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The Attributes of God: HOLY

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Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
(Exodus 3:5-6)

“There is none holy like the Lord.”
(1 Samuel 2:2)

The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name!
Holy is he!
(Psalm 99:2-3)

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
(Isaiah 6:3)

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
(Revelation 4:8)

What is holiness?

Holiness is synonymous with God’s total purity and separation from the rest of creation. Holiness is a moral purity, and different from Adam’s (initial) holiness, God’s holiness is eternally incorruptible. This holiness so sets God apart from fallen man that in his natural state, no man may approach the incorruptible God (for man is tarnished, dirty, and corrupt, and true holiness cannot bear such) — this is evidenced by the special commands to those who would approach God (cf. Exodus 3:4-6, Isaiah 6:1-6).

Holy, holy, holy

You’ll notice that only one of God’s attributes is repeated three times—his holiness. Contemporary theologian R.C. Sproul comments on this in his classic work, The Holiness of God:

On a handful of occasions the Bible repeats something to the third degree. To mention something three times in succession is to elevate it to the superlative degree. Only once in Scripture is an attribute of God elevated to the third degree. The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. The Bible never says that God is love, love, love or mercy, mercy, mercy or justice, justice, justice.

God’s holiness is one of the primary reasons why the advent of Christ is so incredible: it allows men who were once unable to come before God the ability to kneel before the throne of God and worship forever and ever (Revelation 4:9-11, 5:14).

 

Other attributes of God we’ve discussed so far:

[This post is adapted from Blue Letter Bible’s Theological FAQs page.]

Comments

  1. Because God is Holy, He is all the other attributes. Most people do not want to talk about the Holiness of God. They only want to talk about His love. I am so glad that I serve a Holy God.

  2. It fills my heart with hope and gladness to know that my God is Holy. The glory of His Holiness inspires me to be greater than I am. The depth of His Holiness demands my worship and adoration. Just to know that I am created in Christ Jesus, Who is His express image, elevates my status to “A Child of The King.” “Our God Is An Awesome God.”

  3. Maybe the reason holy is stated 3 times is in reference to God in 3 persons – all being holy…just a thought.

  4. Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10 learned something about holiness. Actually it was Aaron that learned it. After Aaron’s sons were consumed by fire from heaven for offering strange fire before the LORD Moses said, “This is what the LORD has said, ‘I will show myself holy among those who are near me, and before all the people I will be glorified.’ And Aaron held his peace.” What was their fatal error? As I have grappled with this text it seems to me that they did not regard the LORD as a personal being. Rather, they viewed God as some kind of cosmic impersonal force that can be manipulated by the actions of men. It did not matter to them where the fire came from that they offered to him. All that mattered was that they went through the motions and did the ritual, to ‘grease the machine’ if you will. The infinite/personal God took offense at this gross misrepresentation of his nature because he says, “and before all the people I will be glorified.” God requires all of the image bearers to reflect his nature and character accurately, but especially those of the priesthood who have the incredible privilege of drawing near to his immediate personal presence in the Holy of Holies, (Heb.9:3)

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