One of the most famous verses in Paul's letter to the Romans is Romans 3:23:
"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
I have realised recently that the glory of God here refers to the glory men and women had from being made in the image of God and that one of the major themes in Romans is God's work to restore that glory in us.
God, indeed, made Adam and Eve in his image and this made them glorious. (1 Corinthians 11:7). Their glory was not something inherent in them but was dependent on their reflection of the character of God. Their glory was not something that should lead to self-congratulation but to praise of the God whose goodness their glory reflected.
But men did not give thanks to God for the glory he had given them. Instead they focused on their own glory and worshiped the creature rather than the creator. (Romans 1:20-25).
In focusing on their own glory, they lost their glory and became worthless, not fit for purpose, (Romans 3:12) because the purpose of their glory was to reflect God's own glory and was dependent on it doing so.
This is true for every human being. All of us, through sin, have fallen short of the glory that God gave to us when he created mankind. (Romans 3:23).
But now, through the Gospel of God accepting us on the basis of Christ's righteousness, we have a promise that we will be glorified again as God restores his image in us, conforming us to the image of Christ.
We have "the hope of the glory of God." (Romans 5:2), which means the image of God being restored in us. We rejoice that the glory that we lost will be restored, a glory that depends on our dependency upon God as sons as we submit to him, thank him and rejoice in his goodness and grace. So strong is this hope that we can even rejoice in suffering knowing that suffering is one of the things that will transform our characters to the image of Christ. (Romans 5:3-4).
In fact, suffering and glory have been inseparably connected. Following Jesus, who was himself rejected and hated by civil society, involves a call to suffer with him. If we do not suffer with him when suffering comes, this will appear as evidence that we do not really belong to him. We will not be glorified with him if we do not suffer with him, because unwillingness to suffer with him demonstrates not belonging to him. (Romans 8:17).
It is certainly worth suffering with him because there is no comparison between what we suffer now and the glory that will be revealed in us. (Romans 8:18). We have never experienced what it means to be fully human with a fully human body living in a world the way it was meant to be, because God subjected us and the world to frustration after we threw away our glory. (Romans 8:20-24).
We can be sure that God is working all things together to glorify us, and himself through us, because he has promised that he is working all things together to conform us to the image of his Son. We should have no doubt that those whom he has justified will also be glorified. (Romans 8:28 - 30).
Going outside of Romans, it is clear that we are changed from one degree of glory to another in this life as we look at the character of Christ in his word, (2 Corinthians 3:18). Then, when we see him face to face, the transformation will be complete because seeing him as he is in his glory and goodness will make us like him in an instant. (1 John 3:2).
