Book Review: The Holiness of God

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When Dr Sproul was a newly converted Christian student, he had a life-

changing experience. In the middle of the night he woke up and was driven

outside from his bedroom to the chapel on the campus where he was studying the

Bible. Inside he first felt fear, icy terror, and had to control the impulse to run

away. The terror passed, and a wave of peace settled over him. He felt alone

with God, a holy God, an awesome God.

This sense of the holiness of God was to inform the rest of his life, as he studied

it, and wrote about it, and lectured on it.

The book in 11 chapters looks closely at different aspects of the holiness of

God, many from the Old Testament for that is where God was teaching His

people the mysteries of Who He was, so that we, too, in New Testament times

would more clearly understand what Jesus was teaching.

In chapter 3 for instance, the author tries to define what holy is, what it means.

God’s holiness is closely related to His goodness, His purity. The first meaning

of holy is actually: ‘separate’, to cut apart. It means God is so far above and

beyond us as to be foreign to us. He is so different as to be ‘other’, different in a

special way. Yet the same basic meaning is also applied to earthly things, for

many things in the Bible are called holy. The author lists no fewer than 20

things which in the Bible are called holy.

There is also quite a section about how we ‘feel’ about holiness. We are

ambivalent. It appeals to us and it frightens us. He gives the example of the

disciples on the sea during the storm. They were greatly frightened by the storm

and the prospect of drowning, yet when Jesus calmed the wind and the waves,

they were petrified instead of being comforted by this Being Who had so much

control.

There is also a whole chapter titled “The Insanity of Luther”. I have never heard

that allegation accorded to Luther, but he teased out the idea that Luther was

absolutely convinced of the justice (holiness) of God, but could not reconcile

this with His mercy and forgiveness. (Spoiler: the author does not reach a

conclusion as to Luther’s sanity.)

I enjoyed reading this book, but I failed to become really impressed by it. Was

this because I could not hear the author speak, as we could hear the impassioned

words during the lectures earlier in the year about “Who is God? Why it

Matters?” The holiness of God is more than impressive, but I did not gain that

from Sproul’s book.

Read it, and it will explain certain ‘hard sayings’, and give insight into certain

events in the Old Testament, which are hard to understand for our modern

western minds.

 

Helena Postmus, Kelmscott

This book review was organised by Pro Ecclesia Bookshop in conjunction with Women’s League. This book is available from Pro Ecclesia bookshop, Armadale;  Providence Christian books, Albany; (and Rockingham on request).   Book reviews may also be accessed on our website https://frca.org.au/womensleague/