Grace Institute: Systematic Theology: Theology Proper: God is Holy

Theology Proper Grace Institute for Biblical Leadership Winter 2006

[Previous: Introduction]

II. God is Holy

A. Scripture

Twice in scripture we are given a glimpse into the throne room of heaven. In both these cases God shows us the singularly most encompassing part of his character. In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah, 700 years before Christ, is given a vision of what the throne room of God looks like.

(Isaiah 6:1-4, NKJV) In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!" And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.

This is a truly awe-inspiring scene with God, high and exalted sitting on a throne, his robe filling the temple. Angels are shouting the character of God in a loud rumble that shakes the throne room of heaven. And the singular attribute attributed to the Lord is his holiness. The same is true in Revelation 4:8 when the apostle John has a vision while exiled on the island of Patmos:

(Revelation 4:8 NASB) And the four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within; and day and night they do not cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.”

In both these cases, the attribute of God proclaimed in the throne room is God's holiness. Holiness is the attribute with which God wants to be primarily identified. That being the case, we should take God's holiness very seriously.

The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory. [1]

B. Definition

Holiness is one of those religious terms we hear all the time but sometimes struggle to define. We can use synonyms such as sacred, consecrated, and hallowed. But these terms have the same stuffy old feeling as holy. Holiness, as amplified in scripture, seems to encompass three things:

1. To be set apart

God is unique. He has not rivals or competition [2]. He is unsearchable, incomprehensible, incomparable, great, wonderful, and exalted [3].

(Exodus 15:11 NIV) "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you-- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

God cannot really be defined. He is holy, different, unique, and foundationally beyond our ability to put a definition on Him.

2. To be morally pure

Holy things are pure and clean. There is no evil or wickedness.

(Habakkuk 1:13 NKJV) You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.

To say that God is pure and perfect means does not merely mean that God doesn't have any imperfections. In the same way that being healthy is not merely the absence of illness, God's purity is not just the absence of imperfection. Holiness means that God is absolutely perfect.

God's holiness encompasses righteousness. But righteousness does not mean that God does what is right. Rather, whatever God does is right. Righteousness itself is defined by God's character. He is the standard of all that is good and right. Any less and God would be subject to a standard outside himself. This is outside the boundaries of the definition of holiness.

As such, God's righteousness and purity is a transcendent purity.

When things are made holy, when they are consecrated, they are set apart unto purity. They are to be used in a pure way. They are to reflect purity as well as simple apartness. Purity is not excluded from the idea of the holy; it is contained within it. But the point we must remember is that the idea of the holy is never exhausted by the idea of purity. It includes purity but is much more than that. It is purity and transcendence. It is a transcendent purity. [4]

When God's moral purity separates him from His creation it is called holiness. When his moral purity is applied to his relationship to creation, it is called his righteousness. When God's moral purity is required of others in creation, it is called justice.

3. Holiness amplifies all of the other attributes of God

Holiness is not merely just another attribute in a long list of attributes. It is the attribute proclaimed by the Seraphim in heaven. It is the attribute by which all His other attributes are qualified.

The word is used as a synonym for his deity. That is, the word holy calls attention to all that God is. It reminds us that His love is holy love, his justice is holy justice, his mercy is holy mercy, his knowledge is holy knowledge, his spirit is Holy Spirit." [5]

C. Our Response

When we contemplate God's holiness, what should our response be? Isaiah's response is a good picture of what our response will be if we truly understand his holiness.

(Isaiah 6:5 NKJV) So I said: "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, The Lord of hosts."

Isaiah became aware of His own sinfulness, especially related to his speech. When confronted with the transcendent purity of God, his impurity was readily apparent. Furthermore, he became aware of His people's sinfulness. But mostly, he became aware of his fate. He understood that his lack of holiness doomed him ("Woe is me, for I am undone!").

John's response in Revelation reveals this same awareness of his fate:

(Revelation 1:17 NASB) And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man.

When confronted with God's holiness, our response is humility. Humility is seeing God for who He is. But it is also seeing myself for who I am not. To truly understand God, and therefore understand ourselves and our meaning and purpose, it must begin with humility.

Isaiah's response is far from what we hear today from many who claim to teach biblical truth. He was not impressed with his "significance." His "self-esteem" was not enhanced. Just the opposite took place. His vision of the holiness of God caused Isaiah to lament his utter sinfulness. If God was holy, Isaiah saw he was not. Isaiah confessed his own unholiness and that of his people. [6]

In a culture that tells us that the way to find meaning is to look inside yourself, to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, humility seems like a foolish, weak, un-empowered character trait. But God tells us that the way up is down, that when we humble ourselves, we will be lifted up (James 4:10). It is only when we humble ourselves that we will truly understand who God is.

Footnotes

1. R. C. Sproul. The Holiness of God (Wheaton, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.,
2. 1985), 40.
3. Bob Deffinbaugh. “The Holiness of God.” [article on-line]. (Dallas TX: Bible Studies Foundation, 1997), accessed April 19, 2006; available from http://www.bible.org/page.asp?page_id=252 ; Internet.
4. John D. W. Watts, “Holy,” Holman Bible Dictionary for Windows, 1994.
5. Sproul.
6. Deffinbaugh.

[Next: God is Transendent]