THE HOLINESS OF GOD

Introduction

-After having looked at a few of the names of God to understand Him more, I want to focus in on one particular quality or characteristic of God. Out of all of God’s characteristics or attributes, which is the most important? There is a lot that could be said of God—we could talk about His love, justice, omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, etc.

-Philadelphia pastor James Montgomery Boice once spoke to a discipleship group on the attributes of God. He began by asking them to list God’s qualities in order of importance. They put love first, followed by wisdom, power, mercy, and truth. At the end of the list they put holiness. “That did surprise me,” Boice later wrote, “because the Bible refers to God’s holiness more than any other attribute.” The Bible doesn’t generally refer to God as Loving, Loving, Loving! Or Wise, Wise, Wise! Or Omniscient, Omniscient, Omniscient! But over and over we read the cry of the holy angels, Holy, Holy Holy!

-What is holiness? It is hard to put in words. We can look at original languages—Hebrew: godesh/gadosh=apartness or sacredness; Greek: hagios=righteous, holy, pious from which get concepts of saint, sanctify and sanctification

-It is important for us to pinpoint an idea of holiness, because out of it all other characteristics of God find their culmination, so without it we cannot understand Him and all the rest of His attributes and character

-Theologian J. P. Boyce gave this perspective:

Holiness is, however, not a distinctive attribute, but rather the combination of all these attributes. We may suppose a being in whom there may be love without justice, or truth, or any one of these to the exclusion of the other two; but no being can be holy, who does not combine in himself all of these, and all other moral perfections. Nor, when we have such a combination, is there anything to be added to constitute holy character. It is evident, therefore, that holiness is the sum of all excellence and the combination of all the attributes which constitute perfection of character.

—as another author said:

“Just as all the colors of the spectrum come together to form the pure white light which illuminates our world, so all attributes of God come together into His holiness.”

-God is a God of love because He is holy…truth…righteousness…wisdom…mercy…jealousy…etc.

-Also important to understand God’s holiness because in some sense He calls His children to be same way—

1 Peter 1:15–16 ESV

15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

-So, let’s consider this concept of holiness

-(1) First, in taking basic concept of being “set apart” or “separated”, there is a sense of holiness that is unique to God alone—a theological or relational or metaphysical sense (metaphysical=that which is transcendent or is part of a reality beyond perception by human senses). God is holy or set apart in that there is absolutely nothing that exists that is like Him—no matter the realm or spiritual dimension or physical dimension, there is nothing that exists that is like our God. He is separate and above anything else—because anything and everything that exists anywhere was created by Him, and He is so above all else—best way could put it in human terms

Exodus 15:11 ESV

11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

1 Samuel 2:2 ESV

2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

-There is no one that exists that is like God. There is nothing that He can be compared to. There is nothing that even comes close to His level. So, God is holy in the sense that He is completely separate and different from anything and everything else.

-(2) Second, there is moral sense to God’s holiness, in that God is completely and utterly separate from all that is sin and evil—instead, God has all moral uprightness since He Himself is the plumb line by which all goodness and righteousness are measured. Thomas Oden wrote:

“Holiness implies that every excellence fitting to the Supreme Being is found in God without blemish or limit. It also implies that all other divine excellencies (goodness, justice, mercy, truth and grace) are unified and made mutually harmonious in infinite degree in God”

-Everything that makes God God is part of holiness—Holiness makes Him a good God; it defines Him as best as we can with mere human words. William Shedd explained:

“Holiness in God must consequently be defined as conformity to His own perfect nature.”

-Because God is perfect in nature, He is holy. Because God is holy in nature, He is perfect. Charles Hodge, the famous Princeton theologian, said:

Holiness, on the one hand, implies entire freedom from moral evil; and, upon the other, absolute moral perfection.

-If you think about holiness in the absolute moral sense, you find that holiness truly only belongs to God since He alone is untouched by evil.

-The Bible throughout declares God’s holiness

Psalm 99:9 ESV

9 Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy!

-The Bible throughout says that His name is holy (and if you remember what I said about the name, it’s talking about His nature and character:

Psalm 106:47 ESV

47 Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.

-The Bible even indicates that the ground on the earth where God decides to reveal Himself in a special way is holy:

Exodus 3:5 ESV

5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

-On and on it goes—the Bible centralizes itself upon God’s holiness. And since we can call God’s holiness His central characteristic, we find in Scripture that we are called to the same thing (the same thing is expected of us

Hebrews 12:14 ESV

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

-But because we sin and rebel, we do not find holiness within ourselves, nor can we work our way up to holiness. Holiness is only found in Christ—where holiness is imparted and we are given power to live in that holiness. And it is important to note that holiness in Christ is much more than just lack of something (meaning, it is more than just a lake of sin. An analogy might be that the definition of being physically healthy means much more than just the absence of sickness, but it also entails a physical wholeness. Likewise, holiness is more than just the absence of sin, but it is a positive, healthy state of being right with God.

-How does that look?

2 Corinthians 7:1 ESV

1 Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

-So, as Christians, let’s not just talk about it, let’s do it. As D. L. Moody said,

“A holy life will make the deepest impression. Lighthouses blow no horns, they just shine.”

-Let’s pray that our lives would be a reflection of the holiness of God that will attract a lost world to find the Savior that will lead them to the same...