Bible Synapse
Is God alone holy, when he calls his people holy too?
Hard question · Who God is · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
See the passages joined in the interactive mapThe passages
Those who have overcome sing to God, “for thou only art holy”.
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
Hannah prays, “There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee”.
There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God.
“Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.”
Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.
“Ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
“Thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God”, chosen to be his own.
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
“Ye shall be holy men unto me”, so they must not eat the flesh of animals torn by beasts.
And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
By the law, every firstborn male “shall be called holy to the Lord”.
(As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)
David prays, “Preserve my soul; for I am holy”.
Preserve my soul; for I am holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee.
Peter applies Leviticus to Christians: “Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
The objection
In Revelation the redeemed sing to God, “thou only art holy”, and Hannah says, “There is none holy as the Lord”. Yet God tells Israel, “Ye shall be holy”, calls them “an holy people”, says the firstborn are holy to him, and David can pray, “Preserve my soul; for I am holy”. If people and things can be holy, God is not the only holy one.
The answer
In the Bible holiness belongs first to God himself. The Hebrew qadosh (H6918) and the Greek hagios (G0040) mean ‘set apart’: God is wholly distinct from his creatures and wholly pure. Everything else called holy is holy because it belongs to him. Israel is “an holy people unto the Lord thy God” because God “hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself” (Deuteronomy 7:6). The firstborn are holy because they are given to the Lord: “it is mine” (Exodus 13:2; Luke 2:23). Priests, the tabernacle, the Sabbath and the offerings are holy for the same reason. The command “ye shall be holy” always gives its ground: “for I the Lord your God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). The holiness of God’s people comes from his and reflects it, as the moon reflects the light of the sun.
Revelation 15:4 speaks of holiness in its full sense, which no one else has of himself. Its word is hosios (G3741), ‘holy, pure’, in the critical text and in the Textus Receptus behind the KJV; the Byzantine Majority Text has hagios. The song praises God for his righteous judgments, and it confesses a holiness that no creature has by nature and none can equal. Hannah says the same thing in her own way: “There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee” (1 Samuel 2:2). As Barnes notes, ‘only’ is comparative: beside God’s purity, nothing else deserves the name.
So the passages do not clash. God alone is holy in himself; people and things are holy as they are set apart for him, and his people are called to become more like him. When David says “I am holy” in Psalm 86:2, his word is chasid (H2623), ‘godly’ or ‘devoted’, and the WEB renders it “for I am godly”. He is pleading that he belongs to God, not claiming to be sinless; in the same psalm he rests his hope on a Lord who is “ready to forgive” (86:5).
Other answers Christians give
Holy in standing and holy in life
Many Christians distinguish the holiness God gives, by which believers are called ‘saints’ (holy ones) from the start (1 Corinthians 1:2), from the holiness of a life that grows in likeness to God (1 Peter 1:15–16). Neither rivals God’s holiness; both come from it.
From the classic commentators
When it is said that he "only" is holy, the expression is used, of course, in a comparative sense. He is so pure that it may be said that, in comparison with him, no one else is holy.Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Revelation 15:4, at Bible Hub
Sources
- Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible: Revelation 15, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Revelation 15, at Bible Hub
- Keil & Delitzsch, Commentary on Leviticus 19 (1857–78), at Bible Hub
- Strong’s Greek 3741, hosios, at Bible Hub
- Strong’s Hebrew 6918, qadosh, at Bible Hub