Sola Series: Soli Deo Gloria (The Glory of God Alone)

“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” - Revelation 4:11

If you’ve been reading these articles, I’m sure you’ve noticed that I end each one with the phrase Solei Deo Gloria. My reasoning behind this is that I want these articles, in some small measure, to bring glory to God.  This is my created purpose, to glorify God.  It is your created purpose as well.  Even more importantly, it is why God saved us from the penalty of our sins. It brought Him glory to do so. Let’s dig into both of these as we examine our final sola, Solei Deo Gloria.

Created for the Glory of God

The very first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks a very important question… “What is the chief end of man?”  In essence, the authors ask what our purpose is in this world.  The answer is, “To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  Humanity was created in God’s image and God-centered, meaning that all of our thoughts and deeds were to be directed towards God, revealing Him and bringing Him glory. Adam’s singular focus prior to the Fall was to serve God and to find His joy and delight in Him.  This was destroyed in the fall and now instead of being God-centered, we are man-centered.  We seek to be in God’s place doing things for our own glory rather than God’s. 

To understand why this is so grievous, we need to acknowledge that God is the highest being there is. In fact, we can take that a bit further than that and say that God is a being so glorious that He is altogether different than us.  God has always been and always will be.  Everything else was created with the purpose of bringing Him glory and God will never do something that does not bring Him glory.  So, this brings up a few questions: Is it egotistical for God to require us to do all for His glory?  Is it wrong for God to only do that which brings Him glory?  No on both accounts.  God, as the quintessentially perfect standard of holiness and glory, would be unholy if He did not seek his own glory because for Him to glorify someone or something else would be an acknowledgment on His part that there was someone or something better and more worthy than He is.  The highest being should never glorify someone else, or else He would no longer be the highest being. 

Some would say that this is egomaniacal on God’s part.  This is merely evidence of our depravity, and serves as proof that in the end, we all want to be our own god.  The problem with us wanting glory is we are less than God.  He gives life (John 1:4), He is before all things and sustains creation (Col. 1:17), and He judges sin (Eccles 12:14). In short, no one is greater than God.  We may be a little lower than the angels and the crowning glory of His creation, but we are still subject to Him because He is our creator.  So, even though there is creation under us in subjection, we still are not God and never will be, therefore He gets all glory, not us.  In all we do, we are to seek to bring glory to God alone.

God Fully Known

Now let us ask, How is God glorified in salvation?  At the cross, we see the fullness of the character of God in that both salvation and judgment have occurred simultaneously.  God is glorified in His justice.  No sin ever goes unpunished or is forgotten by God.  For God to overlook any sin would mean He was lacking in perfect justice.  This is not the case.  All those who are guilty of sin and are unrepentant will face the justified punishment for that sin.  God is glorified in the execution of His justice against the wicked.

However, God is also glorified in His love, grace, and mercy towards the repentant.  Those of us who have put our faith in Christ have no fear of the condemnation of God since Christ has borne that for us at Calvary.  Salvation from sin shows us that God is just to punish sin, thus keeping with the just nature of His character, yet He was merciful and gracious to lay that punishment upon His Son while clothing us in His righteousness, thus keeping with his love and mercy.  Salvation is to the glory of God alone in this manner.  We are not saved out of any obligation of God to us, we are saved because it glorifies Him to do so.

Salvation, however, is not universal, meaning, not all receive it, so the cross is not applied to those who do not repent.  Our salvation is conditional upon such repentance and turning from sin (Matthew 3:2), which we cannot do without God’s help (Romans 3:10-11). So, why then, doesn’t He save all people?  By saving some and choosing to pass over others, we are able to see the fullness of God’s character and praise Him for His mercy.  If all were saved, we would not fully comprehend what exactly it was we were saved from.  This is what makes universalism so dangerous.  It denies the justice of God and encourages lawlessness.  One need not repent according to the universalist gospel. They are free to continue in sin so that God is “glorified” in His showing of grace. This in no way brings God glory.  To the contrary, it robs Him of it.  God’s people are to die to sin precisely because God showed them grace.  If Solei Deo Gloria is true, then our lives must bring God glory.  If we live lives of lawlessness, refusing to die to sin but rather living in it, we do not glorify God and our sins abound.  We forsake our created purpose of glorifying our creator.

Summary

Solei Deo Gloria means we live for the glory of God.  We are centered in Him in our thoughts and our deeds, with the full knowledge that He alone is deserving of glory and honor.  Though we are created in His image, we are still His creation, and He forever remains infinitely greater than us. Our salvation from sin was not out of obligation to us as His creation but for the purpose of His glory.  By saving the repentant God is glorified in His love, mercy, and grace; yet by still punishing the unrepentant, God is glorified in His just dealing with sin.  We know what we have been saved from, and we praise Him for His salvation in Christ.

To close out this series then, we will state it thus: Salvation is by grace alone (Sola Gratia), through faith alone (Sola Fide), in Christ alone (Solus Christus), according to the scriptures alone (Sola Scriptura), to the glory of God alone (Solei Deo Gloria). God be praised!

 Soli Deo Gloria