Holiness of God VII and VIII (Wrestling with God and Holiness)

In chapter 7 Sproul demonstrates how wrestling with God results in peace and access to God. 

Jacob, Job, and Habakkuk all declared war on God. They all stormed the battlements of heaven. They were all defeated, yet they all came away from the struggle with uplifted souls. They paid a price in pain. God allowed the debate, but the battle was fierce before peace was established.

Sproul reminds us that in order for "the transforming power of God to change our lives, we must wrestle with Him".

Chapter six answered the question - how can God be considered Holy given some of the harsh actions attributed to Him in the OT. In chapter 8, Sproul looks at an equally difficult question - 'how can the Bible possibly call us "holy ones"?'

The saints of Scripture were called saints not because they were already pure but because they were people who were set apart and called to purity. The word holy has the same two meanings when applied to people as it has when it is applied to God. We recall that when the word holy is used to describe God, it not only calls attention to that sense in which He is different or apart from us, but it also calls attention to His absolute purity.

I think we all can admit that we are not holy in the sense of absolute purity since we are still prone to sinning. Even if we convince ourselves that we are not committing sins in what we do, we would have trouble with our internal thoughts and motives:

The call of nonconformity is a call to a deeper level of righteousness that goes beyond externals. When piety is defined exclusively in terms of externals, the whole point of the apostle's teaching has been lost. Somehow we have failed to hear Jesus' words that it is not what goes into a person's mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of that mouth.

The only reason we can be called holy ones is because:

Christ's righteousness is really put in our account. God sees us as righteous because we have been covered and clothed by the righteousness  of Jesus.

While righteousness may be credited to our account upon our placing our trust in Christ, living a life of purity becomes a life long struggle.

There is no time lapse between our justification and the beginning of our sanctification. But there is a great time lapse between our justification and the completion of our sanctification.

Sanctification is a process by which we who are in Christ work with the Holy Spirit to become more like Christ because of the hope we have. And this process will require us to wrestle with God and our desires to conform to this world and remain in our sinful lifestyle.

These chapters called to mind the Apostle Peter who said it this way:

Therefore,

The therefore refers back to the opening of the letter where we are told that the mercy of God has "caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven". Because of this living hope and future inheritance that is ours because of the forgiveness we have in Christ we should act as follows:

prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." (1 Peter 1:13-16)

Here we are told we must prepare our minds. That will require effort - a teachable spirit, studying the Scriptures, seeking out good teaching, and changing our views to conform to the truth. But preparing our minds must not be to only acquire knowledge. It must be in preparation for us to apply what we learn so that we are self controlled (sober) and obedient to His commands rejecting our former way of life.  We are to live a life of nonconformity to this world and strive for purity. What a wrestling match we face each and every day.

Click here for more thoughts on chapter 7 and here for chapter 8.

Holiness of God VI (Far be it from You)

If the premise of chapter one - that we must understand Holiness if we are to understand God and Christianity - is correct then this chapter dives head first into the deep end to deal with why that is so by dealing with a difficult question. How do we deal with some of God's actions in the Bible and still declare Him as Good or Holy?

Whoever reads the Old Testament must struggle with the apparent brutality of God's judgment found there. For many people this is as far as they read. They stumble over the violent passages we call the "hard sayings." Some people see these sayings as sufficient reason to reject Christianity out of hand. ... In this chapter I want to stare the Old Testament God right in the eye. I want to look at the most difficult, most offensive passages we can find in the Old Testament and see if we can make any sense of them.

Sproul analyzes several examples that many would consider harsh and unjust actions of God. These include:

1. Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons who are destroyed for offering "strange fire" in the tabernacle (Lev 10; Ex 30:9-10).
2. Uzzah who is killed for touching the ark preventing it from falling off an ox cart (1 Chron 13; Num 4:4,15,17-20).
3. The conquest of Canaan and the slaughter of men, women, and children (Deut 7:1-6, 9:4-6).
4. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:20-33)
5. The people killed in a collapsing tower (Luke 13:1-5)

As we examine these events we like Abraham before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah question God and ask "will the righteous be swept away with the wicked?" Like Abraham we must conclude - "far be it from You" because

[t]he justice of God is always and ever an expression of His holy character. ... What God does is always consistent with who God is.

The problem as Sproul points out is:

[t]here is a reason why we are offended, indeed angered, ...[w]e find these things difficult to stomach because we do not understand four vitally important biblical concepts: holiness, justice, sin, and grace

Sproul reminds us that all sin against God is a capital offense and only the grace of God prevents the deserved sentence from being carried out immediately. So when we question why God would allow the righteous to be judged with the wicked we are coming at it from the wrong point of view. There are no righteous people. We are all sinners deserving death. However because God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin (Ex 34:6-7) we have lost sight of holiness and think we are entitled to  grace.

God's usual course of action is one of grace. Grace no longer amazes us. We have grown used to it; we take it for granted.
...
We have come to expect God to be merciful. From there the next step is easy: We demand it. When it is not forthcoming, our first response is anger against God, coupled with the protest: "It isn't fair." We soon forget that with our first sin we have forfeited all rights to the gift of life. That I am drawing breath this morning is an act of divine mercy. God owes me nothing. I owe Him everything.

Justice is what we deserve and Sproul rightly reminds us "don't ever ask God for justice-you might get it." Rather than assume we deserve God's grace and will always benefit from it we must instead remember that God's delaying justice is to allow us time to repent, trust in Christ for salvation, and live worthy of our calling (Rom 2:3-5; 2 Pet 3:9,14-15).

I echo the many who said that if only one chapter (at least out of the first six) was to be read, this one should be the one. Click here for other thoughts.

Holiness of God V (Insane Guilt)

If chapter four of the Holiness of God was about how God's holiness unsettles people, then this chapter explored that theme through the lens of Martin Luther's life. A few weeks earlier and this chapter would have lined up well with Reformation Day.

I enjoyed Sproul's retelling of key moments in the life of Martin Luther exploring the events and personality that shaped the man who sparked the Protestant Reformation. If you are looking for a good intro to Luther this chapter is excellent. I am a church history buff and have added a new book - Here I Stand - to my ever growing Wish List too. 

The thing that struck me (maybe because I can relate to some degree) was Luther's obsession with his guilt resulting in his compulsions to go to confessions daily often for hours to be cleansed. He seemed to struggle mightily with trying to figure out how to be right before a Holy God. What brought him to a point where he could barely function...

Luther examined the Great Commandment, " `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, `Love your neighbor as yourself"' (Luke 10:27). Then he asked himself, "What is the Great Transgression?" Some answer this question by saying that the great sin is murder, adultery, blasphemy, or unbelief. Luther disagreed. He concluded that if the Great Commandment was to love God with all the heart, then the Great Transgression was to fail to love God with all the heart. He saw a balance between great obligations and great sins.

Sproul describes most people when they realize the great demands of a Holy God:

The test is too great, too demanding; it is not fair. God will have to judge us all on a curve.  ... Lesser minds went merrily along their way, enjoying the bliss of ignorance. They were satisfied to think that God  compromise his own excellence and let them into heaven.

 However:

Luther didn't see it that way. He realized that if God graded on a curve, He would have to compromise His own holiness. To count on God doing so is supreme arrogance and supreme foolishness as well. God does not lower His own standards to accommodate us. He remains altogether holy, altogether righteous, and altogether just.

This chapter brought home the fact that we really have a poor idea of what holiness is whereas Luther really understood this concept and it impacted his life mentally, physically, and spiritually. 

Sproul quotes from Bainton's Here I Stand  the following passage where Luther describes the insane guilt and how the truth set him free:

I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans and nothing stood in the way but that one expression, "the justice of God," because I took it to mean that justice whereby God is just and deals justly in punishing the unjust. My situation was that, although an impeccable monk, I stood before God as a sinner troubled in conscience, and I had no confidence that my merit would assuage him. Therefore I did not love a just and angry God, but rather hated and murmured against him. Yet I clung to the dear Paul and had a great yearning to know what he meant. Night and day I pondered until I saw the connection between the justice of God and the statement that "the just shall live by faith." Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise. The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the "justice of God" had filled me with hate, now it became to me inexpressibly sweet in greater love. This passage of Paul became to me a gate of heaven....

I have seen this or portions of this quotation before and wondered from which of Luther's works was it taken. I figured a quick Internet search would clear this up and I could then read the quote in context along with the rest of the work. While I found many hits that includes portions of this quotation it took awhile before I finally found the work of Luther from which this was taken. It appears in the Preface to The Complete Edition of Luther's Latin Works, which was published in 1545. However even this link is only an excerpt from the preface.



Since Romans 1:17 was such a crucial passage in Luther's understanding the gospel and coming to Jesus I wanted to let readers know of a series that was done recently where scholars explore how to translate that passage.

In my searches for the source of this quote I did find the 6 part lecture series on this book from Ligonier Ministries. Here is the link to the lecture for this chapter.

Click here for other thoughts.

Holiness of God IV (Unsettling Holiness)

Posting is late this week, just one of those that kept slipping away...

The Holiness of God has laid out the following major points so far:

1. Understanding the concept of Holy is essential to understanding who God is.
2. Understanding the Holiness of God is essential to understanding who we are. 
3. Holy is defined as separated from common use for a special use in a pure way.
4. Only God who is Holy can make someone or something holy.

Point #2 is made clear in chapter 2:

Isaiah explained it this way: "My eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty" (Isa. 6:5). He saw the holiness of God. For the first time in his life Isaiah really understood who God was. At the same instant, for the first time Isaiah really understood who Isaiah was.

And again in this chapter's quote from John Calvin:

Men are never duly touched and impressed with a conviction of their insignificance until they have contrasted themselves with the majesty of God.

Using examples from Scripture, the Peter Principle, students who break the curve on a college test, golfing with Billy Graham, and Of Mice and Men, Sproul makes the main point that real Holiness unsettles people. 

I came away from this chapter understanding that there are two different ways Holiness unsettles people. This first way is represented by the tax collector in the parable told in Luke 18:9-14. People that fall into this group realize that they are sinners and that they are ruined in the presence of the One who is Holy. The come to God in fear and tell Him, 'leave me for I am a sinner'. Sproul has described this first group using Isaiah (chapter 2),  horror movie watchers (chapter 3), and the disciples encounters with Jesus in Mark 4 and Luke 5 (chapter 4).

The second way is represented by those who are like the Pharisee in the parable told in Luke 18:9-14. They are so filled with pride, so focused on the external behavior rather than the internal heart condition, and so enamored with the attention of men that they become hostile around One who is truly Holy. Sproul has described this group by looking in more detail at the Pharisees ("one who is separate") and the Sadducess ("righteous ones").

Sproul points out that the Jews in Jesus' day revered the prophets but this was because they were safe dead heroes. But when Stephen reminded them that the Jews had killed them as well as the Righteous One they foretold they became enraged.

People have an appreciation for moral excellence, as long as it is removed a safe distance from them. The Jews honored the prophets, from a distance. The world honors Christ, from a distance.

This is a good warning for us. How are we reacting to the Holiness of God - like the tax collector or disciple who calls out for mercy and asks God to leave for I am sinner or like the Pharisee who is so blinded by his hypocritical holiness that he becomes hostile when faced with real Holiness and is fearful of being exposed as a hypocrite.

Do we want to hold Jesus back so we can feel safe or do we want the real Jesus who is Holy and makes us quake at our sinfulness?

So it was with Christ. The world could tolerate Jesus; they could love Him, but only at a distance. Christ is safe for us if securely bound by space and time.

The irony is that only when we face the Holiness of Jesus and our own lack of holiness can we actually have eternal safety. Because only in accepting the holiness that is graciously given by the One who is truly Holy are we actually made holy and blameless and acceptable to God. It is only then that we can say - there is no condemnation in Christ.

Click here for other thoughts.

Holiness of God III

Two chapters in, we are given the definition of holy. It has three different uses - all of which are true of God:

• Purity - free from stain, perfect
• Separate - apart, cut
• Transcendent  - above and beyond  

 The focus is on God being separate.

When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate. He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us. 

 I like the illustration of the various items that God separated apart from common use for special use to draw out the idea. One example was the Sabbath day - which we have looked at recently in Sunday school. The Sabbath was a special day set apart as holy, where no work was to be done. This is what made it different from the other 6 days of the week. It was also a day to remember our Creator (Ex 20:8-11) and Liberator (Deut 5:12-15). Sproul made sure to call to our attention the fact that nothing is holy unless God imparts holiness to it because nothing is Holy except God. 

Since most people attribute purity with the word holy, Sproul pulls this together really well:

Where does purity come in? We are so accustomed to equating holiness with purity or ethical perfection that we look for the idea when the word holy appears. When things are made holy, when they are consecrated, they are set apart unto purity. They are to be used in a pure way. They are to reflect purity as well as simple apartness. Purity is not excluded from the idea of the holy; it is contained within it. But the point we must remember is that the idea of the holy is never exhausted by the idea of purity. It includes purity but is much more than that.

When something is holy it is being separated from other somethings and from its common use so that it can be used in a special and pure way. This working definition of holy fits well for the temple implements and even the Sabbath day but I am struggling with tying that back to understanding the Holiness of God. Perhaps I need to keep in mind that nothing is Holy in and of itself except God.

When the Bible calls God holy, it means primarily that God is transcendentally separate. He is so far above and beyond us that He seems almost totally foreign to us.

Check in here for other thoughts.

RCT: Holiness of God (II)

Chapter 2 of Sproul's Holiness of God dives into Isaiah 6 and with powerful writing invites the reader to experience the prophet's initial encounter with God. He moves through the familiar passage describing the terror of being before a Holy, Holy, Holy God as a sinner and moving to the conclusion where we find a man who has been cleansed and is ready and willing to go forth and serve His God.

As I read through this chapter I was struck by the two concepts that have been introduced in the book which are incomprehensible - the first was nothing. In chapter 1 Sproul explains that we cannot comprehend what nothing is - what it was like before the universe, time, space, energy, and matter all came into existence - because as created beings we exist in something. The second is holiness. Specifically the holiness of God. How can we? We cannot fathom what holiness is because we are not!

The Israelites trembled when they experienced God at Mt. Sinai and stood at a distance. They could not stand to be in the very presence of God. Like Isaiah they knew they were ruined, unclean and that they deserved to die. In this experience Moses tells us that we are not to be afraid but to have an awe of God's Holiness (Ex 20:18-20). Moses however was willing to go back up the mountain on behalf of the people and talk with God and be in His presence. But as amazing as this must have been...

[Moses] craved the ultimate spiritual experience. He inquired of the Lord on the mountain, "Let me see your face. Show me your glory." The request was denied

Denied because no one can behold the face of God and live. But we will not always be denied this request - when Jesus comes again we will actually see God as He is. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face (1 Cor 13:12). Revelation describes that encounter this way (Rev 22:3-4): 

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Can we imagine what that will be like when there is nothing around us that is cursed and His name - which is Holy - will be written upon us? Nothing can be in the face to face presence of God unless it is holy. And we can only be holy when we have been cleansed like Isaiah (but more so). Jesus has made us holy and blameless so that we can look forward to that day with hope and anticipation rather than dread it (Heb 9:28).

My kids are so excited about going to Disney World that they are counting down the days and ask about going every day. I thought of that as I read this passage and reflected on the things I eagerly wait for. I can only pray that God will help me hallow His name and fill me with eager anticipation of seeing Him face to face.

RCT: Holiness of God (chapter 1)

Tim Challies has a program he calls Reading the Classics Together (RCT). Here is how it works - every week read a chapter and post a comment on the blog on Thursday and join the discussion. This go round the classic is the Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. This will be my initial foray into joining the program. I will be reading along with the Kindle edition.

Here is how Tim Challies described the book:

I am convinced that this is destined to be a classic in its own right—one that will be read 50 and 100 years from now. James Montgomery Boice agreed saying, “It may be a bit early to call R.C. Sproul’s The Holiness of God one of the classic theological works of our time. But if it does not have that status yet, it is well on the way to achieving it.”

Since I am a week behind I will be posting today on chapter 1, and tomorrow (hopefully) on chapter 2.

Sproul lays out his case that the key to a proper understanding of God is the concept of "Holiness". This is foundational (says Sproul) to understanding the God who creates out of nothing, issues decrees we find shocking, and allows a world filled with evil to continue.

The one concept, the central idea I kept meeting in Scripture, was the idea that God is holy. The word was foreign to me. I wasn't sure what it meant. I made the question a matter of diligent and persistent search.  ... It is basic to our whole understanding of God and of Christianity.

An interesting insight from this chapter was made regarding the Lord's Prayer. In Matthew 6:9 (KJV) it reads "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name". Sproul points out that we often take "hallowed be thy name" as a statement of fact. As in Holy is your name. This is true (Luke 1:49) but it is not how the verb "hallow" should be read. It is in the imperative mood (a command) and passive voice therefore God's name is acted upon and is to be set apart and honored.

But that is not how Jesus said it. He uttered it as a petition, as the first petition. We should be praying that God's name be hallowed, that God be regarded as holy.

The NIV, NASB, and ESV all translate the verse similar to the KJV, but the NET Bible translation actually makes this more clear with the following:

Our Father in heaven, may your name be honored

Do I set apart God' name and honor it? Do I pray that I and others will do this? What does that even mean? Thought provoking questions that leave me convicted that I do not pray for, meditate on or grapple with God's Holiness nearly enough.