RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Holiness of God
tributed. So Amos (ii. 6-7) speaks of the unethical ; dealings of Israel as acts which profane the holy,
name of Yahweh. The "holy" name
5. Ethical of Yahweh is his name and his being as
"Content of God of Israel and of the world,
"Holiness." and since this being is regarded as
ethical in essence, the conception of holiness is that of ethical purity. When, then, in Amos iv. 2 God swears by his holiness, it does not mean by his majesty; and when, in vi. 8, he swears by himself he must swear at least by his ethical majesty and sublimity. Similarly, in Hos. xi. 9 God is represented as asserting the difference between himself and man as the ground why he will not utterly destroy Ephraim. This ethical content must exist also in the passage Isa. vi. 3 sqq., where the prophet as a sinful man fears lest he be consumed by the holy God, because as a sinful man he has come near to the ethically pure and sublime Being. The idea of the unapproachability of God remains, but it is spiritualized and totally changed. So in the speech of the seraphim a difference is expressed in the words " holy " and " glory " (kabhodh); the first expresses the essence of God's being, the second the external manifestation of His holiness. Similarly the prophet speaks of the " Holy One of Israel " when he wishes to express the inner essence of God as related to Israel, while, as suggested by Ps. xviii., the expression " glory of Israel " is available to convey the idea of his external manifestations. Yet the two ideas of holiness and glorification are brought together in Lev. x. 3, in which God is sanctified to the priests and glorified to the people. The people see the glory of Yahweh, the priests have closer access and know more of his essential character.
When Israel began to express the idea of God in an emphatic exposition of his ethical and spiritual
character, the growth of the notion of
6. Holiness holiness in this sense became more ex-
as Tran- tended. This took form in the idea of
scendence. transcendence and sublimity, and is
found especially in Ezekiel and the Priest Code expressing itself not merely in the ethical, but also in the cultic and ceremonial purity of mankind. It is this thought which dominates the legal provisions, that Israel is to exemplify the holiness of God. And the sense of the sin of man enhanced the emphasis upon the transcendence and supermundane essence of deity and the recession of deity to a distance from man. So it is at this point that the idea of separateness reenters. And the separateness of Israel from the Gentiles but mirrors that of God from the world, viewed in this aspect (Lev. xx. 26). But the ethical remains dominant. Dishonoring of parents is forbidden, not because to do it is heathen, but because it is unethical. The same point of view comes out in Ezekiel, though not with the same emphasis. Thus in xxxvi. 25 sqq. the purification from all defilement and the renewing of the heart through the spirit of God is the essence of the sanctifying activity of God.
A review of the entire case as presented in the Old Testament makes evident that it is not a proper conclusion to assert that the idea of the holiness of God is but one side of his essential being; rather it is the comprehensive designation for the total
content of the divine Being in his relation to the external world. So that the " holiness " of God expresses all that is implied in the word kabhodh, " glory "; while the latter expresses in particular the divine majesty. The development of the thought therefore shows first an extension from the popular idea of unapproachableness to that of sublimated ethical purity which sinks again to a partial expression of externalized or transcendental separation. (R. Kittel.)
Several words are used to convey the idea of holiness in the New Testament — hagios, hagnos, and derivatives from these. Hagiazein signifies to cause to share in God's holiness, whether the act is referred to God or to men. Hagiasmos designates either the process of making holy 7. Usage in (I Thess. iv. 3; I Pet. i. 2) or the re-
the New suit of this process (Rom. v. 22, vi. 19; Testament. Heb. xii. 14). Hagiosune stands for the holy character which corresponds to the gospel (II Cor. vii. 1; I Thess. iii. 13), also for the inner spirit of Jesus (Rom. i. 4). Hagiotes describes either the holy character of man (II Cor. i. 12) or of God (Heb. xii. 10). Hagnos, from the same root as hagios, in the New Testament as in classical Greek refers to chastity (Tit. ii. 5; I Pet. iii. 2), to sincerity (II Cor. xi. 2-3) or freedom from defilement (Phil. iv. 8; I Tim. v. 22; Jas. iii. 17). Hagios like hagiazein has reference either to God or to some aspect of his creation, especially men, as objects of God's electing and redeeming grace. In general holiness is applied (1) to God. It represents his ethical purity and perfection manifested in reaction against sin, but also in cleansing and finally redeeming those whom he elects (Luke i. 49; John xvii. 11; I Pet. i. 15-16). (2) Since holiness is the essential characteristic of God, the same is true of the Spirit of God. He is holy, as the principle of the divine self-communication (I Cor. ii. 10; Mark xi. 13), the permanent principle of the new life (Mark i. 8; Rom. xv. 16; Tit. iii. 5), and of special divine gifts (Luke i. 15, 35, 67). (3) Jesus as holy occupies a unique relation to God (Mark i. 24; Luke iv. 34; John vi. 69; Acts iv. 30), and in virtue of an act of self-dedication (John xvii. 19) he stands in a peculiar relation to men, partly with reference to his name or mystic union with him, and partly as the cause of their sanctification (I Cor. vi. 11, i. 2; Eph. v. 26; Heb. ii. 11). (4) Holiness is also applied to men who are called to share the holiness of God (John xvii. 17; I Cor. i. 2; II Cor. vii. 1; Eph. i. 4); or they are designated simply as holy or saints (Mark vi. 20; Luke i. 70; Eph. i. 1, iii. 5; Rev. xiii. 10), or there is here the characteristic term for Christians in general (Acts ix. 13, xx. 32; I Cor. xvi. 1). It is also the description of those who are set apart for the service of God (cf. John x. 36). (5) The term has further to do with persons and things set apart as already belonging to God (" the name," Luke xi. 2; " blood of the covenant," Heb. x. 29; " Christ as Lord," I Pet. iii. 15), or as associated with God for an ethical end (" every creature," I Tim. iv. 5; " vessels unto honor," II Tim. ii. 21). (6) Finally it concerns objects which derive their character from their relation to God, as a given place (Matt. xxiv.
Holiness of God Holland