The Word of God and the Glory of God — Reformed Systematic Theology

The Word of God reveals the glory of God for the worship of God. The goal of his commandments is that you may “fear the Lord thy God” (Deut. 6:2). Meditation on the law leads the saints to praise the righteous Lawgiver and Savior (Ps. 119:7, 54, 62, 164, 171). God is glorified when good news is preached to the poor (Isa. 61:1–3). Jesus taught the true doctrine God gave him, for Christ sought the glory of the One who sent him (John 7:16–18). Christ’s work was to glorify God on earth as he manifested God’s name and made God’s Word known to God’s people (17:4, 6). The call of missions is to “declare his glory among the heathen, his wonders among all people. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised: he is to be feared above all gods” (Ps. 96:3–4).

The Holy Spirit illumines our understanding to see God’s wondrous glory in the Word (Ps. 119:18). The “light of the knowledge of the glory of God” revealed in “Jesus Christ” breaks forth in our dark hearts (2 Cor. 4:6). Seeing his glory, we then give him glory. Glorifying God begins with faith. When we are “strong in faith” in God’s promises, we are “giving glory to God” (Rom. 4:20). Having believed what the Lord has made known, and knowing that he alone has brought salvation to his people in fulfilment of his covenant, we rejoice and sing praise to God, and we call all mankind to sing with us (Ps. 98:1–4).

Therefore, our consideration of effectual calling returns us to the spiritual essence of theology.¹See chap. 2. of Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 1: Revelation and God by Joel R. Beeke and Paul M. Smalley William Ames said, “Theology is the doctrine of living to God. . . . Men live to God when they live in accord with the will of God, to the glory of God, and with God working in them.”²Ames, The Marrow of Theology, 1.1.1, 6 (77). John Owen wrote, “The ultimate end of true theology is the celebration of the praise of God, and His glory and grace in the eternal salvation of sinners.”³Owen, Biblical Theology, 6.4 (619).

We begin praising him even as we await the full display of glory, for the victory of Christ is sure. God’s Word is the instrument by which he will glorify himself in the salvation of his people (Isa. 55:10–13). Though we preachers may be bound and silenced, the Word of God cannot be bound or silenced (2 Tim. 2:9). Calvin wrote to the king of France, “Indeed, we are quite aware of what . . . lowly little men we are. . . . But our doctrine must tower unvanquished above all the glory and above all the might of the world, for it is not of us, but of the living God and his Christ whom the Father has appointed to ‘rule from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the ends of the earth’ [Ps. 72:8].”⁴Calvin, Institutes, “Prefatory Address to King Francis I of France,” sec. 2. The Word of the Lord cannot fail, and therefore Christ cannot fail, and that is our great hope.

Excerpt from
Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 1: Revelation and God
By Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley