When Martin Luther talked about a ‘theology of glory,’ he wasn’t talking about the glory of God or when believers honor and exalt the Lord. Luther was talking about man-made glory which focuses on the self. It’s a mentality of “I’ll make something of myself. What humanity lost in the garden, I can recover by living a glorious life.”
The church codified this lie in the prosperity movement, saying that believers can have glory through materialism. Claim that new house, new car, better job, success — whatever you claim and how it brings you glory proves that you have God’s blessing. Luther foresaw this mentality of self-glory in the church. It’s not that we want to sit here and point fingers at the prosperity movement, though, just because most of us are probably not in that movement.
There’s another type of theology of glory we often see in the church today, and it’s one that we’ve probably been touched by at some point. It’s the glory in our churches. Again, this is not the glory of God’s presence coming, but rather it’s a frame of mind that says, “I want my church to be a venerated place, a place of glory that awes people because my pastor is really impressive” or if we’re a church leader, “I want the glory of leading a really great church. I want the name of my church to be known because it’s a hip place to go.” The focus of the church shifts from God to people, and it seeps out in teachings that are more pop-psychology than scripture. The teachings become more about affirmations that people are worthy and wonderful, and people stop talking about how we’re sinners desperately in need of God’s grace.
Luther said that the only way to true glory is to go to the cross, take up each of our own crosses, and to suffer and die with Christ. It doesn’t end there, though; that would be pretty hopeless. The theology of the cross points to the resurrection and eternal glory in God’s presence.
The glory in this theology is Christ’s, not our own. “We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way…always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10, ESV).