² Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.

²¹ He will take our weak mortal bodies and change them into glorious bodies like his own, using the same power with which he will bring everything under his control.

⁴ And when Christ, who is your^[a] life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.

¹⁸ So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.

¹² Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity.^[a] All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

²⁹ For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn^[a] among many brothers and sisters.

⁴⁹ Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like^[a] the heavenly man.

⁴ And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.

⁴ And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.