HOLY, HOLINESS

HOLY, HOLINESS. Ex 16:11; Lev 27:14. Holiness, or perfect freedom from sin, and immaculate purity are distinguishing attributes of the divine nature, Isa 6:3. These words in their primitive meaning imply a separation or setting apart from secular and profane uses to sacred and divine uses. They sometimes denote the purity of the angelic nature, Matt 25:31; the comparative freedom from sin which results from the sanctification of the human heart, as in the case of Christians, Heb 3:1; Col 3:12; and the consecrated character of things, Ex 30:25; Lev 16:4, and places, Ex 3:5. The conception of God as holy was characteristic of the religion of the O.T. While the nations of antiquity were attributing to the divine Being human passions and human sins, the Hebrews alone held firmly to the idea of God as absolutely holy.