Lexicon

G1391 - doxa

Strong's: G1391 · BLB lookup Pronunciation: dox'-ah Part of speech: feminine noun Hebrew equivalents (LXX): כָּבוֹד (kavod, H3519), overwhelmingly the standard rendering NT occurrences: ~166

Semantic range (Thayer / BDAG)

Opinion, judgment, view, the classical Greek sense (the original meaning, from dokeō, "to think / seem").
Reputation, honor, esteem, what others think of one; renown, public regard.
Splendor, brightness, radiance, visible magnificence; outward shining.
Glory of God / divine majesty, the LXX-driven theological sense; the visible manifestation of God's presence; the kavod / Shekinah.

Theological force, the LXX shift

The semantic shift from "opinion" (classical) to "glory / majesty" (biblical) is one of the most striking pieces of LXX-influenced theology in the Greek vocabulary. The LXX translators chose doxa to render Hebrew kavod (כָּבוֹד), which means "weight, heaviness" → "weighty significance" → "honor, glory." The visible cloud of YHWH's presence at Sinai (Exodus 24:16), in the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34), and Solomon's temple (1 Kings 8:11) is the kavod, the Shekinah glory.

The NT inherits this sense fully:

John 1:14, "we beheld His glory (doxan autou), glory as of the only begotten", the Shekinah glory now visible in incarnate Christ. Paired with eskēnōsen (G4637 - skenoo, "tabernacled") completing the OT-temple echo.
John 17:5, "glorify Me… with the glory which I had with You before the world was", pre-incarnate divine glory.
2 Corinthians 4:6, "the glory of God in the face of Christ"
Hebrews 1:3, "He is the radiance of His glory" (apaugasma tēs doxēs)

The visible Shekinah of OT theophanies is identified with the person of Christ: Isaiah's vision of YHWH's glory (Isaiah 6:1-3) is applied to Christ (John 12:41, "Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke of Him").

Notable verses

Christ's pre-incarnate / eschatological glory

John 17.5, "Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was"
John 17.22, "the glory which You have given Me I have given to them"
John 1.14, "we beheld His glory", Shekinah-incarnate
John 12:41, "Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory" (= YHWH's glory in Isaiah 6)
2 Peter 1:17, Transfiguration: "He received from God the Father honor and glory"
Hebrews 1:3, "the radiance of His glory"
Matthew 25:31, "the Son of Man comes in His glory"

God's glory revealed

Romans 1:23, "exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image"
Romans 3:23, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God"
2 Corinthians 4:6, "the glory of God in the face of Christ"
John 11:40, "if you believe, you will see the glory of God"

Believers participating in glory

Romans 8:18, "the glory that is to be revealed to us"
Romans 8:30, those justified He also glorified
2 Corinthians 3:18, "we all… being transformed into the same image from glory to glory"
Colossians 1:27, "Christ in you, the hope of glory"

Doxological, to give glory

Romans 11:36, "to Him be the glory forever"
1 Corinthians 10:31, "do all to the glory of God"
Revelation 4:11, "Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory"

OT background, kavod / Shekinah

Exodus 24:16-17, "the glory of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai"
Exodus 40:34-38, "the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle"
1 Kings 8:10-11, "the cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house"
Isaiah 6:1-3, "I saw the LORD… the whole earth is full of His glory"
Ezekiel 1:28, "such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD"
Ezekiel 10:18-19, the glory departing the temple (the tragedy)
Ezekiel 43:1-5, the glory returning (the eschatological hope)

Patristic / scholarly note

The patristic doctrine of theosis / deification (Athanasius, Cappadocians, Maximus the Confessor) develops the believer-glory dimension: 2 Corinthians 3:18's "from glory to glory" describes the believer's progressive participation in divine glory through union with Christ. Athanasius's famous formula "He became man so that we might become god" (On the Incarnation 54) is the soteriological extension of this glory-vocabulary.

The Reformation pressed soli Deo gloria, to God alone be the glory, as one of the five pillars (solas) of Reformation theology, grounding all of life in the doxological telos.

Verses in this codex

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