Christ said: “And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was” (John 17:5).
Here, the Arians ask: This One who asks the Father to glorify Him—can He possibly be equal to the Father who glorifies Him?
The Response:
- This very statement affirms the divinity of Christ.
He says, “The glory which I had with You before the world was.” So, He existed before the world came into being—and He existed in glory. This is because the world was made through Him, indeed, all things were made through Him (John 1:3, 10). The glory He had with the Father is that He is “the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3). This clearly indicates equality…
- If the Father glorifies the Son, the Son also glorifies the Father.
For right before the phrase “Glorify Me,” He says, “I have glorified You on the earth” (John 17:4). So, there is mutual glorification between the Father and the Son. Thus, He begins this prayer by saying, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You” (John 17:1).
- What does “glorify” mean—whether it refers to the Father or the Son?
In fact, what does it mean when humans themselves glorify God? As the Apostle says, “Glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:20). Or as the Lord says in the Sermon on the Mount: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
- Glorifying God does not mean giving Him glory that He lacks—God forbid. It means recognizing or revealing His glory.
So the phrase “I have glorified You on the earth” means: I have revealed Your glory, declared it, and led people to acknowledge it. I made Your name known to them. I gave them Your word (John 17).
It is similar to the phrase “Bless the Lord,” meaning: acknowledge or proclaim His blessing. Likewise, when Christ says, “Father, glorify Your name” (John 12:28), it means: Reveal or declare Your glory. And the Father’s response, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again,” means: I have made it known and will continue to do so. Similarly, the phrase “Glorify Me” does not mean “give Me new glory,” for it is the same glory He had before the world existed. So what does it mean?
- It means: Reveal this glory which was hidden during the state of self-emptying (Philippians 2:7).
When He took the form of a servant and came in the likeness of men, “He had no form or comeliness; He was despised and rejected by men” (Isaiah 53:2–3). So to be glorified means to regain the glory He had set aside through self-emptying, the glory veiled by His incarnation. Allow now—after the cross and in the ascension—for the period of self-emptying to end, because “I have finished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4).
- It also means: Let the human nature share in the divine glory.
As the Apostle says, referring to “His glorious body” (Philippians 3:21)… This glorified body with which He ascended into heaven and sat at the right hand of the Father.
- His glorification also refers to His crucifixion.
In which the glory of sacrificial love and the glory of justice united with mercy. He was glorified when He reigned from the wood (Psalm 95), and purchased us with a price. Thus, we chant to Him on Good Friday: “Thine is the power and the glory… Your throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Psalm 45:6; Hebrews 1:8). So when Judas went out to betray Him, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him” (John 12:31). Meaning, His glory as Savior, Redeemer, and Lover of mankind began to be revealed. He then said, “If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.”
- We also see this in the relationship between the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Christ said of the Holy Spirit, “He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14). “Glorify Me” here does not mean that the Holy Spirit is greater than the Son and gives Him glory—for the Son says that the Spirit takes from what is His. Nor does it mean the Son is greater—they are co-equal Persons. It simply means: He will reveal My glory to people.
- This is also evident in the Father’s response to prayer made through the Son.
The Lord told His disciples: “And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). “The Father may be glorified” means His glory is revealed through answering prayer. “In the Son” because the prayer is made in His name—through Him.
- God neither increases nor decreases.
In glory or anything else. He does not increase—because there is nothing greater than what He already is. He does not gain more glory, for His nature is boundless. Nor does He decrease, as that would contradict His perfect divinity.
So the phrase “Glorify Me” does not mean “Give Me glory that I don’t have,” but rather, “Reveal My eternal glory.” And likewise, the phrase “I have glorified You,” and all mutual glorification between the Persons of the Trinity.
