Holy

[Salluz]

I know God is described as "holy, holy, holy," but I'm wholly confused on what holy means (okay maybe only moderately confused, but I couldn't resist the joke).

What exactly does holy entail/mean in reference to God? The dictionary wasn't much help. God's other traits like "compassionate" and "slow to anger" are pretty easy to get, but with holy it is a little harder to pin down in my mind exactly what it means.

 

[Armor of Light]

God is holy but what exactly does the word holy mean? What does the Bible define as holy?

Root Word for Holy
The Hebrew word for holy is “qodesh” and means “apartness, set-apartness, separateness, sacredness” and I would add that it should also be “otherness, transcendent and totally other” because God is totally above His creation and His creatures, including us. Holy has the idea of heaviness or weight of glory. In the New Testament, the word for holy is “hagios” and means set apart, reverend, sacred, and worthy of veneration.” This word applies to God because God Himself is totally other, separate, sacred, transcendent, reverend, and set apart from every created thing. Since God is spirit this is why the Third Person of the Trinity is called the Holy Spirit. He too is fully God and all three Persons of the Trinity are holy and have the weight of glory abounding in them.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/chris...-the-word-holy-mean-bible-definition-of-holy/

 

[Forgiven1]

The word pure comes to mind. Spotless, without sin.

 

[mattfivefour]

God is holy but what exactly does the word holy mean? What does the Bible define as holy?

Root Word for Holy
The Hebrew word for holy is “qodesh” and means “apartness, set-apartness, separateness, sacredness” and I would add that it should also be “otherness, transcendent and totally other” because God is totally above His creation and His creatures, including us. Holy has the idea of heaviness or weight of glory. In the New Testament, the word for holy is “hagios” and means set apart, reverend, sacred, and worthy of veneration.” This word applies to God because God Himself is totally other, separate, sacred, transcendent, reverend, and set apart from every created thing. Since God is spirit this is why the Third Person of the Trinity is called the Holy Spirit. He too is fully God and all three Persons of the Trinity are holy and have the weight of glory abounding in them.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/chris...-the-word-holy-mean-bible-definition-of-holy/

This is definitely solid. But W.E. Vine (Vines Complete Expository Dictionary), says that this idea of separateness "is a derived meaning, and not the primary." He goes on to explain that Qodesh relates to "holiness" with the meaning of 'devoted' or 'dedicated' to a particular purpose.

Examining both of these interpretations carefully in the light of Scripture, we can see that the two meanings are inextricably intertwined: Applied to us "holy" means to be consecrated to God, purified in order to approach Him for a purpose or reflect Him to others; applied to God it means He is sacred— entitled by His very being to reverence, veneration and worship due to the fact that He alone is separate from everything else that exists because He alone is innately, absolutely pure.

I hope this helps a little, adding to the good comments by the others in this thread.

 

[Kem]

He goes on to explain that Qodesh relates to "holiness" with the meaning of 'devoted' or 'dedicated' to a particular purpose.

And this helps me understand that when God tells us to be holy as He is holy. Not that God insists we be perfect and completely sinless, though that should still be our aim even though we can't achieve the highest levels of this in these bodies, but that we be devoted to a particular purpose, loving and obeying Him.