ESSAY
How Mist Gains Weight
POSTED
December 6, 2016

Philip Schaff, a German Reformed theologian, states in The Principle of Protestantism that the material principle of Protestantism is “the doctrine of the justification of the sinner before God by the merit of Christ alone through faith.” This is the core message of the Church which leads “to the abandonment of every fleshly confidence, and a reliance on God’s grace alone.” If this is true, Reformed and Lutheran Christians agree on the matter.

By contrast, F. E. Mayer, a Lutheran theologian, in The Religious Bodies of America claims that “the central and controlling thought of Calvinism is Calvin’s concept of the glory of God. It may also be stated in the form of the question: What must I do for the greater glory of God? . . . For Calvin God is the beginning, the means, the end of everything. This principle prompts Calvin to systematize every phase of theology around the ‘greater glory of God’ concept and to integrate all areas of life – ecclesiastical, cultural, political, social, economic, scientific – with this God-centered concept.” This means that, according to Mayer, the material principle of Calvinism is soli Deo gloria[1] and not sola gratia et sola fide.

Reformed theologians do not undermine the importance of these two principles (sola gratia et sola fide), but they point to the fact that salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, leads to the conclusion that all glory for our salvation belongs to God alone. The same can be said about our good deeds which accompany our salvation. They too are possible only because of the grace bestowed on us by God. So, they too should stimulate us to give all the glory to God, and not to man.

This means that soli Deo gloria is broader than sola gratia et sola fide. It is their culmination and recapitulation. We could say that the principle soli Deo gloria is the teleological principle of Calvinism, i.e., it tell us what is the ultimate purpose of God’s actions and our existence. We exist to glorify God and we can do so only by grace and through faith.

Soli Deo gloria reminds us that the true religion focuses on God, and not on man. We exist thanks to God; we are redeemed thanks to God; we mature in the image of Christ thanks to God; we take dominion over the creation thanks to God. And we live and act for His greater glory. It means that in Christianity there is no place for any anthropocentrism, for vain human glory, for any boasting, for trust put into human abilities.

History teaches us what happens when we elevate man above God. Atheistic humanism does exactly this. And one of the children of atheistic humanism is Marxism. We know what happened when the Bolsheviks tried to implement Marxism. The Bolshevik revolution started under some very impressive slogans – liberty, justice, brotherhood. But it brought only calamity, dehumanization of man, collapse of society, death. We should never forget it lest we repeat the same mistake again and again. So, it is either soli Deo gloria or total calamity, either New Jerusalem or the City of Cain.

Some people say that because Reformed theology concentrates on the glory of God, it leads to a depreciation of human dignity or potential. Is this claim justified? Not at all. On many occasions, the apostle Paul says that he boasts in his weakness because it highlights the power of God. He boasts in Jesus Christ because He is his only Savior. He boasts in the Christian hope and the Gospel message because the desires of the human heart are corrupted by sin. He even boasts in his accomplishments but immediately adds that he would not have been able to accomplish any good without the grace of God.

Yes, we are passive recipients of the saving grace when we are graciously reconciled with God in Jesus Christ. But the same grace makes us active followers of our Lord. Thanks to this grace the image of our Creator is renewed in us so that we can grow in His likeness and go back to the original call which we as mankind have received from God: to take dominion over the creation and to fill it with the glory of God.

In Christ, we can sing Psalm 8 as a description of our dignity: “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” This isn’t depreciation of humanity but its glorification.

In dogmatic categories, we can say that justification leads to sanctification, and sanctification leads to glorification. God reconciles us with Him so that we can partake in His glory, which is the only true glory. The first question of the Shorter Westminster Catechism is: “What is the chief end of man?” And the answer is: “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” In other words, only when we focus on God and glorify Him, we can also find true joy and happiness.

On the other hand, if we focus on ourselves and try to glorify ourselves, then we lose not only any hope of glory but also any joy and happiness. If we strive for glory, then we must forget about our glory and become anxious about the glory of God. Only then God will bestow on us His glory. If we remember this pattern, then we will be protected against self-admiration and egocentrism.

As David VanDrunen observed in God’s Glory Alone: The Majestic Heart of Christian Faith and Life, a good medicine against vainglory and selfish boastfulness is Luther’s theology of the Cross. According to Luther, a person who wants to see God in His glory should look at the Cross. The glory of God was revealed in the suffering of His Son. If we want to know God and share in His glory, we must follow Christ and carry our crosses, remembering the admonition: “Let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured” (Hebrews 13:13). For us, as for Jesus, the cross is the only way to glory, but precisely this is foolishness for human reason.

Luther protested what he called “theology of glory” because he perceived it as a wrong and a catastrophic way to seek God and His glory. Theologians of glory believe that they can get to know God thanks to their reason. Luther claimed, however, that unless God Himself takes the initiative and reveals Himself in a way chosen by Him, then we cannot get to know Him truly and we cannot draw near to Him. This means that even the way God reveals Himself deprives us of any illusion that we control our relationship with God; that we oversee it. Theology of glory, says Luther, is just another example of human arrogance. Theology of the Cross, on the other hand, encourages us to adopt an attitude of humility and gratitude.

God, of course, fascinates us in His majesty. He is the One who, what is not, calls into being; who looks down even on Heaven; who leads out the stars of Zodiac in due time; who makes a barren woman a mother of plenty; who dresses the lilies in a way which makes even king Salomon envious; from whose presence earth and sky flee away. God also fascinates us in His mercy. He is the One who upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down; who scatters the proud and brings down the mighty; who exalts the humble and fills the hungry with good things.

But if we want to get to know God in His glory, we need to look first at the cursed tree, the wounded Son, the crucified Lord of glory. The cross is the only key to a true perception of the glory of God. If we want to glorify God and rejoice in Him forever, we must humble ourselves and doubt in ourselves and seek salvation only in the shame of the cross. If we skip the Cross, then our knowledge of God will be distorted in a very crucial way, and we will not mature into the likeness of God who revealed His glory in the passion of Christ but instead we will become more and more conformed to the image of a god whose pursuit of glory does not allow for humility and sacrifice.

The principle soli Deo gloria finds its special expression in the Lord’s service which culminates in Eucharist, which means Thanksgiving, and in Communion, which means Fellowship.

First, Christ invites us to His table and assures us of His forgiveness and reconciliation whereby He returns to us the glory which we have fallen short of because of sin. Later He comes to us in His Word and gives us the gift of wisdom. In the end, He feeds us with His body and blood so that we can have abundant life. At every stage of a covenant renewal worship service we receive grace after grace, but in the end we realize that it is not so much an abstract grace which we receive but Christ Himself. And then the only suitable answer is gratitude which is giving to God His due glory. And we do this not to gain His favor, but in reaction to His favor which we have received in Christ by His sacrificial death.

At the Lord’s Table, we also become a fellowship, a holy society, a communion of saints who share in the life of the Trinity. This means that not only can we glorify God for His goodness, justice, and mercy but also rejoice in Him and by doing so taste the eternity. And we taste the eternity not only in a symbolic way but in a very real way. Because when we meet around the Table of the Lord, we join myriads upon myriads of angels and saints gathered in Heaven around the Throne of God and singing: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12).

And after we have tasted the eternity, God sends us back to our everyday duties. And we can fulfill them knowing that we glorify God in them, too. “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31), says Paul. We can glorify God not only during the Lord’s Service but also at home, at school, at work. This means that there is something glorious in the most mundane and basic actions if we do them to the glory of God. We praise God not only when we sing Psalms, but also when we change diapers. In this way, the principle soli Deo gloria not only liberates us from vainglory and arrogance but also leads us on the way to true, salvific glory.

Because we are like mist, like a feather in the wind, and our glory is like grass which quickly withers and passes by, therefore we need something much more solid to imprint any lasting meaning on our life and actions. Only when we base our life on God, only when we seek God’s glory and His mercy, only then our life gains on weight and significance. God’s glory is like frost which solidifies the mist we are and turns it into hard, crystalline rime.


Bogumil Jarmulak, a Pastor in Poznan, Poland, is Presiding Minister of Anselm Presbytery in the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches.


[1] The phrase soli Deo gloria comes from 1st Timothy 1:17: “To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.” In Latin, the last part of this verse contains the words: soli Deo honor et gloria.

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