What is the Glory of God?

The Glory of God, for me, is expanding intelligence (knowledge), the ever growing understanding of Him and His personage and what He wants from me.

There are so many ways! God's Glory, His power and characteristics, sometimes accompanied by visible phenomena, are revealed in His Holy Word and through His Creation. God's glory cannot be fully seen...

1 Timothy 6:15-16 God will bring this about in His own time. He is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords, the only One who has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; no one has seen or can see Him, to Him be honor and eternal might. Amen.

Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of His nature, sustaining all things by His powerful word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

Psalms 24:7-8 Lift up your heads, you gates! Rise up, ancient doors! Then the King of glory will come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.

Revelation 19:1 After this I heard something like the loud voice of a vast multitude in heaven, saying: Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God, ...

Psalms 72:19 May His glorious name be praised forever; the whole earth is filled with His glory. Amen and amen.

topher694 said:

How would you describe the Glory of God?

Have you experienced it?

What is it for/what does it do?


I'm curious to see what views & understandings are out there.

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The Glory of God ranges from the creation of the Universe, and design/creation of the quantum mechanical bodies for plants, animals and mammals, our spirits, etc.

Also the salvation of mankind, resurrection of mankind, Creation of Heaven. Destruction of death and hell.

Deliverance from the devil and his angels, etc.

God is extremely intelligent, you could saying safely that his IQ is perfect for His Glory.

Also God is Holy and Pure.

topher694 said:

How would you describe the Glory of God?

Have you experienced it?

What is it for/what does it do?


I'm curious to see what views & understandings are out there.

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If we could describe or experience the glory of God, we would BE God.

topher694 said:

2 Corinthians 3:7-18

18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

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And this, dumplings, is what we call Theosis.

topher694 said:

How would you describe the Glory of God?

Have you experienced it?

What is it for/what does it do?

I'm curious to see what views & understandings are out there.

Click to expand...

Well, I can't say I could verify my perceptions with "the perfect Bible verse"; but I would describe God's glory as something we really can't describe.

LOL

I've only ever experienced a reflection of it in brief fleeting moments of profound awe, that like Job, leave me with my hand over my mouth.

God's glory will one day destroy this corrupted universe to make it incorruptible so we can actually get a glimpse of that glory.

So until then, I'm not sure anyone could ever satisfactorily answer your question. It's too big of a subject.

topher694 said:

How would you describe the Glory of God?

Have you experienced it?

What is it for/what does it do?

I'm curious to see what views & understandings are out there.

Click to expand...

Wow. That's a good question, because we talk about it endlessly, don't we? And we should know what we're talking about. And yet it is very difficult to define. I'll make a stab at it.

The reason it is so important is because in the Bible I don't know of any truth that is more fundamentally pervasive than God's zeal to be glorified, which means his zeal for us so to think, so to feel, and so to act as to make him look as glorious as he is. We don't add to his glory.

So we want to make God's glory shine. We want to make it visible. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). So the goal of my life should be to so live that when people know me well enough, they would say, "God is glorious!" Not "John is glorious," but "God is glorious!" (Which is probably why God lets us sin as much as he does. But that's another question.)

What is it? I believe the glory of God is the going public of his infinite worth. I define the holiness of God as the infinite value of God, the infinite intrinsic worth of God. And when that goes public in creation, the heavens are telling the glory of God, and human beings are manifesting his glory, because we're created in his image, and we're trusting his promises so that we make him look gloriously trustworthy.

The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God is what I mean by "glory," and I base that partly on Isaiah 6, where the seraphim say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his—" and you would expect them to say "holiness" and they say "glory." They're ascribing "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his—" and when that goes public in the earth and fills it, you call it "glory."

So God's glory is the radiance of his holiness, the radiance of his manifold, infinitely worthy and valuable perfections.

- John Piper

(taken from the article What is the glory of God?)

Jonaitis said:

Wow. That's a good question, because we talk about it endlessly, don't we? And we should know what we're talking about. And yet it is very difficult to define. I'll make a stab at it.

The reason it is so important is because in the Bible I don't know of any truth that is more fundamentally pervasive than God's zeal to be glorified, which means his zeal for us so to think, so to feel, and so to act as to make him look as glorious as he is. We don't add to his glory.

So we want to make God's glory shine. We want to make it visible. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 5:16). So the goal of my life should be to so live that when people know me well enough, they would say, "God is glorious!" Not "John is glorious," but "God is glorious!" (Which is probably why God lets us sin as much as he does. But that's another question.)

What is it? I believe the glory of God is the going public of his infinite worth. I define the holiness of God as the infinite value of God, the infinite intrinsic worth of God. And when that goes public in creation, the heavens are telling the glory of God, and human beings are manifesting his glory, because we're created in his image, and we're trusting his promises so that we make him look gloriously trustworthy.

The public display of the infinite beauty and worth of God is what I mean by "glory," and I base that partly on Isaiah 6, where the seraphim say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his—" and you would expect them to say "holiness" and they say "glory." They're ascribing "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his—" and when that goes public in the earth and fills it, you call it "glory."

So God's glory is the radiance of his holiness, the radiance of his manifold, infinitely worthy and valuable perfections.

- John Piper

(taken from the article What is the glory of God?)

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Amen. Is there any other word in Scripture repeated three times?

Isaiah 6:3 "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

Revelation 4:8 "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!"

topher694 said:

Actually that's what we call the Bible.

You can call it what you will. I'm not making a personal stance here. All I'm interested in is how people view it and how it has impacted their lives. The scripture was to provide further context of the type of thing I'm asking about.

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Theosis IS the type of thing you are asking about.

topher694 said:

No, I'm asking about the Glory of God. Theosis is only one view/aspect of that. One that I'll assume you don't prescribe to.

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Do y ou even know what theosis m eans?

topher694 said:

Sure do

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Then define it.

topher694 said:

Why? So you can argue about it? Not happening friend. I understand the connection to the glory just fine. You've already said your piece, albeit rudely and indirectly. Clearly you've got some bitterness on the subject and I'm not getting dragged into that.

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Oh, yes. Bitterness.

A word pop-evangelicals throw around when they realize they are losing an argument.

You're not the first one to use this trick on me. So did C. W. Burpo years ago.

Well, to describe the Glory of God is impossible because it is outside of our human capacity – we simply do not have the capacity to comprehend and to express it. One must live it in order to try somewhat to describe it and this is possible only through God's grace. Also we cannot really describe it because it is outside of our experience - trying to explain what 'glory' is to someone which doesn't have this experience is like explaining the green light to a blind man.

However the Holy Fathers didn't leave us in complete darkness but even if they described it a little, they rather concentrated on what to do in order to experience it.

That's why I limit myself to say that 'glory (of God)' - δόξα (του Θεού) = (correct, perfect) vision and experience (of God).

However to experience this, it an entirely other matter - one must transcend everything. See the provided links, especially the last two ones.