To God be the glory

Below is a comment I made on another blog. It had to do with the phrase sola Dei gloria, which means only to God be the glory.

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Steve, Curtis, Matt, and Jan point out that the Scriptures themselves talk about humans having glory. We are being changed from glory to glory. Glory has come to Jesus through the apostles. He has created us for a little while lower than the angels, but has crowned us with glory.

So, I would think that any interpretation of Scripture which would deny any glory to humans would be somewhat inappropriate. However, I think that what most of us may very well agree with are two words “both / and” rather than two other words “either / or.”

I would not phrase sola dei gloria as meaning that if I have glory God cannot have glory. Neither would I tend to say that because our glory originally comes from God that this means that our glory is only, and nothing else but, reflected glory. Yet, that is what some would tend to say.

As Jan quotes John 17, there is an interesting wording there, “and glory has come to me through them.” It concords with St. Paul saying that we are growing from “glory to glory.” Part of the proof of God’s correct judgment is precisely our glory. It does not detract from God’s glory to say that our glory is growing. Rather, it adds to God’s glory. It is both / and. Part of God’s defeat of Satan is that He was able to show that He can change us to be like Him without destroying our free will. In one sense, every time our glory increases, God’s glory is confirmed, and Satan’s misunderstanding is further highlighted.

In the Transfiguration, Our Lord Jesus Christ showed how the glory of God can be present in a human being (yes, He is God also). In 2 Corinthians, St. Paul argues that the same glory with which Moses shone weakly is the same glory with which we shine strongly. As the Orthodox say, we are called to shine with the glory of Mt. Tabor, and as we do, Satan cowers and must retreat. We also can shine with glory despite our imperfections.

To say that “to God alone be the glory” is not to deny that we have glory. Rather it is to recognize that our glory is only possible because “God so loved the world.” It is to say that our glory proves that God’s judgment was correct. It is to say that God was successful in changing us so that we can say therefore all things are new. Our glory is the victory cry of God’s resurrection. “To God be the glory, great things He has done . . . praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice!”