od has so
distinctly in the New Testament called His people holy ones, the word
_holy_ has so little entered into the daily language and life of the
Christian Church?

NOTE C.

The Holiness of God.

There is not a word so exclusively scriptural, so distinctly Divine, as
the word holy in its revelation and its meaning. As a consequence of
this its Divine origin, it is a word of inexhaustible significance.
There is not one of the attributes of God which theologians have found
it so difficult to define, or concerning which they differ so much. A
short survey of the various views that have been taken may teach us how
little the idea of the Divine Holiness can be comprehended or exhausted
by human definition, and how it is only in the life of fellowship and
adoration that the holiness which passes all understanding can, as a
truth and a reality, be apprehended.

1. The most external view, in which the ethical was very much lost sight
of, is that in which holiness is identified with God's Separateness from
the creation, and elevation above it. Holiness was defined as the
incomparable Glory of God, His exclusive adorableness, His infinite
Majesty. Sufficient attention was not paid to the fact that though all
these thoughts are closely connected with God's Holiness, they are but a
formal definition of the results and surroundings of the Holiness, but
do not lead us to the apprehension of that wherein its real essence
consists.

2. Another view, which also commences from the external, and makes that
the basis of its interpretation, regards holiness simply as the
expression of a relation. Because what was set apart for God's service
was called holy, the idea of separation, of consecration, of ownership,
is taken as the starting-point. And so, because we are said to be holy,
as belonging to God, God is holy as claiming us and belonging to us too.
Instead of regarding holiness as a positive reality in the Divine
nature, from which our holiness is to be derived, our holiness is made
the starting-point for expounding the Holiness of God. 'God is holy as
being, within the covenant, not only the Proprietor, but the Property of
His people, their highest good and their only rule' (Diestel). Of this
view mention has already been made in the note to 'Sixth Day,' on
Holiness as Proprietorship.

3. Passing over to the views of those who regard holiness as being a
moral attribute, the most common one is that of purity, freedom