This clear and helpful distinction assumes that the primary meaning of 07105 must be sought in the revelation of the essential nature of God ; the various meanings of 27105 may thus be traced in orderly sense-development from its root ri 4705, 'religious awe,' 'reverence.' 'Holy is his name' (Lk l-") is the starting-point ; things and persons are holy by reason of their being destined for Divine uses ; the secondary meaning of separation from defilement arises at a later stage, as clearer perception of the nature of tied also reveals the need of preparation for His service by cleansing from all impurity.
This conclusion must be tested by a brief study of the Jewish conception of holiness. The et.vmology of E'np (LXX generally ciyio;, sometimes xxBapoi, never o<rio,-) is disputed. Little can be learnt from the use of cognate words by non-Israelitish peoples. The profound and indeed unique meaning of holiness in the religion of revelation can be ascertained only from a careful investigation of the phraseology of the OT writer's. An excel- lent sketch of the probable history of the word, which assumes that its fundamental idea is separation, is given in Sanday- Headlam's Romans (note on 1') ; but it is acknowledged that ' there is a certain element of conjecture . . . which is inevit- able from the fact that the earlier staires in the history of the word had been already gone through when Ihe Hebrew litera- ture begins.' There is, therefore, scope for further inquiry.
KitteUPfl-ES vii. 606 ff.) maintains that the root-idea of the word is positive. Things are not holy because they are separated from other things; they are separated from other things because they are holy. When holiness is ascribed to vessels, animals for saci-iflce, etc., either order of thought is suitable. But this is not the case when, e.g., the temple, Zion, and heaven are called holy ; they are holy because they arc the abode of God. If the primary meaning of holy is titat which hrlt'iKis to iiod and is devoted to Uis sei-vicc. persons may be called holy who stand in a close relation to God, inasmuch as the\- are in a special sense His servants. Verv instru'ti\c is Nu Ki-' ' In the morning the Lord will show who are his, and wlio is holy.' As applied to persons and to the nation, holiness acquired a deeper signi- ficance. In the Law of Holiness (Lv 17ff.) the command, 'Ye shall be holy ; for I the Lord your God am holy ' (Lv 192), is seen to in\oi\c both exttrn;il requirements referring to ritual, and inward requiremcnl - m firiinu (-■ n-i il . lui ,mI' r.
The holiness of Gwl ^ : ' 1 : 1 i !•< primary.
His 'essential Divinn K 1 ids with
Bengel's saying that (I'i - : M '1 holiness.
idea of holir of the idea
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1 liclore the J^ord, iiiis h...,\ I....I - iNone may approach Iliin sa\ e those who have complied with the pre- scribed regulations (cf. 1 S 216). As the moral nature of God was more clearlv apprehended, the conception of His holiness was spirituahzed ; in Hos ■•" " - ^-' — ' Holv One in the midst r.f fh motive of the resolve, ' I > city,' Kittel rightly .li : ness : 'Glory' is a comh outshining of His altril Ui
be metaphysical
HOLINESS
HOLINESS
moral ; but ' holiness ' has ahva
The fact that the conception of holiness varies with the ception of God explains the occasional deterioration of the idea. When stress was laid ujjon the transcendence of God, stress was also laid upon ritual purity. But, in general, later Jewish teaching has insisted upon moral as well as ceremonial purity as being essential qualifications for the service of the Holy One of Israel. Rightly to understand the meaning of ' holy ' as used by our Lord and His contemporaries, it is needful to remember that for rabbinical Judaism holiness became ' synonymous with purity of life, purity of action, and purity of thought' (see Jewish Enci/c. vi. 44ii>). Holiness is 'an ideal state of perfec- tion attained only by God' (Jerus. Ber. ix. 13a); but 'man grows in holiness the more he aspires to the Divine will, rising above the sensual ' ( ]'.»/i«, 3!)a). Dalman says (Words of Jesus, p. 202) that ' the Holiness ' (iripn) became a Divine title (Siphre, Num. 112, ed. Friedm. 33(t).
The NT passages which fall wthin the limits of (his article may be classified according as (1) holi- ness is ascribed to things, places, or persons by («) the Evangelists, {b) our Lord ; (2) holiness is ascribed to Christ (a) in the Acts, (6) in the Epistles.
1. Holiness in the Gospels. — [a] The Evangelists speak of -the In.ly i-ity' (Mt 4= 27"^), 'the holy place' (Mt 124''), ' his holy covenant' (Lk V-): Jeru- salem and the temple are holy, as being the abode of God ; the covenant made with Abraham is holy, as being a revelation of the gi-acious purpose of God in choosing a people to serve Him in holiness (Lk 1'° ; see above on oc^i&Ttjs). Persons are de- scribed a.s holy, because they are devoted to God's service : in the Gospels mention is made of ' the holy angels ' (Mk 8*, Lk 9-'), ' his holy prophets ' (Lk 1™), and Herod is said to have recognized the holiness of John the Baptist (Mk 6-°) ; in such uses of the word there is included an assertion of the moral pm-ity which is an essential qualification for the service of God. In Lk 2" an OT quotation (Ex 13°) explains that the offering of the parents of Jesus, when they presented their child to the Lord in the temple, was a recognition of the fact that every firstborn son was holy as belonging to God. The ascription of holiness to the Divine Spirit (Mt 1" etc.) will be considered in paragraph (b) ; but here it may be noted that in the story of the Annunciation (Lk I'"'), JMary is told that the Holy Spirit shall come upon lil-r witli the result that her child shall be holy {t6 yewunfvov ayiov) ; and that once (4') Jesus is d'esiriljecl a.s ' full of the Holy Spirit.' In Mk I-'' = Lk 4-''' the man with an unclean spirit calls Christ ' the Holy One of God,' and according to the true text Simon Peter uses the same title (Jn 6®'). The phrase is a designa- tion of the Messiali, described by John (10'") as ' him whom the Father consecrated ' {ijyiaae. For this and other uses of ayid^av see art. Consecra- tion). Finally, holiness is ascribed to God in the Magnificat, and the whole context ('his mercy,' etc.) shows that 'holy is his name' (Lk 1''^) is a declaration of the moral glory of God.