Holy in Christ: Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is HolyMurray, Andrew
Religion
Holy in Christ: Thoughts on the Calling of God's Children to be Holy as He is Holy
Murray, Andrew
Holiness
6. In speaking of God's Holiness as denoting the essential good, the
absolute excellence of His nature, some press very strongly the
_ethical_ aspect. The good in God must not be from mere natural impulse
only, flowing from the necessity of His nature, without being freely
willed by Himself. 'What is naturally good is not the true realization
of the good. The actual and living will to be the good He is, must also
have its place in God, otherwise God would only be naturally ethical.
Only in the will which consciously determines itself, is there the
possibility given of the ethical. The ethical has such a power in God
that He is the holy Power, who cannot and will not renounce Himself, who
must be, and would be thought to be, the holy necessity of the goodness
which is Himself,--to be the Holy. The love of God is essentially holy;
it desires and preserves the ethically necessary or holy, which God is.'
(Dorner, _System_, vol. i.)
7. It was felt in such views that there was not a sufficient
acknowledgment of the truth that it is especially as the Holy One that
God is called the Redeemer, and that He does the work of love to make
holy. This led to the view that holiness and love are, if not identical,
at least correlated expressions. 'God is holy, exalted above all the
praise of the creature in His incomparable praise-worthiness, on account
of His free and loving condescension to the creature, to manifest in it
the glory of His love.' 'God is holy, inasmuch as love in Him has
restrained and conquered the righteous wrath (as Hosea says, xi. 9), and
judgment is exercised only after every way of mercy has been tried. This
holiness is disclosed in the New Testament name, as exalted as it is
condescending, of Father.' (Stier _on John_ xvii.)
8. The large measure of truth in this view is met by an expression in
which the true aspects of the Holiness of God are combined. It is
defined as being the harmony of self-preservation and
self-communication. As the Holy One, God hates sin, and seeks to destroy
it. As the Holy One, He makes the sinner holy, and then takes him up
into His love. In maintaining His love, He never for a moment loses His
Divine purity and perfection; in maintaining His righteousness, He still
communicates Himself to the fallen creature. Holiness is the Divine
glory, of which love and righteousness are the two sides, and which in
their work on earth they reveal.
'Holiness is the self-preservation of God, whereby He keeps Himself
free from the world without Him, and remains consistent with Himself and
faithful to His Being, and whereby He, with this view, creates a Divine
world that lives for Himself alone in the organization of His Church.'
(Lange.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account