Thinking Theologically: The Goodness & Holiness of God
Recently, I have been meditating on the attributes of God. Having read Dr. Wayne Grudem’s excellent treatment of the subject in his Systematic Theology, I am drawn especially to what are called the “communicable moral attributes of God.” These include God’s goodness, love, mercy, grace, patience, holiness, peace, righteousness, jealousy and wrath. I recommend that you read his entire 12th chapter for a solid doctrinal foundation for what I want to share in this brief post.
My meditation has focused on the relationship between the goodness of God and the holiness of God. It seems to me that we tend to see God’s attributes in isolation from one another when in reality all of God’s attributes work together in His being in perfect harmony. It is that harmony that I have been looking for.
To put it simply, I think God’s goodness is the harmonizing attribute that gives focus and meaning to all of His other attributes. What I mean by that is the goodness of God is His standard for all that He is, says and does. His other attributes seem to be a means toward that end.
For example, Grudem makes the observation that God’s love, mercy, patience and grace are all expressions of His goodness. But so is His peace, righteousness, jealousy and wrath! It is God’s goodness that is expressed by all of these attributes. Even God’s wrath is an expression of His goodness. To the degree that one loves one’s baby in the crib, he must also hate the rattlesnake that is poised to strike the baby. To say that you love the one without feeling rage toward the other is contradictory. God’s love and justice require His jealosy and wrath toward sin.
But, and this is where I think I may be on to something, this still leaves God’s holiness to be accounted for. Grudem offers the good, sound definition of holiness; “God’s holiness means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own glory.” No disagreement on that. But could it be that God’s holiness also finds its meaning in reference to God’s own standard of ultimate, eternal goodness? Is the holiness of God better understood as His undistracted, undefiled, undiverted, unrelenting, laser-like focus to work all things together for the good of those who love Him and who are called of God to be conformed to the holy image of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ?
If this is so, it has huge implications for our own experience of holiness. We are commanded to be holy as God Himself is holy. He disciplines us as His dear children so that we may share in His holiness. So, what would such holiness show up as in practice? It would be our own Spirit empowered progressive transformation into being undistracted, undefiled, undiverted and unrelenting in our focus to do good works for the glory of God and the good of others. Somehow, this way of thinking makes the whole idea of being holy more meaningful to me.
I have always understood that holiness meant being set apart for an exclusive purpose. And I have understood moral defilement as the mixing up of motives. I cannot love God and money. I cannot be the friend of God and the friend of this world. But by this insight I think I see more clearly why this is so. To be holy is to remain focused on what God defines as good; to overcome evil with good—to go about doing good, not in order to be saved, but because by God’s grace through faith I am saved.
God is good. He never changes from being good. So, He is holy in all that He is, says and does by remaining unflinchingly good. And He has made a way through the Gospel for us to join Him in His grand endeavor of being, saying and doing good as well.