Glory

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.  NKJ Matthew 5:16

The saints shed forth a glory (described under the metaphor of light) during their activities before the eyes of men, which makes the works of God in them visible to men, and brings glory to the Father in heaven.  This enlightening glory is not just the words or works of the disciples, but is a supernatural glory shed forth from them as a spiritual light which enlightens the eyes of the onlooking men and gives them some vision of the truth.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  John 1:14

The point of this passage is that for Christ to manifest himself, he spiritually manifests his own uncreated glory. To receive Christ is to perceive his glory.  The exhibition of Christ is the exhibition of his glory.  This may happen through our words and actions done in his Name, but the "glory" which is exhibited transcends all in a supernatural manner.  To preach the Gospel is to supernaturally exhibit the glory of Christ by the power of the Spirit.

This, the first of his signs [turning water into wine], Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. John 2:11

It's not possible that the "glory" that was manifested is just the miracle of the transformation of the water.  Things like this have been done before by the prophets.  The "glory" is a supernatural manifestation of Christ's essential being and character, which was spiritually perceived by the elect.

"And the glory which You gave Me I have given them [the believers], that they may be one just as We are one:  John 17:22

Just as Christ manifested the glory of the Father, so we manifest the same glory, just as he did.  All our words and works before the world manifest this intra-Trinitarian glory.  This is the basis of our effectiveness.  It is not the knowledge.  It is not the good works.  In the midst of and through our knowledge, preaching, gifts and good works is the even greater manifestation of the invisible supernatural glory that has been given us by Jesus Christ.

May Christ open our minds, hearts, hands, and whole lives to be filled with his glory, and to manifest it in the church and in the world, to save and transform others into the same divine image to which we are being conformed by inheriting and gazing at this same glory in the face of Jesus Christ.