By Pastor Dave Farmer

We begin this new section of our study of 1 John with a brief addendum on the subject of Holiness. God is Holy in that He is Transcendent and Sovereign above all.

Topic #12 Holiness Addentum - Part 2

GOD IS HOLY IN THAT HE IS TRANSCENDENT AND SOVEREIGN ABOVE ALL

1 John 1:5

And this keeps on being the message which we [apostles] have heard from Him [Christ] and we are announcing [it] again to you [to your advantage], that God [as to His nature] is light and in Him darkness does not exist, not one bit.

Review

The Scriptures present our God as a Holy God, and in our last article, we defined holiness as that perfection of the divine nature that "divides Him from others in the sense of being different or distinct from them." ¹ The three characteristics the Scripture uses to explain holiness is He is unique, unmatched, and incomparable. In this lesson, we are going to explore another attribute of the divine nature that makes our God so extraordinary. This is the subject of Transcendence. Let's start with a definition:

Transcendence is defined as God being separate from and independent of all creation and created beings. He is superior to all and above all. ²

This is how Paul states the doctrine:

1 Timothy 6:16

who [referring to Christ] alone possesses immortality [not subject to death] and dwells in unapproachable light [residing in heaven in the presence of the Father], whom no man has seen or can see [has no capacity or ability]. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

In our first study of the non-moral aspects of His Holy nature, we saw God compared to His creation. Now we are to understand that He dwells in a sphere "Above" His creation. Dr. Wuest quoting from Expositor's Greek New Testament regarding this verse, says:

“Dwelling” is oikeō (οἰκεω), “to be at home.” God is spoken of here as being at home in unapproachable light. Expositors says: “This is a grander conception than that in Psalm 104:12, ‘Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment.’ Here, if one may venture to express it, the Person of God is wholly concealed by His dwelling, which is light; and this dwelling is itself unapproachable. ³

Our Holy God in His essential nature is Light, and He is so breathtaking that no one can see Him and live. The manifestation of His true essence must be veiled. He is a Holy God, existing in a sphere that no man has ever approached, except one, the unique God-Man, our Lord Jesus Christ. In this lesson, we see another picture of the Holiness of God. He is a Transcendent God.

However, this statement that God "dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see" sounds contradictory to what we studied in the last article when Isaiah declared "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple." Is this a contradiction? No! The Word of God is not like any other book. It is God-breathed, fully inspired, every word of it, including every "jot and tittle." It is the verbally inspired Word of God, inerrant (free from error) and infallible (incapable of error). So, what is the answer? Is there a contradiction?

Some passages help solve the apparent problem between the two statements, "no one has seen God, and some have seen God." The answer is found in the Word of God and rests in our cognizance of the Doctrine of Transcendence. One passage of Scripture about this theme occurs around 3500 years ago on a Mountain called Mt.Sinai. In the book of Exodus, we have the story of Moses and the burning bush which demonstrates this magnificent doctrine.

INVESTIGATING THE DOCTRINE OF TRANSCENDENCE

Moses' life is interesting to study, for it is marked by unusual events that occur at the end of forty-year increments. His first 40 years were spent in Egypt. His birth and adoption by Pharaoh's family and his rise to power and greatness all took place in the first 40 years. This ended with his discovery that he was a son of Abraham, and at the end of this period, he commits a murder. He kills an Egyptian to protect a Jew who was being mercilessly beaten, and for this, he is expelled from Egypt. In the next 40 years, he finds himself wandering the hillsides of Mt. Sinai. He goes from being a leader of Egypt to being a leader of the sheep. However, it is the end of this second period of his life that interests us--The Burning Bush.

The Curiosity Of Moses

Moses, one day became overcome with curiosity, for there was a bush on fire, but it was not being consumed. He decides to take a trip up the mountain to see what to him was a wonder. This would be impossible unless the laws of nature were suspended and therefore, this was a miracle. As Moses approached the burning bush, unknown to him, he was approaching God. God spoke out of the bush and said, "Stop, don't come any further for the ground you are standing on is HOLY ground."

This is the first time in the Scriptures that the word "Holy" is used. Immediately, Moses learned that the One who spoke through the bush was Holy. The presence of a Holy God made that place Holy. His immediate reaction was to fall to the earth, and with his face to the ground, the Scripture says, "he dared not look at God." In addition to the first use of the word KADOSH--holy, Moses would use this word throughout the writing of the Pentateuch, another 199 times. God would become known as "The Holy One of Israel."

During the time he was with God on the mountain, receiving the Ten Commandments, he requested God. It is recorded in Exodus 33:18:

Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”

In other words, Moses was saying to God, "come out from behind the bush." God's reply:

Exodus 33:20

“...You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”

This is a striking statement and important to ponder. It tells us that no human person can see God, not because they are not spiritual enough, but because His glorious nature requires Him to take certain precautions. God's face, His essential essence, cannot be seen. It is not because He is invisible to us [1 Timothy 1:17], which He is, but because it would end our lives, "you cannot see me and LIVE." Moses is about to learn a second lesson. In order to approach God, God must wear a veil to protect him from His ineffable light.

Exodus 33:21-23

21) Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;

22) and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.

23) “Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back [better - residue, or the place where I have vacated], but My face shall not be seen.”

Moses would not be allowed to see God's face. He could not survive even a quick look. So God, being Holy, must provide a veil. He said to Moses, "...While my glory passes by (His essential nature, His very Person) that I will put you in a cleft of the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by ( I will provide a veil). Moses is just a man and at this point an ignorant man who needed to learn that His God is not his equal. Although he is given a deeper vision of God than most, he cannot see God's face and live.

Summary

I am sure you are all aware of the fact that sin separates us from God, but I want you to understand this about your God. Even if you had never sinned, not even once, even if you were as pure as pure can be, or as perfect as Adam at the moment of His Creation, you could not, I repeat, you could not stand in the presence of this Holy God and survive.

J.I. Packer writing about this said:

A revelatory initiative is needed, first, because God is transcendent. He is so far from man in His mode of being that man cannot see Him (Jn. 1:18; 1 Tim. 6:16; cf. Ex. 33:20), nor find Him out by searching (cf. Jb. 11:7; 23:3–9), nor read His thoughts by shrewd guesswork (Is. 55:8f.). ⁴

Lessons to be learned: There are five further points in the doctrine of transcendence that we want to express.

1. God's very own character separates us from Him. The expression commonly used to indicate His transcendent nature is "no one can see Him" [Exodus 33:11, 20; John 1:18; John 6:46; 1 Timothy 6:16, 1 John 4:12].

The one exception to this is the unique Person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was "in the bosom of the Father" [John 1:18]. "Bosom" is a figurative language term that reveals the intimacy that exists between the Father and the Son. This is because only God can reside in that sphere. Jesus is the only begotten [referring to His humanity] God [referring to His deity]. Jesus said it this way:

John 6:46

Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.

2. We may see God through the veils that He provides, in theophanies and anthropomorphisms [you can see my back], but His inner essence or nature is hidden from us.

3. God desires to reveal Himself to us, and so He uses different veils :

He came like a man in Genesis chs. 18, 21.

He came like the Angel of Jehovah, Genesis 22:11-18

He came like a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, Exodus 40:38.

He came like a burning bush, Exodus 3:4.

However, the greatest veil was given at the incarnation in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. God took on the veil of humanity.

John 1:14

And the Word became flesh [the veil of humanity] and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John 1:18

No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

Dr. Wuest sums up this passage up exceptionally well:

God, the Son in His incarnation, led the Father out from behind the curtain of His invisibility into full view. The Greek word here comes into the English language in the word “exegesis.” Exegesis is the method of Bible study in which we fully explain every detail of the text. Jesus Christ has in His incarnation, fully explained in finite terms so far as finite minds can grasp, all the details of the Person of God the Father. He said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” Thus Jesus Christ is the exegesis of God. ⁵

4. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the only visible member of the Godhead. The Father is heard, the Spirit is felt, but our Lord Jesus is the only One that is visible.

Colossians 1:15

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

5. We can never know God exhaustively. Someday we will enjoy a greater intimacy than we have now with our Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit, and our Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul said:

1 Corinthians 13:12

" For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face...".

IMPLICATIONS OF THE DOCTRINE OF TRANSCENDENCE

Dr. Erickson speaks about the ramifications of this doctrine:

Reverence is appropriate in our relationship with God. Some worship, rightly stressing the joy and the confidence that the believer in their relationship to a loving Heavenly Father. Some go beyond that point, to an excessive familiarity, treating Him as an equal. We are not equals. He is the almighty Sovereign Lord and we are his servants and followers. This means that we will submit our wills to God. We will not try to make His will conform to hours. Our prayers will also be influenced accordingly rather than making demands in our prayers, but we will pray as Jesus did not my will but thy will be done. ⁶

Dr. Erickson reminds us that "Salvation consists of God's restoring us to what He intended us to be, not elevating us to what He is." ⁷ Our God is Holy. He is everywhere present, in us, all around us, but at the same time Transcendent -- above us, superior to us and sovereign over us. The proper response to this doctrine is that when we approach God in worship or prayer, we do so with humility, with the deepest of respect and gratefulness, cognizant that we are in the presence of Greatness, Majesty, our Sovereign God. Lift God up in your heart and mind, and don't reduce Him to our level. He is not our equal.

Ephesians 4:6

One unique God indeed the Father of all, who is over all [Transcendent] and through all and in all [immanent- all around us].

ENDNOTES

¹ Dr. Renald E. Showers, The Holiness of God, Israel My Glory, Issue Vol. 44, No 6, December/January 1986-1987.

² Christian theology, Millard J. Erickson, Baker Book House Grand Rapids Michigan 1985, p318.

³ Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English reader (1 Ti 6:13). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

⁴ Packer, J. I. (1996). Revelation. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible Dictionary (3rd ed., p. 1015). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.

⁵ op. cit. Wuest, John 1:18

⁶ op.cit. Ericksen, p.318

⁷ Ibid.