Systematic Theology (Volume 2 of 3)Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Religion
Systematic Theology (Volume 2 of 3)
Strong, Augustus Hopkins
Baptists -- Doctrines; Theology, Doctrinal
(_d_) _Ps. 143:11_—“_In thy righteousness bring my soul out of
trouble_”; _Ez. 36:21, 22_—“_I do not this for your sake ... but
for mine holy name_”; _39:7_—“_my holy name will I make known_”;
_Rom. 9:17_—to Pharaoh: “_For this very purpose did I raise thee
up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be
published abroad in all the earth_”; _22, 23_—“_riches of his
glory_” made known in vessels of wrath, and in vessels of mercy;
_Eph. 3:9, 10_—“_created all things; to the intent that now unto
the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be
made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God._” See
Godet, on Ultimate Design of Man; “God in man and man in God,” in
Princeton Rev., Nov. 1880; Hodge, Syst. Theol., 1:436, 535, 565,
568. _Per contra_, see Miller, Fetich in Theology, 19, 39-45,
88-98, 143-146.
Since holiness is the fundamental attribute in God, to make himself, his
own pleasure, his own glory, his own manifestation, to be his end in
creation, is to find his chief end in his own holiness, its maintenance,
expression, and communication. To make this his chief end, however, is not
to exclude certain subordinate ends, such as the revelation of his wisdom,
power, and love, and the consequent happiness of innumerable creatures to
whom this revelation is made.
God’s glory is that which makes him glorious. It is not something
without, like the praise and esteem of men, but something within,
like the dignity and value of his own attributes. To a noble man,
praise is very distasteful unless he is conscious of something in
himself that justifies it. We must be like God to be
self-respecting. Pythagoras said well: “Man’s end is to be like
God.” And so God must look within, and find his honor and his end
in himself. Robert Browning, Hohenstiel-Schwangau: “This is the
glory, that in all conceived Or felt or known, I recognize a Mind,
Not mine but like mine,—for the double joy Making all things for
me, and me for Him.” Schurman, Belief in God, 214-216—“God
glorifies himself in communicating himself.” The object of his
love is the exercise of his holiness. Self-affirmation conditions
self-communication.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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