What Does Holy Mean?

When I was a child, I often confused holiness with goodness. God is holy. God is good. Same same, right? Our inability to understand holiness is a pretty normal experience. It should be kind of confusing. But what does holy mean?

In writing This is Holy Ground, I found myself side-tracked by 600 words on the Hebrew word for holy. Have I mentioned that I’m into language stuff before? Anyway, I decided it was easier to give it a separate post, and here we are. #sorrynotsorry.

What is the Hebrew Word for Holy?

When we examine holiness, we have to examine it from the source. What is the Hebrew word for holy? Well, it’s קדוש – pronounced kadósh. It implies differentiation. I’ve seen it defined as “set apart” in English, and I think that translation holds up very well.

But, another good way to interpret this word is to think of it as God’s otherness.

He is a purely spiritual being that reigns over and beyond all creation; he is not bound by time, space, or matter, as we are. His holiness is the part of Him that we simply cannot understand. Why can’t we grasp this concept?

Well, even though we are made in His image, holiness is one of the facets of God’s nature which we do not share. We only attain holiness through our relationship with Jesus. This is imputed holiness. If you want to read more about this, I recommend this article.

Holy, Holy, Holy

This thrice repetition appears only in two places in the Bible. Both times, it is sung by the angels during a vision of God in his eternal majesty. The words are memorable in music, but what does it mean for them to say, “Holy, Holy, Holy”?

First, I need to point out an essential difference. In English, we typically think of repetition as being cumulative. If someone said, “that house was big, big, big,” we might imagine a mansion.

But, in Biblical Hebrew, repetition is used differently. The original audience understood these statements to be dramatic shifts in scale. Not times ten. But, times a zillion.

Let’s examine a single iteration of the word. The Israelites could set something apart in accordance with the law to make and keep it “holy”. The sabbath. Themselves as a people. Heck, there’s even a location in Joshua 20 which they set apart, and called Kedesh.

But there was only one thing in the Bible that got a double holy: the inner sanctum of the temple. Modern translations call it the holy of holies, which is the literal translation. But, I think the KJV came closer to capturing its essence–it was the most holy thing in all creation.

It was where God promised and deigned to meet with His people. Think of this the next time you hear something repetitive in the Bible, like “king of kings” or “lord of lords”. It is not simply a rank above. This is the superlative version.

And, now we come to the thrice holy. I don’t have the words to express what that really means. I am not sure they exist. The angels themselves covered their eyes while singing about it.

But, think about the way you observe a regular sabbath. Now, consider what you think it would feel like to pass through the veil in the Temple to enter that inner sanctum.

I suspect that the chasm between those experiences is less than the one that exists between the inner sanctum and the direct, undimmed presence of God. No wonder Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me!”

Prayer for Today

My prayer for today is simply that I would be given the wisdom to understand more of God’s holiness. It is a difficult aspect of His being for me to grasp. But, I want it all the more for the challenge it presents.

Scripture on What It Means to Be Holy

^“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”  Ephesians 1:3-4 (ESV)

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21 (ESV)