Communicable Holiness

Inherent in the self-revelation of a holy God there is the glorious fact that His holiness is communicable. The idea of holiness combines the two conditions of separateness and communion. While it is true that God is the Alone Holy and that His holiness is the ground of His separateness from the universe, constituting Him a light that is in-approachable, yet His holiness must not be conceived of as mere exclusiveness. The creatures nearest to God cry: "Holy, Holy, Holy", both in adoring contemplation and in blessed participation. The Thrice Holy One, in virtue of His very nature is a Holy Fellowship, or a Fellowship of Holiness. A Tri-personal God in His essential life is a God in relationship, a God in self-revelation and self-communication. While this must be essentially and eternally true of interrelations within the Blessed Trinity, it has pleased God in His personal relations with His creatures to communicate His holiness. "I am holy" is the Divine self-assertion, lifting Him immeasurably above His creation; "be ye also holy" is the Divine self-communication that brings His creatures into His communion to become - to use the Biblical expression - "partakers of His holiness" (Hebrews xii. 10). It is this imparting of His holiness alone that makes His creatures holy. The character of holiness never rests on a natural quality. Nothing created is itself holy. The holiness of the creature goes back to an act of the Divine will, the Divine election, and the Divine calling. It is a state in which the creature is bound to God by the appointment of God Himself.

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