Matthew 17:2 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And was transfigured before them— The word μεταμορφωθη implies either that there was a transfiguration made on the substance of his body, according to the import of the word in the best classic writers; (See Philippians 3:21.) or that the outward appearance only of his body was altered, as seems most probable from the manner in which St. Luke has expressed it. In this transfiguration the face of Jesus became radiant and dazzling; for it shone like the sun in its unclouded meridian clearness, and so was incomparably more glorious than the face of Moses at the giving of the law: at the same timehis garments acquired a snowy whiteness bright as light, and sweetly refulgent, but in a degree inferior to the radiancy of his countenance. Thus for a little while, during the state of his humiliation, the Son of God permitted the glory of his divinity to break forth, as it were, and shine through the veil of his human nature with which it was covered. See Macknight and Calmet.