HOLINESS OF GOD.

HOLINESS OF GOD.

God is holy, and God wants his people to be holy. "Holiness" and the adjective "holy" can be seen more than nine hundred times in the Bible. The primary Old Testament word for holiness means "to cut" or "to separate." Holiness is being separated from what is unclean and dedicated to what is clean and pure.

In the Old Testament, God's holiness is his transcendence over creation and the perfection of his character. God is holy in that he is distinct from his creation and has power over it. His holiness is especially mentioned in the Psalms (Psalm 47:8) and the Prophets (Ezekiel 39:7), where "holiness" is a synonym for Israel's God. Thus, Scripture calls God "Holy" (Isaiah 57:15), "Holy One" (Job 6:10; Isaiah 43:15), and "Holy One of Israel" (Psalm 89:18; Isaiah 60:14; Jeremiah 50:29).

In the Old Testament God's holiness tells us that the Lord is separate from all that is evil and defiled (compare Job 34:10). His holy character defines what "perfect" is (Isaiah 5:16). God's holiness-his majesty and his pure character-are skillfully balanced in Psalm 99. Verses 1 through 3 portray God's distance from the earth, whereas verses 4 and 5 emphasize his separation from sin and evil.

In the Old Testament God demanded holiness in the lives of his people. Through Moses, God said to Israel, "You shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy" (Leviticus 19:2, RSV). This holiness had two parts: (1) external, or ceremonial; and (2) internal, or moral and spiritual. Ceremonial holiness is talked about in the first five books of the Bible, and includes rituals that "consecrated," or dedicated, the people to God's service. Priests and Levites were consecrated by a complex ritual (Exodus 29), as were the Hebrew Nazirites, which means "separated ones" (Numbers 6:1-21). Prophets like Elisha (2 Kings 4:9) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5) were also sanctified for a special ministry in Israel.

But the Old Testament also draws attention to the inner, moral, and spiritual aspects of holiness. Men and women, created in the image of God, are called to imitate God's holiness in their lives (Leviticus 19:2; Numbers 15:40). In the New Testament the holiness ceremonies of the Old Testament become less important. Whereas many Jews in Jesus' time wanted to become holy through ceremony and good works (Mark 7:1-5), the New Testament talks more about inner holiness (7:6-12). With the coming of the Holy Spirit, the early church saw that holiness of life was profoundly important and that it should guide our relationship with other people and with objects in the world.

The New Testament Greek word for holiness means a state of being free from fault and having some harmony with God's perfection. The word "godlikeness" or "godliness" captures the sense of the Greek word for holiness. Another Greek word has the idea of holiness as an external separation from the sinful world and dedication to the service of the Lord.

Because the New Testament writers assumed that the Old Testament idea of God was right, they didn't feel the need to talk much about God's holiness. Jesus indicated that God's nature is to be good when he told his disciples to pray that the Father's name might be given credit for what it is: "Hallowed be thy name" (Matthew 6:9, KJV). In the book of Revelation the Father's moral perfection is expressed with words from Isaiah: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come" (Revelation 4:8, RSV; compare Isaiah 6:3). Luke, however, wrote about God's holiness in terms of his transcendence and majesty (Luke 1:49).

Similarly, the New Testament asserts that Christ is holy. Luke (Luke 1:35; 4:34), Peter (Acts 3:14; 4:27-30), the writer of Hebrews (Hebrews 7:26), and John (Revelation 3:7) describe both the Father and the Son as holy.

Since the Spirit comes from God, shows us his holy character, and accomplishes God's holy purposes in the world, he also is absolutely holy (Matthew 1:18; 3:16; 28:19; Luke 1:15; 4:14). The common title "Holy Spirit" underscores the perfection of the third person of the Godhead (John 3:5-8; 14:16-17, 26).

In the New Testament, Christ's church is also discussed as being holy. Paul taught that Christ loved the church and died for it "that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word" (Ephesians 5:26, RSV). Peter addressed the church as a holy people using words borrowed from the Old Testament. Separated from unbelieving nations and dedicated to the Lord, the church is "a holy nation" (1 Peter 2:9; compare Exodus 19:6).

But the New Testament more often discusses holiness in relation to individual Christians. Believers in Christ are frequently called "saints," literally meaning "holy ones," since through faith God justifies sinners, pronouncing them "holy" in his sight even though they are sinful. A justified sinner is not a perfect person, but someone whom God has declared "not guilty" because of Christ's saving work. Thus, although Christians at Corinth, for example, had many problems, Paul described his sinning friends as those who were "sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints" (1 Corinthians 1:2, RSV). Despite their problems, the Corinthian believers were "holy ones" in Christ.

The New Testament, however, places great stress upon the need for practical, everyday holiness in the Christian's daily experience. The God who declares a person righteous through faith in Christ also commands believers to learn and become holier throughout their lives. In God's plan, belief and growth in holiness should happen together. God graciously provides the spiritual resources for Christians to be "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4), to learn to be more like him.