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264 How Are the Christian Scriptures Confirmed by the Peculiar Glory of God?
the Scriptures exhibit and create human lives that embody this peculiar
glory. That peculiar glory is majesty in meekness, strength through
weakness, and deeds of love done with Christ-dependent joy in spite
of mistreatment.
We saw that this astonishing change in the self-exalting human soul
is the light of the world (Matt. 5:14). When Christians live lives of love
in this peculiar spirit, those who see, with the Spirit-given sight, give
glory to the Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16). It is not the good
deeds alone that convince, just as it is not the miracles of Jesus alone
that convinced. It is the peculiar glory of God embedded in the deeds—
and in the miracles—that must be seen. When it is seen, the reality of
God is confirmed.
This new heart of love—expressed with Christ-dependent joy in
spite of mistreatment—is the creation of the Spirit through the word
of God. Love and joy are the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). And love
and joy are the work of the word (1 Tim. 1:5; Gal. 3:5; John 15:11).
The word reveals the Lord Jesus (1 Sam. 3:21), who is the embodiment
of this peculiar glory (2 Cor. 4:4). And as we behold this glory in the
word, we are changed into that image from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18).
One way to understand this chapter would be to see it as the unfolding
of another answer of the Larger Catechism. In answer to the question
about how the Scriptures show themselves to be the word of God,
it also answers, “The Scriptures manifest themselves to be the Word of
God . . . by their light and power to convince and convert sinners, to
comfort and build up believers unto salvation.” Instead of unpacking
these words in detail, I have gone beneath them to the connection they
have with that other answer: “The Scriptures manifest themselves to be
the word of God, by . . . the scope of the whole, which is to give all glory
to God.” My discovery is that the way the Scriptures “convince and
convert and comfort and build up” is by the revelation of the peculiar
glory of God in Christ.
If we wanted to make a book out of this one chapter, we could press
into other Scriptures that exhibit the peculiar glory of Christ in the lives
of believers. For example, we would turn to Philippians 2:5–11 (“Let
this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” v. 5, NKJV); and
1 Peter 2:19–24 (“To this you have been called, because Christ also