The Pathway to Glory
Is the concept of glorification an opiate for the lots? Karl Marx would have thought so. He argued that faith leads the believer to concentrate on the prospect of the world to come back and to neglect this one. He famously wrote: “Faith is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the center of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless situations. It’s the opium of the individuals.”1 He described heaven as a fantasy.2 That is the proverbial “pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die” mentality, to borrow a line from a track written by Joe Hill in 1911. Hill was an activist for organized labor. His track parodies the well-known Christian hymn “Within the Candy By-and-By.” Nonetheless, as we will see, the biblical testimony is that the method of glorification has already begun on this life. Furthermore, as we will additionally see, the prospect of glory supplies motivation to dwell a godly life within the right here and now. The prospect of the world to come back ought to lead believers to service on this one. Moreover, glorification as a course of and a prospect is a piece of the triune God. It’s a gospel profit.
Two Paradoxes of Glorification
There are two paradoxes to contemplate relating to glorification and our expertise in following Christ. The primary has to do with the outer and the internal. As we now have seen, the apostle Paul conceived of glorification as starting within the right here and now: from one diploma of glory to the subsequent (2 Cor. 3:18). This can be a matter of religion, not sight. I’m now not a younger man. To have a look at me isn’t to have a look at an excellent being. Paul knew the reality of the paradox and the Christian’s want for encouragement. He wrote to the Corinthians: “So we don’t lose coronary heart. Although our outer self [lit. “the outward humanity”] is losing away, our internal self [lit. “our inward”] is being renewed daily” (2 Cor. 4:16–18). Nonetheless, Paul lived within the mild of eternity, and so he went on to jot down: “For this mild momentary affliction is getting ready for us an everlasting weight of glory past all comparability, as we glance to not the issues which can be seen however to the issues which can be unseen. For the issues which can be seen are transient, however the issues which can be unseen are everlasting” (2 Cor. 4:17–18).
On this addition to the Brief Research in Systematic Theology collection, Graham A. Cole examines the idea of divine glory in addition to God’s plan for redeeming particular person believers, the church, and the universe.
Becket Prepare dinner, a Hollywood set designer, skilled a dramatic conversion from homosexual atheist to religious follower of Christ. He nonetheless wrestles with same-sex attraction, however for him the prospect of an everlasting weight of glory greater than compensates for the needs rightly left unfulfilled. He writes: “These verses [2 Cor. 4:17–18] are all the time a salve to the soul after I wrestle with temptation. (Sure, I nonetheless do!) . . . It’s onerous to fathom the everlasting weight of glory, however I do know it’s infinitely extra gratifying than any ephemeral pleasure on this earth.”3
The second paradox is that although we might be reworked from one diploma of glory to the subsequent, we might also expertise nice struggling at the exact same time. Actually, the trail to glory is Christomorphic—that’s to say, Christ-shaped. Christ suffered because the Son of Man earlier than coming into his glory, and he warned his disciples that struggling can be their expertise too. Within the higher room, he spoke plainly: “Keep in mind the phrase that I mentioned to you: ‘A servant isn’t higher than his grasp.’ In the event that they persecuted me, they will even persecute you. In the event that they saved my phrase, they will even maintain yours” (John 15:20). The apostle Peter understood his Grasp’s level: “And after you may have suffered a short while, the God of all grace, who has known as you to his everlasting glory in Christ, will himself restore, verify, strengthen, and set up you” (1 Pet. 5:10).
The prime instance of a believer treading that path is the apostle Paul, and out of all his letters, his second letter to the Corinthians is most revelatory of the private price he skilled in following Christ. It’s placing that Paul despaired of life itself, such was his despair at one juncture. He wrote:
“For we don’t need you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we skilled in Asia. For we had been so completely burdened past our energy that we despaired of life itself. Certainly, we felt that we had obtained the sentence of loss of life” (2 Cor. 1:8–9). Even so, as a person of religion, he understood the lesson of such an expertise: “However that was to make us rely not on ourselves however on God who raises the useless” (2 Cor. 1:9). Later in the identical letter, Paul offers a extra granular delineation of what his apostolic sufferings entailed. His purpose is to undermine the declare of some who had been troubling the Corinthians, lecturers who had been asserting their superiority over Paul.
However no matter anybody else dares to boast of—I’m talking as a idiot—I additionally dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I’m a greater one—I’m speaking like a madman—with far higher labors, much more imprisonments, with numerous beatings, and sometimes close to loss of life. 5 instances I obtained by the hands of the Jews the forty lashes much less one. 3 times I used to be crushed with rods. As soon as I used to be stoned. 3 times I used to be shipwrecked; an evening and a day I used to be adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, at risk from rivers, hazard from robbers, hazard from my very own individuals, hazard from Gentiles, hazard within the metropolis, hazard within the wilderness, hazard at sea, hazard from false brothers; in toil and hardship, by means of many a sleepless evening, in starvation and thirst, typically with out meals, in chilly and publicity. And, other than different issues, there’s the day by day stress on me of my anxiousness for all of the church buildings. (2 Cor. 11:21–28)
And but, as we now have seen, he might additionally write in the identical letter:
So we don’t lose coronary heart. Although our outer self is losing away, our internal self is being renewed daily. For this mild momentary affliction is getting ready for us an everlasting weight of glory past all comparability, as we glance to not the issues which can be seen however to the issues which can be unseen. (2 Cor. 4:16–18)
Given this second paradox, there is no such thing as a place for Pollyannaism in critical discipleship.4 Prosperity-gospel educating seems quite a bit like Pollyannaism. I recall being instructed that the King’s youngsters journey firstclass. Actually? John the Baptist was imprisoned and subsequently beheaded (Mark 6:14–29), Jesus died on a cross in an incredibly merciless type of execution (Mark 15:21–39), and Paul wrote of his excessive struggling as an apostle (2 Cor. 12:1–10). And but, Jesus endured the cross within the mild of the enjoyment that lay past it (Heb. 12:2). There’s an everlasting weight of glory forward, however “forward” is the important thing concept. To anticipate greater than the Bible guarantees is to fall into over-realized eschatology, as if we’re in heaven now, which clearly we’re not.
The prospect of glory doesn’t depart the believer indolent in regards to the current.
Prospect, Course of, and Service
The prospect of glory doesn’t depart the believer indolent in regards to the current. Marx was mistaken a couple of strong biblical religion. Nonetheless, he might have been proper in regards to the sort of cultural Christianity he witnessed round him. We’re a individuals in course of, as we now have seen in Paul’s second Corinthian letter. Paul once more factors the best way on this query. In Colossians 3:1–4 he argues:
If then you may have been raised with Christ, search the issues which can be above, the place Christ is, seated on the proper hand of God. Set your minds on issues which can be above, not on issues which can be on earth. For you may have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who’s your life seems, you then additionally will seem with him in glory.
Paul locations the heavenly actuality squarely in entrance of the Colossians, and the verbs “search” (Col. 3:1) and “set” (Col. 3:2) are vital. His rationale lies in our union with Christ, for we now have died with him in some sense and now dwell in him (Col. 3:3). The prospect of glory with Christ is the ensuing promise (Col. 3:4). All this would possibly recommend that Marx was proper.
Nonetheless, Paul continues the argument with a clothes metaphor. In so doing, he reveals that to hunt the issues above and to set one’s thoughts on issues above have penalties for this life. Douglas Moo is true to remark, “Believers ‘search the issues above’ by intentionally and day by day committing ourselves to the values of the heavenly kingdom and dwelling out of these values.”5 However how precisely is that this to be carried out? The previous self is to be postpone like a garment with its sinful practices (Col. 3:9). Paul offers fairly an inventory of vices (Col. 3:5–9): sexual immorality, impurity, ardour, evil need, covetousness, anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene speak. Positively, the Colossians are to placed on a brand new garment of godly virtues (Col. 3:12–14): compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, persistence, and, above all, love. Importantly, Paul argues that this pushing aside and placing on flows from the heavenly dimension and prospect. The important thing phrase is “subsequently,” present in Colossians 3:5: “Put to loss of life subsequently [Greek, oun] what’s earthly in you.” The phrase is used once more when Paul turns to the godly virtues in Colossians 3:12: “Placed on then [Greek, oun], as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and persistence.” This reveals that in Paul’s thoughts there’s a logical connection between Colossians 3:1–4 and what follows.
The prospect of glory isn’t any opiate. Marx was mistaken.
Notes:
- Karl Marx, introduction to “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Proper,” Marxist Web Archive, https://www.marxists.org/, accessed November 8, 2019.
- Marx, introduction.
- Becket Prepare dinner, A Change of Affection: A Homosexual Man’s Unbelievable Story of Redemption (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2019), 148.
- Pollyannaism is an unrealistic optimism within the face of adversity.
- Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, The Pillar New Testomony Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2008), 246.
This text is tailored from Glorification: An Introduction by Graham A. Cole.
Associated Articles