The Glory of God

By Tom Austin

As we approach the doctrine of the glory of God, we realize immediately that we are broaching a subject which is potentially nebulous and unclear. For the glory of God is not an attribute or a perfection of God to be observed and documented such as we see in systematic theology or in the books specifically describing the attributes and names of God; It would be difficult for the glory of God to be handled this way, for it encompasses all that He is and does. It is essential and co-natural to the Godhead so that He cannot be God without it. [1] For He "is the God of glory" (Acts 7:2). Thus it is God's purpose to glorify Himself (Eph.1:3-11). Furthermore, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, glorifying God is also man's chief end. As J.I. Packer has said: "All serious Christian thinkers acknowledge that glorifying God is at once man's divine calling and his highest joy, both here and hereafter." [2] And it is to this end that we approach our study of the glory of God.

Our aim in this study is to come to understand: What is the glory of God? How does He glorify Himself in His being and in His acts? How is He glorified in Christ? How do His elect glorify Him or detract from His glory?

The principal word for glory in the Hebrew is kabod. Literally it means "to be heavy," thus giving the idea that the person having glory is "heavy" with position or power or wealth (e.g., Gen. 31:1). It is used to signify anything that renders respect or praiseworthiness. This gives the word a very broad range of meaning. More specifically, E.F. Harrison explains that "kabod also denotes the manifestation of light by which God revealed Himself, whether in the lightning flash or in the blinding splendor which often accompanied theophanies" [3] (Gen. 24: 17; Ezek. 1 :27-28). Occasionally kabod was given a deeper meaning denoting the person or self, as when Moses, seeking a special manifestation of God, asked of Him, "Show me Thy glory" (Ex. 33:18). [4] In both the New Testament and the Septuagint (LXX), the Greek word doxa I was used because it signified honor or reputation. With reference to God, it denotes majesty and perfection, especially in relation to righteousness. [5] Packer tells us that in both Testaments, the word means excellence and praiseworthiness on display as well as honor and adoration as a response to the display. [6]

John Piper defines God's glory as "the beauty of His manifold perfections and signifies a reality of infinite greatness and worth." [7] His own glory is uppermost in His affections, His primary goal, His ultimate purpose. Because God's purposes are eternal and because He accomplishes His purposes after the counsel of His own will and because His ultimate purpose is to glorify Himself, He would do nothing that would detract from, deny, neglect, or nullify His glory. God's glory is best defined as God Himself. It is the very essence of His being. He is His own glory. God is glorified in Himself, in His name, in all that He is, by the way He is, by His characteristics and His perfections. In our own striving for the Christian virtues of humility and meekness, we must not judge God in His purpose of self-glorification as if he were a mere man.

Because God is unique as the all-glorious, totally self-sufficient Being, He must be for Himself if He is to be for us. The rules of humility that belong to a creature cannot apply in the same way to its Creator. If God should turn away from Himself as the source of infinite joy, he would cease to be God. He would deny the infinite worth of his own glory. He would imply that there is something more valuable outside of Himself. He would commit idolatry. [8] There is no one in the universe who is higher, more magnificent, more exalted, more perfect, more glorious than God. For God to act as if this were not so would be a false humility, pharisaical, a deception, something of which God is not capable. For God, because of who He is, self-glorification is the highest virtue.

God's Name Is His Glory 

In Scripture a name seeks to capture the essence of the person's character. With reference to God, we see this in Psalm 8:1, "O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Thy name in all the earth"; and in Psalm 115:1, "Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Thy name give glory." Jonathan Edwards explains that God's name and His glory are equipollent, that is, equal in force and power. Referring to Exodus 33:18-19, God responds to Moses' request to see His glory by saying, I "will proclaim the name of the Lord before you." God's name and glory often signify the same thing in Scripture (Jer. 13:11). As glory implies His excellency, His honor, etc., so does His name (Deut. 26:19; Prov. 22:1). In Jeremiah 14:21, God's name and glory seem to be spoken as of the same. [9] Of course this is the high and holy name of God, the name that Israel feared to speak. The name of God that is most majestic, most glorious, is the name He gave to Moses on the mountain, "I am who I am." In His name, He has revealed Himself. He has shown us His glory.

God's Perfections Are His Glory 

This leads us to reflect upon the idea that God's glory is not confined to itself or to some visible sign, but is that which expresses His inherent majesty. [10] But what does express His inherent majesty or glory? Charles Ryrie explains that the glory of God is displayed in any and all of His attributes. [11] Bavinck has said: "God's glory indicates the splendor and brilliancy that is inseparably connected with all God's virtues and with His self-revelation." [12] Certainly we would be amiss to leave out any of His perfections. But it may be helpful to examine a few of His attributes briefly as to their nature and how they contribute to His glory and in fact are His glory.

His Goodness 

The first of God's perfections which we examine is the goodness of God. In Exodus 33: 18-19 God caused His goodness to pass in front of Moses, when he asked to see God's glory. Jesus' response to the young ruler of Mark 10:17-22 (cf. Luke 18:18-19; Matt. 19:16-17) was, "No one is good except God alone." These passages help us to glimpse the goodness of God as it reflects and identifies His glory.

His goodness is, even as He is. It is not a result of His acts, in that His acts are good, therefore He is good. His acts are good because He is good (Ps. 119:68). It is not a result of the goodness of His other attributes, such as His love is good. Had He not done any good thing, He would still be good because He is only originally good. His goodness is eternally self-existent, as God is eternally self-existent. His goodness is infinite. It is measureless. Quoting Stephen Charnock: "A boundless goodness that knows no limits, a goodness as infinite as His essence, not only good, but best; not only good, but goodness itself, the supreme inconceivable goodness." [13] The goodness of God is summum bonum, the highest good. When we understand God's goodness in this way, we realize that His goodness is also unchangeable, immutable. It doesn't shift based upon the circumstances of His creatures. God isn't good because our situation has improved, nor is He bad or less good because our circumstances have not improved or even gotten worse. No, God is good because God is good. It is forever the same, for "the lovingkindness of God endures all day long" (Ps. 52:1).

Thomas Manton sums it up for us very well:

He is originally good, good of Himself, which nothing is; for all creatures are good only by participation and communication from God. He is essentially good; not only good, but goodness itself. The creature's good is a super-added quality, in God it is His essence. He is infinitely good; the creature's good is but a drop, but in God there is an infinite ocean or gathering together of good. He is eternally and immutably good, for He cannot be less good than He is; as there can be no addition made to Him, so no subtraction from Him. [14]

God had revealed to us that His goodness is His glory (Ex. 33:18-19). Thus when we detract from His goodness, whether in word, thought, or deed, we steal from His glory, from the glory due His name. As we briefly examine His other attributes, we will understand that it is the same for them.

His Power 

Stephen Charnock emphasizes that God's glory is expressed mainly in His power, saying that it is "the glory of His nature." [15] But where do we turn to understand the power of God? We see God's power displayed in creation, in redemption, in the miracles of Jesus, and in His promises for our future. The book of Psalms is filled with examples of His power and expressions of praise because of His power. All of Psalm 104 gives praise to God for His power as it is displayed in the universe. In Psalm 103, He is praised for His power over all the heavenly hosts and all earthly rulers. According to Ryrie, the principal Old Testament.passage which expresses the glory of God in creation is Psalm 19:1-6, which begins: "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." See also 72:18-19; 93:1-2.

Why is God able to do such things? (Actually, God tells us that such things are nothing to Him.) Why, when given such praise for His might, does He not refuse? It is because He is omnipotent. It is because He is God and deserves such praise. Furthermore, the extent of His power has not been reached in its expression in His revealed works or in our own finite understanding, imagination and praise. Quoting Charnock:

His power shines in everything, and is beyond everything. There is infinitely more power lodged in His nature, not expressed to the world .... All that can be comprehended of it, are but little fringes of it,.a small portion. No man ever discoursed, or can, of God's power, according to the magnificence of it. No creature can conceive it; God himself only comprehends it; God himself is only able to express it. Man's power being limited, his line is too short to measure the incomprehensible omnipotence of God. [16] 

God is the possessor, dispenser, and controller of all power. All the power that exists is His (Ps. 62: 11). No one or no thing has any power in and of itself, even Satan. All power that is, is from God and belongs to God and to Him alone. "Not a creature in the entire universe has an atom of power save what God delegates. But God's power is not acquired, nor does it depend upon any recognition by any other authority." [17] Charles Spurgeon has said: "God's power is like Himself, self-existent, self-sustained. The mightiest of men cannot add so much as a shadow of increased power to the Omnipotent One .... He is Himself the great central source and Originator of all power." [18] It comes from Him, is determined by Him, controlled by Him for the purpose of His own glory.

Everything that God has done is an exercise of His power, but it is not His power as if it were a tool He possesses and uses as He wills. Stephen Charnock tells us that "God and power are so inseparable, that they are reciprocated." [19] Thus we can say that God is power. [20] As stated above, it is the glory of God's nature. His power is His glory. When we attribute His power, any power, to another (even Satan), we have taken His glory from Him and paid homage to another.

His Holiness 

The last of God's perfections which we will examine, in our effort to demonstrate that His attributes both express His glory and are His glory, is that of His holiness. Stephen Charnock has said: "The holiness of God is His glory .... This is the blessedness and nobleness of His nature; it renders Him glorious in Himself and glorious to His creatures who understand anything of this lovely perfection." [21] The most prominent passage of Scripture which reveals and emphasizes this attribute is Isaiah 6:3: "Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory." Note that "holy" is repeated three times, thus elevating this truth to a level of extreme importance. This tells us something significant about God's holiness. He is infinitely and absolutely holy. There is no other attribute of God that is emphasized in this way, and God's holiness appears this way twice - Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4:8.

Therefore we can say the attribute of holiness has an excellence above all other perfections of God. As Charnock says: "It is the glory of all the rest as is the glory of the Godhead." [22] And again, "This is the crown of all His attributes, the life of all His decrees, the brightness of all His actions: nothing is decreed by Him, nothing is acted by Him, but what is worthy of the dignity, and becoming the honor, of this attribute." [23] Thus we can say that His wisdom is a holy wisdom, His justice is a holy justice, His love is a holy love, etc.

It is the essential glory of His divine nature and peculiar to Him alone. If any of His attributes were not holy, they could not be of God, for God is holy. A less than holy perfection would not be a perfection of God. All that He is, is holy. His holiness is not derived from any attribute, so that He is holy because He has holiness. He is holy from Himself. God is holy and there is none like Him. All other holiness is derived from Him alone and pales dreadfully in comparison. Someone has said that the holiness of God compared to that of His creation is like the light of the sun compared to that of a glowworm. God's holiness is incomparable. "God's holiness is not simply the best we know infinitely bettered. We know nothing like the divine holiness. It stands apart, unique, unapproachable, incomprehensible and unattainable. The natural man is blind to it.. .. His holiness he can not even imagine." [24] When confronted with His holiness, we can only respond as the prophet Isaiah by falling on our face and· crying, "Woe is me, for I am ruined!"

Our conclusion is obvious. God is only, originally, absolutely holy. His holiness is His glory. When we do not treat Him as holy, when we do not worship Him in holiness, when we, His new creatures in Christ, do not live holy lives; we detract from His glory, from the glory due His name.

Conclusion 

The attributes which we have examined are a small sample of the perfections which are Almighty God. The scope of this paper could not include His omniscience, His sovereignty, His justice, His immutablility, and many, many others. Yet in examining these three, we have made our point. The perfections of God, both individually and corporately, are His glory. They define His glory, they represent His glory, they describe His glory, and they express His glory. They also give Him glory. Jonathan Edwards has said: "If we do not reveal God, obey God, respond to God, in the fullness of His perfections as inclusive in His name, we take from His glory." [25] When we represent any of His attributes as less than they truly are, then we are not truly submitting to God as God in our theology or in our lives. And when we do this, we do not give Him the glory due His name.

God's Creation Is His Glory 

John Calvin emphasizes the expression of God's glory in His creation:

... in the creation of the universe He brought forth those insignia whereby He shows His glory to us, whenever and wherever we cast our gaze .... You cannot in one glance survey the most vast and beautiful system of the universe, in its wide expanse, without being completely overwhelmed by the boundless force of its brightness. [26] 

When the Psalmist, the prophet, and even God Himself want to acknowledge, to reveal, or to express the glory of God, they often refer to creation. Psalm 19:1 says: "The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands." In his commentary on Psalm 19, John Calvin refers to "the splendor of the heavens preaching the glory of God like a teacher in a seminary of learning." In Psalm 8, David worships God as he considers "Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained." This is why God created-to reveal Himself and to display His glory. Even man's body is evidence of God's glory in creation. God is revealed as creator of even our "inward parts," having formed us in our mother's womb. These thoughts lead the Psalmist to worship his creator: "I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Thy works" (Ps. 139:14).

God reveals Himself to Job and his friends by asking rhetorical questions about creation (ch. 3841). He does the same through the prophet Isaiah (40:12). In the New Testament, John tells us that everything that exists was created by God (John 1:1-3). Then Paul tells us in Colossians 1:16: "All things have been created by Him and for Him." This means that everything was created for God's own purposes. And His ultimate purpose is to glorify Himself. Certainly we can agree with John Calvin that "there is no spot in the universe wherein you cannot discern at least some sparks of His glory." [27]

God has very clearly revealed Himself in creation that He might reveal His glory and express His glory (see, e.g., Rom. 1:19-20). Jonathan Edwards explains that God's chief end in creation was Himself, and identifies his chief end as being His glory. [28] Because He is the God of glory, He created in, of, by and through His glory. Edwards further explains that creation is an emanation of God's own glory and excellence. [29] Thus in creation God's glory has burst forth in such a way that His glory can be identified and experienced, albeit in a small way. Creation has emanated from His glory for His glory. In this way we can say that creation is His glory.

Christ in His Glory 

John tells us that "the Word was God" (John 1:1). In later passages he gives Jesus the name the "only begotten Son of God" (John 1:14, 18; 3:16,18). In these passages John is clearly saying that Jesus is God. Paul states that Jesus is "the image ofthe invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" (Col. 1:15). In this passage Paul is making direct reference to Christ's deity which is in harmony with the John passages mentioned above. [30] Again Paul relates to us that Jesus is God in his discourse on the incarnation of Christ when he says, "although He existed in the form of God, He did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped" (Phil. 2:6). The author of Hebrews states: "He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature" (Heb. 1:3). The Bible teaches that Jesus is God. John Piper sums up for us: "So the Son in whom the Father delights is the image of God and the radiance of the glory of God. He bears the very stamp of God's nature and is the very form of God. He is equal with God and, as John says, is God." [31]

Dwight Pentecost explains that the apostle John equates the glory of the Son and the glory of the Father: "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Jesus and the Father are equal. Jesus' glory and the Father's glory are equal. [32] Jesus is the glory of the Father.

Christ intimates His ultimate purpose when defending Himself before the Jews: "He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the one who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him" (John 7:18). Edwards explains that from the antithesis of this verse we can understand that "Christ's ultimate aim was seeking the glory of the One who sent Him." [33] In His high priestly prayer, Jesus says, "I glorified Thee on earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given me to do" (John 17:4). This is a bold statement, a statement that could be made only by the very Son of God. He has already glorified the Father in all that He has done - all of His words, all of His actions, all of His miracles, all of His attitudes and motivations - everything. He has indeed explained the Father (John 1:18) and glorified Him in His works.

As He approaches the time of His death, He declares more specifically the purpose for His coming. He expresses distress at the reality of His suffering, and also expresses confidence at the fulfillment of His purpose - to glorify God (John 12:27-28). He also receives reassurance from the Father that He will indeed accomplish His purpose: "I have both glorified it [His name], and will glorify it again." Then at the beginning of Christ's final prayer with His disciples before He suffers and dies, He again expresses His ultimate purpose: "Father, the hour has come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee" (John 17:1). From Scripture we see that there can be no doubt that Christ's ultimate, supreme, final purpose in His incarnation, in His works, and in His death was to glorify His Father. [34]

John Piper states that "The greatest pleasure of God is His pleasure in His Son." [35] This can only be because Christ is the glory of the Father and thus only Christ can glorify God to the fullest.

The Church Is His Glory 

A benediction often quoted in the church is Ephesians 3:20-21: "Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen." Even as we have said above that the chief end of man is to glorify God, so it is for the church. And not only is He to be glorified in the church, but He is the glory of the church. This means that we are to believe and experience two things about the glory of God. It means that the sole purpose of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is to glorify God as its highest duty. It also means that the church has no value or glory in itself, save in God alone who is its glory. We will briefly examine these as we conclude.

When we say that the purpose of the church is to glorify God, we mean all true believers in the church. The apostle Paul's instruction to the church at Corinth was also instruction to the individual members of the church: "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). In his Christian Directory, Richard Baxter explains that to glorify God is to represent His excellencies or His glory, to conceive of them or to meditate on them, and to declare them. [36] Thus Baxter says that we must glorify God in our hearts or minds, with our speech, and in our lives.

How are we to glorify God in our hearts? Baxter gives us one helpful directive:

Abhor all blasphemous representations and thoughts of God, and think not of Him lamely, unequally, or diminutively; think not to comprehend Him, but reverently to admire Him. Conceive of Him as incomprehensible and infinite. If Satan would tempt thee to think meanly of any thing in God, or to think highly of one of his perfections, and meanly of another, abhor such temptations ... [37] 

The church today needs to hear this often and with volume. In our meditations upon God, we have made Him understandable and comprehensible and thus familiar and comfortable. But He is incomprehensible, and although He is Abba Father, He is transcendent, i.e., beyond all possible knowledge and experience. We think upon His love but forget His wrath. We think upon His mercy but forget His justice. When we think upon His sovereignty, His knowledge and His power, we reduce these attributes to a fraction of their fullness. That is, we do not ascribe to Him all control, all power and all knowledge, which are His, but we put limits on Him, in our thoughts of Him and thus in our lives. As a result we think that somehow He can be changed and His purposes thwarted by His own creatures. When we do this we belittle Him and despise Him and refuse Him the glory that is due His name. As Baxter says, this is blasphemous. In our minds, let us conceive of our glorious Father as incomprehensible with all of His infinite perfections that we may truly glorify Him in our hearts.

We also glorify God with our speech. Of course, the most obvious way we do this is in our praise of Him. Baxter tells us that "praising God according to His superlative excellencies is the highest service that the tongue of men or angels can perform." [38] Praise is simply extolling God's greatness, majesty, goodness, etc. Our praise does not increase any of His perfections; rather, it declares them and brings them to light. In this God is glorified.

The church must evaluate its worship to be sure that the praise of our lips truly gives glory to God. We must scrutinize our songs, our prayers, our testimonies, and our sermons for doctrinal error and meaningless repetition. We must be sure that our worship is God-centered and that our praise is true praise.

Finally, we glorify God with our lives. Again Baxter explains: Our lives then glorify God, when they are such as His excellencies most appear in:

and that is, when they are most divine or holy; when they are so managed, that the world may see, that it is God that we have chiefly respect unto, and that HOLINESS TO THE LORD is written upon all our faculties and affairs. - So much of GOD as appears in our lives, so much they are truly venerable, and advanced above the rank of fleshly, worldly lives. [39] 

It is appropriate at this point to quote 1 Corinthians 10:31 again: "Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." For our obedience, our service, our faith, our integrity, our purity, our interaction with the world - all that we do should glorify God. This is nothing less than the fruit of righteousness which is to the glory and praise of God (Phil. 1:11). As Baxter says, "Sometimes it [God's glory] is taken for the appearance of God's perfections in His creatures." [40] In this way, the church, Christ's bride, is God's glory.

It may be helpful to conclude this part by providing a list of some of the ways in which we can glorify God: [41] confession of sin, faith, fruitfulness, being protective of God's glory, being content, being zealous for His name, standing for His truth, laboring in the Gospel, suffering for Him, living a holy life.

Finally, it is important that we, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, understand that God is our glory (Eph. 3:21). As Richard Baxter has said: "God only is the real glory of every person, and every thing, and every word or action of our lives." [42] This should make the primary issue of the church to know God and to glorify Him in all the above ways. As He is glorified, the church in turn is glorified. Apart from Him there is no glory for us. He and He alone is our glory. It is Christ's prayer for us (John 17:22). It is our calling (1 Thess. 2:14).

It is at this very point that we, the evangelical church, have moved away from our primary purpose. Secondary issues have become primary issues and vice versa. Our desire is of course to glorify God in our lives and in the church, but we find ourselves worshiping at the wrong altar. Instead of pursuing our purpose through sound theology and biblical truth, our pursuit is through structure and methodology. [43] We are shopping in the market of modernity and selecting secular answers for today's questions. We see this in the church in our methods and message of evangelism, in our ministries, in our budgets, in our preaching, and in our worship. In our personal lives, we see this in how we spend our money, in our giving, in our devotional lives, in our personal and business relationships, and in our service to the Lord. We have become enslaved to productivity and success as defined by the world, and we are often frustrated and confused. We wonder why God is not blessing our efforts for Him.

The first thing we must do is be sure of our purpose, and that is to glorify God-not to build the church or have a successful ministry. After establishing our purpose, we must ask what God (not Wall Street or the Church Growth Movement) has given to direct us how we may glorify Him. For each of us, the obvious answer is the Word of God. Only the Bible is God's holy and inspired Word to us and is totally sufficient for instructing us and leading us in accomplishing our purpose of glorifying God (2 Tim. 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:21). As Thomas Watson has said: "The two Testaments are the two lips by which God has spoken to." [44]

Therefore let us return to theology, to the pursuit of God and the things of God through His Word. Let us be theologians (for we are all theologians) first rather than practitioners. Let us pursue the God of the Bible and His holiness, rather than pursuing what works Cor appears to work) through a type of Christian activism. Then and only then will it be said of the church and our lives, "to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen."

Endnotes 

1. Thomas Watson, Body of Divinity, 4. 
2. Packer, "The Glory of God," New Dictionary of Theology, 272. 
3. Harrison, "Glory," Baker's Dictionary of Theology, 236. 
4. Ibid. 
5. Ibid. 
6. Packer, 271. 
7. Piper, Desiring God, 31. 
8. Ibid., 36. 
9. The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Banner of Truth), 1:118. 
10. Harrison, 236. 
11. Ryrie, Transformed By His Glory, 57. 
12. Bavinck, The Doctrine of God, 248. 
13. Charnock, Discourses upon the Existence and Attributes of God, 2:10. 
14. Quoted in Pink, Gleanings in the Godhead, 55. 
15. Charnock, 2:10. 
16. Ibid. 
17. Pink, 47. 
18. Quoted in Ibid. 
19. Pink, 11. 
20. Let us understand this in the most Christian, biblical sense, even as we would understand "Good is good" or "God is love." This is not to be confused with the concept of power or the Force which permeates pantheistic religions, in which all is God and God is all. 
21. Charnock, 2:110. 
22. Ibid., 2:113. 
23. Ibid., 2:114. 
24. Tozer, The Knowledge of the Holy, 111. 
25. Edwards, 1:118. 
26. Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, I.V.1. 
27. Ibid. 
28. Edwards, 1:98, 109. 
29. Ibid., 1:104. 
30. "Firstborn in this passage means that Jesus is 'the preeminent one,' 'the one with supreme dignity,' 'the one who is first in time and rank.'" See Piper, The Pleasures of God, 35- 37. 
31. Ibid., 37. 
32. Pentecost, The Glory of God, 74. 
33. Edwards, 1:110. 
34. This does not deny or belittle Christ's purpose in fulfilling God's plan of redemption, nor that this redemption does indeed glorify God. However, redemption was not Christ's ultimate, supreme purpose. Only the glorification of the Father can hold this position and status with the Son of God, for that is the purpose of the Father Himself - His own glory. 
35. Piper, Pleasures, 31. 
36. P.146. This is volume 1 of The Practical Works of Richard Baxter (Soli Deo Gloria). Those readers who are seeking more meat would do well to read this article. Our limitations prevent us from scratching the surface, much less plumbing the depths of the richness that is there. 
37. Ibid., 146f. 
38. Ibid., 147. 
39. Ibid., 151. 
40. Ibid,146. 
41. Watson, 401. 
42. Baxter, 151. 
43. See Michael Horton, ed., Power Religion, 145. 
44. Watson, 18 

Author 

Dr. Tom Austin is a missionary serving with Mission to the World (PCA) and serves as a professor at Nairobi International School of Theology.