Bridges’ Thoughts on the Holiness of God

This excerpt is from the second chapter of Jerry Bridges’ book, The Transforming Power of the Gospel. For a donation of any amount, this book can be sent to you during the month of January. Jerry Bridges discusses the Holiness of God in an awe-inspiring, yet very tangible way. By expositing Isaiah’s vision of God (Isaiah 6:1-3), Bridges portrays the grandeur and perfection of the Almighty God and sheds light on the perplexing attribute of God, namely holiness.

Bridges writes,

“The Hebrew language uses repetition to indicate emphasis as we do by italics or boldface type. Jesus used this device when He would preface a statement with ‘Truly, Truly, I say to you’ (for example see John 3:3; 5:24). The Bible, however, uses a threefold repetition, ‘Holy, holy, holy,’ with reference to God and His holiness. Such a threefold repetition in Hebrew indicates the highest possible degree or, as we could say, the infiniteness of God’s holiness…

The emphasis on the infiniteness of God’s holiness begs the question ‘What does the Bible mean when it speaks of the holiness of God?’ The Hebrew word translated as holy is qadosh, which basically means ‘separate.’ Old Testament scholar E.J. Young says that qadosh signifies the entirety of divine perfection that separates God from His creation, including His complete separation from all that is sinful.”

Bridges defines God’s holiness as being a summation of His transcendent majesty and His infinite moral purity. Bridges explains that

“The word transcendent means all-surpassing, above and beyond anything else. The word majesty includes all of God’s sovereign power and authority, royalty, dignity, and splendor. So transcendent majesty speaks of the infinite power, authority, royalty, dignity, and splendor that is God’s” (22).

Bridges further says,

“Obviously when God says ‘Be holy, for I am holy,’ He is not speaking of His transcendent majesty, which is reserved exclusively for Himself. Rather, He is referring to His infinite moral purity. It is only this aspect of His holiness that we can seek to emulate, even to only a small degree.”

Bridges concludes,

“Recall again that the threefold repetition, ‘Holy, holy, holy,’ indicates the highest possible degree, of the infiniteness of God’s holiness. So God is infinite not only in His majesty but also in His moral purity. This twofold aspect of God’s holiness has profound implications for us, as we will see in the next chapter. But for now we can see that God’s transcendent majesty adds weight to His moral purity, and His moral purity adds beauty to His majesty”

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