Communicable Attributes of God: Glory on High
Updated: Jun 21
The attributes of God are divided into two categories: incommunicable and communicable. Incommunicable are the attributes that God does not share and communicable attributes of God are those that He shares to be understood and studied. Just like with revealing part of His glory to Moses (and even Moses had to hide behind a rock and not look when God's glory passed by due to God's greatness), He allows parts of His plans and reasonings to be understood.
The communicable attributes (glory, purpose, mental reasoning, morality) of God have been revealed to mankind (through critical exegesis study of the Bible, not through eisegesis ways of false prophecy outside of Scripture).
Although we have the complete canon of Scripture, we do not know the wholeness of God (after all, who can understand the whole mind of Christ?). However, our canon of Scripture revealed to us explains key characteristics that God has allowed us to understand and study to defend the faith. This post will focus on the glory aspect of God with scripture references.
Glory on High
"Glory" defined biblical highly relies on the context of the word. In the Bible, it is used in several contexts. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word "kabod" is used to illustrate that glory has weight and is interchangeable with honor and praise.
Natural objects: Acts 22:11
Human beings
Joseph's glory and his position in Egypt: Genesis 45:13, Psalm 21:5
Heavenly bodies: Acts 22:11, 1 Corinthians 15:41
God: Exodus 16:10, Isaiah 40:5, Numbers 14:22
This list is not exhaustive. You get the point. For the sake of the Godly attributes, we'll delve into glory defined applied to God.
God's glory is something that appears, is revealed to saints more extensively and to nonbelievers that God calls and converts (such as like Paul), and can be seen sparingly when God chooses to allow it to be seen (like with Moses).
"This is also a more fundamental sense in which God has glory prior to any external manifestation of it." Bible Study Tools, "Glory" article, Salem Web Network
"Glory" defined means to "give weight to, honor" (Holman Bible Dictionary)
For a more in-depth look at the meaning of glory, see Holman Bible Dictionary in their article "Glory" and Bible Study Tools at their article.
The most important thing to note is that God's glory was consistent before time and it will be consistent until the end of time. He is seated on high and is the beginning and end of glory.
Scripture References
"I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols" (Isaiah 42:8, ESV).
"I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed" (John 17:4-5, ESV).
"And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high" (Hebrews 1:3, NASB)
For more on God's attributes, see the following articles.
Pursuing Holiness
The God of Perfect Holiness
Attributes of God
Through the Valleys
There are several more biblical scripture referencing God's glory. Below is a sermon by Paul Washer and David Platt on the glory of God.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2j19SOVZ_k8
Paul Washer's sermon, "For the Glory of God: Part 1"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4JbkvEt-lk
David Platt's sermon, "The Glory of God, the Lostness of Man"
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