The Holiness of God
“But I suppose if you were to be asked to say where the Bible teaches the holiness of God most powerfully of all you have to go to Calvary. God is so holy, so utterly holy, that nothing but that awful death could make it possible for Him to forgive us. The cross is the supreme and the sublimest declaration and revelation of the holiness of God.” Martyn Lloyd Jones
My purpose here is to briefly discuss how God’s holiness should impact how we, as Christian men, are to live in light of it. If you like, think of this as the application of the doctrine of God’s holiness. In other words, when we study God’s holiness, sometimes it seems so abstract that it isn’t practical to our lives. However, God’s holiness is not only to be believed (which is the foundation of our understanding who He is) but to understand how we as his people are to be living in light of our knowledge of His holiness.
There are two aspects to God’s holiness. First, His majesty, His otherness, His set- apartness. And second, His righteousness and moral purity. God’s holiness is both communicable and incommunicable. Communicable attributes are those which He shares with man as His image bearer. These attributes are communicated to us so that we may reflect in some small measure his moral purity. We do not reflect these attributes perfectly, but progressively. Incommunicable attributes are those which are His alone. For example, His self-existence, whereby He does not depend on anyone or anything else to exist.
“When we are called to be holy, it does not mean that we share in God’s divine majesty, but that we are to be different from our normal fallen sinfulness. We are called to mirror and reflect the moral character and activity of God. We are to imitate His goodness.” R.C. Sproul
The doctrine of God’s holiness has a direct impact upon our walk with Christ. We are commanded in 1 Peter 1:15-16 to pursue holiness. “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy.’ ”
Here are a few points:
1. God’s holiness provides the pattern His people are to imitate. Leviticus 19:2; 1 Peter 1:15-16
2. “We need to cultivate in our hearts the same hatred of sin God has.” Jerry Bridges
3. Meditate on God’s Holiness. Remember the Lord and that He is holy.
There is a direct correlation between what we believe about God (our doctrine) and how we act (our life). First Timothy 4:16 puts it this way, “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”
Our doctrine informs and influences the way we live. Coram Deo.
Great thoughts. It is easy to get so involved in the study of God that we forget what “our doctrines” are telling us to do or how they are showing us we should view and commune with our Father.
That truly has to be our starting point: God’s holiness and how we compare to that holiness. Else, the rest of our theology is flawed.