BY
JOHN D. WILSEY
The holiness of God is one of the most neglected subjects in Christian circles today. It seems that there is a certain reluctance on the part of many preachers, writers, and teachers to explore the intricacies of the holiness of God. This is a great tragedy. Without a deep appreciation for God’s holiness, several problems exist. One of these problems is hamartiological. An inadequate recognition of the holiness of God, on the part of the believer results in little or no motivation to repent. There will also be an inability to recognize sin when it presents itself. There is also a theological problem. The person who perceives God exclusively in the light of His other attributes, such as truth, justice, righteousness, etc., has a deficient, if not a wrong, view of God. The person will not be able to live his life in accordance with the perfect will of God because His very nature is absent from the believer’s mind and heart. Finally, there is the issue of the personal growth of the believer. A general ignorance of the holiness of God inevitably will result in certain problems within the believer’s Christian living. For example, the person will be limited in his ability to grow in intimate knowledge of God and in Christian maturity. The individual will have a faulty world view, or philosophy of life, stemming from wrong ideas and misconceptions of God. He will follow an idol, a fancied view of God, which springs from the imagination as Athena sprang from the head of Zeus. There is also the danger that a person deficient in a mature appreciation for the holiness of God will influence others to have the same faulty theology. Examples of this occurring are seen in the development of such heresies as Mormonism, Arianism, and Christian Science. Each of these heresies began with individuals who had fatal misconceptions of the God of the Bible: Joseph Smith, Arius, and Mary Baker Eddy respectively.
This brief study will introduce some issues having to do with God’s holiness in an effort to foster appreciation for it. There will be three foci in this analysis. The first will be a discussion on holiness as the essence of God while emphasizing how the Christian should understand it. The second focus will involve looking at two particular aspects of holiness and how they further define God as a holy being. Finally, the study will focus on holiness as it is relevant in the Christian’s relationship to God and his responsibilities to Him. The views of several scholars will be briefly introduced and critiqued in each of the foci. Appeals to the Holy Scripture will frequently be given, as they are the only real authority that the person has in delving into this subject. Holy Scripture is, by definition, the inerrant and infallible word of God. The Bible is the medium through which God has spoken and revealed Himself to people. It is therefore the most reliable witness to the holiness of God.
As previously mentioned, the lack of understanding of divine holiness can lead to disastrous results in the individual’s own life as well as in life of the body of believers. The Christian must come to a full understanding of the meaning of holiness as it refers to the person of the triune God. Therefore, God’s holiness can be defined as the eternal uniqueness, purity, completeness and majesty inherent in His character. D. Bloesch defines the holiness of God as His “innermost nature, embracing power, eternity and glory.”[1] J. Edwards described God’s holiness as “the very beauty and loveliness of Jehovah Himself. ‘Tis the excellency of His excellencies, the beauty of His beauties, the perfection of His infinite perfections, and the glory of His attributes.”[2] God’s holiness can be understood as the momentum behind all the other attributes of God. Holiness is the essence of God. It is the driving force behind the righteousness, justice, mercy, wrath, compassion, will, truth, and all other attributes of God.
To further understand God’s holiness as His essence, an analysis of the biblical descriptions of the name of God must be undertaken. The Biblical understanding of a person’s name denoted the element or reputation by which he was known. Jacob’s name (ya`aqov), which means, “he supplants,” was changed by God in Genesis 32. This quality was the defining characteristic of Jacob until God changed his name to “Israel,” (yise’ra’el) which means “prince with God” or “he struggles with God.” God did this to affirm how He had changed Jacob’s essence. In the same way, the name of God defines who He is. It designates God’s reputation, character, identity, and nature. When one searches the Scriptures to find out how the name of God is described, the result is striking. Out of forty-eight descriptions of the name of God, the word “holy” or “hallowed” is used twenty-three times. The other descriptions of God’s name are synonymous with the meaning of God’s holiness: glorious, excellent, fearful, good, terrible, from everlasting, great in might, wonderful, and exalted. Since the name of God is described in this way by the Scriptures, the Christian may conclude that the inherent nature of God is holy and all other attributes of God consist and are moved by this holy nature. D. Bloesch cites James Leo Garrett in illustrating this principle: “Eternity is the duration of God’s holiness. Changelessness is the continuing stability or constancy of God’s holiness. Wisdom is the truth of God’s holiness. Power is the strength of God’s holiness. . . . Glory is the recognized manifestation of God’s holiness as majesty.”[3]
It can be said that the love of God is included with holiness in constituting His inherent nature. While the scope of this study prevents any in-depth analysis of God’s love, one may assert that holiness and love are both impulses of God’s attributes. D. Bloesch rightly states, “The apex of God’s holiness is the holiness of His love. The apex of God’s love is the beauty of His holiness.”[4] The mistake has been made among some modern theologians in asserting that the love of God alone is the chief of His attributes. Reinhold Neibuhr predicates that the lone standard in the heart of God is His love. Nels Ferre, Anders Nygren and Eberhard Jungel were others that shared this view.[5] The danger in adopting this position can be fatal, depending on one’s perception of love. In subordinating God’s attributes to His love, certain truths are certainly diluted. For example, if God is loving first (assuming that love refers to God’s eternal will to self-communication), where is there room for majesty, greatness and even terror? Does the fact that the name of God denotes majesty and fearfulness matter if God is loving before all other things? Supposing this to be true, God cannot strictly be loving first. Supposing this to be false, the name of God cannot be terrible. Assuming that God is above all things loving dissolves the fear and reverence that the creature has for the Creator. Why should one tremble, shake, and even drop dead before a God that is more loving and less unapproachable?
Other theologians have contended that holiness is God’s main attribute. P. T. Forsyth lamented the de-emphasis of God’s holiness in liberal theology in favor of divine love and grace. D. Bloesch cites him as stating, “the prime thing in God is His holiness. From His holiness flows His love.”[6] While this position is certainly preferable to the one held by Neibuhr and other liberals, one must be careful in adopting this view. Setting aside other attributes, like mercifulness and graciousness, is too easy in favoring this view. Even in his wariness of glossing over God’s attributes in favor of holiness, M. Erickson has inadvertently done so. He writes, “Some have suggested that [holiness] is the most important single attribute of God. Whether or not this is a legitimate or desirable deduction, holiness is at least a very important attribute of God.”[7] Erickson’s meaning is unclear when he says, “very” important. In the mere speaking of holiness as a “very important” attribute of God, Erickson gives the impression that holiness is in fact more significant than other attributes of God. For instance, do there exist any divine attributes that are not “very important?”
The Christian may understand that holiness is not an attribute of God. A person’s attribute is understood to be an addition to a person’s being. That being and attribute(s) of an individual equal the personal essence.[8] God’s holiness is His essence. Divine holiness is understood to be the character of God rather than a characteristic of God. Indeed, holiness is the name of God. For this reason, holiness is not superior to any of God’s attributes. It is the eternal and glorious strength or meaning of all of them. God is righteous because His essence is holiness. He is high and lofty because of His holiness. A. A. Hodge has explained this idea well. He states:
The holiness of God is not to be conceived of as one attribute among others; it is rather a general term representing the conception of His consummate perfection and total glory. It is His infinite moral perfection crowning His infinite intelligence and power. There is a glory of each attribute, viewed abstractly, and a glory of the whole together. The intellectual nature is the essential basis of the moral. Infinite moral perfection is the crown of the Godhead. Holiness is the total glory thus crowned.[9]
J. Dick would concur with this view. His perspective on holiness is one which does not include it within the scope of the attributes of God. Rather, it is that nature of Him by which all other divine characteristics are understood.[10] J. L. Dagg would find no fault in his colleagues’ views. He stated that, “Goodness, truth, and justice are moral attributes of God. Holiness is not an attribute distinct from these; but a name which includes them all, in view of their opposition to contrary qualities. It implies the perfection of the assemblage.”[11] A. Knudsen is another theologian to view God’s holiness accordingly. He contends for holiness as the divine essence in this way: “In its essential nature holiness was a unique quality of Deity. Indeed, it was not in the strict sense of the term a quality. It expressed rather the idea of divinity itself. The ‘Holy One’ was a synonym for ‘God.’ Even the plural Qedosim like the plural ‘elohim,[12] was used in this sense.”[13]
K. Barth has an intriguing view of God’s holiness. He does not see divine holiness as a separate entity, but sees it as an indivisible part of God’s grace. In speaking of God’s holiness, Barth supposes that he is only speaking of God’s grace. Divine grace and holiness are understood as being one medium of divine communication with His created beings. Grace is the form of communicating in which God’s favor and tenderness are shown to the creature without being affected by the creature’s response to them. Holiness is understood as the favor and benefaction that conquers and consumes the resistance of the creature. Grace is the reaching out to the creature and forgiving its sins. Holiness is reaching out to the creature and judging its sins. This grace/holiness unit of revelation is further understood to be the definitive aspect of God’s love. “The link between the two is decisively summed up in the fact that both characterise and distinguish His love and therefore Himself in His action in the covenant, as the Lord of the covenant between Himself and His creature.”[14]
There are a few problems with this position. The main flaw is that Barth is simply subordinating divine holiness under divine love. He sees holiness merely as a servant of God’s love. He further reduces the significance of divine holiness by attaching it to an act of God’s love, that is, grace. Holiness in the mind of Barth has lost its fearfulness, its exaltedness, and its power. Barth correctly acknowledges that the holiness of God is the impetus behind judgment and wrath. Nevertheless, he neglects the fact that holiness is truly the impetus behind the whole will of God. Holiness as God’s essence defines His purity and perfection. Therefore, holiness is not merely an act of God’s general grace expressed in forgiveness and judgment. Even in dispensing grace and mercy, God is being true to His holiness. Eze. 36:22, 23, 28, 29, and 32[15] all cry out:
‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations. . .and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD.
‘Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you.
‘Not for your sake do I this,’ says the Lord GOD, ‘let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!’
God performs His will in accordance with His holy name, or His holy character. He works and communicates in holiness. He bestows upon His creation mercy and judgment because He is great, wonderful, and terrible. In other words, He is holy.
Now that the divine holiness has been established as God’s inherent nature and the momentum behind His attributes, it is appropriate to observe two aspects of this holiness in particular. The first aspect is that of separateness. E. Brunner states, “. . . holiness is not a quality which God possesses in common with other beings; on the contrary it is that which distinguishes Him clearly and absolutely from everything else.”[16] The word translated in English as “holy” is rendered qados in Hebrew. The etymology of the word is not known, but it denotes a strict uniqueness. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to cut off” or “to separate.”[17] The meaning of this word is evident in Ex. 15:11, 1 Sam. 2:2, and Isa. 6:1-4. Isa. 57:15 says, “For thus says the High and Lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place with him who has a contrite and humble spirit. . . .” God in His uniqueness has been described by E. Brunner and T. Vriezen with the phrase, “the Wholly Other One.”[18] This aspect is clearly seen in Isaiah’s vision found in Isa. 6:1-13. The serapîm[19] are covering their faces so that they will not behold the King of Glory. In Hos. 11:9, God says, “I am God and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you.” There is no other like God. The name God gave the Archangel Michael testifies beautifully to this fact. His name (mîka’el) is translated, “Who is like God?”
E. Brunner observes that God’s holiness was the point of contention between God and the ba`alîm. The ba`alîm were only glorified expressions of nature. The deity called ba`al[20] was believed to be the storm god, or the god of thunder. The true God, however, is separate from the creation. God is not an integral part of what He has made. Neither is He even a spiritual representation of it. He is the absolute Lord over nature because He is its Creator. The Creator by definition is separate in substance from the creation. The creation owes its existence to the Creator and subsists by His will, according to Heb. 1:3.
E. Gerhart effectively defines the separateness of God, not only from the created order, but also from sin. There is a great deal of confusion among Christians over phrases like, “God cannot abide in the presence of evil,” and “God cannot look upon sin.” Phrases such as these can present problems for interpreting passages like Job 1:7, 2:1, and Zech. 3:2 because Satan is obviously in the presence of God. Gerhart clears this problem up effectively. He lays down the foundation that God is totally and in all ways separated from sin. Sin has no place with God and God despises it. However, the separation between God and sin is not physical separation. It is not a spatial separation or a separation by time either. It is instead a personal separation and an ethical one. Thus, God can be in the presence of a sinful person and He can be present in the midst of a sinful activity, but He is separate from the sin in a moral sense and in the sense that God is holy and judges sin. In the separation between God and sin, the relationship between the holy Creator and the fallen creature is specified. “Holiness expresses the most thorough-going contradiction between the eternal life of God and the self-perverted . . . life of the Adamic race, between God and Satan, between the kingdom of heaven founded by Jesus Christ and the kingdom of darkness.”[21]
One other concept must be noted concerning the separateness and uniqueness of God in His holiness: He is a jealous God (‘el qanna’). This jealousy is viewed in His demand to exclusive worship and adoration. “The verb with which qanna’ is connected means, besides being jealous, also to maintain one’s rights to the exclusion of others. . . . He is alone, and demands for Himself alone, worship to which, moreover, He has a right.”[22] E. Brunner states that the jealousy of God has two characteristics: glory and wrath. It matters to God that the creature recognize Him as Lord and King. The will of God is for His glory to fill all the earth. He is eager for worship from the people to whom He has blessed with existence. It was not so for deities in pagan mythology. Zeus could go about his day without caring what people down there thought of him. “Unperturbed, he moves on his way in heaven without turning round to see what is happening either behind him or beneath him. The Living God who makes His name known to us is not indifferent.”[23] He reveals Himself in all of His glory. Indeed, His glory is permeating the universe and the earth is full of it, as Isa. 6:3 states. He expects the creature to glorify Him and to ascribe to Him all the glory that He deserves and that He rightly claims.
While the glory of God is the positive characteristic of God’s qanna’, His wrath is the negative. God’s wrath is not an emotional outburst, something that is out of control and seeking only to destroy creatures out of selfishness and vanity. God’s wrath is rather something that is quite controlled, even a response to a refusal on the part of men to ascribe to God glory. The wrath of God is under His thorough mastery. The wrath of God is “the working out of the Divine Glory upon those who refuse to give Him glory; the working out of the Holiness of God against him who irreverently, godlessly, does not acknowledge Him.”[24] Furthermore, this wrath of God is not something that comes as a surprise to the person who refuses to acknowledge God. Countless times in the Scriptures divine warnings cry out to walk on the right path, the path of trusting God and obeying Him. The person who receives the jealous wrath of God is the person who has been warned by Him repeatedly to give Him all glory and honor.
Thus, the holiness of God as separateness is settled. The second aspect of divine holiness is that of moral purity. This is extremely important. This aspect of God’s love is what defines Him as good. In the children’s story, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, Aslan, who is the great lion and king in the story (who symbolizes Jesus Christ), was said to be wild and dangerous, certainly not tame in any way. Nevertheless, Aslan was said to be good. He was not tame, but he was good. This is how Christians can look upon God. God is not to be easily figured out (and this study is a humble and minute inquiry) and He is by no means tame. Nevertheless, God is good. He is good because He is pure and perfect. He is pure and perfect because He is holy. As seen in Lev. 11:44, “For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy.”
This verse brings the analysis to the third focus of the holiness of God, which is how this holiness is relevant to mankind and how he is to respond to it. The holiness of God draws a distinct contrast to what man is marked by: sin. Man is eternally separated from God because of his sin according to Isa. 59:2. There is nothing in the man or woman that deserves to stand in the presence of God, or has a claim to God because of the sin under which every person was born. Thus, the creative little poem by Hebbel is nothing short of ridiculous, foolish, and perhaps even blasphemous. He writes:
To God the Lord it is a triumph
If we do not faint before Him,
If we stand upon our feet
In glorious confidence,
Instead of falling on our faces
In the dust. . . .[25]
The relevance of the holiness of God to man can be summed up in Isaiah’s statement found in Isa. 6:5 when he saw the Lord in His glory: “Woe is me, for I am undone.” It can be illustrated from Rev. 1:17 in the description of John’s actions when he saw the face of Jesus Christ in all of His glory: “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead.” This realization of guilt in the presence of ultimate perfection and purity is what is known as the fear of God. This fear of God results in one response: immediate and all-consuming worship of Him. Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom according to Prov. 1:7. As a result of a poor realization of God’s holiness, there is a lack of a true fear of God. Fear of God becomes simply “reverence.” It is true that the Christian must have reverence of God, but a healthy fear of God because of one’s sin is certainly appropriate. A person should be deathly afraid of God if he is unsaved or if he is living a lifestyle of sinful practice. Without the fear of the Lord, there is no wisdom. Without wisdom there is no knowledge. With a lack of knowledge, the following occurs as in Hos. 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” This knowledge that God refers to is intimate and personal knowledge. The word “knowledge” used in this verse in Hebrew is hadda`at. It refers to the knowledge that a husband and wife would have of one another. This knowledge denotes having regard, or care for especially. The word also refers to wisdom, intelligence and understanding.[26] It is relational knowledge. Without a healthy appreciation for God’s holiness, there is not a perfect hadda`at of Him.
Once the person has the fear of the Lord, or a healthy recognition of God’s holiness, he can move forward in God’s will for his life. The first thing that he must do is lay himself at the judgment of God and confess all of His sins. This is necessary because God, by definition of His holiness, does not wink at sin. Surely he must be judged for his sin before he can be saved. The good news is that Jesus Christ was judged in his place and the person receives the judgment for his sin vicariously through Christ. He must repent of his sin and trust Christ’s forgiveness. “Before God can give love, life and grace, He must first of all kill the old Adam. . . . Men do not like to admit that they are sinners, ‘they do not want to have their old Adam killed, for this reason, they do not attain to the proper work of God which is justification. . . .’”[27] Nevertheless, if a person is going to receive the grace of God, he must first submit himself to God’s wrath.
This done, the person wears the righteousness of Christ as a garment, and he is an adopted child of God. From this point until death, it is the duty of the Holy Spirit to sanctify the believer, or to make him holy as He is. The Christian must separate Himself from the world and to Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1). As God is unique and separate because of His holiness, so the Christian must come out from the world and be separate to God. “In addition to the realization that we must be holy, worship and reverence are also natural consequences of seeing God in His spotlessness and holiness.”[28]
It has been said that once a person is saved, the next thing for him to do is pray, read the Bible and tell others about Jesus. Usually this part of witnessing is left until the very end and the person has prayed the Sinner’s Prayer, if it is told at all. However, there is a great fault in this strategy. Yes, the new Christian must read the Bible, he must pray and he must tell others about the wonderful acts that God has performed on his behalf. Nevertheless, this tactic in winning souls is merely seen by the new convert as a set of duties, of rituals, of a set of rules and regulations. It is a burden to the new convert. That is why these duties are not mentioned until after the convert has been given his ticket to heaven (this is said with the utmost humility). If the Christian witness were to say to the unsaved person, “I’m going to give you the greatest news in the world, but in order to experience it fully, you’re going to have to pray at least an hour every day, read at least a chapter of the Bible a day, and walk up to at least one stranger a day and tell him what Jesus has done for you,” he would not win very many people over to Christ! There is a better way to encourage the new Christian to grow.
When a person is saved for the first time, the most important thing for that person to do is to worship the Lord. The Lord’s essence is holiness. The point of salvation is for the creature to know God intimately. As mentioned before, the only way to know God intimately is to fear Him because He is holy. “His name should never be mentioned but with awe; and our whole conduct should testify that we are deeply sensible of His presence, and that there is nothing which we are so anxious to obtain His favor, nothing which we so much dread as His displeasure.”[29] The only response a person can do when he understands the weight of what Jesus Christ has done on their behalf is to express utter worship and adoration to God, the Holy One who alone is worthy of praise. What a dreadful mistake it is to encourage the new Christian to fulfill spiritual duties without emphasizing the reason those duties are performed. A worshipful heart and attitude toward the holy and reverend God is what proves to be the force behind the desire to pray, the desire to devour the words God speaks and the drive to go and be a faithful witness. When a person worships God in spirit and in truth, he stands in the presence of God and beholds Him as He is: holy. God reveals to him wonders and intimate knowledge of Him because the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The response to this revelation will be an unquenchable desire to obey and to trust no matter what the circumstances of life bring.
Christians must have an intense understanding of the holiness of God. They cannot know God intimately without knowing His essence as thrice holy. Just as a person cannot know the workings of an automobile without knowing the engine, a person cannot know God intimately without knowing that He is holy. The Bible confirms that the innermost nature of God is His holiness. It confirms this in the way it describes the name of God, that supreme designation of God’s character. The Bible describes the name of God as holy. The angels of God repeat the trisagion, “Holy, holy, holy” to worship the Lord as He is. If Christians are going to be wise, if they are going to know the Lord intimately, if they are going to obey Him fully, then they are behooved to do the same as the angels.
The
people of God have been commanded by Him to be like Him, that is, holy. If His people are going to place attributes
of God over and above the impetus of those attributes, they shall not reach
their potential as the children of God.
If they are going to ignore the divine holiness for fear that their
comfortable view of God would be lost, they will be hindered in becoming
separate and pure. If the children of
God do not worship Him in spirit and in truth, they will never have a
consistent desire, a burning fire in their bones to pursue their own
relationships with Him, nor will they seek to win the lost. These aspects of knowing God as He wills are
at stake when it comes to seeing God in His holiness and being honest about
it. By ignoring the holiness of God,
the Church places itself in grave danger of being desperately ignorant of
Him. By embracing divine holiness and
loving God because of it, there is the great potential for the world to be
turned upside down as Acts 17:6 relates:
“. . . they dragged Jason and some brethren to the rulers of the city,
crying out, ‘These who have turned the world upside down have come here
too. Jason has harbored them, and these
are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king--Jesus.’”[30]
[2]
Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 10, Sermons and Discourses,
1720-1723, ed. Wilson H. Kimnach (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992), 430.
[3]
Bloesch, God the Almighty,
139.
[4]
Ibid., 141.
[5]
Ibid., 140.
[6]
Ibid., 140.
[7]
Millard Erickson, Christian
Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker
Book House, 1985; reprint, Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1994), 285.
[8]
G. R. Lewis, “Attributes of
God” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell
(Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1984),
451.
[9]
Archibald Alexander Hodge, Outlines
of Theology (New York: Robert
Carter and Brothers, 1878), 163.
[10]
John Dick, Lectures on Theology,
vol. 1 (New York: M. W. Dodd, 1846),
275.
[11]
John L. Dagg, A Manual of
Theology (Charleston: Southern
Baptist Publication Society, 1858), 86.
[12]
That is, Holy ones and God or gods respectively.
[13]
Albert C. Knudsen, The Religious
Teaching of the Old Testament (New York: Abingdon Press, 1918), 138.
[14]
Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics,
vol. 2, The Doctrine of God, trans. T. H. L. Parker, W. B. Johnston,
Harold Knight, and J. L. M. Haire (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1957), 360.
[15]
All Scriptures herein will be
quoted from the New King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.
[16]
Emil Brunner, Dogmatics,
vol. 1, The Christian Doctrine of God, trans. Olive Wyon (London: Lutterworth Press, 1949), 158.
[17]
Millard Erickson, Christian
Theology, 284.
[18]
Th. C. Vriezen, An Outline
of Old Testament Theology, 2d ed., rev. (Newton: Charles T. Branford Co., 1970), 297.
[19]
That is, burning ones; a classification of angels.
[20]
That is, lord or master.
[21]
Emanuel V. Gerhart, Institutes
of the Christian Religion (New York:
A. C. Armstrong and Son, 1891), 499.
[22]
Th. C. Vriezen, Old Testament
Theology, 302.
[23]
Emil Brunner, Doctrine of
God, 161.
[24]
Ibid., 162.
[25]
Ibid., 163.
[26]
Benjamin Davidson, The Analytical
Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon (London: Samuel Bagster & Sons, Ltd., 1848; reprint, Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1993), 298.
[27]
Emil Brunner, Doctrine of
God, 168.
[28]
Millard Erickson, Christian
Theology, 286.
[29]
John Dick, Lectures on Theology,
274.
[30]
Italics mine.
WORKS CITED
Barth, Karl. Church
Dogmatics. Vol. 2, The
Doctrine of God. Trans. T.
H. L. Parker, W. B. Johnston,
Harold Knight, and J. L. M. Haire.
Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1957.
Bloesch, Donald G. God
the Almighty. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1995.
Brunner, Emil. Dogmatics. Vol. 1, The Christian Doctrine of God. Trans. Olive Wyon. London: Lutterworth Press, 1949.
Dagg, John L. A
Manual of Theology. Charleston:
Southern Baptist Publication Society, 1858.
Davidson, Benjamin.
The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon.
London: Samuel Bagster
& Sons, Ltd., 1848;
reprint, Peabody: Hendrickson
Publishers, 1993.
Dick, John. Lectures
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M. W. Dodd, 1846.
Edwards, Jonathan. Works
of Jonathan Edwards. Edited by Wilson H. Kimnach. Vol. 10, Sermons and
Discourses, 1720-1723.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992.
Erickson, Millard. Christian
Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985; reprint, Grand Rapids:
Baker Book House, 1994.
Gerhart, Emanuel V.
Institutes of the Christian Religion.
New York: A. C. Armstrong
and Son, 1891.
Hodge, Archibald Alexander.
Outlines of Theology. New
York: Robert Carter and Brothers,
1878.
Knudsen, Albert C. The
Religious Teaching of the Old Testament.
New York: Abingdon Press,
1918.
Lewis, G. R. “Attributes
of God.” In Evangelical Dictionary
of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell, 451-458. Grand
Rapids: Baker Books, 1984.
Vriezen, Th. C. An
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Co., 1970.