HoijNESs, as a note of the Church. See Sanctity. HOLINESS OF GOD, his essential and absolute moral perfection. Primarily, the word hob/ (Sax. hall;,' ; Germ, heiliff, whole, sound) denotes perfection in a moral
sense. As applied to man, it denotes entire conAirmity to the will of God. See Sanctification. " But when we speak of God, we speak of a Being who is a law unto himself, and whose conduct cannot be referred to a high- er authority than his own." See Holiness, above.
1. "As to the use of the words ttJnj? and tlytoc, some critics assert that they are only used in Scripture, with reference to God, to describe him as the object of awe and veneration ; and it is true that this is their prevail- ing meaning— e.g. Isa.vi, 9; John xvii, 11 (uyte irurtfi) —and that accordingly uyiaZt(TOai signifies to be esteem- ed venerable, to he reverenced. Still it is undeniable that these words in many passages arc applied to (Jod in a moral sense ; e. g. Lev. xix, 2, ' Be ye holy, for I am holy;' comp. 1 Pet. i, 14-16. Thus "also oirumiQ, Eph. iv, 24; and ayiuavvi], ayiaGfioq, by which all moral perfection is so frequently designated, more especially in the New Testament, flie different synonymical sig- nifications of the words tJTlp and liytoQ are clearly con- nected in the following manner : {a) The being external- Iji pure; e. g. 2 Sam. xi, 4; Lev. xi, 43, 44; xx, 7, 25, 26 sq. (&) The bein^j separate, since we are accustomed to divide what is pure from what is impure, and to cast away the latter; and thirtl'oic {<-) The jwssessinr/ of any kind of external adraiilar/i . (li.<liii<iion, or worth. So the Jews were said to lie //"/// to Cud, in opposition to others, who Avere koivoi, profane, common, unconsecrated. Then everything which was without imperfection, dis- grace, or blemish was called holy ; and UJIIp, liyioQ, sacrosancius, came thus to signify what was inviolable (Isa. iv, 3 ; 1 Cor. iii, 17) ; hence 'C^'p'O, asylum. They were then used in the more limited sense of chaste (like the Latin sanctitas), a sense in which they are also some- times used in the New Testament ; e. g. 1 Thess. iv, 3, 7 (comp. Wolf, ad loc). They then came to denote any internal moral perfection ; and, finalh', perfection, in the general notion of it, as exclusive of all imperfection."
2. " The holiness of God, in the general notion of it, is his moral perfection — that attribute by which all moral imperfection is removed from his nature. The holiness of the tvill of God is that, therefore, by which he chooses, necessarily and invariably, what is morally good, and refuses what is morally evil. The holiness and justice of God are, in reality, one and the same thing ; the dis- tinction consists in this onlj'-, that holiness denotes the internal inclination of the divine will— the disposition of God, and justice the expression of the same by ac- tions. This attribute implies, 1. That no sinful or wick- ed inclination can be found in God. Hence he is said (James i, 13, 17) to be antipaaroc, KaKwv, mcapable of being tempted to evil (not in the active sense, as it is rendered by the Vulgate and Luther) ; and in 1 John i, 5, to be light, and without darkness; i. e. holy, and without sin. In this sense he is called "iin^J, KuOapuc, ayvoQ (1 John iii, 3) ; also C-^rPl, uTrXooc, integer (Psa. xviii, 31). The older writers described this by the Avord avaiiaQTt]Toc, impeccabilis. [The sinlessness of God is also designated in the New Testament by the words -itXhoq (Matt, v, 48) and ocioq (Rev. xvi, 5).] 2. That ho never chooses what is false and deceitful, but only what is truly good— what his perfect intelligence recognises as such; and that he is therefore the most perfect teacher and the highest exemplar of moral good- ness. Hence the Bil)le declares that he looks with dis- pleasure upon wicked, deceitful courses (Psa. i, 5 sq. ; V, 5 : 'Thou hatest all workers of iniquity') ; but, on^thc contrary, he regards the pious witli favor (Psa. v, 7, 8; XV, 1 sq.; xviii, 26 sq. ; xxxiii, 18)" (Knapp, Theology, § 29). Howe speaks of the holiness of God as '• tlic ac- tual, peri^etual rectitude of all his volitions, and all the works and actions ^vhich are consequent thereupon ; and an etemal propension thereto and love thereof, by which it is altogether impossible to that wiU that it should ever vary."
3. Holiness is an essential attribute of God, and adds
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glory, lustre, and harmony to all his other perfections (Psa. xxvii, 4; Exod. xv, 11). He could not be God without it (Deut. xxxii, 4). It is infinite and unbound- ed; it cannot be increased or diminished. It is also im- mutable and invariable (Mai. iii, G). God is orif/inally holy; he is so of and in himself, and the author and jjro- 7noter of all holiness among his creatures. The hoUness of God is visible by his works; he made all things holy (Gen. i, 31) : by his p?-ovidences, all which are to pro- mote holiness in the end (Heb. xL, 10) : by his grace, which intluences the subjects of it to be holy (Tit.ii, 10, 12) : by his word, which commands it (1 Pet. i, 15) : by his ordinances, which he hath appointed for that end (.Jer. xliv, 4, 5) : by the punishment of sin in the death of Christ (Isa. liii) ; and by the eternal punishment of it in wicked men (Matt, xx, 46) (Buck). See At- tributes. The holiness of God, like his other attri- butes, constitutes the divine essence itself, and conse- quently exists in him in the state of absolute perfection. It were therefore impossible to consider it as a conform- ity of God to the laws of right, since God himself, on the contrary, is the idea and principle of holiness. But, on the other hand, we may not say that the will of God simply constitutes the essence of divine hoUness. To mankind, indeed, the simple will of God is at once law in all things; but with regard to God himself, his will is holy because he wills only according to his immanent holiness, i. e. his own nature. As the absolute Being, God is necessarily in no wise dependent on any outward law ; but as a morally perfect spirit God cannot but be true to himself, and thus manifest in all his agency his inherent moral perfection as his immanent law.