God's Holiness: Biblical, Historical, and Doctrinal Foundations

Introduction

"I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs . . . And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.' 'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.'" (Isaiah 6:1–6)

One of the chief differences between Christianity and other religions is that the Christian God — the God of the Bible — is infinitely holy. Holiness is oftentimes defined as "likeness to God." In Isaiah's account, Isaiah sees the Lord and hears the attendants of God speak of his holiness, and he immediately realizes that in comparison to that holiness he is woefully lacking. In order to make sense of Isaiah's reaction, we must first understand what it actually means to "be holy," as well as what we mean when we say that God is holy.

Holiness is, arguably, God's principal attribute; without holiness, God would not be God. Understanding holiness as God is holy is a very difficult task, even for the most learned in religion, since understanding holiness would be equivalent to understanding God in his entirety. Yet to refuse to try to understand God's holiness is to miss the goodness that man can achieve by knowing about it. Though as humans we may never comprehend what it is to be as holy as God, we should strive to understand the importance of his holiness, because doing so can bring us closer to him.

Biblical Foundations of Holiness

The Hebrew word for holy, qadosh, means "to set apart," although there are approximately twelve different Hebrew and Greek words translated "holy" in the Bible. The chief meaning, however, is "to be separated from" all that is unclean — a "transcendence over all that belongs to this world." The Greek term hagiasmos similarly means "to make holy" or "to sanctify."

Isaiah 6:3 records, "And they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.'" Holiness is the only attribute of God mentioned in triplicate in Scripture. This triplicate appears a second time in Revelation 4:8: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is to come." No other attribute is repeated in this way throughout the entire Bible. God never describes himself as "love, love, love" or "mercy, mercy, mercy" — only as "holy, holy, holy."

In 1 Peter 1:13–16, the apostle writes: "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.'" Peter is here quoting from Leviticus 11:44 and Leviticus 19:2.

Leviticus 19:2 states, "Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: 'Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.'" God is telling Israel to be holy and to be distinct from other nations, giving them specific standards by which to lead their lives. Israel is God's chosen nation, set apart from all other peoples. By providing these special regulations, God intends that others will see Israel and recognize them as his people. When Peter repeats God's words in 1 Peter 1:16, he is speaking to all of God's believers, who likewise must be "set apart" from the world and devoted to the Lord.

In 1 Samuel 2:2 we read, "There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God." This passage reaffirms that nothing exists like God. God is pure and entirely without sin; he is therefore perfection. Furthermore, God hates sin and plans one day to do away with it entirely. This reveals something crucial: holiness and sin cannot coexist. Though we can never be as holy as God, if we wish to be more like him we must also hate sin. Habakkuk 1:13 states, "Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you cannot look on wickedness with favor." God is so holy that he cannot even look upon sin.

Throughout the Bible, several passages tell us that God sits "on high," that he "reigns" in "his holy temple" while "sitting on a throne." All of these images lead to the conclusion that God is completely separate from all of creation — not to be identified with any part of it — yet he still reigns over it. Moreover, the fact that God is holy means there is nothing by which he can be measured or assessed by any person or thing other than himself: "God is the absolute standard of himself."

In the Old Testament, the holiness of God appears in two distinct senses. The first combines absoluteness and majesty: it signifies the absolute distinction of the Creator from his creation. This is illustrated in Daniel 4:8–9, 18 and 5:11. Yahweh's "holy arm" (Isaiah 52:10; Psalm 98:1) is his divine arm, and "his holy name" (Leviticus 20:3) is his divine name. As Hannah sings in 1 Samuel 2:2, "there is none holy as Yahweh" — referring not primarily to ethical holiness, but to his supreme divinity. An encounter with the Holy is "accompanied by awe and dread." In The Idea of the Holy, Rudolf Otto states that holiness includes the ethical, but goes beyond all conceiving.

Ethical holiness as applied to God constitutes the second notion of holiness in the Old Testament. The command "Be ye holy; for I am holy," found in Leviticus 11:44 and 19:2, appears to be primarily an ethical injunction because man cannot be holy like God in an absolute or majestic sense. The only way man can resemble God is along the lines of moral qualities — righteousness and love. As the Psalmists and Prophets show, divine holiness becomes above all an ethical reality, convicting men of sin (Isaiah 6:1, 3) and demanding of those who would stand in God's presence "clean hands and a pure heart" (Psalm 24:3).

The New Testament differs in its conception of holiness in that the external, ceremonial element has nearly vanished and the ethical meaning has become absolute. The ceremonial idea still exists in contemporary Judaism and is typically represented by the Pharisees, but Jesus proclaimed a new understanding of religion and morality, according to which people are cleansed or defiled not by anything outward but by the thoughts of their hearts. In the New Testament, the word "holy" is applied infrequently to God directly, except in certain quotations from the Old Testament. The term is, however, regularly used of the Spirit of God, who now — in distinction from the Old Testament — becomes specifically the Holy Spirit.

Historical Background of the Doctrine

"Holy," in Hebrew meaning "separate" or "to be set apart from," refers to the fact that holiness is separate from all other things and held higher than anything else. Only God is intrinsically holy, though God can impart holiness — he can sanctify — persons, places, and things when they are brought into a certain kind of relationship with him. What is holy, however, belongs only to the realm of God, separated unto him.

In Recalling the Hope of Glory, Allen Ross writes:

"To say that God is holy is to ascribe a uniqueness to him that is almost incomprehensible. It indicates that he is set apart from all that is creaturely and corrupt, that he is distinct from this physical and fallen world. It affirms that God is not like humans, angels, false gods, animals — or anything in existence. In short, we may say that there is no one like God, even though that statement has the obvious limitations of a negative sentence — it does not by itself say what he is. But when we describe the holiness of God, we must think of his uniqueness."

Holiness has been present in religious teaching as long as the Bible, parts of which are nearly four thousand years old. The doctrine was taught in the moral law given at Sinai to the Israelites. When Abraham was ninety years old, God appeared to him and said, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect." This demonstrates that the doctrine was impressed upon Abraham four hundred years before the giving of the law. The doctrine has always been a part of the church, with either more or less clarity in different eras.

God is holy, and it is only through him that people can become like him. The word profane is the opposite of holy; another equivalent is common. While "profane" carries negative connotations in contemporary English, it is simply the natural default state of things. The natural state of a chair, for example, is profane — it is something used every day, not given any special treatment. For a profane or common object to become holy, it requires a special act of dedication to God or an act of sanctification that shifts it into God's realm.

In order for something to be holy, it must be separated to that which sanctifies it — namely, God — and also protected from anything that would threaten to take away its sanctity. Holy things are holy simply because they are taken out of the realm of the profane and marked as different. Rules applied for their protection keep the holy object from profanation, ensuring it will never be merely common again.

This framework shows that holiness can increase as one moves further into the sanctuary — that is, closer to God. In the biblical view, the land outside the Israelite camp is common, profane land. The Israelite camp itself bears a certain degree of holiness. Moving inward, the outer courtyard of the sanctuary bears a slightly higher degree of holiness and is accessible only to priests, described as the holy ones within Israel. The inner shrine — the Holy of Holies — is the holiest area, accessible only to the holiest member of the nation, the high priest.