Glory and Love

The cardinal command of Scripture is to love God, best expressed in Deuteronomy 6:5, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your might.” A parallel imperative, though not as succinctly stated, is to glorify God. Romans 15:5-6 reflects this, “Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Most of us strive to both love God and glorify His name, but we tend to think of these as somewhat separate obligations—they’re both commanded of us, but are they necessarily related beyond that?

 In our church small group last week, we had an impromptu discussion about the nature of intimacy with God and why He desires it. This got me thinking about God’s ultimate concern for His glory, specifically, asking this question: “Why, if God is primarily concerned with His glory, does He place so much emphasis on love and relationship—why do I matter to Him in the grand scheme of things?”

To answer that, we need to understand what Scripture means by “glory.” First of all, it is a frequently used term, occurring 300+ times, the majority of which refer to glory as something belonging to (or owed to) God.

In the Old Testament, the key Hebrew term translated “glory” is kâbôd, literally meaning “weight,” but figuratively “splendor, greatness, or glory.” The verb derived from kâbôd, kâbad (usually translated as “glorify”), literally means “to be or to make heavy,” figuratively “to promote or glorify.” A few other terms translated glory, like hâdâr, hôwd, ts ^ebîy, and tiph’ârâh refer more to the beauty and ornate majesty of God than to His inherent being, and the verb hâlal means “to boast” (as God “glories” in Himself, or one might “glory” in God’s power).

So, God’s glory is his “weight”—the very substance or “is-ness” of the Creator of the universe who is undeniably present. From this, to glorify God means to “give Him weight” by treating Him as if He matters supremely, living in the reality of His presence, and zealously defending and promoting His reputation. The idea of weight in this sense reminds me of the physics term “mass”. The sun has a mass which is great enough to hold eight planets and a host of other objects, some over a billion miles away, in its gravitational field and compel them to rotate around it. In the same way, God’s glory—His “mass”—is the focal point of all creation, physical and spiritual.

The translators of the Septuagint used the Greek word dŏxa (from dŏkĕō: “to seem, to be of reputation”), meaning “diginity, glory, honor, praise, or worship,” to convey kâbôd. The Greek notion of glory was more one of social standing, less “earthy” and more regal than the Hebrew term. The New Testament follows that pattern, using dŏxa to refer to God’s inherent glory. Accordingly, the verb dŏxazō, meaning “to render glorious, glorify, or magnify,” is most often translated as “glorify” (as in Rom. 15:6 above).

The New and Old Testament concepts of glory are more alike than they are different, like two sides of the same coin. God’s glory is an amalgam of His unique, eternal, powerful, substance and His unassailable standing as the King of kings and Lord of lords. We are both commanded and designed to reflect His glory through worship and actively promoting His name throughout the whole earth.

God’s glory is clearly something great, but knowing that doesn’t necessarily bring us any closer to answering the initial question of why He commands us to love and glorify Him. I have a hunch, however, that the solution is that it is impossible to do one and not the other.

If God’s fundamental desire and right is for His glory (reputation) to be spread far and wide so that His glory (essential being) is known by the greatest number of people, what is necessary to fulfill His will? The second half of that equation, knowing His glory, sounds a lot like loving Him; the first half seems like a parallel to evangelism. This would mean, then, that for God to receive the full measure of the glory due Him, He has commissioned His followers (i.e., those who love Him with heart, soul, and might) to proclaim His presence, power, holiness, and plan for redemption to all nations (Ps. 67; Matt. 28:19) so that an ever-growing throng comes to love Him with heart, soul, and might.

This expands our understanding of God’s glory from something abstract to the very concrete reality of who He is and to what He has called us. He has drawn us into His “orbit” by His power and for His grand design of magnifying His name through the creation of the world and the redemption of mankind through the gift of His son. He has charged us with telling and retelling that story, paving the way for His Spirit to draw more and more people to love and obey Him.

God is passionate for His glory, which means that He is passionate for relationship with us. His ultimate glory is having as many people as possible living in intimacy with Him. The command to love God is the command to glorify Him—they’re inseparable. Obviously, God’s greatest glory will only be fully expressed in heaven, but what a glory it will be.

“And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation….’ Then I looked, and heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing.’ And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, ‘To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever’” (Rev. 5:9; 11-13).

The Westminster Shorter Catechism had it right all along: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” It doesn’t say “chief ends”—to glorify God is to enjoy (i.e. love and relate to) Him, and to enjoy Him is to glorify Him. “Glorifying God” is not a vague synonym for right living and Christian piety; it is intensely personal and requires the fullest measure of our passion to proclaim His name.

It turns out, then, that God wants us to love Him so much because relationship with Him is the foundation stone of the worship and reputation He deserves. This puts the story of creation, fall, and redemption in perspective—God made us for His glory! Obedience to His commands to love and glorify Him is the fulfillment of our created purpose. That certainly puts a new spin on what it means to “have a relationship with God,” doesn’t it? To Him be the glory.

Justin Lonas is editor of Disciple Magazine