A Pauline Doxology!
by Pastor Ricky Kurth
by Pastor Ricky Kurth
A doxology is an expression of praise to God that is sometimes
sung as a short hymn. Perhaps the most famous doxology is the Latin hymn
Gloria in excelsis Deo, which is Latin for “Glory to God in the
highest” (Luke 2:14). When I was a boy, I sang this doxology as part of a
Christmas music program at my public school. To help us remember how to
pronounce the title, my music teacher said, “If someone were throwing egg
shells at you, you would naturally cry out, ‘Egg Shells Cease!’” Now
that’s the sign of a good teacher. She helped me remember how to
pronounce a Latin phrase fifty years later!
After confessing to being the chief of sinners (I Tim.
1:15) and discussing the “mercy” and “longsuffering” that the Lord
exhibited in saving him (v. 16), the Apostle Paul naturally broke out in a
doxology all his own!
“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen” (I Timothy 1:17).
In the context, “the King” here must be the
“Him” of the previous verse, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is described as
“eternal” (cf. Micah 5:2) and “immortal,” a word which means to be
incapable of dying. Of course! “Christ being raised from the dead
dieth no more!” (Rom. 6:9). The Lord wasn’t “invisible” when
He was here on earth, but now in Heaven He is invisible in the same sense
as God the Father, who said, “there shall no man see Me, and live”
(Ex. 33:20). But that doesn’t mean our blessed Savior will be
invisible to us when we get to Heaven, for in that day we will have “put
on immortality” (I Cor. 15:53,54), and you will be able to gaze into the
Savior’s face to your heart’s content. He is also “only wise” (cf.
Jude 1:25), but not in the sense that the Father is not also “only
wise” (Rom. 16:27), but only in the sense that He is the only wise God
among the other “gods” mentioned in Scripture (I Cor. 8:5).
When Paul draws this doxology to
a close by insisting that to Him “be honour and glory for ever and
ever,” this brings us full circle back to the reason the apostle began
praising God in the first place, for “worthy is the Lamb that was
slain to receive… honour, and glory” (Rev. 5:12). All of the
Lord’s other attributes are wonderful, but this is the crown jewel of
this and every other doxology.
If you are looking forward to joining the choir who are
singing that doxology, don’t overlook that they are singing it to
“a Lamb as it had been slain” (v. 6). This indicates that the
Lord still bears the open wounds He invited Thomas to touch (John 20:27),
wounds He will bear for all eternity so we never forget the price He paid
for our redemption. It is wonderful to sing of gazing into the face of the
Lord, but it takes our breath away to remember that His face will still be
“marred more than any man” (Isa. 52:14). As Isaac Watts wrote, “Love
so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.”
.A Special Announcement: Transformed by Grace, the new weekly television program produced by the Berean Bible Society, has begun broadcasting across the United States. Visit the Transformed by Grace page on our website to find your local station and time.
(A 10 Minute Video)
.A Special Announcement: Transformed by Grace, the new weekly television program produced by the Berean Bible Society, has begun broadcasting across the United States. Visit the Transformed by Grace page on our website to find your local station and time.
How
God Saves Men
Believing
Christ DIED, that’s HISTORY.
Believing
Christ DIED for YOU SINS and Rose again that’s SALVATION.
Read
Romans 1:16, Romans 10:9-10 and 1. Corinthians 15:1-4
(A 10 Minute Video)
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