Sometimes critics of Latter-day Saint theology complain that it glorifies man merely and not God. Notwithstanding, such is false. Indeed, even in unique LDS Scripture, the glorification of mankind results in the glorification of God—it is not either-or as many errant non-LDS approaches to this issue. For instance, note:
For a permanent and everlasting establishment and order unto my church, to advance the cause, which ye have espoused, to the salvation of man, and to the glory of your Father who is in heaven. (D&C 78:4)
For behold, this is my work and my glory to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. (Moses 1:39)
The salvation/exaltation/glorification of mankind results in the glorification of God.
There is a Christological basis for this, as seen in the theology of Phil 2:5-11.
[Phil 2:5-11’s depiction of the exalted Jesus] does not replace God or take worship from God. God is worshipped through the worship of the exalted Jesus. The worship which is given to the exalted Jesus does not usurp the worship of God, nor does it rival the worship of God; it rather complements the worship of God and facilitates it. Paul thus includes the exalted Jesus within Christian worship. The eschatological grande finale for Paul is the ultimate and universal glorification of God which God has purposed to be achieved through the worship of the exalted Jesus. The importance and centrality of the risen Jesus in relation to Christian worship, which I have argued from the beginning of this study, is evident here. God cannot be ultimately and maximally glorified according to Paul, without, or apart from, the exalted Jesus. Paul thus sees worship from a teleological perspective as fulfilled in the ultimate expression of honor that is given to God by the entire cosmos, through the agency of the exalted Jesus. (Tony Costa, Worship and the Risen Jesus in the Pauline Letters [Studies in Biblical Literature vol. 157; New York: Peter Lang, 2013], 249, comment in square bracket added for clarification)
The glorification of Jesus does not end with the glorification of God merely--the Father is glorified, and in a similar way, the glorification of mankind does not end with mankind--it ultimately results in the glorification of God.
