What is the Holiness of God?
The holiness of God is one of his attributes that brings monumental consequences for every person on earth.
In ancient Hebrew, the word translated as "holy" (qodeish) meant "separated" or "separated from". The absolute moral and ethical purity of God distinguishes him from every other being in the universe.
The Bible says, "There is no one holy like the Lord." (1 Samuel 2: 2, NIV)
The prophet Isaiah saw a vision of God in which seraphim, winged celestial beings, called each other: "Holy, holy, holy is the Almighty Lord." (Isaiah 6: 3, NIV) The use of the "saint" three times underlines the unique holiness of God, but some Bible scholars believe that there is a "saint" for each member of the Trinity: God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Every Person of Divinity is equal in holiness to the others.
For humans, holiness generally means obeying the law of God, but for God, the law is not external - it is part of its essence. God is the law. It is incapable of contradicting itself because moral goodness is its very nature.
The holiness of God is a recurring theme in the Bible
During Scripture, the holiness of God is a recurring theme. Biblical writers draw a stark contrast between the character of the Lord and that of humanity. The sacredness of God was so high that the writers of the Old Testament even avoided using the personal name of God, which God revealed to Moses from the burning bush on Mount Sinai.
The first patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, referred to God as "El Shaddai", which means the Almighty. When God told Moses that his name was "I AM WHO I AM", translated as YAHWEH in Hebrew, he revealed it as the uncreated Being, the Existing. The ancient Jews considered that name so holy that it was not pronounced aloud, replacing "Lord" instead.
When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, he expressly prohibited the disrespectful use of the name of God. An attack on the name of God was an attack on the sanctity of God, a matter of grave contempt.
Ignoring the holiness of God has led to deadly consequences. Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu acted contrary to God's orders in their priestly duties and killed them with fire. Many years later, when King David was moving the ark of the covenant on a cart - in violation of God's commands - he overturned when the oxen stumbled and a man named Uzza touched him to stabilize him. God immediately hit Uzzah.
The holiness of God is the basis for salvation
Ironically, the plan of salvation was based precisely on the thing that separated the Lord from humanity: the holiness of God. For hundreds of years, the Israeli people of the Old Testament were bound to a system of animal sacrifices to atone for their own sins. However, that solution was only temporary. Already in the time of Adam, God had promised the people a Messiah.
A Savior was needed for three reasons. First, God knew that humans could never meet his standards of perfect sanctity with their behavior or good works. Secondly, it required an immaculate sacrifice to pay the debt for humanity's sins. And third, God would use the Messiah to transfer holiness to sinful men and women.
To satisfy his need for impeccable sacrifice, God himself had to become that Savior. Jesus, the Son of God, was incarnated as a human being, born of a woman but keeping his holiness because he was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. That virgin birth prevented the passage of Adam's sin to the Christ child. When Jesus died on the cross, it became the right sacrifice, punished for all the sins of the human race, past, present and future.
God the Father raised Jesus from the dead to show that he accepted Christ's perfect offering. Hence, to ensure that humans abide by his standards, God imputes or attributes the holiness of Christ to every person who receives Jesus as Savior. This free gift, called grace, justifies or makes holy every follower of Christ. By bringing the justice of Jesus, they are therefore qualified to enter heaven.
But none of this would have been possible without God's tremendous love, another of his perfect attributes. Out of love, God believed the world was worth saving. Love itself led him to sacrifice his beloved Son, then apply Christ's righteousness to redeemed humans. Because of love, the same holiness that seemed to be an insurmountable obstacle became God's way of granting eternal life to all who seek him.