What exactly is glory? It is a word that is used in many different situations from sports to politics. Despite its wide use, it is not always easy to define the word "glory." It could easily fall into the common phrase someone utters when he finds it difficult to define something: "I'll know it when I see it." Well, when it comes to the God of the Bible and His glory, that is certainly true. The Hebrew word often translated as "glory" in the Old Testament comes from a root meaning "heavy," and some legitimate synonyms are abundance, splendor, brightness, majesty, etc. It could simply be described as the manifestation of the very Godness of God. In the New Testament, we see something similar. We get the English word "doxology" from the usual NT Greek word for "glory." Ordinarily, it can refer to brightness, yet words such as magnificence, excellence, dignity, and majesty are excellent synonyms as well. God has all glory in and of Himself and needs nothing to add to His own glory. If this is the case, then how can we assert that man's chief end is to glorify Him if He already has all glory in and of Himself? The simple answer is that as creatures made in His image, we do all things to reflect God's glory back to Him. This is what we do in a special way in our corporate worship services each Lord's Day as we gather as His redeemed covenant people. While all things that God created do glorify God (cf., Psalm 19:1), man as the pinnacle of God's creation is especially intended to give glory to God on High. "...everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory" (Isaiah 43:7).
As true as it is that all of creation is to glorify God, this sola has a specific area of emphasis, namely the salvation that comes to man by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone according to Scripture alone. Christians glorify God because of the redemption we have in Christ Jesus and God alone gets all the glory for that salvation. Any system of doctrine claiming that man must contribute works toward his salvation or cooperate along side of God's grace effectively robs God of the glory that He alone deserves. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9). We see in these verses not only the fact that salvation is not from works, but we see a crucial result of that fact: no one can boast. Unfortunately, there are too many people in churches today that will have an attitude like one of the following:
- God helps those who help themselves.
- Jesus died for you because you're worth it.
- Jesus is knocking on the door of your heart; won't you please let Him in?
- God has done all He can; now the rest is up to you.
As difficult as it may seem to some, the salvation you have in Jesus Christ is not about you. Yes, I realize that we are truly beneficiaries of His divine grace. Nevertheless, the ultimate purpose of your salvation is to glorify God. Notice these verses from the Old Testament: "Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes" (Ezekiel 36:22-23). The fascinating thing about these verses is that they are sandwiched in between a passage in which God pronounces judgment and another passage in which God promises salvation. It seems that the point is that God will do both for the sake of His holy name – judgment and salvation. To remove any doubt for the reason of the promise, in verse 32 God repeats the same idea following the promise of salvation. Thus, it is for the sake of His name and His glory that He saves sinners.
My friends, how can we not glorify God for His gift of salvation to us? If we ought to give God the glory because of His creation, then most certainly we ought to give God the glory because of His recreation of us in Christ! This ought to be our most automatic response when we reflect on His grace in our lives. It was certainly the case for the Apostle Paul. In his epistle to the Romans - his magnum opus, as it were - Paul bursts forth into a grand doxology at the end of chapter 11. "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?' 'Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?' For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (Romans 11:33-36). What would cause Paul to express himself in such a God glorifying way? From the middle of chapter 3 up to this point in the epistle, Paul had laid out for the Roman church his doctrine of salvation with some special attention given to the doctrine of justification. While this is clearly an oversimplification of what Paul has said in Romans, it is pretty obvious that this is the ground of his doxology - the theology of salvation in Christ. For Paul theology always led to doxology and it should do the same for us. If your study of theology, doctrine, the Bible, etc., does not bring you to doxology, then you're doing it wrong. How wise God is to be able to save sinners in a way that vindicates His holiness - He knew what was needed and He implemented it! How unsearchable His judgments that He would choose to save sinners and rebels from what they deserve! All things, especially our salvation, are from Him and through Him and to Him! You are saved Soli Deo Gloria - to the glory of God alone! Amen and amen.
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