God’s holy love
“If we spoke less about God’s love and more about his holiness, more about his judgment, we should say much more when we did speak of his love.” – P.T. Forsyth, Cruciality of the Cross
Have we jettisoned God’s holiness in the pursuit of his love? If so, have we cheapened his love by the way we’ve pursued it? I read the above quote while reading John Stott’s The Cross of Christ. I have often felt like on one hand, I do not grasp the holiness of God, and on the other hand, I do not experience the full depth of his love.
It’s interesting how on campus these days, people are ready to ascribe that “God is love” but resist the assertion that “God is holy”. Maybe they would not deny his holiness but they certainly do not accept the consequences of that tenet. If God is holy, completely holy, then he can not be in the presence of evil. In fact, if he is a holy judge then he can not simply forgive sins, he must punish them. He must mete out justice. Everything that is in opposition to his holy nature must be expelled from his presence. This is the very nature of hell as I understand it. And without a proper understanding of the holiness of God how can we come to grips with it? And so, the university community seems to want to accept a god that is love, but not one who would exclude anyone or anything.
How then do we offer the campus the God who is love? Do we focus on that and leave his holiness and justice for a later time? Are we not selling a false bill of goods if we offer the god who is love but not the one who is holy? According to Forsyth we should reclaim the truth of God’s holiness, make it our aim to shine the light of truth on God’s holy justice. Only then will be able to talk of God’s love with accuracy (and power). Then we shall have much more to say about his love.
