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warnings that come to him. It reveals itself in the postponement of the merited judgment.
Scripture speaks of it in Ex. 34:6; Ps. 86:15; Rom. 2:4; 9:22; I Pet. 3:20; II Pet. 3:15. A
synonymous term of a slightly different connotation is the word “forbearance.”
2. THE HOLINESS OF GOD.
The Hebrew word for “to be holy,” quadash, is derived from the root
qad, which means to cut or to separate. It is one of the most prominent religious words of the
Old Testament, and is applied primarily to God. The same idea is conveyed by the New
Testament words hagiazo and hagios. From this it already appears that it is not correct to think
of holiness primarily as a moral or religious quality, as is generally done. Its fundamental idea is
that of a position or relationship existing between God and some person or thing.
a. Its nature.
The Scriptural idea of the holiness of God is twofold. In its original sense it
denotes that He is absolutely distinct from all His creatures, and is exalted above them in
infinite majesty. So understood, the holiness of God is one of His transcendental attributes, and
is sometimes spoken of as His central and supreme perfection. It does not seem proper to
speak of one attribute of God as being more central and fundamental than another; but if this
were permissible, the Scriptural emphasis on the holiness of God would seem to justify its
selection. It is quite evident, however, that holiness in this sense of the word is not really a
moral attribute, which can be co-ordinated with the others, such as love, grace and mercy, but
is rather something that is co-extensive with, and applicable to, everything that can be
predicated of God. He is holy in everything that reveals Him, in His goodness and grace as well
as in His justice and wrath. It may be called the “majesty-holiness” of God, and is referred to in
such passages as Ex. 15:11; I Sam. 2:2; Isa. 57:15; Hos. 11:9. It is this holiness of God which
Otto, in his important work on Das Heilige,[Eng. tr. The Idea of the Holy.] regards as that which
is most essential in God, and which he designates as “the numinous.” He regards it as part of
the non-rational in God, which cannot be thought of conceptually, and which includes such
ideas as “absolute unapproachability” and “absolute overpoweringness” or “aweful majesty.” It
awakens in man a sense of absolute nothingness, a “creature-consciousness” or “creature-
feeling,” leading to absolute self-abasement.
But the holiness of God also has a specifically ethical aspect in Scripture, and it is with this
aspect of it that we are more directly concerned in this connection. The ethical idea of the
divine holiness may not be dissociated from the idea of God’s majesty-holiness. The former
developed out of the latter. The fundamental idea of the ethical holiness of God is also that of
separation, but in this case it is a separation from moral evil or sin. In virtue of His holiness God
can have no communion with sin, Job 34:10; Hab. 1:13. Used in this sense, the word “holiness”
points to God’s majestic purity, or ethical majesty. But the idea of ethical holiness is not merely
negative (separation from sin); it also has a positive content, namely, that of moral excellence,