Accepting His Deity

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[Gamecock]

In Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17, He says: “And now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (v. 5). Here Jesus alludes to a position He held before creation. It is a tacit claim to His participation in the eternal glory of God.

In the fourth century, the church faced a serious crisis with respect to the deity of Christ. The Arian heretics denied the deity of Christ, claiming that Jesus was a creature who was adopted into a special relationship with God. In their controversy with orthodox Christians, they used ribald and derogatory songs as a method of propaganda.

In response to the Arian attacks, the orthodox Christians composed their own songs, one of which was the Gloria Patri. Note the words of this well-known song:

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen, amen.

In its inception, the Gloria Patri functioned as a type of fight song, a rallying cry for orthodox Christianity. That original function has been lost through the passing of time so that it is now used as a liturgical response. We no longer sense the extraordinary significance of ascribing glory to Christ.

Coram Deo

Try using the Gloria Patri in this reading as a spiritual warfare song. Quote or sing it out loud.

Passages for Further Study

John 17:5 John 17:22 John 17:24

[chajin]

I did not know that the GP was an anti-Arian polemic; that gives it even greater significance to me, even though it was a significant statement to begin with.

[Gamecock]

If some JWs show up on your doorstep you can serenade them with a few notes!

[one Lord one faith one baptism]

pray the Gloria every night and have ever since my parents taught it to me around age 4 or so.
I have amended it the last few years to add after the glory, “Glory, praise, honor and worship........