The Holiness of God, Chapter 3

Two things stand out from reading chapter 3 of R.C. Sproul's The Holiness of God this week. The first was the helpful reminder that the holiness of God is not simply one among many of His attributes...it is the defining characteristic of who He is. Sproul writes, "The tendency is to add the idea of holy to this long list of attributes as one attribute among many. But when the word 'holy' is applied to God, it does not signify one attribute among many. On the contrary, God is called holy in a general sense. The word is used as a synonym for His deity. That is, the word holy calls attention to all that God is" (pp. 39-40).

Some theologians divide God's attributes into two categories - communicable and incommunicable. Those that are incommunicable belong only to God (e.g. - God is eternal, God is unchangeable, etc.). The ones that are communicable are those that He can choose to share with creatures. So, human beings can be described as faithful, gracious, or just (just to name a few).

While we might exhibit some form of these attributes, we never display them in the same way as God. God's justice is holy justice, where humans may accept a bribe or pervert justice for other reasons. God's faithfulness is holy faithfulness, while we our faithfulness is often fickle and based on our feelings at any given moment. What separates God from human beings in these communicable attributes is that He is holy...He is altogether separate, He is far above and beyond us in grace, faithfulness, wisdom, justice, etc. As Sproul would say, He is "a cut above."

The second thing that stuck is closely related to this first one. One can easily feel puffed up in displaying God's attributes through his life. I might feel like a better human being when I am just. I may feel myself 'a cut above' when I display wisdom in one situation or another. Yet, it is crucial to maintain a firm grip on the holiness of God if I am to avoid slipping into pride. How quickly I would forget that He is God, and I am not...how quick I am to believe the lie that when I am ___________, I "will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5b). Even in seeking to be an imitator of God (Eph. 5:1), I must beware of the slippery slope of pride and self-idolatry and remember that any holiness...and separateness...displayed in my life is a result of the gracious work of a holy God. Only "His touch on the common makes the common suddenly uncommon" (p. 40).

Sproul reminds me that "when we are aware of the presence of God, we become most aware of ourselves as creatures" (p. 44). His holiness should strike a chord of sobriety in my soul. Even when God is described as greatly immanent, we can never forget that He is greatly transcendent. Even when we sense His closeness, we cannot forget just how far we are from His holy perfection. Of course, we must be holy because He is holy, but we must always remember that the only reason we can be holy is because He is holy. The holy One has touched the unholy ones and made us holy....we have a derived holines...He is inherently holy!

The Importance of Intellect

[This entry follows a sermon preached at Gray Road Baptist Church, titled "The Insufficiency of Intellect". Click on the title to listen to the audio.]

In Mark 12:28-34, we see a scribe coming to Jesus to have his question answered. Discussions about weightier and lighter matters of the law was familiar among teachers of the law. My guess is that if you were a fly on the wall of a first-century coffee shop, you would hear some of these ongoing discussions, sorting through the 613 individual commands and their importance. Jesus' skill in answering difficult questions prompted the scribe's inquiry: Which commandment is the most important of all?

When we get to the end of the story, we find that the scribe's intellectual curiosity was satisfied but his soul was still in need. Jesus said he was "not far from the kingdom of God" (v. 34b), which means he was not in it. Intellectual division and systematization of God's Word, dissecting it to discover the meaning of every jot and tittle, and settling the big questions of theology are insufficient to gain entrance into the kingdom of God. It is only through heeding Jesus' words, 'repent and believe in the gospel' (Mark 1:15), that one will find himself in the kingdom of God rather than near it.

Now, while I believe this is the thrust of the passage, we must take a few minutes to make sure we do not think improperly about the place of intellect. It is true that intellect is insufficient as a means of salvation...mere mental assent to the facts of the gospel does not change a man's heart. It is also true that intellect is insufficient as a means of sanctification...godliness is not measured by the amount of theological material ingested. If that were the case, Ph.D.'s in theology would automatically be the godliest men of all.

With that said, we cannot discount intellect...we cannot dismiss the role of the mind in the life of the Christian. The Scripture does not dismiss it, and we see that in Mark 12, as we are to love God "with all [our] mind" (v. 30). While there are many passages that would help us think about this truth, I want to guide us to two.

First, let's look at Romans 12. Verse 2 reads, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." This is the beginning of a large section the practical application of the gospel to daily living (12:3-15:7). Where does daily living for God begin? What is it that will help us to test and live by the will of God? The life of the Christian cannot be properly lived with the constant transformation and renewal of the mind...a process that happens by constant exposure and submission to the Word of God.

If we do not intellectually engage with the text of Scripture, then we will not ultimately find its meaning. We may have feelings about what a passage says, but we will not understand it as God intends. If we fail to understand the Scripture, then our minds will not be renewed, and we will find ourselves more conformed to the world than transformed by the Word. So, we study the Scripture...we work hard to get to the meaning of the text...we pray for the Spirit to teach us and change our minds. The Christian life is not to be governed by our intuition or our ever-changing feelings. Rather, it is to be ruled by God and His Word applied by the Spirit. For this to happen, we cannot 'check our brains' at the door of Bible study.

Paul goes on from this verse to talk about the kind of life produced by a renewed, transformed mind...a mind intellectually engaged with and spiritually changed by the Word of God. This one will be humble and energetically use his gifts to serve others in the body (12:3-8). His relationships with both friends and enemies of the gospel will be changed (12:9-21). His life within society will be distinct and godly (13:1-7). Godliness and obedience to the law will mark his life (13:8-14). Rather than flaunting his spirituality with those who differ from him, he will tolerate differences in secondary matters (14:1-23). Overall, his life will not be self-oriented, but he will aim to please and serve others (15:1-7).

Where does all that start? It starts in the mind...a mind renewed and transformed by the gospel, first of all. However, it is also a mind renewed and transformed daily by the Word of God. The only way God's Word is properly taken in is through some kind of intellectual engagement. All of us are not intellectuals, but each of us must use his/her intellect to passionately pursue understanding of God's Word so that we might seek to apply that knowledge to our lives in the power of the Spirit.

The second passage to which I will point will probably be familiar to you, as well. It is Philippians 4:6-9. Often, we break this passage into two parts, but Paul didn't write it that way. One part flows from the other as the author seeks to instruct the Philippians. The first portion is one that we often quote to ourselves (or others) in the midst of difficult situations: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" (v. 6-7). Here, we rightfully find instruction to take all our cares to God, knowing He cares for us and will provide us with peace in the midst of our storms.

The second part of this passage deals with the focus of the mind. Our minds should be on things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, etc. The end result of doing this, Paul says, is that "the peace of God will be with you" (v. 9). While this is a good instruction on its own, I think it's best to see this as a continuation of the first part of the passage. Why? Because "the peace of God" connects both sections. If we seek God in prayer when feeling anxious, we will find the peace of God with us guarding our hearts and minds. If we will focus our minds where God says to, the peace of God will be with us.

Here, we see that the role of the mind is crucial. It is our mind that thinks on the problems that we may face (and sometimes problems we will never face). It is our mind that speculates how things could go terribly wrong, though nothing may have yet gone wrong. It is our mind that often produces hypothetical situations that lead to disaster. It is our mind that takes us to the worst possible scenario. It is this kind of thinking that leads us to anxiety, and Scripture tells us to take that anxiety to God in prayer.

If we stop there, we will quickly be anxious again. As you and I well know, our minds do not stay empty for very long. To paraphrase something R.C. Sproul wrote, when you try to think about 'nothing' you inevitably end up thinking about something. So, how do we avoid that anxiety? How do we keep from stumbling back into unbelief and worry? This is where the intellect comes in yet again.

Paul points us to those things on which our minds should focus. Rather than let our minds go where it wants, we should be training our minds to focus on those things that are true, just, lovely, commendable, etc. If we have not intellectually engaged in studying the Scripture, then "what is true" may change from one day to the next, rather than resting on the revelation of God. If our minds have not been immersed in the Bible, then "what is lovely" will be more determined by our fleeting emotion rather than God's assessment. The battle over anxiety is a battle for the mind, and if we are to win this battle for the mind, we must train our mind through disciplined study of the Scripture...and that takes intellect.

More passages could be examined, but time prohibits. To reiterate the point, intellect alone is insufficient for salvation and sanctification, but intellect is not unimportant. If we are to properly obey God's Word, then we must properly understand God's Word. If we are to properly understand God's Word, then we must use the intellect God has given us to pursue that truth, depending on the Spirit for illumination all along the way.

The Holiness of God, Chapter 2

I read chapter 2 from R.C. Sproul's The Holiness of God this week, and it was pretty amazing. It focused on Isaiah's vision and calling in Isaiah 6, and though I have been gripped in the past by reading the text and hearing sermons on it, I was gripped once again as I read this chapter. To begin on a light note, it was good to see that I have something in common with R.C. Sproul. I, too, make sure that I capitalize references to God in my own writing, and I do it out of respect for His name and character. When I quote a passage of Scripture, I typically leave the pronoun the way it appears in the text, but when the idea is mine, I capitalize...always have.

There are three things that really hit me as I read...the effect of God's holiness on the angels, the effect of God's holiness on the temple, and the effect of God's holiness on His servant. (Why would you expect anything other than 3 points from a pastor?)

First, Sproul pointed out the actions of the angels in the presence of a holy God. They covered their face, and they covered their feet...much like Moses was not able to look at the face of God and had to remove his shoes in the presence of God. What is striking to me (and what Sproul points out) is that these angels are not fallen in sin! They live in the presence of God as His holy angels. Yet, their holiness does not originate with themselves...they were created this way by a holy God. God alone is independently holy, and the angels' holiness is dependent on their Creator making them that way. The covering of their faces and feet point to a clear, unmistakable distinction between God and His angels.

Second, I love these sentences about the shaking of the temple in the presence of God. "We note here, when God entered the temple, the doors and the thresholds were moved. The inert matter of doorposts, the inanimate thresholds, the wood and metal that could neither hear nor speak had the good sense to be moved in the presence of God" (v. 26). Truly, as the temple shook, it was declaring the glory of God along with the heavens (Ps. 19:1).

Third, Isaiah shook. I have taken note of this repeatedly in the past, but what Sproul pointed out was something I think I have overlooked in previous examinations of the text. Isaiah was considered a righteous man. Here's what he writes: "If ever there was a man of integrity, it was Isaiah ben Amoz. He was a whole man, a together type of fellow. He was considered by his contemporaries as the most righteous man in the nation. He was respected as a paragon of virtue. Then he caught one sudden glimpse of a holy God. In that single moment, all of his self-esteem was shattered. In a brief second he was exposed, made naked beneath the gaze of the absolute standard of holiness. As long as Isaiah could compare himself with other mortals, he was able to sustain a lofty opinion of his own character. The instant he measured himself by the ultimate standard, he was destroyed - morally and spiritually annihilated. He was undone. He came apart. His sense of integrity collapsed" (p. 29).

It is in these types of things that stir the reminder in my soul of just how holy our God is. It is thinking on these things that hallows the name of God in my heart. I join the angels, the temple, and Isaiah in shaken awe of our holy God, and as I continue in the book, I look forward to more time meditating on this great perfection of Yahweh, my Adonai.