Journal: Reformation and Revival
Volume: RAR 05:1 (Winter 1996)
Article: Editor’s Introduction
Author: Anonymous

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RAR 5:1 (Winter 1996) p. 9

Editor’s Introduction

When therefore he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him; if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately” (John 13:31–32).

Jesus is now alone with His eleven men. These had remained faithful to Him as real disciples. He opens His heart, more fully than ever before. What He sets before them is His glory! But what a strange thing He says regarding that glory. It is as if the Savior says, “An event will take place on the morrow which, however painful it will be for both you and Me, in reality will be the event in which maximum glory will be brought to Me and My Father!”

Surely J. C. Ryle is right in saying, “There is a dark and mysterious saying here, and we may well believe that the eleven did not understand it.”

What was to happen within hours of this statement? The horrors of the crucifixion would descend upon the person of our Lord. The minds of His disciples would be filled with fear, loneliness, dismay, disappointment, even shame. Only later would this statement recorded by John the Evangelist come home to their minds with clarity and effect.

When I read these poignant and powerful words of my Lord I am struck by four questions, each touching upon the very mystery of the Cross itself.

First, what does Jesus mean here by “glorified?” Five times in the space of two short verses this concept appears. An exegete as capable as Leon Morris refers to this as “a very complicated sentence.” Yet glory is virtually the theme of this fourth gospel. Consider what John writes in 12:23, 27, and 31–32. All are plainly related to this text.

An analysis of this concept in John reveals that glory has three distinct references and two different meanings. The word “glory” (doxa) is related to the ancient word dokeo, meaning “to appear, to seem,” and then later “to hold an opinion of.” It evolved in time to mean “to hold a good opinion

RAR 5:1 (Winter 1996) p. 10

of,” and finally, “to praise, to honor.”

To be orthodox came to mean “to hold a right opinion regarding God.” To describe right opinions regarding God, opinions that were according to the truth of His revelation in the Word, was to worship and praise God correctly. Thomas Watson thus said, “Glory is the sparkling of the Deity.” A. H. Strong, in a statement that at first seems redundant, wrote, “God’s gl...

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