Holiness, (קֹדֶשׁ, ἁγιοσύνη), prop. the state of sanctity, but often used of external or ceremonial relations (the more prop. ὁσιότης).
I. Intrinsic Idea. — “Holiness suggests the idea, not of perfect virtue, but of that peculiar affection wherewith a being of perfect virtue regards moral evil; and so much, indeed, is this the precise and characteristic import of the term, that, had there been no evil either actual or conceivable in the universe, there would have been no holiness. There would have been perfect truth and perfect righteousness, yet not holiness; for this is a word which denotes neither any one of the virtues in particular, nor the assemblage of them all put together, but the recoil or the repulsion of these towards the opposite vices-a recoil that never would have been felt if vice had been so far a nonentity as to be neither an object of real existence nor an object of thought” (Chalmers, Nat. Theol. 2, 380). — Krauth, Fleming’s Vocab. of Philos. p. 217.
II. Applications of the Term. —
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Author: McClintock and Strong Cyclopedia
Keywords: Holiness
Bible reference(s): 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 3:17, 1 Corinthians 5:13, 1 Corinthians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 9:26, 1 John 1:9, 1 John 2:20, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 4:4, 1 John 5:18, 1 Peter 1:15, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, 1 Timothy 4:5, 2 Corinthians 7:1, 2 Peter 1:21, 2 Samuel 11:4, Acts 3:14, Colossians 1:11, Colossians 3:12, Deuteronomy 32:4, Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 2:19, Ephesians 4:23, Ephesians 5:26, Exodus 15:11, Galatians 2:20, Genesis 1:31, Hebrews 1:3, Hebrews 10:10, Hebrews 11:10, Hebrews 2:11, Hebrews 7:26, Hebrews 9:14, Isaiah 4:3, Isaiah 6:3, James 1:13, Jeremiah 44:4, John 1:29, John 14:20, John 17:11, John 3:5, John 7:38, Jude 1:14, Leviticus 11:43, Leviticus 19:2, Leviticus 20:7, Luke 1:49, Luke 18:19, Malachi 3:6, Matthew 20:34, Matthew 23:17, Matthew 5:48, Philippians 1:9, Proverbs 16:4, Psalms 1:5, Psalms 15:1, Psalms 18:31, Psalms 27:4, Psalms 5:7, Revelation 13:10, Revelation 15:4, Revelation 16:5, Revelation 20:6, Revelation 4:8, Romans 11:34, Romans 12:13, Romans 5:5, Romans 6:19, Romans 7:12, Romans 8:27, Titus 1:8, Titus 2:10, Titus 3:5
Source: John McClintock and James Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature.
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