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Getting to Know God's SonSample

Getting to Know God's Son

DAY 7 OF 14

Accepting His Deity

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: Living before the face of God

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

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Getting to Know God's Son

14-day devotional from R.C. Sproul on getting to know God's Son. Each devotional calls you to live in the presence of God, under the authority of God, to the glory of God.

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