100 Words – God’s Holiness
Throughout my life I’ve heard that God’s holiness is the reason we sinners cannot stand before him, that his holiness is the measure of moral perfection against which we are compared and found greatly wanting. Lately I’ve been thinking this notion misses the heart of what holiness means. Instead of judgment, God’s holiness is about the purity of his love, a love utterly untainted by egoism, a love that utterly gives of itself to redeem the beloved. In this manner holiness is not essentially about judgment, but about the certainty of a sinner’s hope in the depths of God’s love.
Wrote the following comment on September 24th, 2013 at 5:15 pm #
Assuming we are all unworthy of God’s love – and maybe you’re not saying that – makes the point of the relationship, from God’s POV, most peculiar. Must say, though, that it was that particular image of God that drove me away from God in my 20s. The love part brought me back.
Wrote the following comment on September 24th, 2013 at 6:16 pm #
If I understand you correctly, I agree that the point of the relationship would be otherwise peculiar. As I have reflected upon why God created humans it became clearer that he wanted a relationship akin to the relationship that God is, as Father, Son, and Spirit, a relationship of love and intimacy. Likewise, he did not just want creatures who would obey a set of laws that are somehow expressive of his will. His will is the intimate relationship, and holiness with respect to us is about our capacity to respond to him in love. The amazing thing, in light of the Fall, is that God so wanted intimacy with his creatures that instead of abandoning us to our incapacity to relate to him, he bore our sin, so that even our sin became an opportunity to meet with him intimately as our saviour.