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one of the slogans of the present day, and the term “sanctification” has come to stand for mere
moral improvement.
C. THE BIBLICAL IDEA OF HOLINESS AND SANCTIFICATION.
1. IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.
In Scripture the quality of holiness applies first of all to God, and as
applied to Him its fundamental idea is that of unapproachableness. And this
unapproachableness is based on the fact that God is divine and therefore absolutely distinct
from the creature. Holiness in this sense is not merely an attribute to be co-ordinated with
others in God. It is rather something that is predicable of everything that is found in God. He is
holy in His grace as well as in His righteousness, in His love as well as in His wrath. Strictly
speaking, holiness becomes an attribute only in the later ethical sense of the word. The ethical
meaning of the term developed out of the majesty-meaning. This development starts with the
idea that a sinful being is more keenly conscious of the majesty of God than a sinless being. The
sinner becomes aware of his impurity as over against the majestic purity of God, cf. Isa. 6. Otto
speaks of holiness in the original sense as the numenous, and proposes to call the characteristic
reaction to it “creature-feeling, or creature-consciousness,” a disvaluation of self into
nothingness, while he speaks of the reaction to holiness in the derived ethical sense as a
“feeling of absolute profaneness.” Thus the idea of holiness as majestic purity or ethical
sublimity was developed. This purity is an active principle in God, that must vindicate itself and
uphold its honor. This accounts for the fact that holiness is represented in Scripture also as the
light of the divine glory turned into a devouring fire. Isa. 5:24; 10:17; 33:14,15. Over against the
holiness of God man feels himself to be, not merely insignificant, but positively impure and
sinful, and as such an object of God’s wrath. God revealed His holiness in the Old Testament in
various ways. He did it in terrible judgments upon the enemies of Israel, Ex. 15:11,12. He did it
also by separating unto Himself a people, which He took out of the world, Ex. 19:4-6; Ezek.
20:39-44. By taking this people out of the impure and ungodly world, He protested against that
world and its sin. Moreover, He did it repeatedly in sparing His unfaithful people, because He
did not want the unholy world to rejoice at what it might consider the failure of His work, Hos.
11:9.
In a derivative sense the idea of holiness is also applied to things and persons that are placed in
a special relation to God. The land of Canaan, the city of Jerusalem, the temple-mount, the
tabernacle and temple, the sabbaths and the solemn feasts of Israel, — they are all called holy,
since they are consecrated to God and are placed within the radiance of His majestic holiness.
Similarly, the prophets, the Levites, and the priests are called holy as persons that were set
aside for the special service of the Lord. Israel had its sacred places, its sacred seasons, its
sacred rites, and its sacred persons. This is not yet the ethical idea of holiness, however. One