Category: Theology 101
Communicable Attributes
A. Holiness.
And day and night they do not cease to say,
"Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD God, the Almighty,
who was and who is and who is to come."
To be holy means to be separate or other than. When we ascribe holiness to God we acknowledge that He is different than anything or anyone else. God is not creaturely, and the creature is not divine. There is some analogical similarity between God and the creature, yet the disparity is prodigious. God is not merely unordinary, He is a different order of being than the creature. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. We are created; He exists eternally. We change constantly; He is immutable. We are complex; He is simple. The finite human mind cannot comprehend the essence of Deity because our only experience is in the realm of the creature. God transcends creation. He is other than we are.
Secondarily, holiness conveys the idea of ethical purity. In God there is no darkness at all. He is altogether pure, and free from any spot or blemish. His character is flawless.