Holy in Christ Part 20

In his _Lexicon of New Testament Greek_, Cremer has an exhaustive article on the Greek _hagios_, pointing out how holiness is an entirely Biblical idea, and 'how the scriptural conceptions of G.o.d's Holiness, notwithstanding the original affinity, is diametrically opposite to all the Greek notions; and how, whereas these very views of holiness exclude from the G.o.ds all possibility of love, the scriptural conception of holiness unfolds itself only when in closest connection with Divine love.' It is a most suggestive thought that we owe both the word and the thought distinctly to revelation. Every other attribute of G.o.d has some notion to correspond with it in the human mind: the thought of holiness is distinctly Divine. Is not this the reason that, though G.o.d has so distinctly in the New Testament called His people holy ones, the word _holy_ has so little entered into the daily language and life of the Christian Church?

NOTE C.

The Holiness of G.o.d.

There is not a word so exclusively scriptural, so distinctly Divine, as the word holy in its revelation and its meaning. As a consequence of this its Divine origin, it is a word of inexhaustible significance.

There is not one of the attributes of G.o.d which theologians have found it so difficult to define, or concerning which they differ so much. A short survey of the various views that have been taken may teach us how little the idea of the Divine Holiness can be comprehended or exhausted by human definition, and how it is only in the life of fellowship and adoration that the holiness which pa.s.ses all understanding can, as a truth and a reality, be apprehended.

1. The most external view, in which the ethical was very much lost sight of, is that in which holiness is identified with G.o.d's Separateness from the creation, and elevation above it. Holiness was defined as the incomparable Glory of G.o.d, His exclusive adorableness, His infinite Majesty. Sufficient attention was not paid to the fact that though all these thoughts are closely connected with G.o.d's Holiness, they are but a formal definition of the results and surroundings of the Holiness, but do not lead us to the apprehension of that wherein its real essence consists.

2. Another view, which also commences from the external, and makes that the basis of its interpretation, regards holiness simply as the expression of a relation. Because what was set apart for G.o.d's service was called holy, the idea of separation, of consecration, of ownership, is taken as the starting-point. And so, because we are said to be holy, as belonging to G.o.d, G.o.d is holy as claiming us and belonging to us too.

Instead of regarding holiness as a positive reality in the Divine nature, from which our holiness is to be derived, our holiness is made the starting-point for expounding the Holiness of G.o.d. 'G.o.d is holy as being, within the covenant, not only the Proprietor, but the Property of His people, their highest good and their only rule' (Diestel). Of this view mention has already been made in the note to 'Sixth Day,' on Holiness as Proprietorship.

3. Pa.s.sing over to the views of those who regard holiness as being a moral attribute, the most common one is that of purity, freedom from sin. 'Holiness is a general term for the moral excellence of G.o.d. There is none holy as the Lord: no other being absolutely pure and free from all limitations in His moral perfection. Holiness, on the one hand, implies entire freedom from moral evil; and, upon the other, absolute moral perfection.' (Hodge, _Syst. Theol._) The idea of holiness as the infinite Purity which is free from all sin, which hates and punishes it, is what in the popular conception is the most prominent idea. The negative stands more in the foreground than the positive. The view has its truth and its value from the fact that in our sinful state the first impression the Holiness of G.o.d must make is that of fear and dread in the consciousness of our sinfulness and unholiness. But it does not tell us wherein this moral excellence or perfection of G.o.d really consists.

4. It is an advance on this view when the attempt is made to define what this perfection of G.o.d is. A thing is perfect when it is in everything as it ought to be. It is easy thus to define perfection, but not so easy to define what the perfection of any special object is: this needs the knowledge of what its nature is. And we have to rest content with very general terms defining G.o.d's Holiness as the essential and absolute good. 'Holiness is the free, deliberate, calm, and immutable affirmation of Himself, who is goodness, or of goodness, which is Himself' (G.o.det _on John_ xvii. 11). 'Holiness is that attribute in virtue of which Jehovah makes Himself the absolute standard of Himself, of His being and revelation.' (Kubel.)

5. Closely allied to this is the view that holiness is not so much an attribute, but the 'whole complex of that which we are wont to look at and represent singly in the individual attributes of G.o.d.' So Bengel looked upon holiness as the Divine nature, in which all the attributes are contained. In the same spirit what Howe says of holiness as the Divine beauty, the result of the perfect harmony of all the attributes, 'Holiness is intellectual beauty. Divine holiness is the most perfect beauty, and the measure of all other. The Divine Holiness is the most perfect pulchritude, the ineffable and immortal pulchritude, that cannot be declared by words, or seen by eyes. This may therefore be called a transcendental attribute that, as it were, runs through the rest, and casts a glory upon every one. It is an attribute of attributes. These are fit predications, _holy_ power, _holy_ love. And so it is the very l.u.s.tre and glory of His other perfections. He is glorious in holiness.'

(Howe in _Whyte's Shorter Catechism_.) This was the aspect of the Divine Holiness on which Jonathan Edwards delighted to dwell. 'The mutual love of the Father and the Son makes the third, the personal Holy Spirit, or the Holiness of G.o.d, which is His infinite beauty.' 'By the communication of G.o.d's Holiness the creature partakes of G.o.d's moral excellence, which is perfection, the beauty of the Divine nature.'

'Holiness comprehends all the true moral excellence of intelligent beings. So the Holiness of G.o.d is the same with the moral excellency of the Divine nature, comprehending all His perfections, His righteousness, faithfulness, and goodness. There are two kinds of attributes in G.o.d, according to our way of conceiving Him: His _moral_ attributes, which are summed up in His Holiness, and His _natural_, as strength, knowledge, etc., which const.i.tute His greatness. Holy persons, in the exercise of holy affection, love G.o.d in the first place for the beauty of His Holiness.' 'The holiness of an intelligent creature is that which gives beauty to all his natural perfections. And so it is in G.o.d: holiness is in a peculiar manner the beauty of the Divine being. Hence we often read of the beauty of holiness (Ps. xxix. 2, xcvi. 9, cx. 3).

This renders all the other attributes glorious and lovely.' 'Therefore, if the true loveliness of G.o.d's perfections arise from the loveliness of His Holiness, the true love of all His perfections will arise from the love of His Holiness. And as the beauty of the Divine nature primarily consists in G.o.d's Holiness, so does the beauty of all Divine things.'

6. In speaking of G.o.d's Holiness as denoting the essential good, the absolute excellence of His nature, some press very strongly the _ethical_ aspect. The good in G.o.d must not be from mere natural impulse only, flowing from the necessity of His nature, without being freely willed by Himself. 'What is naturally good is not the true realization of the good. The actual and living will to be the good He is, must also have its place in G.o.d, otherwise G.o.d would only be naturally ethical.

Only in the will which consciously determines itself, is there the possibility given of the ethical. The ethical has such a power in G.o.d that He is the holy Power, who cannot and will not renounce Himself, who must be, and would be thought to be, the holy necessity of the goodness which is Himself,--to be the Holy. The love of G.o.d is essentially holy; it desires and preserves the ethically necessary or holy, which G.o.d is.'

(Dorner, _System_, vol. i.)

7. It was felt in such views that there was not a sufficient acknowledgment of the truth that it is especially as the Holy One that G.o.d is called the Redeemer, and that He does the work of love to make holy. This led to the view that holiness and love are, if not identical, at least correlated expressions. 'G.o.d is holy, exalted above all the praise of the creature in His incomparable praise-worthiness, on account of His free and loving condescension to the creature, to manifest in it the glory of His love.' 'G.o.d is holy, inasmuch as love in Him has restrained and conquered the righteous wrath (as Hosea says, xi. 9), and judgment is exercised only after every way of mercy has been tried. This holiness is disclosed in the New Testament name, as exalted as it is condescending, of Father.' (Stier _on John_ xvii.)

8. The large measure of truth in this view is met by an expression in which the true aspects of the Holiness of G.o.d are combined. It is defined as being the harmony of self-preservation and self-communication. As the Holy One, G.o.d hates sin, and seeks to destroy it. As the Holy One, He makes the sinner holy, and then takes him up into His love. In maintaining His love, He never for a moment loses His Divine purity and perfection; in maintaining His righteousness, He still communicates Himself to the fallen creature. Holiness is the Divine glory, of which love and righteousness are the two sides, and which in their work on earth they reveal.

'Holiness is the self-preservation of G.o.d, whereby He keeps Himself free from the world without Him, and remains consistent with Himself and faithful to His Being, and whereby He, with this view, creates a Divine world that lives for Himself alone in the organization of His Church.'

(Lange.)

'The Holiness of G.o.d is G.o.d's self-preservation, or keeping to Himself, in virtue of which He remains the same in all relationships which exist within His Deity, or into which He enters, never sacrifices what is Divine, or admits what is not Divine. But this is only one aspect. G.o.d's Holiness would not be holiness, but exclusiveness, if it did not provide for G.o.d's entering into manifold relations, and so revealing and communicating Himself. Holiness is therefore the union and interpretation of G.o.d's keeping to Himself and communicating Himself; of His nearness and His distance; of His exclusiveness and His self-revelation; of separateness and fellowship.' (Schmieder.)

'The Divine Holiness is mainly seclusion from the impurity and sinfulness of the creature, or, expressed positively, the cleanness and purity of the Divine nature, which excludes all connection with the wicked. In harmony with this, the Divine Holiness, as an attribute of revelation, is not merely an abstract power, but is the Divine self-representation and self-testimony for the purpose of giving to the world the partic.i.p.ation in the Divine life.' (Oehler, _Theol. of O. T._ i. 160.)

'Opposition to sin is the first impression which man receives of G.o.d's Holiness. Exclusion, election, cleansing, redemption--these are the four forms in which G.o.d's Holiness appears in the sphere of humanity; and we may say that G.o.d's Holiness signifies _His opposition to sin manifesting itself in atonement and redemption, or in judgment_. Or as holiness, so far as it is embodied in law, must be the highest moral perfection, we may say, "_holiness is the purity of G.o.d manifesting itself in atonement and redemption, and correspondingly in judgment_." By this view all the above elements are done justice to; holiness a.s.serts itself in judging righteousness, and in electing, purifying, and redeeming love, and thus it appears as the impelling and formative principle of the revelation of redemption, without a knowledge of which an understanding of the revelation is impossible, and by the perception of which it is seen in its full, clear light. G.o.d is light: this is a full and exhaustive New Testament phrase for G.o.d's Holiness' (1 John i. 5). (Cremer.)

This view is brought out with special distinctness in the writings of J.

T. Beck. 'It is G.o.d's Holiness which, taking the good which was given in creation in strict faithfulness to that good and perfect will of G.o.d, as the eternal life-purpose of love, in righteousness and mercy carried out to its completion in G.o.d Himself to a life of perfection. G.o.d does this as the Alone Holy. In the world of sin Divine _love_ can only bring deliverance by a mediation in which it is reconciled to the Divine _wrath_ within _their common centre, the Holiness of G.o.d_, in such a way that while wrath manifests its destroying reality, love shall prove its restoring power in the life it gives.' (Beck, _Lehrwissenschaft_, 168, 547.)

'Holiness is the sum and substance of the Divine life, as, in comparison with all that is created, it exists as a perfect life, but as it, at the same time, opens itself to the creature to take it up into a G.o.dlike perfection--that is, to be holy as G.o.d is holy. Holiness is thus so far from being in opposition to the Divine love that it is its essential feature or norm, and the actual contents of love. In holiness there is combined the Divine self-existence as a perfection of life, and the Divine self-exertion in the realizing a G.o.dlike perfection of life in the world. Holiness as an attribute of the Divine Being is His pure and inviolably self-contained personality in its absolute perfection. Hence it is that in holiness, as the absolute unity and purity of the Divine Being and working, all the attributes of Divine revelation centre. And so holiness, as expressive of the Being of G.o.d, qualifies the love as essentially Divine.

'Love is the groundform of the Divine will, but as such it receives its Divine filling and character from the Divine Holiness, as the Divine self-existence and self-exertion. As such the Divine will manifests itself in two modes--in its pure love as _Goodness_, in its holy harmony as _Righteousness_. These two do not exist separately, but permeate each other in reciprocal immanence, just as G.o.d in His Holiness is love, and in His love is holiness. In goodness the Divine love shows itself as the pleasure in well-being. But in this goodness the righteousness of G.o.d, to secure the well-doing, also acts.' (J. T. Beck, _Glaubenslehre_.)

'G.o.d is holy, separate from all darkness and sin, but not in isolated majesty banishing the imperfect and the sinful from His presence: for G.o.d is light, G.o.d is love. It is the nature of light to communicate itself. Remaining pure and bright, undiminished and unsullied, it overcomes darkness and kindles light. The Holiness of G.o.d is likewise mentioned in Scripture, mostly in connection with love, communicating itself and drawing into itself. "I am holy"--but G.o.d does not remain alone, separate--"be ye also holy."' (Saphir _on Hebrews_ xii.)

'When we think of G.o.d as light and love, we realize most fully the idea of holiness, combining _separateness_ and _purity_ with _communion_.'

(Saphir, _The Lord's Prayer_, p. 128.)

'It is especially as the spirit of His Church, and as dwelling in the human heart, that G.o.d is the Holy One.' (Nitsch.)

That in the Holiness of G.o.d we have the union of love and righteousness, has been perhaps put by no one more clearly than G.o.det. In his _Commentary on Romans_ iii. 25, 26, he writes:--

'The necessity of the expiatory sacrifice arises from His whole Divine character; in other words, from His Holiness, the principle at once of His love and righteousness, and not of His righteousness exclusively.'

'In this question we have to do not with G.o.d in His essence, but with G.o.d in His relation to free man. Now the latter is not holy to begin with; the use which he makes of his liberty is not yet regulated by love. The attribute of righteousness, and the firm resolution to maintain the Divine _holiness_, must therefore appear as a necessary safeguard as soon as liberty comes on the stage, and with it the possibility of disorder; and this attribute must remain in exercise as long as the educational period of the creature lasts--that is to say, until he has reached perfection in love. Then all these factors--right, law, justice--will return to their latent state....

'It is common to regard _love_ as the fundamental feature of the Divine character; in this way it is very difficult to reach the attribute of righteousness. Most thinkers, indeed, do not reach it at all. This one fact should show the error in which they are entangled. _Holy, holy, holy_, say the creatures nearest to G.o.d, and not _Good, good, good_.

Holiness, such is the essence of G.o.d; and holiness is the absolute love of the good, the absolute horror of the evil. From this it is not difficult to deduce both love and righteousness. Love is the goodwill of G.o.d toward all free beings who are destined to realize the good. Love goes out to the individuals, as holiness itself to the good which they ought to produce. Righteousness, on the other hand, is the firm purpose of G.o.d to maintain the normal relations between all these creatures by His blessings and punishments. It is obvious that righteousness is included, no less than love itself, in the fundamental feature of the Divine character, holiness. It is no offence, therefore, by G.o.d to speak of His justice and His rights. It is, on the contrary, a glory to G.o.d, who knows that in preserving His place He is securing the good of others. For G.o.d, in maintaining His supreme dignity, preserves to His creatures _their most precious treasure_, a G.o.d worthy of their respect and love.'

And in his _Defence of the Christian Faith_ G.o.det writes, on 'The Perfect Holiness of Jesus Christ,' as follows:--

'The supernatural in its highest form is not the miraculous, it is holiness. In the miraculous we see Omnipotence breaking forth to act upon the material world in the interests of the moral order. But holiness is morality itself in its sublimest manifestation. What is goodness? It has recently been said, with a precision which leaves nothing to be desired, Goodness is not an ent.i.ty--a thing. It is a law determining the relations between things, relations which have to be realized by free wills. Perfect good is therefore the realization, at once normal and free, of the right relations to one another of all beings; each being occupying, by virtue of this relation, that place in the great whole, and playing that part in it, which befits it.

'Now, just as in a human family there is one central relation on which all the rest depend,--that of the father to all the members of this little whole,--so is there in the universe one supreme position, which is the support of all the rest, and which, in the interest of all beings, must be above all others preserved intact--that of G.o.d. And just here, in the general sphere of good, is the special domain of holiness.

Holiness in G.o.d Himself is His fixed determination to maintain intact the order which ought to reign among all beings that exist, and to bring them to realize that relation to each other which ought to bind them together in a great unity, and consequently to preserve, above all, intact and in its proper dignity, His own position relatively to free beings. The Holiness of G.o.d thus understood comprehends two things--the importation of all the wealth of His own Divine life to each free being who is willing to acknowledge His sovereignty, and who sincerely acquiesces in it; and the withholding or the withdrawal of that perfect life from every being who either attacks or denies that sovereignty, and who seeks to shake off that bond of dependence by which he ought to be bound to G.o.d. Holiness in the creature is its own voluntary acquiescence in the supremacy of G.o.d. The man who, with all the powers of his nature, does homage to G.o.d as the Supreme, the absolute Being, the only One who veritably is; the man who, in His presence, voluntarily prostrates himself in the sense of his own nothingness, and seeks to draw all his fellow-creatures into the same voluntary self-annihilation, in so doing puts on the character of holiness. This holiness comprehends in him, as it does in G.o.d, love and righteousness; love by which he rejoices in recognising G.o.d, and all beings who surround G.o.d, as placed where they are by Him. He loves them and wills their existence, because he loves and wills the existence of G.o.d, and at the same time of all that G.o.d wills and loves; and righteousness, by which he respects and, as much as in him lies, causes others to respect G.o.d, and the sphere a.s.signed by G.o.d to each being. Such is holiness as it exists in G.o.d and in man: in G.o.d it is His own inflexible self-a.s.sertion; in man it is his inflexible a.s.sertion of G.o.d.

'It is in Jesus that human nature sees how man can a.s.sert G.o.d and all that G.o.d a.s.serts, not only humbly, but joyously and filially, with all the powers of his being, and even to the complete sacrifice of _himself_.'

Careful reflection will show us that in each of the above views there is a measure of truth. It will convince us how the very difficulty of formulating to human thought the conception of the Divine Holiness proves that it is the highest expression for that ineffable and inconceivable glory of the Divine Being which const.i.tutes Him the Infinite and Glorious G.o.d. Every attribute of G.o.d--wisdom and power, righteousness and love--has its image in human nature, and was in the religion or the philosophy of the heathen connected with the idea of G.o.d. From ourselves, when we take away the idea of imperfection, we can form some conception of what G.o.d is. But holiness is that which is characteristically Divine, the special contents of a Divine revelation.

Let us learn to confess that however much we may seek, now from one, then from another side, to grasp the thought, the holiness of G.o.d is something that transcends all thought, a glory not so much to be thought, as to be known, in adoration and fellowship. Scripture speaks not so much of holiness, as the Holy One. It is as we worship and fear, obey and love; it is in a life with G.o.d, that something of the mystery of His glory will be unfolded. As the Divine light shines in us and through us, will the Holy One be revealed.

NOTE D.

'Our holiness does not consist in our changing and becoming better ourselves: it is rather _He_, He Himself, born and growing in us, in such a way as to fill our hearts, and to drive out our natural self, "our old man," which cannot itself improve, and whose destiny is only to perish.

'And how is this kind of incarnation effected, by which Christ Himself becomes our new self? By a process of a free and moral nature, described by Jesus in words which surprise, because they place His sanctification upon nearly the same footing as our own: "As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me shall live by me."

'Jesus derived the nourishment of His life from the Father who had sent Him: He lived by the Father. The meaning of that, doubtless, is, that every time He had to act or speak, He first effaced Himself; then left it to the Father to think, to will, to act, to be everything in Him.

Similarly, when we are called upon to do any act, or speak any word, we must first efface ourselves in presence of Jesus; and after having suppressed in ourselves, by an act of the will, every wish, every thought, every act of our own self, we are to leave it to Jesus to manifest in us His will, His wisdom, His power. Then it is that we live by Him, as He lives by the Father. The process is identical in Jesus and in us. Only in Jesus it was carried on with G.o.d directly, because He was in immediate communion with Him; whilst in our case the transaction is with Jesus, because it is with Him that the believer holds direct communication, and through Him that we can find and possess the living Father. In that lies _the secret_, generally so little understood, _of Christian sanctification_.' (G.o.det, _Biblical Studies, N. T._, p. 190.)

NOTE E.

Let me once more refer all students of holiness to Marshall on Sanctification, and specially his third and fourth chapters. If they will compare him with our modern works--say, for instance, _G.o.d's Way of Holiness_, by so eminent an author as Dr. H. Bonar--they cannot but be struck by the prominence which Marshall gives to the one thought, that our holiness, a holy nature, is provided in Jesus, and that as faith accepts and maintains our union with Jesus in personal intercourse, sanctification is by faith. While, in other works, the union to Jesus, and faith in Him, are but incidentally mentioned, and the chief stress is laid upon duties and the motives which urge to their performance, Marshall points out how motives never can supply the strength we need: it is the power of Christ's life in us, it is Christ Himself, as we by faith are rooted in Him, who works all our works in us.

An abridgment of the work, for popular use, is published by Nisbet & Co.