05_Tack_copiaaaaa_85-112 28/04/15 12:35 Pagina 110 110 LAURA TACK cross-reference can be made with the blind unbelievers (vv. 3-4) and the Israelites with a veiled heart (2 Cor 3,13-15). Only those who are able to look beyond the visible can perceive the traces of the inward renewal of a person who gradually reflects as a mirror the divine glory in a weak body. Finally, 2 Cor 4,16-18 clarifies our understanding of 2 Cor 3,18 in two ways. First, it affirms that transformation is a process of in- ward renewal (v. 16) that gradually leads to the acquisition of ever- lasting glory (v. 17). Second, it teaches that one has to see beyond the visible in order to perceive this do,xa. Until one is able to “see face to face” in the future (1 Cor 13,12; cf. 2 Cor 5,7), the glory on the face can only be discerned indirectly, as if it were seen “in a mirror dimly” (1 Cor 13,12). This is precisely what a mirror does. As a visible optical instrument it does not so much refer to itself as an object, but it refers rather to the object that exists outside itself and is reflected on its polished surface. Even a blurred mirror in the end directs the attention away from the bronze disk, of which mirrors usually consisted, to the particular image it shows on its surface. IV. Conclusion. Christians as Mirrors of Christ Reading 2 Cor 3,18 as the culmination point of 2 Corinthians 3 and as the anticipation of the central theme in 2 Corinthians 4 demon- strates that “to reflect as a mirror” is the more appropriate translation of katoptri,zomai. We summarise our argumentation below. We started with the philological arguments that can sustain this translation. We agreed with G. Dautzenberg in saying that the men- tion of katoptri,zomai in Philo’s Legum allegoriae III, 101 does not exclude the possible translation ‘to reflect’. We think that frag- ment 109a of the Oxyrinchus papyri referring to Empedocles’ op- tical theory further upholds this option. Next we endorsed J. Dupont’s arguments. The claim that 2 Cor 3,18 describes all Christians who reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord on their own faces was further sustained by referring to the broader literary context. Indeed, the translation “to reflect as a mirror” is seamlessly attuned to the flow of thought in 2 Corinthians 3–4. 2 Cor 3,1-3 metaphorically characterizes the Corinthian com- munity as Paul’s overt letter of recommendation. We have argued