To God be the Glory

“And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.” (Galatians 1:22–24, ESV)

Fanny Crosby wrote a beautiful hymn that first appeared in a Sunday school collection compiled in 1875. Since then, it has been published in over two-hundred hymnals and sung countless times. In the early fifties, the Billy Graham crusade made extensive uses of the hymn in their meetings. It was one of the first hymns that I remember singing as a young believer whom Jesus saved at the age of 32 years. The title of the hymn is “To God be the Glory,” and the first stanza begins like this.

To God be the glory, great things he has done!
So loved he the world that he gave us his Son,
who yielded his life an atonement for sin,
and opened the life-gate that all may go in.

It is an awesome truth that the gospel brings all glory to God. Perhaps this is why this hymn so touched my heart as a young believer. The truth that God provided His Son to give His life on a cross to pay the penalty of sin for sinners like me is a testimony to God’s infinite grace and mercy. The message is clear. Even the vilest sinner is able to enter the kingdom, not by works of righteousness that he has done, but by faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross.

Paul wrote to the churches in Galatia to counter a heretical teaching by the Judaizers who were teaching that works of righteousness was necessary for salvation. He began the letter by presenting certain credentials that affirmed his message and the authority for it. One of the greatest affirmations of the truth of the gospel is that it glorifies God alone.

Paul indicated that he was basically unknown to the churches in Judea. However, they knew something very concerning regarding Paul, that is when he was known as Saul the Pharisee and persecutor of the church. Yet now they heard that Paul had been transformed by the power of the gospel. No longer was he Saul the persecutor, but he had become Paul the preacher of the gospel he formerly tried to destroy.

Paul’s transformation spoke volumes, validating the gospel message. It had caused a one-hundred and eighty degree turn around in his life.

Moreover, the response of the churches in Judea added to the validity of Paul’s message. Paul wrote that “they glorified God because of me.” They glorified God for two reasons. First, as already mention it was because of the transformation seen in his life.

Second and to the point of Paul’s writing, their glorifying God affirmed the validity of Paul’s preaching. The Jewish believers in Judea glorified God for the message that Paul preached. If Paul had been preaching a message contrary to what these Jewish believers had accepted, they would not have glorified God because of Paul. Thus, this testimony of the believers in Judea served as a fatal blow to the false teachings of the Judaizers and stood as a validation of the contents of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

Bother the message of the gospel and the transformation it brings to those who believe brings glory to God.