What Is Glory?- The First Definition

Glory seems to be one of those words we use often but give little thought to. But if glory has something to do with our chief end, if all glory is due to God alone, and if God does everything for His own glory, we ought to give the definition of glory some consideration.

There are two ways in which glory is typically used. One way is to refer to glory as something like an attribute of God. God’s attributes include his omniscience (knowledge of all things), omnipotence (power over all things), and immutability (consistency- God never changes).

Glory is like these attributes in that God has always been and will always be glorious. His glory is in a perfect state. He can neither lose glory nor have more glory than he already has. If God had no glory, He would not be God, so it is essential to his nature.

Glory, however, is not technically an attribute of God, but rather the summation of all His attributes. He is glorious because He is omniscient, omnipotent, and immutable. Especially since this series is a focused study on the last of the five “Solas” of the Reformation, it may be helpful for us to look at how some of the Reformers described glory:

Herman Venema – Glory “denotes all those perfections which render him infinitely superious to all other beings.” It is the “excellent estimation by which one is preferred before others.”

Edward Leigh- Glory is the “manifestation and shining forth of Excellency.”

Thomas Watson- “Glory is the sparkling of the Deity; it is so co-natural to the Godhead, that God cannot be God without it.”

Two of these quotes include visual imagery: shining and sparkling. These allude to another aspect of this sort of glory: radiance. When God’s glory is manifested visually, it is often described as some sort of shining radiance.

Exodus 34:29-35

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

34 Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Ezekiel 1

4 As I looked, behold, a stormy wind came out of the north, and a great cloud, with brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, as it were gleaming metal. 

13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of torches moving to and fro among the living creatures. And the fire was bright, and out of the fire went forth lightning. 14 And the living creatures darted to and fro, like the appearance of a flash of lightning.

22 Over the heads of the living creatures there was the likeness of an expanse, shining like awe-inspiring crystal, spread out above their heads.

26 And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. 27 And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaming metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. 28 Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.

Here we have two examples of God’s glory manifested with descriptions of radiant brilliance. In the case of Moses, we understand that God’s glory is so radiant that it even caused Moses’ face to become radiant. And Moses did not see the fullness of God’s glory, but merely the “back side” of it as the Lord passed by.

There are some similarities between God’s glory and the sun. We have never actually seen the sun, but only its atmosphere that sends radiant beams of light in our direction. It is this light that gives the sun its visual splendor. Similarly, the visual splendor of God is his glory. When we are exposed to the sun for too long, we begin to reflect some of its radiance. Some of us turn to a bright red. Similarly, Moses’ exposure to God’s glory caused him to reflect some of God’s radiance.

So the first definition of glory is simply the summation of God’s perfect attributes manifested visually as shining radiance.