“Question 2: What is it to glorify God, or in what does it consist?
Answer: Glorifying of God consists in four things: appreciation, adoration, affection, and subjection. This is the yearly rent we pay to the crown of heaven.
First, glorifying God consists of appreciation. To glorify God is to set God highest in our thoughts, to have a venerable esteem of Him. “Thou, Lord, art most high for evermore” (Ps. 92:8). “Thou art exalted far above all gods” (Ps. 97:9).
There is in God all that may draw forth both wonder and delight. There is in Him a constellation of all beauties. He is prima causa, the original and springhead of being who sheds a glory upon the creature.
This is to glorify God, when we are God-admirers. We admire God in His attributes, which are the glistering beams by which the divine nature shines forth.
We admire Him in His promises, which are the charter of free grace and the spiritual cabinet where the pearl of price is hid.
We admire God in the noble effects of His power and wisdom, namely the making of the world, which is called the “work of his fingers” (Ps. 8:3). It was such curious needlework that no one but God could work.
This is to glorify God, to have God-admiring thoughts. We esteem Him most excellent and search for diamonds only in this rock.
Second, glorifying of God consists in adoration or worship. “Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” (Ps. 29:2).
There is a twofold worship.
First, a civil reverence we give to persons of honor. “Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the children of Heth” (Gen. 23:7). Piety is no enemy to courtesy.
Second, a divine worship which we give to God is His royal prerogative. “They bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces towards the ground” (Neh. 8:6). God is very jealous of this divine worship.
This is the apple of His eye and the pearl of His crown which He guards, as He did the tree of life, with cherubim and a flaming sword, that no man may come near it to violate it.
Divine worship must be such as God Himself has appointed, or else it is offering strange fire (Lev. 10:2). The Lord would have Moses make the tabernacle “according to the pattern in the Mount” (Ex. 25:40).
He must not leave out anything in the pattern, nor add to it. If God was so exact and curious about the place of worship, how exact will He be about the matter of His worship? Surely here everything must be according to the pattern prescribed in His Word.
Third, glorifying God consists of affection. This is a part of the glory we give to God. God counts Himself glorified when He is loved. “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul” (Deut. 6:5).
There is a twofold love:
(1) Amor concupiscentiae (a love of concupiscence), which is self-love, as when we love another because he does us a good turn. Thus, a wicked man may be said to love God, because He has given him a good crop or filled his cup with wine. To speak properly, this is rather to love God’s blessing than to love God.
(2) Amor amicitiae (a love of delight), as a man takes delight in a friend. This is indeed to love God. The heart is set upon God, as a man’s heart is set upon his treasure. And this love is exuberant— not a few drops, but a stream.
It is also superlative, for we give God the best of our love, the cream of it. “I would cause thee to drink of spiced wine, of the juice of my pomegranate” (Song of Songs 8:2). If the spouse had a cup juicier and more spiced, Christ must drink of it. It is intense and ardent.
True saints are seraphim, burning in holy love to God. The spouse was amore perculsa, in fainting fits, “sick of love” (Song of Songs 2:5). Thus, to love God is to glorify Him. He who is the chief of our happiness has the chief of our affections.
Fourth, glorifying God consists of subjection: we dedicate ourselves to God and stand ready dressed for His service. Thus, the angels in heaven glorify Him. They wait on His throne and are ready to take a commission from Him.
Therefore, they are represented by the cherubim with their wings displayed to show how swift the angels are in their obedience. This is to glorify God. When we are devoted to His service, our head studies for God, our tongue pleads for Him, and our hands relieve His members.
The wise men that came to Christ did not only bow the knee to Him but presented Him with gold and myrrh (Matt. 2:11). So we must not only bow the knee and give God worship but also bring the presents of golden obedience.
This is to glorify God: when we stick at no service, when we fight under the banner of His gospel against regiments, and say to Him as David to king Saul, “Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine.” (1 Sam. 17:32).
Thus, you see the glorifying of God consists in appreciation, adoration, affection, and subjection. A good Christian is like the sun, which does not only send forth heat, but goes its circuit round the world.
Thus, he who glorifies God has not only his affections heated with love to God, but he goes his circuit too, as he moves vigorously in the sphere of obedience.”
–Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity, in The Works of Thomas Watson, Volume 2, Ed. J. Stephen Yuille (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2026), 2: 14-17.
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