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or ethical perfection. If man reacts to God’s majestic-holiness with a feeling of utter
insignificance and awe, his reaction to the ethical holiness reveals itself in a sense of impurity, a
consciousness of sin, Isa. 6:5. Otto also recognizes this element in the holiness of God, though
he stresses the other, and says of the response to it: “Mere awe, mere need of shelter from the
‘tremendum’, has here been elevated to the feeling that man in his ‘profaneness’ is not worthy
to stand in the presence of the Holy One, and that his entire personal unworthiness might defile
even holiness itself.”[The Idea of the Holy, p. 56.] This ethical holiness of God may be defined as
that perfection of God, in virtue of which He eternally wills and maintains His own moral
excellence, abhors sin, and demands purity in his moral creatures.
b. Its manifestation.
The holiness of God is revealed in the moral law, implanted in man’s heart,
and speaking through the conscience, and more particularly in God’s special revelation. It stood
out prominently in the law given to Israel. That law in all its aspects was calculated to impress
upon Israel the idea of the holiness of God, and to urge upon the people the necessity of
leading a holy life. This was the purpose served by such symbols and types as the holy nation,
the holy land, the holy city, the holy place, and the holy priesthood. Moreover, it was revealed
in the manner in which God rewarded the keeping of the law, and visited transgressors with
dire punishments. The highest revelation of it was given in Jesus Christ, who is called “the Holy
and Righteous One,” Acts 3:14. He reflected in His life the perfect holiness of God. Finally, the
holiness of God is also revealed in the Church as the body of Christ. It is a striking fact, to which
attention is often called, that holiness is ascribed to God with far greater frequency in the Old
Testament than in the New, though it is done occasionally in the New Testament, John 17:11; I
Pet. 1:16; Rev. 4:8; 6:10. This is probably due to the fact that the New Testament appropriates
the term more particularly to qualify the third Person of the Holy Trinity as the One whose
special task it is, in the economy of redemption, to communicate holiness to His people.
3. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.
This attribute is closely related to the holiness of God. Shedd
speaks of the justice of God as “a mode of His holiness”; and Strong calls it simply “transitive
holiness.” However, these terms apply only to what is generally called the relative, in distinction
from the absolute, justice of God.
a. The fundamental idea of righteousness.
The fundamental idea of righteousness is that of
strict adherence to the law. Among men it presupposes that there is a law to which they must
conform. It is sometimes said that we cannot speak of righteousness in God, because there is
no law to which He is subject. But though there is no law above God, there is certainly a law in
the very nature of God, and this is the highest possible standard, by which all other laws are
judged. A distinction is generally made between the absolute and the relative justice of God.
The former is that rectitude of the divine nature, in virtue of which God is infinitely righteous in