Re: The Climax of DOXA

From: dalmatia@eburg.com
Date: Sun Mar 29 1998 - 11:31:04 EST


Ben Crick wrote: [I have shortened the text...]

>
> DOXA is the GNT equivalent of KaBhoWDh, or KeBhoDh-YHWH, the Glory of the
> LORD. Root KBD indicates weight, gravity, worth, or grandeur; hence Glory.

Hello Ben ~

Just a note of thanks for your wonderful post. It fills in gaps
[many!] in my understanding of DOXA from the OT perspective [which I
lack] that I knew had to be there.

> In John, we find it in the Hebrew sense in 1:14, 2:11, 11:40, 12:28-29, 41.
> Jesus' glory is manifested in connection with the wedding at Cana; the
> Raising of Lazarus; and the events surrounding the Crucifixion.

Indeed! The interplay between the OT and the Greek sense of DOXA
creates a marvelous tension within the reader between the reality of
God's DOXA and the seemingness of man's. One of my little back burner
questions in 1:14 [EQEASAMEQA], and 21:24 [OIDAMEN] as well, has to do
with the identity of the 'we' ~ I'd like to think that it's you and
me, but have so far come up without much proof...
>
> 2. The Greek sense:
>
> DOXA in Greek means opinion; reputation; honour.

>From the root DOK[W], as in doc-ument, to think/opine, rightly or in
error, thus to 'seem', as in make apparent. The substitution of K
with X [KS] then gives it stress, as in to make VERY apparent. The A
suffix, of course, then puts the verb into an abstract noun. Now this
is the meaning I took for DOXA in terms of its function in John, as
the tool, for lack of a better word, that works on the problem
introduced in 1:5. The Light becomes VERY apparent to address the
issue of the resistance of the darkness. And while this understanding
works well, the original OT meaning, unknown to me, was always a felt
presence, and your post brought it to Light. Thank-you.
 
> 3. The Johannine sense:
>
> John's Gospel lacks a Transfiguration narrative; but 1:14 already conjoins
> DOXA and SKHNOW; the SheKhiNaH in the Tabernacle of flesh, 2:21.

Yes, the Logos becomes flesh ~ I like the translation 'births into
flesh' ~ and tabernacles EN hHMIN... Then, finally, we are able to
behold His DOXA, because there it is so very and seemingly
irresistably apparent. Thus the DOXA of the LOGOS is introduced to us
in John, moving downward, so 'we' can know it.

> The Glory of God tabernacles in the hearts of men through the indwelling of
> the Holy Spirit, 14:16-18, etc.

And this is how we retain it.
 
> The climax of DOXA is Christ's return to the Glory which he enjoyed with the
> Father before all things, 17:5.

And here, it returns to the Source ~ Upward...

> His saints will partake in this, 17:22-24.
> Its outworking is in Revelation 5:12-13; 7:12; 15:8; 19:1; 21:11, 23.

With results below...

> No doubt others will say what they think...

Did you intend this wonderful little play on the DOKEW root of DOXA?
I would hope that they do... For myself, if I'm going to err, I want
to do so in a way SO BIG that even I, with my myopic vision, can 'see'
it. :-)

George



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