Holiness

VIEW:33 DATA:01-04-2020
HOLINESS
I. IN OT
The Heb. words connected with the Semitic root qdsh (those connected with the root chrm may be left out of the inquiry: cf. art. Ban), namely, qôdesh ‘holiness,’ qâdôsh ‘holy,’ qiddash, etc. ‘sanctify, the derived noun miqdâsh ‘sanctuary,’ qâdçsh qedçshâh ‘whore,’ ‘harlot’—occur in about 830 passages in OT, about 350 of which are in the Pentateuch. The Aram. [Note: Aramaic.] qaddîsh ‘holy’ is met with 13 times in the Book of Daniel, qâdçsh and qedçshâh have almost exclusively heathen associations, qaddîsh is used in a few passages of the gods, but otherwise the Biblical words from this root refer exclusively to Jehovah, and persons or things connected with Him. The primary meaning seems at present indiscoverable, some making it to be that of ‘separation’ or ‘cutting off,’ others connecting with châdâsh ‘new,’ and the Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] quddushu ‘pure,’ ‘bright’; but neither brings conclusive evidence. In actual use the word is always a religious term, being, when applied to deity, almost equivalent to ‘divine,’ and meaning, when used of personsorthings, ‘set apart from common use for divine use.’
1. Holiness of God.—For all the Ancient East, Phœnicians and Babylonians as well as Hebrews, a god was a holy being, and anything specially appropriated to one, for example an ear-ring or nose-ring regarded as an amulet, was also holy. The conception of holiness was consequently determined by the current conception of God. If the latter for any people at any time was low, the former was low also, and vice versa. In the heathen world of the Ancient East the Divine holiness had no necessary connexion with character. The ethical element was largely or altogether absent. So a holy man, a man specially intimate with a god, need not he a moral man, as in Palestine at the present day, where holy men are anything but saints in the Western sense of the term (Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day, p. 149 f.). In ancient Israel the holiness of Jehovah may in the first instance have been ceremonial rather than ethical, but this cannot be proved. In the so-called Law of Holiness (H [Note: Law of Holiness.] , contained chiefly in Lev_17:1-16; Lev_18:1-30; Lev_19:1-37; Lev_20:1-27; Lev_21:1-24; Lev_22:1-33; Lev_23:1-44; Lev_24:1-23; Lev_25:1-55; Lev_26:1-46)—a document which, though compiled about the time of Ezekiel, probably contains very ancient elements—the ceremonial and the ethical are inextricably blended. The holiness which Jehovah requires, and which is evidently to be thought of as to some extent of the same nature as His own: ‘Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy’ (Lev_19:2), includes not only honesty (Lev_19:11; Lev_19:36), truthfulness (Lev_19:11), respect for parents (Lev_19:3, Lev_20:9), fair dealing with servants (Lev_19:13), kindness to strangers (Lev_19:34), the weak and helpless (Lev_19:14; Lev_19:32), and the poor (Lev_19:9 f.), social purity (Lev_20:11 ff., Lev_20:18 ff.), and love of neighbours (Lev_19:18), but also abstinence from blood as an article of food (Lev_17:10 ff., Lev_19:26), from mixtures of animals, seeds, and stuffs (Lev_19:19), and from the fruit of newly planted trees for the first four years (Lev_19:23 ff.); and, for priests, compliance with special rules about mourning and marriage (Lev_21:1-15). In other words, this holiness was partly ceremonial, partly moral, without any apparent distinction between the two, and this double aspect of holiness is characteristic of P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] (in which H [Note: Law of Holiness.] was incorporated) as a whole, stress being naturally laid by the priestly compiler or compilers on externals. In the prophets, on the other hand, the ethical element greatly preponderates. The vision of the Holy Jehovah in Isaiah, which wrung from the seer the cry ‘Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips’ (Isa_6:5), leaves the ceremonial aspect almost completely out of sight. The holiness of Jehovah there is His absolute separation from moral evil, His perfect moral purity. But there is another element clearly brought out in this vision—the majesty of the Divine holiness: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory’ (Isa_6:3). This aspect also comes out very distinctly in the great psalm of the Divine holiness, perhaps from the early Greek period, where the holy Jehovah is declared to have ‘a great and terrible name’ (Psa_99:3) and to be’ high above all peoples’ (Psa_99:2), and in one of the later portions of the Book of Isaiah, where He is described as ‘the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy’ (Isa_57:15). The holiness of God in OT is characterized by stainless purity and awful majesty.
2. Holy persons and things.—In ancient Israel all connected with God was holy, either permanently or during the time of connexion. He dwelt in a holy heaven (Psa_20:6), sat on a holy throne (Psa_47:8), and was surrounded by holy attendants (Psa_89:7). His Spirit was holy (Psa_51:11, Isa_63:10 f.), His name was holy (Lev_20:3 etc.), His arm was holy (Psa_98:1), and His way was holy (Isa_35:8). His chosen people Israel was holy (Lev_19:2, Deu_7:6 etc.), their land was holy (Zec_2:12), the Temple was holy (Psa_11:4 etc.), and the city of the Temple (Isa_52:1, Neh_11:1). Every part of the Temple (or Tabernacle) was holy, and all its utensils and appurtenances (1Ki_8:4); the altars of incense and burnt-offering (Exo_30:27 f.), the flesh of a sacrifice (Hag_2:12), the incense (Exo_30:36), the table (Exo_30:27), the shew-bread (1Sa_21:6), the candlestick (Exo_30:27), the ark (Exo_30:26, 2Ch_35:3), and the anointing oil (Exo_30:25). Those attached more closely to the service of Jehovah—priests (Lev_21:6, H [Note: Law of Holiness.] ), Levites (Num_8:17 f.), and perhaps to some extent prophets (2Ki_4:9),—were holy (with ceremonial holiness) in a higher degree than others. The combination of merely external and ethical holiness as the requirement of Jehovah lasted until the advent of Christianity, the proportion of the elements varying with the varying conception of God.
II. IN NT
The word ‘holiness’ in EV [Note: English Version.] stands for hosiotçs (Luk_1:75, Eph_4:24), hagiotçs (2Co_1:12 RV [Note: Revised Version.] , ‘AV [Note: Authorized Version.] having another reading; Heb_12:10), hagiôsynç (Rom_1:4, 2Co_7:1, 1Th_3:13), hagiasmos (in AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , Rom_6:19; Rom_6:22, 1Th_4:7, 1Ti_2:15, Heb_12:14, but in the other 5 passages in which the word occurs we find ‘sanctification ‘; RV [Note: Revised Version.] has ‘sanctification’ throughout), and for part of hieroprepçs (Tit_2:3), ‘as becometh holiness,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] ‘reverent in demeanour.’ The idea of holiness, however, is conveyed mainly by the adjective hagios ‘holy’ (about 230 times) and the verb hagiazô (27 times, in 24 of which it is rendered in EV [Note: English Version.] ‘sanctify’), also by hosios (Act_2:27; Act_13:34 f., 1Ti_2:8, Tit_1:8, Heb_7:26, Rev_15:4; Rev_16:5, not in the text of AV [Note: Authorized Version.] ) and hieros (1Co_9:13, 2Ti_3:15; RV [Note: Revised Version.] has in both passages ‘sacred’). Of these words by far the most important is the group which has hagios for its centre, and which is the real equivalent of qôdesh, qâdôsh, etc., hieros referring rather to external holiness and hosios to reverence, piety, hagios, which is freely used in LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , but is very rare in classical Greek and not frequent in common Greek, never occurring (outside of Christian texts) in the seven volumes of papyri issued by the Egypt Exploration Society, is scarcely ever used in NT in the ceremonial sense (cf. 1Co_7:14, 2Pe_1:18) except in quotations from OT or references to Jewish ritual (Heb_9:2-3; Heb_9:8; Heb_9:24; Heb_10:19 etc.), and in current Jewish expressions, e.g. ‘the holy city,’ Mat_4:5 etc. Otherwise it is purely ethical and spiritual.
Three uses demand special notice. 1. The term ‘holy is seldom applied directly to God (Luk_1:49, Joh_17:11, 1Pe_1:15 f., Rev_4:8), but it is very often used of the Spirit of God (‘the Holy Spirit’ 94 times, 56 of which are in the writings of Luke: cf. art. Holy Spirit). 2. The epithet is used in 10 passages of Christ (‘the Holy One of God,’ Mar_1:24, Luk_4:34, Joh_6:69; also Luk_1:35, Act_3:14; Act_4:27; Act_4:30, Heb_7:26, 1Jn_2:20, Rev_3:7). 3. It is very often used of Christians. They are called ‘saints’ or ‘holy ones’ (hagioi) 60 times, 39 in the Pauline Epistles. The expression is no doubt of OT origin, and means ‘consecrated to God,’ with the thought that this consecration involves effort after moral purity (cf. Lightfoot on Php_1:1). In this use the ethical element is always in the foreground. So we find hagios associated with amômos ‘without hlemish,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] Eph_1:4; Eph_5:27, Col_1:22; and with dikaios ‘righteous,’ RV [Note: Revised Version.] Mar_6:20, Act_3:14. The three words hagiotçs, hagiôsynç, and hagiasmos designate respectively the quality of holiness, the state of holiness, and the process or result. For the sphere and source of holiness, cf. Sanctification.
W. Taylor Smith.
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
Edited by James Hastings, D.D. Published in 1909


hō?li-nes (קדושׁ, ḳādhōsh, ?holy,? קדשׁ, ḳōdhesh, ?holiness?; ἅγιος, hágios, ?holy?):
I. In the Old Testament Meaning of the Term
1. The Holiness of God
(1) Absoluteness and Majesty
(2) Ethical Holiness
2. Holiness of Place, Time and Object
3. Holiness of Men
(1) Ceremonial
(2) Ethical and Spiritual
II. In the New Testament: The Christian Conception
1. Applied to God
2. Applied To Christ
3. Applied To Things
4. Applied To Christians
(1) As Separate from the World
(2) As Bound to the Pursuit of an Ethical Ideal

Literature
I. In the Old Testament Meaning of the Term
There has been much discussion as to the original meaning of the Semitic root ḲDSH, by which the notion of holiness is expressed in the Old Testament. Some would connect it with an Assyrian word denoting purity, clearness; most modern scholars incline to the view that the primary idea is that of cutting off or separation. Etymology gives no sure verdict on the point, but the idea of separation lends itself best to the various senses in which the word ?holiness? is employed. In primitive Semitic usage ?holiness? seems to have expressed nothing more than that ceremonial separation of an object from common use which the modern study of savage religions has rendered familiar under the name of taboo (W.R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, Lect iv). But within the Biblical sphere, with which alone we are immediately concerned, holiness attaches itself first of all, not to visible objects, but to the invisible Yahweh, and to places, seasons, things and human beings only in so far as they are associated with Him. And while the idea of ceremonial holiness runs through the Old Testament, the ethical significance which Christianity attributes to the term is never wholly absent, and gradually rises in the course of the revelation into more emphatic prominence.
1. The Holiness of God
As applied to God the notion of holiness is used in the Old Testament in two distinct senses:
(1) Absoluteness and Majesty
First in the more general sense of separation from all that is human and earthly. It thus denotes the absoluteness, majesty, and awfulness of the Creator in His distinction from the creature. In this use of the word, ?holiness? is little more than an equivalent general term for ?Godhead,? and the adjective ?holy? is almost synonymous with ?Divine? (compare Dan_4:8, Dan_4:9, Dan_4:18; Dan_5:11). Yahweh's ?holy arm? (Isa_52:10; Psa_98:1) is His Divine arm, and His ?holy name? (Lev_20:3, etc.) is His Divine name. When Hannah sings ?There is none holy as Yahweh? (1Sa_2:2), the rest of the verse suggests that she is referring, not to His ethical holiness, but simply to His supreme Divinity.
(2) Ethical Holiness
But, in the next place, holiness of character in the distinct ethical sense is ascribed to God. The injunction, ?Be ye holy; for I am holy? (Lev_11:44; Lev_19:2), plainly implies an ethical conception. Men cannot resemble God in His incommunicable attributes. They can reflect His likeness only along the lines of those moral qualities of righteousness and love in which true holiness consists. In the Psalmists and Prophets the Divine holiness becomes, above all, an ethical reality convicting men of sin (Isa_6:3, Isa_6:1) and demanding of those who would stand in His presence clean hands and a pure heart (Psa_24:3 f).
2. Holiness of Place, Time and Object
From the holiness of God is derived that ceremonial holiness of things which is characteristic of the Old Testament religion. Whatever is connected with the worship of the holy Yahweh is itself holy. Nothing is holy in itself, but anything becomes holy by its consecration to Him. A place where He manifests His presence is holy ground (Exo_3:5). The tabernacle or temple in which His glory is revealed is a holy building (Exo_28:29; 2Ch_35:5); and all its sacrifices (Exo_29:33), ceremonial materials (Exo_30:25; Num_5:17) and utensils (1Ki_8:4) are also holy. The Sabbath is holy because it is the Sabbath of the Lord (Exo_20:8-11). ?Holiness, in short, expresses a relation, which consists negatively in separation from common use, and positively in dedication to the service of Yahweh? (Skinner in HDB, II, 395).
3. Holiness of Men
The holiness of men is of two kinds:
(1) Ceremonial
A ceremonial holiness, corresponding to that of impersonal objects and depending upon their relation to the outward service of Yahweh. Priests and Levites are holy because they have been ?hallowed? or ?sanctified? by acts of consecration (Exo_29:1; Lev_8:12, Lev_8:30). The Nazirite is holy because he has separated himself unto the Lord (Num_6:5). Above all, Israel, notwithstanding all its sins and shortcomings, is holy, as a nation separated from other nations for Divine purposes and uses (Exo_19:6, etc.; compare Lev_20:24).
(2) Ethical and Spiritual
But out of this merely ceremonial holiness there emerges a higher holiness that is spiritual and ethical. For unlike other creatures man was made in the image of God and capable of reflecting the Divine likeness. And as God reveals Himself as ethically holy, He calls man to a holiness resembling His own (Lev_19:2). In the so-called ?Law of Holiness? (Lev 17 through 26), God's demand for moral holiness is made clear; and yet the moral contents of the Law are still intermingled with ceremonial elements (Lev_17:10; Lev_19:19; Lev_21:1). In psalm and prophecy, however, a purely ethical conception comes into view - the conception of a human holiness which rests upon righteousness and truth (Psa_15:1 f) and the possession of a contrite and humble spirit (Isa_57:15). This corresponds to the knowledge of a God who, being Himself ethically holy, esteems justice, mercy and lowly piety more highly than sacrifice (Hos_6:6; Mic_6:6-8).

II. In the New Testament: The Christian Conception
The idea of holiness is expressed here chiefly by the word hagios and its derivatives, which correspond very closely to the words of the ḲDSH group in Hebrew, and are employed to render them in the Septuagint. The distinctive feature of the New Testament idea of holiness is that the external aspect of it has almost entirely disappeared, and the ethical meaning has become supreme. The ceremonial idea still exists in contemporary Judaism, and is typically represented by the Pharisees (Mar_7:1-13; Luk_18:11 f). But Jesus proclaimed a new view of religion and morality according to which men are cleansed or defiled, not by anything outward, but by the thoughts of their hearts (Mat_15:17-20), and God is to be worshipped neither in Samaria nor Jerusalem, but wherever men seek Him in spirit and in truth (Joh_4:21-24).
1. Applied to God
In the New Testament the term ?holy? is seldom applied to God, and except in quotations from the Old Testament (Luk_1:49; 1Pe_1:15 f), only in the Johannine writings (Joh_17:11; Rev_4:8; Rev_6:10). But it is constantly used of the Spirit of God (Mat_1:18; Act_1:2; Rom_5:5, etc.), who now, in contrast with Old Testament usage, becomes specifically the Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost.
2. Applied to Christ
In several passages the term is applied to Christ (Mar_1:24; Act_3:14; Act_4:30, etc.), as being the very type of ethical perfection (compare Heb_7:26).
3. Applied to Things
In keeping with the fact that things are holy in a derivative sense through their relationship to God, the word is used of Jerusalem (Mat_4:5), the Old Testament covenant (Luk_1:72), the Scriptures (Rom_1:2), the Law (Rom_7:12), the Mount of Transfiguration (2Pe_1:18), etc.
4. Applied to Christians
But it is especially in its application to Christians that the idea of holiness meets us in the New Testament in a sense that is characteristic and distinctive. Christ's people are regularly called ?saints? or holy persons, and holiness in the high ethical and spiritual meaning of the word is used to denote the appropriate quality of their life and conduct.
(1) As Separate from the World
No doubt, as applied to believers, ?saints? conveys in the first place the notion of a separation from the world and a consecration to God. Just as Israel under the old covenant was a chosen race, so the Christian church in succeeding to Israel's privileges becomes a holy nation (1Pe_2:9), and the Christian individual, as one of the elect people, becomes a holy man or woman (Col_3:12). In Paul's usage all baptized persons are ?saints,? however far they may still be from the saintly character (compare 1Co_1:2, 1Co_1:14 with 1Co_5:1).
(2) As Bound to the Pursuit of an Ethical Ideal
But though the use of the name does not imply high ethical character as a realized fact, it always assumes it as an ideal and an obligation. It is taken for granted that the Holy Spirit has taken up His abode in the heart of every regenerate person, and that a work of positive sanctification is going on there. The New Testament leaves no room for the thought of a holiness divorced from those moral qualities which the holy God demands of those whom He has called to be His people. See SANCTIFICATION.

Literature
Robertson Smith, Religion of the Semites, Lects. iii, iv; A. B. Davidson, Theology of the Old Testament, 145ff; Schultz, Theology of the Old Testament, II, 167ff; Orr, Sin as a Problem of Today, chapter iii; Sanday-Headlam, Romans, 12ff; articles ?Holiness? in HDB and ?Heiligkeit Gottes im AT? in RE.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
PRINTER 1915.


Holiness
(קֹדֶשׁ, ἁγιοσύνη), prop. the state of sanctity, but often used of external or ceremonial relations (the more prop. ὁσιότης).
I. Intrinsic Idea. — “Holiness suggests the idea, not of perfect virtue, but of that peculiar affection wherewith a being of perfect virtue regards moral evil; and so much, indeed, is this the precise and characteristic import of the term, that, had there been no evil either actual or conceivable in the universe, there would have been no holiness. There would have been perfect truth and perfect righteousness, yet not holiness; for this is a word which denotes neither any one of the virtues in particular, nor the assemblage of them all put together, but the recoil or the repulsion of these towards the opposite vices-a recoil that never would have been felt if vice had been so far a nonentity as to be neither an object of real existence nor an object of thought” (Chalmers, Nat. Theol. 2, 380). — Krauth, Fleming's Vocab. of Philos. p. 217.
II. Applications of the Term. —
1. In the highest sense, holiness belongs to God alone (Isa_6:3; Rev_15:4), because he only is absolutely good (Luk_18:19), and thus demands the supreme veneration of those who would themselves become good (Luk_1:49; Joh_17:11; Act_3:14 [Act_4:27; Act_4:30]; 1Jn_2:20; Heb_7:26; Rev_4:8). SEE HOLINESS OF GOD.
2. Men are called holy
(a) in as far as they are vessels of the Holy Spirit and of divine power, e.g. the prophets; and also in as far as they belong to an organization which is dedicated to God. In the N.T. Christians are especially holy, as being wholly consecrated to God's service. (Comp. Rom_8:27; Rom_12:13; 1Co_6:2; Eph_2:19; Eph_5:3; Eph_6:18; Col_1:11; Col_3:12; 2Pe_1:21; Rev_13:10; Jud_1:14.) — Men are also called holy
(b) in so far as they are or become habitually good, denying sin, thinking and acting in a godlike manner, and, in short, conforming, in their innermost being, as well as in their outward conduct, to the highest and absolute law or the will of God (Rom_6:19; Rom_6:22; Eph_1:4; Tit_1:8; 1Pe_1:15; Rev_20:6).
The grounds of this sanctification, according to outward appearance, are twofold, viz.:
(a) Holiness is given of God by the mediation of Christ, conditioned upon faith and an inward surrender, which are themselves likewise the gift of God.
(b) Man from within, by a proper purification of the heart, may attain this sanctity. Although the last cannot occur without the assistance of God, yet the personal activity of man is necessary and almost preponderant. Still, even interior holiness is, as above implied, the direct work of God.
3. As everything dedicated to God partakes in a certain manner of his holiness, so even things (e.g. the Temple), forms, and ceremonies (e.g. sacrifice): hence “to hallow” means also to dedicate to God, to offer up, to bring as an offering, to present one's self as dedicated to God through Christ (1Co_6:11; Eph_5:26; Heb_2:11; Heb_10:10; Heb_10:14; Joh_17:17). In the N.T., where the merciful assistance of God in customary purity or objective holiness appears prominent, the expression to “sanctify one's self' is used only concerning Christ, and means here the same as to offer up himself as a sacrifice for human sin (Joh_17:19). But as man may make himself holy, i.e. under the assistance of the Holy Spirit, he may work for his own purity; similar phraseology is used of Christians (Mat_23:17; Joh_17:19; 1Ti_4:5).
4. That by which God reveals his holiness, e.g. the Law, is also holy (Rom_7:12).
III. Progression. — Complete holiness, as applied to men, designates the state of perfect love, which exhibits itself in this, that every thought of man, every emotion and volition, hence also every deed, is determined by the will of God, and thus the old man, who has been fainting under the burdens of worldly lust, and has been carrying the chains of the flesh, is cast off, and the new man is fully put on. This sanctification is both a work of God and of man. This divine grace comes through Christ, first at conversion, and by successive steps thereafter under the influence of the Holy Spirit. Man must seize the proffered hand of God, use the means of grace afforded him, and by the assistance of God perfect holiness. Thus, on the one hand, everything comes from God, and, on the other, the personal work of man is necessary. Whatever the good man is, he is through God and his own will; the evil man, however, is so only through his own will, for evil is falling away from God. Goodness consists ultimately in susceptibility for the divine work of grace, while wickedness has its final ground in the free hardening of the heart against the divine influences.
Personal holiness is a work of development in time, frequently under a variety of hinderances and backslidings, and even with the possibility of entire ruin. Hence the admonitions to watchfulness, to continual prayer, to perseverance in faith, in love, and in hope, are abundant (1Co_1:30; 2Co_7:1; Eph_4:23-24; comp. Rom_12:2); hence also the apostle's prayer that the love of the Philippians might abound yet more and more (Php_1:9). But while the laying aside of the old, and the putting on of the new, are thus referred to man, of course it is not the meaning of the sacred writer that sanctification is accomplished by our own power. Christ is our sanctification, as he is our righteousness (1Co_1:30); yet all that Christ through the Holy Spirit works in man may become in vain, because man by his unfaithfulness can hinder the operation of the Spirit.
IV. Metaphorical Representations of a State of Holiness. — In the Scriptures this sanctification is described in manifold as well as strong and explicit figures as a “putting off” of the old man, and a putting on of the new man (Col_3:9), the subject becoming dead to the old, and having recovered the lost image of God. It is represented as self-denial (1Co_9:26-27); as a cleansing (1Jn_1:9; comp. Heb_1:3; Heb_9:14; Eph_5:26; 2Pe_1:9); as a washing (1Co_6:11); as a taking away of sin (Joh_1:29); as being filled with the fruits of righteousness (Php_1:11); with the water of life (Joh_7:38; compare 4:14); as a shedding abroad of the love of God in the heart (Rom_5:5); as baptism into Christ (Rom_6:3; Eph_1:10; Eph_2:5; Rev_15:1); fellowship with God (1Jn_1:3); as being in the Father, and in the Son, and in the light (1Jn_2:5-6; 1Jn_2:10; 1Jn_2:24; compare Ephesians 15; Joh_14:20); as the having God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit dwelling in us (Joh_14:17; Joh_14:20; Gal_2:20; 1 Corinthians 5:15; 1Jn_2:24; 1Jn_4:4; 1Jn_4:12-15; Eph_4:6); as a birth unto God and Christ (1Jn_2:29; 1Jn_3:9-10; 1Jn_4:4-7; 1Jn_5:18-19); as being partaker of the divine nature (2Pe_1:4); children of God (Rom_8:14; Joh_1:12; 1Jn_3:1-2); born again (Joh_3:5; Joh_3:7; Tit_3:5-6); as being one with Christ and one another (Joh_17:22; Joh_17:26). — Krehl, Neutestam. Wörterbuch p. 356. SEE SANCTIFICATION.
HOLINESS, as a note of the Church. SEE SANCTITY. SEE HOLINESS OF GOD, his essential and absolute moral perfection. Primarily, the word holy (Sax. hali; Germ. heilig, whole, sound) denotes perfection in a moral sense. As applied to man, it denotes entire conformity 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 higher authority than his own.” SEE HOLINESS, above.
1. “As to the use of the words קָדוֹשׁand ἃγιος, 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 prevailing meaning-e.g. Isa_6:9; Joh_17:11 (ἃγιε πάτερ) and that accordingly ἁγιάζεσθαι signifies to be esteemed venerable, to be reverenced. Still it is undeniable that these words in many passages are applied to God in a moral sense; e.g. Lev_19:2, ‘Be ye holy, for I am holy;' comp. 1Pe_1:14-16. Thus also ὁσιότης, Eph_4:24; and ἁγιωσύνη, ἁγιασμός, by which all moral perfection is so frequently designated, more especially in the New Testament. The different synonymical significations of the words קָדוֹשׁand ἃγιος are clearly connected in the following manner: (a) The being externally pure; e.g. 2Sa_11:4; Lev_11:43-44; Lev_20:7; Lev_20:25-26 sq. (b) The being separate, since we are accustomed to divide what is pure from what is impure, and to cast away the latter; and therefore (c) The possessing of any kind of external advantage, distinction, or worth. So the Jews were said to be holy to God, in opposition to others, who were κοινοί, profane, common, unconsecrated. Then everything which was without imperfection, disgrace, or blemish was called holy; and קָדוֹשׁ, ἃγιος, sacrosanctus, came thus to signify what was inviolable (Isa_4:3; 1Co_3:17); hence מַקְדָּשׁ, asylum. They were then used in the more limited sense of chaste (like the Latin sanctitas), a sense in which they are also sometimes used in the New Testament; e.g. 1Th_4:3; 1Th_4:7 (comp. Wolf, ad loc.). They then came to denote any internal moral perfection; and, finally, 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 will 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 distinction consists in this only, that holiness denotes the internal inclination of the divine will-the disposition of God, and justice the expression of the same by actions. This attribute implies, 1. That no sinful or wicked inclination can be found in God. Hence he is said (Jam_1:13; Jam_1:17) to be ἀπείραστος κακῶν, incapable of being tempted to evil (not in the active sense, as it is rendered by the Vulgate and Luther); and in 1Jn_1:5, to be light; and without darkness; i.e. holy, anti without sin. In this sense he is called טָהוֹר, καθαρός, ἁγνός (1Jn_3:3); also תָּמַים; ἁπλόος, integer (Psa_18:31). The older writers described this by the word ἀναμάρτητος, impeccabilis. [The sinlessness of God is also designated in the New Testament by the words τέλειος (Mat_5:48) and ὅσιος (Rev_16:5).] 2. That he never chooses what is false and deceitful, but only what is truly good-what his perfect intelligence recognizes as such; and that he is therefore the most perfect teacher and the highest exemplar of moral goodness. Hence the Bible declares that he looks with displeasure upon wicked, deceitful courses (Psa_1:5 sq.; Psa_5:5 : Thou hatest all workers of iniquity'); but on the contrary, he regards the pious with favor (Psa_5:7-8; Psa_15:1 sq.; Psa_18:26 sq.; Psa_33:18)” (Knapp, Theology, § 29). Howe speaks of the holiness of God as “the actual, perpetual rectitude of all his volitions, and all the works and actions which are consequent thereupon; and an eternal propension thereto and love thereof, by which it is altogether impossible to that sin that it should ever vary.”
3. Holiness is an essential attribute of God, and adds glory, luster, and harmony to all his other perfections (Psa_27:4; Exo_15:11). He could not be God without it (Deu_32:4). It is infinite and unbounded; it cannot be increased or diminished. It is also immutable and invariable (Mal_3:6). God is originally holy; he is so of and in himself, and the author and promoter of all holiness among his creatures. The holiness of God is visible by his works; he made all things holy (Gen_1:31): by his providences, all which are to promote holiness in the end (Heb_11:10): by his grace, which influences the subjects of it to be holy (Tit_2:10; Tit_2:12): by his word, which commands it (1Pe_1:15): by his ordinances, which he hath appointed for that end (Jer_44:4-5): by the punishment of sin in the death of Christ (Isaiah 53); and by the eternal punishment of it in wicked men (Matthew 20:46) (Buck). SEE ATTRIBUTES.
The holiness of God, like his other attributes, constitutes the divine essence itself, and consequently exists in him in the state of absolute perfection. It were therefore impossible to consider it as a conformity 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 holiness. 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.
The earlier dogmatists of the Reformed Church largely discussed the question whether right is right because God wills it, or whether God wills right because it is right. Some (e.g. Polanus) maintained the former view as the only one consistent with the absolute nature of God. The later writers maintain the opposite view, e.g. Voetius: “God is subject to no moral duty from without, because he is no man's debtor, and there is no cause outside of God that can bind or determine him. But from within he may be bound (so to speak), not, indeed, in the sense of subjection, because he is his own debtor, and cannot deny himself. Thus, in divine things, the Father is bound to love the Son, for he cannot but love him; while the Son, by the very necessity of his divine nature, is bound to work by the Father; nor can he do otherwise whenever a work outside of God is to be performed. So, also, in external acts, the creature having been once produced, God is bound to maintain it by his perpetual power and continual influence (as long as he wishes it to exist), to move directly upon it as its first mover, and guide it to his glory (Pro_16:4; Rom_11:34-36). That is immutably good and just whose opposite he cannot wish.” So also Heidegger (Corp. Theol. 3, 89, 90): “Whatever is the holiness, justice, and goodness of the creature, nevertheless its rule and first norm in the sight of God is not his free will and command, but his own essential justice, holiness, and goodness.”
On this subject Watson remarks as follows: “Without conducting the reader into the profitless question whether there is a fixed and unalterable nature and fitness of things, independent of the divine will on the one hand; or, on the other, whether good and evil have their foundation, not in the nature of things, but only in the divine will, which makes them such, there is a method, less direct it may be, but more satisfactory, of assisting our thoughts on this subject. It is certain that various affections and actions have been enjoined upon all rational creatures under the general name of righteousness, and that their contraries have been prohibited. It is a matter also of constant experience and observation that the good of society is promoted only by the one, and injured by the other; and also that every individual derives, by the very constitution of his nature, benefit and happiness from rectitude, injury and misery from vice. This constitution of human nature is therefore an indication that the Maker and Ruler of men formed them with the intent that they should avoid vice and practice virtue; and that the former is the object of his aversion, the latter of his regard. On this principle, all the laws, which in his legislative character almighty. God has enacted for the government of mankind, have been constructed.
The law is holy, and the commandment holy, just, and good.' In the administration of the world, where God is so often seen in his judicial capacity, the punishments which are inflicted, indirectly or immediately upon man, clearly tend to discourage and prevent the practice of evil. ‘Above all, the Gospel, that last and most perfect revelation of the divine will, instead of giving the professors of it any allowance to sin, because grace has abounded (which is an injurious imputation cast upon it by ignorant and impious minds), its chief design is to establish that great principle, God's moral purity, and to manifest his abhorrence of sin, and inviolable regard to purity and virtue in his reasonable creatures. It was for this he sent his Son into the world to turn men from their iniquities, and bring them back to the paths of righteousness. For this the blessed Jesus submitted to the deepest humiliations and most grievous sufferings. He gave himself (as St. Paul speaks) for his Church, that he might sanctify and cleanse it; that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, but that it should be holy and without blemish; or, as it is elsewhere expressed, he gave himself for us, to redeem us from our iniquities, and to purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works' (Abernethy, Sermons). Since, then, it is so manifest that ‘the Lord loveth righteousness and hateth iniquity,' it must be necessarily concluded that this preference of the one, and hatred of the other, flow from some principle in his very nature-' that he is the righteous Lord; of purer eyes than to behold evil; one who cannot look upon iniquity.'
This principle is holiness, an attribute which, in the most emphatic manner, is assumed by himself, and attributed to him, both by adoring angels in their choirs, and by inspired saints in their worship. He is, by his own designation, ‘the HOLY ONE of Israel;' the seraphs in the vision of the prophet cry continually ‘HOLY, HOLY, HOLY is the Lord God of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory;' thus summing up all his glories in this sole moral perfection. The language of the sanctuary on earth is borrowed from that of heaven: ‘Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name, for thou only art HOLY.' If, then, there is this principle in the divine mind which leads him to prescribe, love, and reward truth, justice, benevolence, and every other virtuous affection and habit in his creatures which we sum up in the term holiness, and to forbid, restrain, and punish their opposites-that principle, being essential in him, a part of his very nature and Godhead, must be the spring and guide of his own conduct; and thus we conceive without difficulty of the essential rectitude or holiness of the divine nature, and the absolutely pure and righteous character of his administration. This attribute of holiness exhibits itself in two great branches, justice and truth, which are sometimes also treated of as separate attributes.” See Watson, Theolog. Institutes, 1, 436; Knapp, Theology, § 29; Leland, Sermons, 1, 199; Abernethy, Sermons, 2, 180; Heppe, Dogmatik der evangeform. Kirche, p. 73 sq.; Pye Smith, Theol. p. 173 sq.; Pearson, Exposition of the Creed, 1, 10, 531, 541; Smith's Hagenbach, History of Doctrines, 1, 110 sq.; Domeer, in Jahrb. f. deutsche Theol. 1, 2; 2, 3; 3:3; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Géneralé, 19, 618; Herzog, Real-Encyklop. , 133; 3:321; 19:618-624; Biblioth. Sac. 12, 377; 13, 840; Meth. Quart. Rev. 11, 505; Thomasius, Dogmatik, 1, 141; Staudenmeier, Dogmatik, 2, 590-610; Dwight, Theol. 1 (see Index); Martensen, Dogmatik, p. 99; Clark, Otl. of Theol. 2, 9 sq.; Calvin, Institutes, 1, 377; Wesley, Works 2, 430. SEE GOD.

CYCLOPEDIA OF BIBLICAL, THEOLOGICAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL
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