God is a Consuming Fire: How “Glory” and “Fire” Frames Help You Read the Bible

If you’ve been around church for a while, you’ve heard about God's glory, maybe scratched your head wondering what, exactly it was. And you've probably heard the line:

“Our God is a consuming fire.”

For some of us, that lands like a threat. For others, it turns into background noise—a phrase we nod at but never really explore. Is God’s “fire” just anger? Is it only about final judgment? And what does any of that have to do with glory, or with our everyday discipleship?

This post is meant to give you a map to help you dive straight in to your own study of glory, tracing its pattern through Scripture as you study or just read devotionally.

In this post, you’ll find:

• A short introduction to frame semantics

• A set of “glory frames”

• A set of “fire frames”

• A simple way to compare them in any passage

The companion study guide (which you can share or print) lays this all out in a more structured format. But I’ve written this post so that even if all you have is this page, you’ll be able to use the framework in your own Bible reading or with a small group.  But for more information, don't forget to check out the accompanying Genesis Marks the Spot episode, Between Glory and Ashes 2: God Is a Consuming Fire (Episode 154).

A Two-Minute Introduction to Frame Semantics

Frame semantics helps us get past "dictionary definitions," because in actuality, humans don't think in pure dictionary definitions when they are using a word. Think of a word not as a label, but as a gateway into a scene.

• The word “feast” evokes tables, food, guests, invitations, celebration, abundance.

• The word “courtroom” evokes a judge, witnesses, an accusation, evidence, a verdict.

Each of those is a conceptual frame: a mental scene with characters, roles, actions, and expectations already built in.

Frame semantics is just a fancy way of saying:

“Don’t only ask what a word means in the dictionary. Ask what scene is being activated in the background.”

In Scripture, words and images like glory, fire, light, cloud, temple, body, shepherd, and so on each pull on a whole family of meanings. The biblical writers reuse and remix those frames across the canon.

In this study guide and blog post, we’re particularly interested in:

• Glory frames – scenes that answer why there are boundaries, purification, guidance, and judgment

• Fire frames – scenes that answer how those things are enacted in the story

When you learn to see both of these, “God is a consuming fire” stops being a vague slogan and becomes a rich, textured description of holy love at work.

Glory Frames: What’s Going On with “Glory”?

“Glory” in Scripture is not just “brightness” or “praise songs.” And it's certainly more than celebrity fame (though it does carry some of that connotation, just a bit). It’s a bundle of related scenes. Not all of these are pulled up every time; sometimes it's only one, sometimes it's multiple crossover frames. Here are some of the big ones:

1. Glory as Gravity (Weight / Value)

• Idea: Glory is God’s weight—his worth, importance, and significance.

• Scene: Something or someone is being evaluated: Who deserves honor? Whose word carries weight?

• Questions to ask:

  • What is being treated as heavy or important here?

  • Whose opinion, presence, or favor matters most in this scene?

2. Glory as Radiance (Visible Splendor)

• Idea: Glory as brightness, radiance, or overwhelming visual presence.

• Scene: Think Sinai, the transfiguration, visions where people fall on their faces.

• Questions to ask:

  • Is the text emphasizing how it looks—shining, blazing, hard-to-look-at beauty?

  • Does the visual impact change how people respond?

3. Glory as Presence (God Dwelling or Departing)

• Idea: Glory is God arriving, filling, or withdrawing from a place or people.

• Scene: The tabernacle or temple is filled; God’s glory leaves; the Spirit fills the church.

• Questions to ask:

  • Is God coming near, taking up residence, or leaving?

  • How does that change the status of the place or the people?

4. Glory as Boundary (Holiness & Access)

• Idea: Glory creates graded nearness—you don’t just stroll in.

• Scene: Think of Israel camping around the tabernacle, or Sinai with clear “Do not touch the mountain” boundaries.

• Questions to ask:

  • Who is allowed to approach, and how far?

  • What preparations, roles, or rituals are required?

5. Glory as Purification / Consecration

• Idea: Glory doesn’t just sit there; it changes those who come near.

• Scene: Isaiah’s lips touched by a coal, priests consecrated, people cleansed and then sent.

• Questions to ask:

  • Is someone being purified or made “fit” for God’s presence?

  • Does this purification lead into a new task or role?

6. Glory as Guidance / Protection

• Idea: Glory is a shepherding presence.

• Scene: The glory-cloud leading Israel, standing between them and their enemies.

• Questions to ask:

  • Does God’s presence determine when to move, where to camp, or how to be protected?

  • Are people watching God’s movement to know what to do next?

7. Glory as Evaluation / Judgment

• Idea: Glory functions like a consuming fire that weighs and tests.

• Scene: Works tested “as by fire,” judgment scenes where God’s presence exposes reality.

• Questions to ask:

  • What survives God’s scrutiny and what doesn’t?

  • Who or what is shown to be genuine?

8. Glory as Honor-Ascription (Our Response)

• Idea: Glory is also what we give back to God in recognition of his worth.

• Scene: Worship, obedience, public confession, lives that “adorn” the teaching.

• Questions to ask:

  • How are people responding to God’s weight and worth?

  • Where do we see worship, obedience, or mission as a glory-response?

These are not separate boxes; they often overlap. A passage might show glory as presence, boundary, and purification all at once.

Fire Frames: What’s Going On with “Fire”?

If glory tells us why there are boundaries, purification, guidance, and judgment, fire shows us how those things play out in a story.

Here are the major fire frames from the study guide:

1. Fire as Boundary / Guard

• Idea: Fire marks and enforces the edge of sacred space.

• Examples:

  • Flaming sword at Eden’s gate

  • Devouring fire on Sinai’s summit

  • Fire that consumes unauthorized worship

• Questions to ask:

  • Is fire standing between people and something holy or dangerous?

  • Is it marking a line that must not be crossed?

2. Fire as Furnace / Purifier

• Idea: Fire refines, purges, and cleanses for a purpose.

• Examples:

  • Refiner’s fire in Malachi

  • Faith tested by fire

  • Coals touching lips

• Questions to ask:

  • Is fire changing the quality of something or someone?

  • Does the fire lead to greater fitness for service?

3. Fire as Theophany (God’s Appearing)

• Idea: Fire is a way God shows up and acts.

• Examples:

  • Burning bush

  • Smoking firepot and flaming torch with Abraham

  • Tongues “as of fire” at Pentecost

• Questions to ask:

  • Is fire the visible sign that God is present and doing something?

4. Fire as Judgment / Enforcement

• Idea: Fire removes what cannot stay in God’s realm.

• Examples:

  • Fire on Sodom

  • Fire consuming rebellious priests

  • Eschatological fire that burns away the old creation

• Questions to ask:

  • Is fire enforcing covenant consequences?

  • What is destroyed, and what remains?

5. Fire as Guide / Protector

• Idea: Fire leads and shields.

• Examples:

  • Pillar of cloud by day, fire by night

  • Fire standing between Israel and Egypt at the sea

• Questions to ask:

  • Is fire ahead, behind, or around the people as a kind of moving bodyguard?

6. Fire as Covenant-Ratifying Sign

• Idea: Fire signs or seals covenant promises.

• Examples:

  • Fire passing between the pieces with Abraham

  • Accepted offerings going up in flame

• Questions to ask:

  • Is fire connected to a promise, oath, or covenant moment?

7. Fire as Test / Trial

• Idea: Fire reveals what’s real by putting it under pressure.

• Examples:

  • Crucible imagery in Proverbs and Isaiah

  • Works tested by fire in 1 Corinthians 3

• Questions to ask:

  • What endures when the fire is done?

  • What’s shown to be worthless?

8. Fire as Empowerment / Commission

• Idea: Contact with fire results in calling and sending.

• Examples:

  • Coal to Isaiah’s lips → “Here am I, send me”

  • Spirit-fire at Pentecost → witness to the nations

• Questions to ask:

  • Does fire mark the beginning of a mission or a new role?

9. Fire as Holiness Marker (Authorized vs. Unauthorized)

• Idea: Fire differentiates between faithful and unfaithful use of sacred things.

• Examples:

  • God-lit altar fire vs. “strange fire”

  • “Acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire” (Heb 12)

• Questions to ask:

  • Is the focus on whether the worship or service is acceptable?

Again, these are overlapping scenes. The same fire can be boundary, purifier, and theophany at once.

How the Study Guide Brings Glory & Fire Together

The study guide is built around one simple insight:

Glory frames answer the “why” question (why boundaries, why cleansing?).
Fire frames answer the “how” question (how those realities actually show up and act).

So, for example:

• Access & Boundary

  • Glory: God’s incomparable worth and holiness demand careful approach.

  • Fire: shows up as the guard—flaming sword, devouring fire, separated zones.

• Purification & Fitness

  • Glory: you cannot live close to God without being transformed.

  • Fire: is the furnace or coal that burns away what doesn’t belong.

• Guidance & Protection

  • Glory: God’s presence leads and shields his people.

  • Fire: is the moving pillar or canopy that actually stands between them and danger.

• Evaluation & Judgment

  • Glory: God’s presence weighs what is true and what is false.

  • Fire: is the instrument that exposes, tests, and removes.

When Hebrews 12 says, “Let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire,” it’s doing both at once:

• Glory frame: God’s worth and holiness call for reverent, obedient worship.

• Fire frame: God’s holy love is not “safe.” It actively burns away what is false and solidifies what is real.

How to Use This Framework in Your Own Study

Here’s a simple way to use the blog post and study guide together, whether you’re on your own or with a group.

Step 1: Pick a Passage

Choose a text where glory or fire appears (literally or metaphorically). For example:

• Deuteronomy 4

• Exodus 13–14

• Numbers 9

• Isaiah 6

• 1 Corinthians 3

• Hebrews 12

Read it and note any mentions of glory, fire, cloud, brightness, consuming, testing, weighing, etc.

Step 2: Identify Glory Frames (WHY)

Ask:

• Where is God’s worth or holiness front and center?

• Is God arriving, filling, or withdrawing from a place or people?

• Are there access rules or graded nearness (who can come close, and how)?

• Is there any sense of purification, consecration, or a call to worship and obedience?

Mark those verses and jot a note like: “Glory as boundary,” “Glory as presence,” or “Glory as evaluation.”

Step 3: Identify Fire Frames (HOW)

Now ask:

• Where is fire (or fire-like imagery) doing something?

• Is it standing between, leading, or guarding?

• Is it purifying, testing, or destroying?

• Is it associated with covenant, offering, or commission?

Mark those and note: “Fire as purifier,” “Fire as theophany,” etc.

Step 4: Put Them Together

Finally, ask:

• How do the glory frames explain why the fire is here?

  • (Why is there a guard? Why is there a test? Why is there purification?)

• How do the fire frames show what glory is actually doing in the story?

  • (How is God’s presence guiding, protecting, or judging in concrete terms?)

You’ll start to see patterns:

• God’s jealous love (glory) guards covenant boundaries through consuming fire.

• God’s desire to dwell with his people (glory as presence) drives the need for purifying fire.

• God’s call for acceptable worship (glory as honor and evaluation) is backed by fire that tests and refines.

This isn’t about forcing a system on the text; it’s about letting repeated biblical scenes teach you how God’s own imagery works. This is the beauty of biblical theolgy.

Why This Matters

When we hear “God is a consuming fire,” we can:

• Reduce it to “God is angry” (and quietly avoid the topic), or

• Let Scripture’s own patterns teach us that this is jealous, holy love—the kind of love that refuses to coexist with rival gods, refuses to leave us unchanged, and refuses to abandon his people in the wilderness.

Fire and glory together help us see:

• The danger of treating God’s presence casually

• The comfort of a God who both guards and guides

• The hope that he purifies, tests, and refines us for nearness, not for annihilation

• The call to live as people whose worship is “acceptable, with reverence and awe”

The downloadable study guide is just a tool to make that easier—to give you method for what you’re already seeing and to keep those scenes in front of you as you read.

Use it with a Bible, a pencil, a small group or class, and begin to trace how glory and fire work their way from Genesis through the prophets, all the way into the New Testament and into your own life of worship.

Don't forget to check out Genesis Marks the Spot, Between Glory and Ashes 2: God Is a Consuming Fire (Episode 154).