To him, glory!

From John Piper To Him Be Glory Forevermore


Romans 16:25-27

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

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Then we hear the angels in Isaiah 6:3 say, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory.” The glory of God is the manifestation of his holiness. God’s holiness is the incomparable perfection and greatness of his divine nature; his glory is the display of that holiness. His glory is the open revelation of the secret of his holiness. In Leviticus 10:3, God says, “I will be shown to be holy among those who are near me, and before all the people I will be glorified.” When God shows himself to be holy, what we see is his glory—the beauty of holiness. The holiness of God is his concealed glory. The glory of God is his revealed holiness.

So here’s my effort at a definition: The glory of God is the infinite beauty and greatness of his manifold perfections.

... what do we mean, for example, in verse 27, when we say, “To God be glory”? In the way Paul wrote it, there is no verb at all. It simply says literally, “To him, glory!” I think the absence of any verb opens the meaning to both a worshipful statement of fact and a worshipful expression of longing. The statement of fact would be: “To him belongs glory!” In other words, we are heralding the truth in worship: God is glorious! Whether you or I see it or not, God has it and displays it.

On the other hand, the expression of longing would be, “May glory be given to him!” That is, may people see him as glorious and praise him as glorious. “Give him glory,” not in the sense of adding anything to his glory, but acknowledging it and treasuring it. So when Paul leaves the verb out and simply says, “To the only wise God, glory!” I think he has both of these in mind: God is glorious! And the longing, the prayer: May all the nations see it and acknowledge it and value it as their highest treasure!


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To him, glory!