HOLY, HOLINESS
Amtract dictionary entry on Holy Holiness
Personal Note – Holy means separated from the common, mundane of the world, and especially from the commonness which is now man, i.e. sin. Holy refers to that which pertains to God and his distinctiveness which is based in his character, purity, goodness, rightness, etc. We are holy when we become like God. That which is not like God is unholy, and there is yet further degrees of unholiness which become abominations in God’s sight. Holiness is a way of living that is pleasing in the sight of God, and this means being like Christ, being like God.
These terms sometimes denote outward purity or cleanliness; sometimes internal purity and sanctification. True holiness characterizes outward acts, but still more the motive and intent of the heart. It is an inward principle; not mere rectitude or benevolence, or anyone moral excellence, but the harmonious and perfect blending of all, as all the colors of the prism duly blend from pure light. God is holy in a transcendent and infinitely perfect manner, Isa 1:4; 6:3. The Messiah is called “the Holy One,” Ps 16:10; Lu 4:34; Ac 3:14; and Holy is the common epithet given to the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. God is the fountain of holiness, innocence, and the sanctification. Mankind lost all holiness in the fall, but God makes his people gradually “partakers of his holiness” here, and in heaven, they will be found perfectly and forever sanctified; as an earnest of which, he look upon them as already in Christ, holy and beloved. The Bible applies the epithet holy in a secondary sense to whatever pertains especially to God-to heaven, to his temple, its parts, utensils, and services; to his day, his ministers, priests, prophets, and apostles. The Jews were called a holy people, because they were separated unto God, to be a religious and consecrated people; and Christians, as a body, are also called holy, because they are in like manner separated unto Christ. But a “holy man,” in the ordinary Christian sense, is one who exhibits in his conduct the inward purity, benevolence, and holy devotedness to the Savior, with which his heart overflows.
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