The Holiness of God

by R.C. Sproul

I would love simply to be able to say to the computer, “Write this whole book for me, please, while I go out and play golf.” My machine can’t do that. I can yell at the screen with the strongest imperative I know: “Write that book!” but the thing is too obstinate to comply.

The primary meaning of holy is “separate.” It comes from an ancient word that means “to cut,” or “to separate.”

Transcendence describes God in His consuming majesty, His exalted loftiness.

When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate.

The things that are holy are things that are set apart, separated from the rest. They have been separated from the commonplace, consecrated to the Lord and to His service.

God alone is holy in Himself. Only God can sanctify something else. Only God can give the touch that changes it from the commonplace to something special, different, and apart.

But the point we must remember is that the idea of the holy is never exhausted by the idea of purity. It includes purity but is much more than that. It is purity and transcendence. It is a transcendent purity.

But when the word holy is applied to God, it does not signify one single attribute. On the contrary, God is called holy in a general sense. The word is used as a synonym for His deity. That is, the word holy calls attention to all that God is. It reminds us that His love is holy love, His justice is holy justice, His mercy is holy mercy, His knowledge is holy knowledge, His spirit is holy spirit.

When we call things holy when they are not holy, we commit the sin of idolatry. We give to common things the respect, awe, worship, and adoration that belong only to God. To worship the creature instead of the Creator is the essence of idolatry.

When a human being tries to consecrate what God has never consecrated, it is not a genuine act of consecration. It is an act of desecration. It is an act of idolatry.

We tend to have mixed feelings about the holy. There is a sense in which we are at the same time attracted to it and repulsed by it. Something draws us toward it, while at the same time we want to run away from it. We can’t seem to decide which way we want it. Part of us yearns for the holy, while part of us despises it. We can’t live with it, and we can’t live without it.

The mysterious character of a holy God is contained in the Latin word augustus. The early Christians had problems giving this title to Caesar. To the Christian, no person was worthy of the title august. Only God could properly be called the august one. To be august is to be awe-inspiring, or awe-ful. In the ultimate sense only God is awe-ful.

When we meet the Absolute, we know immediately that we are not absolute. When we meet the Infinite, we become acutely conscious that we are finite. When we meet the Eternal, we know we are temporal. To meet God is a powerful study in contrasts.

We fear God because He is holy.