John 5: 41a
” I do not accept glory from human beings…“
What is glory? What is Jesus talking about that he will not accept from human beings? And what kind of man talks about “human beings” as if they were something other than what he himself is? Here again, we have a peek into the deity of Jesus in eight simple words.
But what is glory? Clearly, it is not the same thing as praise, because God does accept praise from human beings.
Q: What do you think “glory” means?
Praise and honor which only God is worthy to receive. I don’t understand, “because God does accept praise from human beings.” Doesn’t the Word admonish us to praise Him and tell us He inhabits the praise of His people?
Hi Norah,
Thank you for joining in!
Yes, we are to praise our Lord! Psalm 150 is a wonderful testimony to that truth. Jesus says he does not accept “glory” from people. This is a case where a word has multiple meanings. In the original Greek text, doxa means, “opinion, judgment, view” among other things. Using that sense of the word, glory, one could understand Jesus to be saying, ‘I do not submit to the opinion, judgment or views of people.’
To put the topic in a different light, let’s look at the opposite of the word, “glory,” shame. (We humans are probably more familiar with this than we are of the concept of ‘glory’ :-)) If a person does something wrong and then realizes what they have done is wrong, they feel shame. This is an internal process. The shame felt is inherent in the act of doing something shameful. However, let’s say that someone else comes along and points out that what that person did was shameful. If the first person, the one who did the shameful act cares about the opinion of the second person, then they acceptthe judgment of that person and feel shame. However, let’s say that the first person who committed the shameful act feels no shame and does not care what the second person thinks. Then they do not accept the judgment of that person and they feel no shame.
In a similar way (but opposite, of course) when Jesus does what is right and good, there is glory associated with what he does. He does not need man to tell him that what he has done is good.
I hope this helps!
LOL . . I should never write anything after the morning is over. I misread your statement. I hope to be here more often after getting settled. And BTW, moving got put off until the 15, Lord willing.
My concordance reads,.. 1) honor; praise 2) a source of pride or worthiness
So my answer is a source of pride or worthiness,..I would imagine the reason why He doesn’t accept glory from humans is because we are worthless with out Him,..we need Him in order to give Him glory,..He doesn’t need us therefore He doesn’t accept it from us because it’s all His anyway,..He is a jealous God and a prideful one too,..because it is all about Him,..He doesn’t need us but He loves us and wants us to give Him the glory He sooo deserves. Amazing to think that we don’t deserve any glory but we do get to share in His,..keep smiling!
When I ask myself, what is the difference between Gods Holiness and Gods Glory, so I come up with only God is Holy which is His Glory. Our bible speaks over and over how we glorify God when we allow Jesus Christ to be seen in us, the good works of Christ are a visible display of Gods Glory. Gods Holiness. Jesus came to glorify God, live a holy life, be without blemish and an acceptable sacrifice for our sins, why would He accept anything defined as glory by men?