林后三18 但我们众人既然以没有帕子遮蔽的脸，好像镜子观看并返照主的荣光，就渐渐变化成为与祂同样的形像，从荣耀到荣耀，乃是从主灵变化成的。

　　　　四16 所以我们不丧胆，反而我们外面的人虽然在毁坏，我们里面的人却日日在更新。

　　2 Cor. 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

　　 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

　　变化不是外面的改变和更正，乃是神的生命在信徒里面新陈代谢的作用。变化不是从外面来矫正，乃是里面有新陈代谢的作用，而显在外面。…比方，一个人营养不良，面黄肌瘦，这不是擦擦粉就可以改善的，必须补充营养，身体好起来，面色自然会红润。路加十五章说到浪子回家，得着袍子遮身；但他面黄肌瘦，光有袍子还是不管用，还必须吃肥牛犊，连续吃几天，里面起新陈代谢的作用，身体自然壮起来，面色也就好看了。因此，靠外面擦粉而有的，不是真美丽；里面新陈代谢而显于外面的，才是真健康、真美丽。

　　信徒若肯在神圣的生命里长大，这神圣生命的成分，就得以在他里面增多，而起了新陈代谢的变化，使他里面的性情变质，更使他外面的形像变形，就是变得和主的形像相同。这不像中国儒家反省改过的修行；那是他们自己的修行。但我们因观看主而变成主的形像，不是我们自修的结果；乃是主灵，就是主基督在祂复活时所成为的赐生命之灵，在我们里面运行，借着神圣生命的成分，在我们里面加多而有新陈代谢的变化（林后三18）。这完全是主灵和神圣生命，在我们里面运行、工作而有的变化。

　　假设你和一位弟兄同住，这位弟兄天天晨兴、祷告、读主的话、默想主的话，过一段时间，你必会看出他身上有变化。我通常清晨四、五点钟就醒过来，我就默想主的话。这时，圣灵来了，亮光就来了；我碰着是灵的主，祂的成分就进入我里面，在我里面产生新陈代谢的作用。这就如同我们吃了正当的食物，…经过消化和吸收，食物的成分就成为我们的成分，使我们精神十足，容光焕发，这就是新陈代谢的作用。你若是天天碰着主，让主的成分进入你里面，自然就会有新陈代谢在你里面发生，使你变化，至终像主一样。

　　Transformation is not an outward change or correction but the metabolic function of the life of God in the believers. Transformation is not to make some corrections from without; it is the function of metabolism from within and is manifested without. This is expressed in a line of the new hymn for this conference: “Manifesting the metabolism in life.”

　　Suppose a person is undernourished and appears thin and sickly. He cannot improve by merely applying some powder to his face. Rather, he needs to be supplemented with nutrition; then his physical condition will improve and his facial color will spontaneously become rosy. Luke 15 tells us that when the prodigal son returned home, he had a robe put on him for his covering, yet he still appeared thin and sickly. Merely to have the robe was not sufficient; he still needed to eat the fattened calf for several days. When metabolism began to work in him, he would naturally become strong and his facial color would look pretty. Thus, the beauty that comes by applying powder is not genuine beauty; only that which is expressed outwardly through the inward metabolism is genuine health and real beauty.

　　If the believers are willing to grow in the divine life, the element of the divine life will increase in them and bring forth a metabolic change. Thus, their inward disposition will be transformed, and their outward image will also be transformed to be the same as the image of the Lord. This is not moral cultivation by examining oneself and mending one's ways as taught by Confucianism in China. That is man's own moral cultivation. When we are transformed into the image of the Lord by beholding Him, this is not the result of our self-cultivation, but it is the Lord Spirit, the life-giving Spirit whom the Lord Christ became in His resurrection, who moves within us to bring forth a metabolic change through the increase of the element of the divine life in us (2 Cor. 3:18). This is altogether a transformation brought forth by the moving and working of the Lord Spirit and the divine life within us.

　　Suppose you and another brother live together. Every day that brother has morning revival, prays, reads the Bible, and meditates on the Lord's word. After a period of time, you will surely notice some transformation in him. I am usually awake early in the morning at four or five o'clock, and I just muse on the Lord's word. Then the Holy Spirit comes, and the light comes. When I touch Christ as the Spirit, His element comes into me and it issues in a metabolic function in me. This is similar to the metabolism in our body. After we eat some proper food and receive some proper element into us, the elements of the food become our element through digestion and assimilation so that we look so radiant and so energetic. If you touch the Lord day by day and allow His element to come into you, metabolism will spontaneously transpire in you that you may be transformed and eventually be like the Lord.

　　Transformation Requiring the Believers' Outer Man to be Decaying that Their Inner Man may be Renewed Day by Day

　　Eventually, transformation requires the believers' outer man to be decaying (consumed) that their inner man may be renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). This does not require us to do it ourselves; instead, the Lord is working in our environment to consume our outer man. When the outer man is being consumed, decaying, the inner man is renewed day by day. God always gives us the most suitable spouse for our marriage. When a young person begins to choose a spouse, he puts forth much effort and follows many principles. After a great deal of consideration, eventually he chooses someone. Although the people around him do not agree with his choice, little do they know that it is God's arrangement. After the two are married, they begin to deal with each other even from the very first night. One cannot sleep without the windows open, whereas the other catches a cold whenever the windows are open. When the discussion yields no solution, the two begin to quarrel. This is the mutual consuming between husband and wife. The more the husband is consumed by the wife, the more spiritual he becomes. The same is true in the church life. When several people serve in coordination, there is always someone who has a tough personality that is unbearable. Even so, you should not lose your temper, so you have to endure, sometimes even to the point of becoming ill. The Lord arranges this kind of situation that our outer man may be decaying so that our inner man may be renewed. In this way we are transformed.