What is the glory of God? God the holy Father, holy Son, holy Spirit. What is the kavod that Moses asked to see (Exod. 33:18)? What is the doxa that John declares we have seen (John 1:14)?
In the holy dialogue that Moses had with God in Exodus 33, we see that the request in v. 18 was not his first. That request is preceded by what he asked in v. 13, “Please show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight.” The parallel shows us that Moses’ request in v. 18 is a re-articulation of what he asked to see in v. 13. Moses wanted to see something, God’s ways, viz., God’s glory. The Apostle John’s opening to his gospel affirms that reality of God’s glory. It is seen. John declares that we have seen the glory of God in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ, and that glory is full of grace and truth (John 1:14). The kavod and doxa of God is not a distant attribute or abstract description of God’s person. Rather, it is by its nature a manifestation. The glory of God is revelatory.
Moses’ request in Exodus 33:18 is heard by God. He answers Moses’ prayer. “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘the LORD’ (Exod. 33:19). The glory of the LORD is to “pass by” Moses (Exod. 33:22). And so it does in Exodus 34:5-6. The LORD descended and “proclaimed the name of the LORD. The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD…” (Exod. 34:5-6). God’s revelation of his glory is the proclamation of his name.
To say that God’s glory is the proclamation of his name is to say that it is the revelation of his “enacted identity” (Webster, 36). Webster continues to say that God’s enacted identity is “God’s sheer, irreducible particularity as this One who is and acts thus” (36). God’s identity, or essence, is utterly incomparable and eternally inexhaustible. And yet this essence is relational. For this incomparable and inexhaustible God is also a God who acts, who reveals, and who makes known inseparably from his essence. God’s doings is his ‘acting thus’ to who he is. The glory of God is the revelatory action of God proclaiming his name by means of all the ways that he acts out of who he is.
God’s glory is the force of his identity. By force I mean that it should have no connotation of being stagnant or distant. God’s glory is active and he is jealous that it be known. That is what he wills in Exodus, that the Egyptians and Israel would know that he is the LORD, that is, that they would know his name, know his ‘enacted identity,’ know his glory (7:5; 8:10, 22; 9:16; 10:2; 14:4, 18; 16:12; 18:11; 20:2; 33:18-19). Such is the motive for God’s action in Ezekiel where he recounts why he restrained his anger. His name being profaned was at stake. That is, his glory was at stake of being undermined. So he says, “I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned…” (Ezek. 20:14). “But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned…” (v. 22). For he concludes, “I did it that they might know that I am the LORD” (v. 26). The enacted identity of God is an illocution. To expand the biblical metaphor that God is light (1 Jn. 1:5), inasmuch as light corresponds to God’s essence, the radiance of light corresponds to God’s glory.
Stumbled upon your blog via google search. I’ve been trying to get a better grip on what ‘glory’ means. I’m a worship leader and songwriter and I struggle with the vague usage of the term glory. I almost would like to find better terminology. Or at least get a good understanding.
Here’s the verse that’s helping me:
For God, who said, “Light shall shine out of darkness,” is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Cor 4:6
So I’m thinking of glory defined by light (hebrew), or by knowledge (greek), or by power (roman) versus by the “face” of Christ.
Any ideas?
Matthew, yes! 2 Corinthians 4:6 is the place to go. Light, wisdom, power– I like that. And the citation there is ‘See Jesus Christ (Col 2:2-3; John 1:4-5; Phil 2:9-11)’