Glorification

The ordo salutis (Latin: order of salvation) is the theological term for the logical sequence of salvation as Paul lays it out in Romans 8:29-30: "For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified."

The chain: foreknown → predestined → called → justified → glorified. Five steps, all in the aorist (simple past) tense. The glorification step is in the same past-tense construction as the rest, though glorification is a future event for living believers. The aorist is what theologians call "proleptic" (treating a future certainty as already accomplished) or "prophetic past" (the OT prophetic device of speaking future certainties as past). From YHWH's eternal perspective, the completion of the salvation of his people is already secured.

Glorification in Protestant theology typically refers specifically to the resurrection body and the final transformation at the return of Christ. Some traditions distinguish: the intermediate state (death to resurrection, presence with Christ but without the body) from the final state (resurrection body + new creation). Glorification is the latter: the whole person, body and soul, made fully and permanently like Christ.

Romans 8:18: "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us (ten mellousan doxan apokaluphthēnai eis hemas, about to be revealed into us/toward us)." The glory is not merely external display but an inward transformation, the doxa (glory, radiance) of YHWH breaking into the persons of the Spiritborn.

Romans 8:21: "the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God." The glorification of YHWH's children is the event that liberates the cosmos, the creation has been groaning (8:22) specifically in anticipation of the revealing of the sons of God (8:19). The glorification is not merely personal; it is cosmic in scope. The new creation depends on the glorification of the Spiritborn.

The "redemption of our bodies" (8:23) is the specific term Paul uses for glorification: the body itself, not just the soul, is the target of the redemptive work. The resurrection body is the redemption of the creation-body, not its abandonment. Glorification is not escape from physicality but the resurrection and transformation of physicality.

"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears (phanerōthē, whenever he is manifested) we will be like him (homoioi autō esometha, we shall be like him), because we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2). The statement is dense with eschatological reserve: "what we will be has not yet appeared." The full reality of the believer's glorified existence is not yet disclosed. But two things are certain: (1) it involves likeness to Christ; (2) it is caused by sight, "we shall see him as he is."

The vision of Christ as he is, unveiled, in his resurrection glory, produces the likeness. This is the completion of the 2 Corinthians 3:18 process ("beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another"). What is progressive now (sanctification by beholding) becomes instantaneous and complete at the appearing: the full vision produces the full likeness.

The content of the likeness: Philippians 3:20-21, "But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body (sumorphon to somati tes doxes autou, conformed to the body of his glory), by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself." The resurrection body of the Spiritborn is conformed to the resurrection body of Christ, which is the body that was crucified, rose, ate, was touched, ascended. A real, physical, glorified body.

1 Corinthians 15:42-44 describes the contrasts between the present body and the resurrection body: "What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body (soma psuchikon, soul-animated body); it is raised a spiritual body (soma pneumatikon, Spirit-animated body). If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."

The soma pneumatikon (spiritual body) is not a non-physical entity, it is a body animated by the Spirit rather than by the natural life-force (psuche). The contrast is between two modes of bodily existence, not between body and non-body. The resurrection body is real, physical, glorified, as demonstrated by the resurrection body of Jesus himself, which was recognized, touched, ate, and retained the marks of the crucifixion (John 20:27).

1 Corinthians 15:50-53: "I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality." Glorification is instantaneous, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. Not a gradual improvement but a sudden, total transformation.

The Sanctum holds glorification as the horizon of the Christian life, not the beginning (that is regeneration) or the process (that is sanctification) but the completion. The Spiritborn are already called children of God; what they will be has not yet appeared; when he appears, they will be like him. The entire groaning of the creation and the groaning of the Spiritborn within it is oriented toward this: the revealing of the sons of God, the redemption of the body, the freedom of the glory of the children of God.