Holy, Holy, Holy Lord

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ………………………………………………………………………. 3

WHAT IS AN ATTRIBUTE? …………………………………………………………... 3

Who is God? …………………………………………………………………….. 4

Basic distinctions of his attributes …………………………………………….… 4

HOLINESS DEFINED ………………………………………………………………….. 5

Definitions and quotes …………………………………………………………... 6

Old Testament concept ………………………………………………………….. 8

New Testament concept ……………………………………………………..…. 10

WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SAY ABOUT HOLINESS ……………………………… 10

God’s words ……………………………………………………………………. 10

Key passages ………………………………………………………………….... 13

THE IMPORTANTCE OF HOLINESS ……………………………………………..… 15

What Holiness tells us about God ……………………………………………… 15

The Beauty of God’s Holiness …………………………………………………. 16

The Challenge of God’s Holiness ……………………………………………… 17

THE RESPONSE OF A PEOPLE TO HOLINESS …………………………………… 18

CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………………... 19

INTRODUCTION

The study of God, theology proper, is the very essence of Christianity. God as the supreme creator is without comprehension. He is the standard by which everything else is reviewed. His character is the essence of all that exists. Who He is, in our limited human understanding, can be found from a study of His attributes. His holiness is an attribute which demonstrates how he is separate from evil and from ‘things of the world’.

God is a Holy God is taught throughout scripture. The purpose of this paper is to explore what it means to say “God is Holy”. In Isaiah 6 the seraphim are found to be saying: “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty”. Basic hermeneutics teaches that when a word is repeated then it is important. With a word bring tripled, then its importance has increased. The word “holy” is the only description of the God in Holy Scriptures to be used in a triple form.

The intent of this paper is for the researcher, and anyone who reads the paper, to gain a better and fuller understanding of God. Noted is that God cannot be fully understood and the scope of this paper will not be able to present the Attribute of Holiness in a complete manner.

WHAT IS AN ATTRIBUTE?

The attributes of God refer to those qualities or properties that set Him apart as God and by which mankind recognizes him as such. They are those things which reveal Him as God. The very essence of who He is. God is eternal, all powerful, all knowing, and supreme. The way mankind even begins to understand who He is, is through His attributes.

Who is God?

The Bible teaches that God is the Creator of all things. The wonder of God’s creative power is that He spoke and it happened. There was a time when there was nothing. No people on the earth. No earth. No Sun. No moon. No stars in the sky. No sky. At some point, God decided to create a universe with the earth in it. He exercised His awesome power, spoke, and the universe was created.

Because God created the universe, He is the owner of it. God created it from His own internal, self-existent power. Therefore it is His. The Psalmist writes, “The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.”(Psalms 24:1-2) Since He created all things, then all is His. God is the owner.

Basic