Creator
was God the Sanctifier, perfecting the work of His hands. In Israel we
saw that God the Redeemer was ever God the Sanctifier, making holy the
people He had chosen for Himself. Here in Isaiah we see how it is God
the Sanctifier, the Holy One, who is to bring about the great redemption
of the New Testament: as the Holy One, He is the Redeemer. God redeems
because He is holy, and loves to make holy: Holiness will be Redemption
perfected. Redemption and Holiness together are to be found in the
personal relation to God. The key to the secret of holiness is offered
to each believer in that word: 'Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the
Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord, your Holy One.' To come near, to
know, to possess the Holy One, and be possessed of Him, is Holiness.

If God's Holiness is thus the only hope for ours, it is right that we
seek to know what that Holiness is. And though we may find it indeed to
be something that passeth knowledge, it will not be in vain to gather up
what has been revealed in the Word concerning it. Let us do so in the
spirit of holy fear and worship, trusting to the Holy Spirit to be our
teacher.

And let us first notice how this Holiness of God, though it is often
mentioned as one of the Divine attributes, can hardly be counted such,
on a level with the others. The other attributes all refer to some
special aspect or characteristic of the Divine Nature; Holiness appears
to express what is the very essence or perfection of the Divine Being
Himself. None of the attributes can be predicated of all that belongs to
God; but Scripture speaks of His Holy Name, His Holy Day, His Holy
Habitation, His Holy Word. In the word Holy we have the nearest possible
approach to a summary of all the Divine perfections, the description of
what Divinity is. We speak of the other attributes as Divine
perfections, but in this we have the only human expression for the
Divine Perfection itself. It is for this reason that theologians have
found such difficulty in framing a definition that can express all the
word means.[5]

The original Hebrew word, whether derived from a root signifying to
separate, or another with the idea of shining, expressed the idea of
something distinguished from others, separate from them by superior
excellence. God is Separate and different from all that is created,
keeps Himself separate from all that is not God; as the Holy One He
maintains His Divine glory and perfection against