It is fitting that we end the year, looking forward to the Christmas holiday, with an issue on soli Deo gloria. Not only do the familiar Christmas carols and stories of angel voices singing "glory" to the Lord remind us of our celebration of the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, but the entire Christmas story is of glory shrouded in weakness and hidden from the powerful. Far from being the triumphant last note of a Christmas cantata, soli Deo gloria is the underlying counterpoint directing our eyes and thoughts thirty-three years into the future when the babe in a manger hangs on a cross. Soli Deo gloria reflects the Reformation's emphasis on a theology of the cross as much as any other sola.
But American Christians, particularly, have rejected the theology of the cross-of glory hidden in meekness, of wisdom revealed through foolishness, of power made powerful in weakness-in favor of a theology of glory that does not worship God so much as it uses God. Reformed pastor and co-host of the White Horse Inn radio show Kim Riddlebarger exposes the folly of so much of our own thinking about God in his piece titled, "Using God."
The question must be asked, however, is it possible for a human to give the transcendent God glory? Does God lack something that only we can provide? What does such thinking do to our understanding of the great distinction between God as Creator and ourselves as creatures? Editor-in-chief and Reformed theologian Michael Horton tackles these questions and takes us to the Old Testament prophet Isaiah for answers-and along the way also gives us an astronomy lesson!
"All this is well and good," you might say, "but, how, exactly, do I give God glory?" We have two answers to that question. The first comes from Gene E. Veith, Lutheran theologian and academic dean at Patrick Henry College, who reveals an often forgotten recovery of Reformation theology-the doctrine of vocation-in "Our Calling and God's Glory." The second answer comes from a group of pastors who sat down recently with Michael Horton to talk about the Christian's service of worship in the corporate worship of the church.
Finishing up our series on the solas, Baptist pastor John Piper takes us back to the Book of Romans and weaves a compelling picture of soli Deo gloria through the epistle, showing how each of the other solas points to the glory of God.
Thank you for keeping time with us this year. I hope you have been encouraged in your faith through our extended series in the solas. Give us a call if you missed an issue, or if you want to give an entire year's worth of back issues-the entire series-to a friend or ministry associate. What's in store next year? Christless Christianity. Six issues tackling topics like race, atheism, new spiritualities, the abandonment of the local church, the risk of orthodoxy, and the challenges to Evangelicalism as we've known it for the last fifty years. You won't want to miss this new series, and you probably know someone who needs to read along with you. So, fill out our gift subscription card and send it in today. We'll add a copy of this issue to your gift, making each gift subscription you send even more valuable.
