DAY 22- 3/22/17- SOLI DEI GLORIA- GLORY TO
GOD ALONE The Singleness of Glory
“Soli Deo honor et Gloria” (Vulgate translation of 1 Tim. 1:17)- “Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever and ever Amen.”
Some translate Soli Dei Gloria as “Glory
to the only God.” In some parts of animistic
African Religion (and American voodoo) there are many gods who receive growing
ranks of glory until the most glory goes to the invisible creator God. In Roman Catholicism and to a lesser degree
in eastern orthodoxy there are differing ranks of glory going to saints and
especially to Mary. The Second Council
of Nicea spoke of three different levels of glory: 1) the latria that glorifies
and adores the Trinity; 2) the Hyperdulia that glorifies Mary; 3) the dulia
that glorifies the other saints. Ironically
when the angel came to Mary to tell her she would have a son you see her
tremendous humility and she said, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior” (Lk. 1:46).
The problem is when we start spreading the glory around to others
(instead of to God alone) that we can easily slip (consciously or
subconsciously) into praying to, worshiping these other saints as if they were
god, demi-gods, or mediators between us and God. But there is only one mediator between us and
God (1 Tim. 2:5) and that is Jesus Christ.
When we try to take the glory that is due to God and give it to another-
it diminishes the honor that is due Him.
So the first two commandments say, “You shall have no other gods before
me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven
above or the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to
them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God...(Dt.
5:7,8).
No comments:
Post a Comment