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Post by Admin on Jul 17, 2023 17:35:54 GMT -5
John Brown Of Haddington
V. The holiness of God is that essential perfection of his nature, which lies in perfect freedom from, and hatred of all sin, and in perfect love to every thing holy and pure.—That God is infinitely holy appears,
1. From express declarations of Scripture, Josh 24:19; 1 Sam 2:2, Exod 15:11; Ps 89:35; Ps 11:7; Ps 99:9; Prov 30:3; Hab 1:12-13; Isa 6:3; Rev 4:8; John 17:11; Dan 9:24; Ps 16:10; Acts 3:14; Rom 1:4; Luke 1:35.
Nay, holiness is represented as his beauty, Exod 15:11; Ps 27:4; his grandeur, Ps 89:35. Amos 4:2; and more than forty times he is called the Holy One of Israel or Jacob, Hab 3:3; Hab 1:12; Isa 1:4,10,20; Isa 43:14; Isa 29:23, etc.
2. Every thing relating to God is called holy, on account of its connection with and conformity to him;
—as the manhood of his Son, Luke 1:35; Acts 4:27,30
—his name, Ps 111:9; Lev 20:3;
—his arm or power, Ps 98:1;
—the place where he manifests himself;
—heaven or the temple, Ps 20:6; Isa 57:15; Jon 2:4; Ps 99:9; Exod 3:4; Rev 21:10;
—his Sabbaths, Exod 16:23; Isa 58:13;
—his covenant and promise, Dan 11:28,30; Luke 1:72; Ps 105:42;
—his word, law, and gospel, Rom 1:2; Rom 7:12; 2 Tim 3:15;
—his work, Ps 145:17;—his angels, Rev 14:10; Matt 25:31;
—his prophets, 2 Pet 1:21; 2 Pet 3:2; Luke 1:70; Rev 18:20; Rev 22:6;
—his ministers, 1 Thess 2:10; Rev 18:20;
—his people, Exod 19:6; Col 1:22; Col 3:12; Heb 3:1; 1 Thess 5:27; 1 Pet 2:9.
3. His holiness is manifested in his works of creation, providence, and redemption, Ps 145:7.
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Post by Admin on Jul 17, 2023 17:42:43 GMT -5
In creation it appears, in forming every creature, which was capable of holiness, perfect in it, Gen 1:20,27; Rev 14:10 with Jude 6.
—In providence, it appears,
1. In giving to all his rational creatures a moral law, requiring the most perfect and uninterrupted holiness of heart and life,
—and enforced with the most powerful sanction of rewards and punishments, Rom 7:12; Matt 22:37,39; Rom 12-13; Col 3-4; Eph 4-6; 1 Thess 4-5; 1 Pet 1-5; Exod 20:3-17.
2. In prescribing the most proper means of promoting holiness, Gen 2:17; Titus 2:11- 12; Matt 28:19; 2 Cor 11:23-29. Even all the sacrifices, purifications,
and punishments, prescribed by the Jewish laws, marked the holiness of God, Lev 1-23; Num 5-6; Num 15; Num 19; Num 28-29; Lev 10:1-3.
3. And so permitting sin as not to have any active hand in, or give any encouragement to it, Hab 1:12-13; Ps 4:5-6; Jer 44:4; Prov 16:16-19.
4. In fixing standing marks of his detestation of sin upon the first introducers of it, or any particular form of it; as on devils, women, Cain, the old world, the builders of Babel, Sodomites, oppressors of the church, profaners of God's worship, presumptuous rebels against his established government, despisers of his promised favours, etc. Jude 6; 2 Pet 2:4-5; Gen 3-4; Gen 7; Gen 11; Gen 19; Exod 1-14; Lev 10; Num 14; Num 16; Isa 5:16.
5. In publicly manifesting his detestation of men on account of their most secret sins, Ps 50:21; Ps 10:8,11,14; Ezek 14:3-8; Ezek 8:7-18; 2 Sam 12:11-12; Jer 16:17-18.
6. In marking all the wicked with the most shameful distance and disgrace in the last judgment, 1 Thess 4:16-17; Matt 25:33; Ps 1:5; Ps 138:6.
7. In his everlasting exclusion of unholy angels and men from his presence, and marking them with the most tremendous tokens of his detestation, Matt 25:41,46; Ps 9:17; Rev
20:10,15; Rev 14:10-11; 2 Thess 1:8-9. Even these providential acts, which we are apt to imagine impure, are perfectly holy. He tempts men, merely by trying their obedience, or in permitting them to be enticed to sin, by Satan, evil men, or their own sinful lusts, 2 Sam 25:1; Matt 6:12; James 1:13-14. He bids men curse, merely by giving
them an opportunity of doing it, 2 Sam 16:12. He hardens men in sin, when he justly withholds his heart-softening grace, and permits Satan, their neighbours, or their own lusts, to render them more stupid, perverse, and obstinate, Exod 4-14; Isa 63:17; Isa 6:9-10. He delivers men up to vile affections, a reprobate mind, or strong delusions, or to their own lusts, when he justly withholds his restraining or sanctifying influences, and permits their sinful corruptions to decoy or drag them into wickedness, error, and folly, Rom 1:24-28; 2 Thess 2:9-11; Isa 66:4; Ps 81:12. His deceiving of men imports his abandoning them to the temptations of Satan and their own deceitful heart, Jer 4:10; Ezek 14:9; 1 Kings 22:19-22.—
Thus, in all these, he wisely, holily, and justly renders sin its own punishment.—In redemption, the holiness of God appears,
1. In his choosing men, that they might be holy, Eph 1:4; 2 Thess 2:13; 1 Pet 1:2; 1 Pet 2:9.
2. In exhibiting his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, even under the curse, which is the strength of sin, and amidst infinite temptations, as an incomparably perfect and glorious pattern of holiness in heart and life, Luke 1:35; Matt 3:15; John 8:29; John 17:4; John 18:11; Heb 5:8; Heb 7:26.
3. In punishing, even without mercy upon his own Son, sin imputed, withdrawing his comfortable smiles from him, and shutting out his prayers as if he had been a real
sinner, Matt 26-27; Ps 22; Ps 69; Ps 89:38; Isa 53; Rom 8:3,32; Heb 2:10.
4. In giving Christ to purchase holiness for men, and making him to them, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, Titus 2:14; 1 Pet 1:18-19; 1 Cor 1:30.
5. In so forming the gospel in all its declarations, promises, and invitations, as may best convey, and encourage us to holiness in heart and life, 1 Tim 6:3; 1 Tim 3:16; 2
Pet 1:4; Titus 2:11-12; 2 Cor 7:1; John 15:3; John 17:17; Luke 1:74-75; Ps 119:9,11,26.
6. In so framing the whole scheme of our redemption, that holiness of our heart and life is the end of every thing in it, Eph 1:3-4; Heb 13:12; Heb 9:14; 1 Cor 6:11; Titus 2:14; Titus 3:8,14; Ezek 36:25-27; Luke 1:74-75; 1 Thess 4:3,7; 1 Thess 5:23; Rom 6:14; Rom 7:4-6; Eph 4:11-13; Isa 27:9; Heb 12:10-11; 2 Cor 3:18; 1 John 3:2.
7.In effectually rendering men holy by the manifestations of his own holiness in the gospel, 2 Cor 3:18; 2 Cor 4:4,6.
8. In the sharp correction of his peculiar favourites for their unholiness, and even for sins which appear far less criminal than some others, Amos 3:2; Rev 3:19; Heb 12:6-11; Ps 99:8; Ps 119:67,71; Ps 89:31-34; Ps 73; Ps 77; Ps 88; 1 Sam 2-3; Num 12; Num 20:12; Deut 32:51.
9. In making perfect holiness a principal ingredient of our eternal happiness, Eph 5:25-27; 1 John 3:3; Jude 25.
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