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Short Studies in Systematic Theology
Glorification: An Introduction
How Sanctification Transforms Christians Into Glorified Beings Facing sin, suffering, and an uncertain future, it’s easy to become pessimistic, but believers in Christ know the best is yet to come. God promises that one day he will redeem his image bearers and renew the earth. Few books are written on the doctrine of glorification, but its promise of restoration brings urgent hope for Christ followers. In this addition to the Short Studies in Systematic Theology series, Graham A. Cole examines the concept of divine glory as well as God’s plan for redeeming individual believers, the church, and the universe. Identifying two phases of glorification―one in this life and a final transformation into Christlikeness―Cole defines the role of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the sanctification process. Through careful study of Scripture, he shows Christians how their future identity as glorified beings should impact their perspective today.
144 pages, Paperback
Published April 19, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
May 20, 2022
The three pillars of the Christian life are justification, sanctification, and glorification. Justification is a past event that takes place at a point in time. Sanctification is the necessary result of justification and takes place of the course of one’s Christian life. Glorification is a future event that every follower of Christ anticipates. Glorification: An Introduction by Graham A. Cole explores the wonder of this encouraging doctrine.
The author grounds his argument in a discussion that focuses on the glory of God. God’s glory is defined and described. The author is quick to suggest that God shares his glory with his creatures.
Dr. Cole explores what he refers to as “the glorious divine project,” where God reveals himself in the person and work of his Son and redeems a people for his own possession. It becomes apparent that the cosmos is not a place where accidents take place or where “chance” rules. Rather, God intentionally shares his glory with his creatures. “The glory Adam lost, Christ as the new Adam regains for us.”
These grand realities put us in a position where we are prepared to walk on the pathways to glory. Cole writes, “The prospect of glory provides motivation to live a godly life in the here and now.” The pathways to glory are marked out by the sovereign work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This work eventually finds its culmination in the glorification of the elect.
Heaven is explored but must be seen as “penultimate.” For “the final home for God’s people is the new earth and the Jerusalem that has come down out of heaven to the renewed earth.” Here the Platonic vision of heaven is eschewed and the biblical model of real bodies on a real new earth is celebrated.
Glorification: An Introduction is a commendable book and recommended for anyone who wants to dig deeply into the subject of personal eschatology. Dr. Coles is a clear writer and engages fairly with authors who disagree. This work is an essential part of every growing theological library.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
The author grounds his argument in a discussion that focuses on the glory of God. God’s glory is defined and described. The author is quick to suggest that God shares his glory with his creatures.
Dr. Cole explores what he refers to as “the glorious divine project,” where God reveals himself in the person and work of his Son and redeems a people for his own possession. It becomes apparent that the cosmos is not a place where accidents take place or where “chance” rules. Rather, God intentionally shares his glory with his creatures. “The glory Adam lost, Christ as the new Adam regains for us.”
These grand realities put us in a position where we are prepared to walk on the pathways to glory. Cole writes, “The prospect of glory provides motivation to live a godly life in the here and now.” The pathways to glory are marked out by the sovereign work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. This work eventually finds its culmination in the glorification of the elect.
Heaven is explored but must be seen as “penultimate.” For “the final home for God’s people is the new earth and the Jerusalem that has come down out of heaven to the renewed earth.” Here the Platonic vision of heaven is eschewed and the biblical model of real bodies on a real new earth is celebrated.
Glorification: An Introduction is a commendable book and recommended for anyone who wants to dig deeply into the subject of personal eschatology. Dr. Coles is a clear writer and engages fairly with authors who disagree. This work is an essential part of every growing theological library.
I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.
October 28, 2024
I read this book in preparation for a sermon on the topic of "glorification." There were some helpful ideas, categories, and lists. However, every time Cole appeared to be approaching an answer or a conclusion, the focus of the book shifted to a new quote, idea, theory, or list. There was also odd discussion at the end about qualified-annihilationism and the fate of those who have never heard the gospel.
June 5, 2022
In some ways Cole seems to be a careful and precise scholar, and yet this book will leave you wanting for more. It seems we danced around the topic of glorification but never sunk our teeth in. In fact I was convinced that more than one chapter had accidentally misplaced its last several pages. Topics were introduced but never addressed, seemingly, or at least hardly broached. I would not put this effort on the same level as others in this still-good series, to say the least.
March 29, 2022
This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
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WHAT'S GLORIFICATION: AN INTRODUCTION ABOUT?
This book is focused on a particular aspect of individual eschatology—glorification, although Cole touches on the other aspects of eschatology, too. The first chapter focuses on the glory of God—it is His glory shared with believers, so it's right to start there. The fifth and final chapter gets a bit speculative about who will and won't be glorified. The three chapters in between those two are the heart and focus of the book. Cole begins by sketching God's project following the fall in restoring the image (and glory) lost. He then shows the beginning of the work of glorification in the sanctification of believers in this life. He ends this portion of the book by looking at what we know about the glorification in the New Earth—which is where the cosmic and ecclesiastical aspects of glorification are looked at, in addition to the individual.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT GLORIFICATION: AN INTRODUCTION?
Cole talks a little at the beginning of the book about the lack of book-length looks at this topic. I'm not convinced that this is the best way to address the lacuna. It's good and useful, but maybe it's too speculative. Maybe setting out to do more than it needed to for this introduction. Throughout the work, Cole takes some close looks at pivotal texts on the topic of glory, sanctification, and glorification—these are the highlight of the work and are very valuable. I'm less convinced that what he does outside of those exegetical portions are nearly as useful. Maybe if given more space to develop some of his ideas, I might have a different impression. In the end, I'm glad I read this and will return to it for the exegetical moments and gladly recommend it.
---
WHAT'S GLORIFICATION: AN INTRODUCTION ABOUT?
This book is focused on a particular aspect of individual eschatology—glorification, although Cole touches on the other aspects of eschatology, too. The first chapter focuses on the glory of God—it is His glory shared with believers, so it's right to start there. The fifth and final chapter gets a bit speculative about who will and won't be glorified. The three chapters in between those two are the heart and focus of the book. Cole begins by sketching God's project following the fall in restoring the image (and glory) lost. He then shows the beginning of the work of glorification in the sanctification of believers in this life. He ends this portion of the book by looking at what we know about the glorification in the New Earth—which is where the cosmic and ecclesiastical aspects of glorification are looked at, in addition to the individual.
SO, WHAT DID I THINK ABOUT GLORIFICATION: AN INTRODUCTION?
Cole talks a little at the beginning of the book about the lack of book-length looks at this topic. I'm not convinced that this is the best way to address the lacuna. It's good and useful, but maybe it's too speculative. Maybe setting out to do more than it needed to for this introduction. Throughout the work, Cole takes some close looks at pivotal texts on the topic of glory, sanctification, and glorification—these are the highlight of the work and are very valuable. I'm less convinced that what he does outside of those exegetical portions are nearly as useful. Maybe if given more space to develop some of his ideas, I might have a different impression. In the end, I'm glad I read this and will return to it for the exegetical moments and gladly recommend it.
July 12, 2023
In a word "disappointing".
This book sets out to explore the christian hope for the future and much of what it says is good but it ultimately paints a picture that seems not nearly as delightful as it should be.
A U shaped plot
In Chapter 2, God's plan to glorify his people is described as a "U" shaped plot - things go bad (the fall) but work is done to bring us back to a good place. This idea of a return to Eden/return to the pre-fall state is therefore presented as the basic structure of the christian hope.
Whilst the book implies in a few places (particularly through quotations of scripture and other authors) that the Christian's final state will be an improvement on Adam's probation it never quite explicitly teaches this, and yet scripture is clear that the end is better than the beginning and that the presence of God we are to await goes far beyond what Adam had.
What is the substance of glorification?
Whilst the hope of being with God is mentioned several times, this is never dug into, rather the positives of the "glorified state" are presented as:
- the absence of sin
- the presence of everything good from this life
- the absence of decay/weakness
- meaningful service to perform
Union with Christ is presented as the method of obtaining this hope but little substance is given to this beyond faith and ethical implications.
Conclusion
Christian's need a hope shaped by the Beatific Vision. I think CS Lewis's "the Weight of Glory" will be more helpful for most Christians than this work.
This book sets out to explore the christian hope for the future and much of what it says is good but it ultimately paints a picture that seems not nearly as delightful as it should be.
A U shaped plot
In Chapter 2, God's plan to glorify his people is described as a "U" shaped plot - things go bad (the fall) but work is done to bring us back to a good place. This idea of a return to Eden/return to the pre-fall state is therefore presented as the basic structure of the christian hope.
Whilst the book implies in a few places (particularly through quotations of scripture and other authors) that the Christian's final state will be an improvement on Adam's probation it never quite explicitly teaches this, and yet scripture is clear that the end is better than the beginning and that the presence of God we are to await goes far beyond what Adam had.
What is the substance of glorification?
Whilst the hope of being with God is mentioned several times, this is never dug into, rather the positives of the "glorified state" are presented as:
- the absence of sin
- the presence of everything good from this life
- the absence of decay/weakness
- meaningful service to perform
Union with Christ is presented as the method of obtaining this hope but little substance is given to this beyond faith and ethical implications.
Conclusion
Christian's need a hope shaped by the Beatific Vision. I think CS Lewis's "the Weight of Glory" will be more helpful for most Christians than this work.
August 24, 2024
A pithy little book that is best read in small bites, not because it is really all that difficult to read, but rather because it does contain some difficult to synthesize ideas. On one hand, everyone loves the idea of receiving a glorified body in the afterlife, but on the other hand, no one likes the idea of hell and judgment. Reading from a doctrinal standpoint, the book defines many terms, and spends quite a bit of time defining glory. This was my favorite part since glory is a slippery concept.
You need to read the footnotes because Cole sometimes had surprises there. In one case he set forth an argument, which seemed to be one which he supported. But in the footnote he said he disagreed. This left me a bit confused about how to read the bulk of the book. Is it opinion? Does it reflect his beliefs or not?
You need to read the footnotes because Cole sometimes had surprises there. In one case he set forth an argument, which seemed to be one which he supported. But in the footnote he said he disagreed. This left me a bit confused about how to read the bulk of the book. Is it opinion? Does it reflect his beliefs or not?
December 9, 2025
Great introductory summary of glorification as it applies individually, corporately, and cosmically. Cole also approaches the locus from multiple angles, such as the doctrine of God, redemption accomplished, and redemption applied. Cole has provided a helpful and approachable work to an oft neglected doctrine.
May 26, 2022
A short book about a subject rarely covered in Christian theology.
August 13, 2022
A small introduction to the topic of glorification. It helps set the landscape of the topic in a general way. As most of these Short Studies in Systematic Theology do it is a good place to start.
February 25, 2023
Very interesting book about a rarely discussed theological topic. It wasn’t my favorite book by any means, but I enjoyed what it discussed, and it was a fairly short read.
September 30, 2023
Fills a gap in doctrinal studies yet leaves a desire for more. A much-needed primer on the doctrine of glory, but there is much more to be said and studied far beyond this introduction.
June 23, 2024
Glory!
This is a great text on the believers ultimate reality. Scripturally supported, Dr. Cole outlines and describes the way forward to a new heaven and a new earth. Hallelujah!
This is a great text on the believers ultimate reality. Scripturally supported, Dr. Cole outlines and describes the way forward to a new heaven and a new earth. Hallelujah!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews