Tag Archives: Glory of God

Bible Study

A Walk through Romans seeking glory.

Glory appears 15 times in Romans.

Romans 1:23 — the indictment against sinful men is that they have “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images” (of lesser things).

Romans 2:7 — the believers in Christ are described as those who “by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality,” and to them God gives “eternal life.” The quest for “glory, honor, and immortality” would appear to be only fulfilled by coming to know the person of God. And the quest for those qualities must necessarily end a journey that will bring them before the face of God. There is no true honor, certainly no qualitative glory, and most certainly no immortality, apart from God.

Romans 2:10 — those who believe are described as those who will receive “glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek.” The glory of God is what the Christian is seeking and it is that which they are destined to experience directly. The joy for the Gentile is that we are now included in the same hope of glory as the Jews were promised before Christ came.

Romans 3:7 — the glory of God’s justice and holiness is displayed in the judgment against national Israel for their sins and their departure from the LORD who had called them to be his own possession. Paul takes it to the personal level to show that God’s truth is confirmed even when he is condemned as a sinner. The question is “Why shouldn’t I just keep sinning, if this magnifies and extols the glory of God in his judgment against my sin? (That is addressed in Romans 6:1.) And some argued that God’s glory is magnified by his judgment of Paul’s personal sin. So, they asked, why is that a bad thing? And why should Paul be condemned when this is working for the greater glory of God (in his judgment against his sin)? These questions appear to have filtered down from spurious teachers who were bringing a great deal of confusion to the early church. Paul’s doctrine of grace was being used by some as a license to do anything they desired; some even saying that God would be glorified the more if they increased in their sin.

Romans 3:23 — sinning is defined as “falling short of the glory of God.” It would seem obvious that no human being could measure up to the perfect standard of the glory of God. But there may be here a recognition of our failure to live in subjection to the glory of God, under his authority, obedient to his commands, and morally like God is some respect. This failure to live under glory is our rebellion against God and coming short of his purposes.

Romans 4:20 — Abraham gives glory to God as he grows strong in his faith.

Romans 5:2 — so far from falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), Christians now rejoice in “hope of the glory of God.” What we once failed to achieve, now, through Jesus Christ and by faith in him, are now in possession of the hope of the glory of God. This would not be the glory of God as God, but the moral nature of his glory, that extols his nature and the displays his holiness. Believers don’t become glorious in the same fashion by which God is glorious in his nature and splendor. But we share in the nature and the splendor of the glory of God because we will become like him morally, and in the things that we do that bring him honor through our obedience to his Word and our love for him. We share in the divine nature morally, in our character and loves, but we do not put on his divinity, see 2 Peter 1:3-12. Faith in Christ is the means by which we obtain this experience of sharing in the glory of God and the hope of it.

Romans 6:4 — Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. This was a display of the nature and purpose of God and his judgment of sin and his love for his elect people. It may seem strange to our ears that Christ was raised from the dead “by the glory of the Father,” but this is how Paul states it.

Romans 8:18 — Paul moves to the future glory that shall be received and experienced by those who are redeemed by the Cross of Jesus Christ. Though we have sufferings in this current moment, they are “not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us.”

Romans 8:21 — the redemption of all creation is an overflow of the glory that is given to the children of God. It is by the “freedom of the glory of the children of God” by which “creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption.” Our glory will redeem all of creation, even though it is a subsidiary glory, and not a glory that we possess in ourselves, but we receive from God.

Romans 9:4 — Israel holds “the adoptions, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.” These all were in possession of the nation of Israel by the call of God to Israel to be his covenant people. These were fulfilled in Christ and expanded to all nations and peoples.

Romans 9:23 — the promise that God pours into his “vessels of mercy” — meaning both Jew and Gentile were to receive the mercies and grace of God by Jesus Christ. These were prepared beforehand, clearly spoken of in the Old Testament, and fulfilled by Jesus Christ and initiated to the Gentiles by the Apostle Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Romans 11:36 — Paul summarizes the themes of Romans in a benediction that concludes, “to [God] be glory forever. Amen.”

Romans 15:7 — The welcome of Christ for Jewish and for Gentile believers alike, without distinction, was unfettered. Both could come into the glorious presence of God through faith in Christ. Paul applies this principle and brings it down to individual relationships, making it the central rule of respect and acceptance of others within the Church. “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” The example of Christ in salvation, receiving both Jew and Gentile, is the principle and rule for the manner by which Christians are to welcome one another.There are to be no distinctions, or any other external difference caused by race or nationality, or other human differences. What is central is faith in Jesus Christ. That alone is what matters.

Romans 16:27 — the final prayer in Romans, “to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ. Amen.”

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Philosophy of ministry.

The surprising connection between glory and joy

Everett Harrison’s wrote an article on Glory in The New International Standard Bible Encyclopedia. This article happens to be a summary of his Ph.D. thesis on “Glory” and one of the richest resources in print on the glory of God. Harrison points to the connection between glory and joy, he writes:

“Quite naturally glory is closely associated with joy. The two elements mingle in the experience of the shepherds at the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:9f, 20) and in the acclaim given Him at the triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:38) as well as the Savior’s expectation of return to the Father (Hebrews 12:2). Likewise the prospect of future glory evokes in the saints the response of joy (Romans 5:2; 1 Peter 4:13; and Jude 1:24).” (NISBE, Volume 2, 1982, p. 482.)

Glory and joy

Glory may seem to be some glimmering light from the Holy of Holies or the shouts and songs of the redeemed in Heaven. But to see glory as the source of great joy in those who experienced the presence of Christ in his day during the joyful entry of Christ into Jerusalem, and by the future glory that shall be experienced together with all those who are redeemed, and, furthermore, to know that the joy of Christ before the Father is part of the renewal of the glory of the Son and the reunion of the Trinity in the Heavenly place, all prove the wonderful and God-filled principle that glory always brings joy.

Glory is the root and foundation of all the joy we experience in Christ. It is the glory of God that celebrates the victory of Christ. It is glory that brings us to study and then to appreciate the person of God. It is glory that presses the work of salvation into our human hearts and makes them alive and able to praise and worship God. And it is glory that assures us of the truth of Christ’s rule both in us and soon over all persons and things and so we know that our future is to be filled and absolutely defined by the glory of God.

The joy we experience in Jesus Christ is a glorious joy because it is rooted in what God has done and in who he is. We are doxological (glory-centered) in all our worship. By glory we remember that our joy is not generated within the heart of man, but from God. It is not something that we possess in ourselves at all, but by Jesus Christ we are filled, as if by miracle, with the glory of God.

True joy is always linked to the actions of God; it is derived from what God has done and what he will do. By the work of glory there is absolute confidence in the work of Christ in the past, so we sing with the shepherds and angels, “Glory to God in the highest …” And we look at the work of Christ on the Cross and with much greater appreciation and far more insight that those shouting “Hosanna,” we who believe now know who the Savior is and we see that his coming to redeem was the most glorious act in all of eternity.

How can we not have joy when we read of his coming to redeem us? We understand more of his work and we now see with far greater detail the implication of his death for our salvation, and we are driven by its importance and glory to shout for joy at the display of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, especially as it shined forth in the Redeeming Cross of Christ. The Cross was the grandest display of the glory of God and therefore it is the most precious and articulate source of our joy in God. Nothing exceeds it.

The question then could be raised, If we have little joy, what do we lack? The answer is: We lack glory. If our joy is failing or fading, the way to remedy that joylessness is to study the glory of God.

When glory is grasped and when our minds understand and our hearts retain even small aspects of the glory of God (which is all we can contain), glory changes how we see everything. When glory is seen by faith we are filled so much with the work and the person of God that glory’s child — the joy of God — comes with inexpressible fullness to overwhelm our lives with a glorious joy. We cannot experience true joy apart the glory of God entering into our lives. Glory and joy are inseparable.

We fail to be joyful when we neglect or ignore the glory of God. Joylessness is a deficiency of glory. But remember, it is not joy that we seek. It is glory. It is glory that brings us joy. When we study the glory of God, we do not need to be reminded to be more joyful. We are given joy as an overflow of all that makes God glorious.

Seeing the glory of God makes us joyful. And it is always so. Glory brings us to joy.

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Philosophy of ministry.

Thinking about God’s glory.

The word that is used for glory in the New Testament is doxa. It comes into English in doxology, a word of glory, or a word of praise. Doxa comes from the verb meaning “to think.”

A person may be good, even noble, but if you don’t learn about that person, and think about their choices, their moral character, and their impact on people, that wonderful person may never have made any impression on you. Unless you learned about them and thought about their actions, their character, and words, they would have no impact on you whatsoever.

It’d be like you’d never heard of Mother Theresa. Her service to the poor and her wise and courageous words to the most powerful people in the world (regarding the evil of abortion), were astounding. The impact of her life on thousands of poor lepers and indigent poor in Calcutta is so filled with love and compassion that it shook the world. But if you’d never heard of her life and never contemplated the impact of her life she’d have no impact on you. It would be as if she didn’t even live, as far as you are concerned.

God isn’t glorious just when you think about him. He is glorious if you’d never been born. But it is through thinking about God, and this thinking is necessary and it is important, that the glory of God has its impact in your life and on you as a person.

When you hear about the love of God, you must take some time to think about the importance of that aspect of God and how it should impact and direct your life. If you learn about the mercy of God — how he forgives sinners and loves people in spite of what they’ve done — it would be crucial for you, in the light of this information about mercy, to take the fact of your sin and to align that fact against the incredible promises regarding the mercy of God toward sinners. At that point, the mercy of God becomes more than an interesting fact, it becomes a principle within your heart, your mind, and it impacts the way you live. But it becomes important, a point of glory in your life, when you think about it.

Glory comes as we “contemplate” God. God’s Person and his moral perfections and actions all occurred apart from our physical observation (in 99.999% of the cases), yet all of them can change our lives, inform our worship, and inspire our greater holiness when we think on them and understand who God is and what he has said and done. We need to study God.

Our culture labors to keep people from thinking about God. The culture wants us to be entertained, distracted, or exhausted by recreation or labor, every moment we are awake. If we are distracted, entertained, or exhausted, there is no room in our lives to think. Godly people of old would take time to contemplate, to think, on God. They would see thinking about God as one of their most important spiritual exercises. Today, we listen to everyone else but to God.

For a little exercise: Read Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things” (ESV).

Taking time to think on these virtues that are derived from God, will have a powerful impact on our lives, “and the God of peace will be with you” (Philippians 4:9).

Taking time to think about God.

Think about God. Think about what God has done. Think about what God has said. Think about who God is in his moral nature and by his holy virtues.

This is how we see God as glorious. Apart from thinking, God is still absolutely glorious, but we miss his glory completely and we are spiritually impoverish.

Our thinking must not be unfettered and ill-focused. It is through the Word of God that our thoughts are directed to what can be known about God. Studying, reading, and contemplating the Word of God is the beginning, the middle, and the end of our learning about God in this life.

Think on these things.

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