon with wide open eyes, as at something remarkable.

I am sure that there is a very good reason that the King James version said "beholding as in a glass",and many versions used similar terminology, but, when I read this verse yesterday, it seemed suddenly so simple, just gaze at Jesus with wide open eyes, because He is remarkable. And, as I gaze at Him, He does the work of transforming me!

I wondered where else the word is used, and found that that particular word, katoptrizomai, is not used anywhere else in the Bible.
The word kata is used 471 times (I didn't count them, my software does that), translated in, against, according, down, by...)
The word optanomia is used 49 times, as in Matt 5:8, Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

I am certainly not a Greek scholar, but, just based on the obvious, without understanding any nuances of the Greek language, it seems that, when Paul wanted a term for behold, he wanted to use a word that would stand out, that would hold a special meaning. To say, "as we are beholding, or looking at Jesus" did not quite do the job. He added another word to make it more meaningful. Don't just look at Jesus, but look at him above, beyond, before, through, in...REALLY look at Him.

We use that method all the time. Instead of saying, "I was excited", I will say, "I was super excited" or "I was so excited". The extra words don't change the meaning, but they add emphasis.

Sometimes, in Paul's letters, He uses extra words, because what He is saying is extremely important, and what He speaks of is in a realm outside of our human experience. I think this is one of those places. What he is communicating is that we have to look at Jesus in a way that we don't look at anything or anyone else. We fix our eyes on Him, seeing Him as the most wonderful amazing person, of more value than anything we could ever see.