Holiness v. Moral Uprightness (PhD Edit)

Holiness v. Moral Uprightness (PhD Edit)

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Preface

Photo: The University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, official

2010 Theodicy and Practical Theology: PhD thesis, the University of Wales, Trinity Saint David, Lampeter

Edited and updated section from PhD with additional website content. Originally published on Blogger 20200512. Updated on Blogger and for an entry on academia.edu 20241129.

Holiness v. Moral Uprightness (PhD Edit) 

Roman Catholic theologian Alan Schreck (1984) notes that because of God’s holy nature, sin is opposed to God’s purity. Schreck (1984: 195-196). Nothing impure or sinful can enter God’s presence. Schreck (1984: 195-196). Donald G. Bloesch (1987) explains that the knowledge of God leading to theological dogmatics should be for the sake of ethical service for God. Bloesch (1987: 12). Dogmatic theology should not exist for the sake of itself. Christians should live in service to their neighbours. Bloesch (1987: 12). He mentions that followers are to be holy by being separated by God from the world system, in a nearness to God. Bloesch (1987: 211). Bloesch deduces this is not the same as ‘moral uprightness’ Bloesch (1987: 211), but consists of followers living in Christ. Bloesch (1987: 211). He notes that in every human system of ethics there is demonstrated a human flaw that prohibits people from fulfilling a moral requirement. Bloesch (1987: 34). Bloesch is discussing ethical systems and not a defence or theodicy, but still the concepts of human nature and actions relate. Bloesch (1987: 34). In contrast, in the context of atonement and justice Bloesch (1987: 97), in God’s holiness, God forgives and forbears and demonstrates his love. Bloesch (1987: 97).  

Concerning the idea of God being holy, Stanley J. Grenz, David Guretzki and Cherith Fee Nordling (1999) write the term holy is a Biblical idea, generally meaning to be set apart. Grenz, Guretzki, and Nordling (1999: 60). It is described of God who is set apart from his creation, pure from any of the evil within it. Grenz, Guretzki, and Nordling (1999: 60). Mennonite Old Testament scholar Elmer A. Martens (1990) suggests holiness is concerned with the idea of separation, not separation from something, but separation to something. Martens (1990: 94). Biblically this type of holiness has to do with separation of a person to God. Martens (1990: 94).

Augustine writes that God is holy and the sovereign divine governor of the universe who is completely just in punishing evildoers, and God is not the cause of their wrong actions. Augustine (388-395)(1964: 3). God can rightly judge people because each evil person is the cause of his/her rebellion against God. Augustine (388-395)(1964: 3). 

Website additional content

Christ is the lamb slain from the foundations of the world (Revelation 13: 8). Also...

Ephesians 1:3-4 New American Standard Bible (NASB) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before [a]Him. In love Footnotes: (a) Ephesians 1:4 Or Him, in love 

A Protestant, Reformed, evangelical, perspective, views justification as a legal term meaning the sinner is acquitted (69). This justification makes the now regenerated Christian acceptable to the Holy God. This is through justification by grace through faith (69). (Pocket: 69). This is imputed justification and righteousness of Jesus Christ to chosen sinners within the applied atonement. This does connect to holiness, in a sense, as indeed being justified in the righteousness of Christ separates the regenerate (John 3, Titus 3, 1 Peter 1) from the unregenerate, for holiness.

Titus 3: 5

Wednesday, September 06, 2017 Titus 3: 5-7: Regeneration

Edited 

'by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit' from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) 

Bible Hub: παλιγγενεσία, ας, ἡ 

Strong's 3824

Strong's Concordance paliggenesia: regeneration, renewal 

Original Word: παλιγγενεσία, ας, ἡ 

Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine 

Transliteration: paliggenesia 

Phonetic Spelling: (pal-ing-ghen-es-ee'-ah) 

Short Definition: a new birth, regeneration 

Definition: a new birth, regeneration, renewal.

From Titus 3: 5 The main text of Strong's presents: Spiritual rebirth (figurative), spiritual regeneration (figurative). (72). Greek scholar Bauer documents this as: The rebirth of the redeemed person. (606). The regeneration and rebirth via the Holy Spirit. (606).

Greek New Testament 

With five Greek manuscript versions there is agreement on: paliggenesiaV

Jon Courson writes that those in Christ have been 'washed and renewed' (1424), not because of our own human righteousness, but because of the work of Jesus Christ. (1424). I suggest this supports a theology of justification, the applied righteousness of Christ to believers, and salvation for believers, through grace through faith, alone. We have been renewed and washed. (1424). Washing is symbolic, in part at least through baptism, in my view. Although there is the idea of being cleansed of sin through the sanctification process. 

Nute suggests in his commentary that washing is the cleansing in the new birth. (1496). And this may include the thought of baptism as a symbol of cleansing. (1496). The Pocket Dictionary defines regeneration as rebirth or re-creation as in being born again. (101). Salvation does include legal justification and the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ to believers, and as well, sanctification.

John 3

Again from my PhD, Herman Bavinck (1918)(2006) equates the term regeneration with rebirth. Bavinck (1918)(2006: 46). In the Gospel of John 3, Jesus Christ does not literally speak of a person being born a second time, but literally insists that a person be reborn and spiritually transformed from above.

Bible Hub: John 3

John 3: 3

γεννηθῇ be born

ἄνωθεν from above

Bible Hub: 1080 

Strong's 1080

Strong's Concordance gennaó: to beget, to bring forth 

Original Word: γεννάω 

Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: gennaó 

Phonetic Spelling: (ghen-nah'-o) 

Definition: to beget, to bring forth Usage: I beget (of the male), (of the female) I bring forth, give birth to.

Bible Hub: 509 

Strong's 509

Strong's Concordance anóthen: from above 

Original Word: ἄνωθεν 

Part of Speech: Adverb Transliteration: anóthen 

Phonetic Spelling: (an'-o-then) 

Definition: from above 

Usage: (a) from above, from heaven, (b) from the beginning, from their origin (source), from of old, (c) again, anew.

1 Peter 1: 3

Bible Hub: 1 Peter 1: 3

ἀναγεννήσας having begotten again

Bible Hub: 313

Strong's 313

Strong's Concordance anagennaó: to beget again 

Original Word: ἀναγεννάω 

Part of Speech: Verb 

Transliteration: anagennaó 

Phonetic Spelling: (an-ag-en-nah'-o) 

Definition: to beget again 

Usage: I beget again, beget into a new life.

Bauer documents ἀναγεννάω (page 51), defined as beget again, be born again, figurative of spiritual rebirth of Christians. (51). This is the context of 1 Peter 1: 3, born again. (51).

Biblically and theologically, the new birth, to beget again, being born again equates to regeneration.

In the atonement, sanctification equates to holiness. Sanctification is also literally "being set apart" by God. (807). Being sanctified is being made holy (807). This is a process of growth, that is not culminated as immediate, as are some other aspects of the applied atoning and resurrection work of Jesus Christ. Cited from The Orthodox Study Bible, New Testament and Psalms, (1993) Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee.

'Moral uprightness' is not the same as holiness, as holiness equates to sanctification, whereas, being moral and upright is somewhat theologically ambiguous, based on my Bloesch citation. This may or may not connect to divine atonement and justification and righteousness in Christ. Both the regenerate and unregenerate could have levels of 'moral uprightness'. 

AUGUSTINE (388-395)(1964) On Free Choice of the Will, Translated by Anna S.Benjamin and L.H. Hackstaff, Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice-Hall.         

AUGUSTINE (398-399)(1992) Confessions, Translated by Henry Chadwick, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 

AUGUSTINE (400-416)(1987)(2004) On the Trinity, Translated by Reverend Arthur West Haddan, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series One, Volume 3, Denver, The Catholic Encyclopedia. 

AUGUSTINE (421)(1998) Enchiridion, Translated by J.F. Shaw,  Denver, The Catholic Encyclopedia. 

AUGUSTINE (426)(1958) The City of God, Translated by Gerald G. Walsh, Garden City, New York, Image Books. 

AUGUSTINE (427)(1997) On Christian Doctrine, Translated by D.W. Robertson Jr., Upper Saddle River, N.J., Prentice-Hall. 

AUGUSTINE (427b)(1997) On Christian Teaching, Translated by R.P.H. Green, Oxford, Oxford University Press. 

BAUER, WALTER. (1979) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Translated by Eric H. Wahlstrom, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press. 

BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 2: God and Creation, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.

BAVINCK, HERMAN (1918)(2006) Reformed Dogmatics Volume 3: Sin and Salvation in Christ, John Bolt (gen.ed.), Translated by John Vriend, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids.

BLOESCH, DONALD G. (1987) Freedom for Obedience, San Francisco, Harper and Rowe Publishers.  

BLOESCH, DONALD G. (1996) ‘Sin, The Biblical Understanding of Sin’, in Walter A. Elwell (ed.), Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Books.  

CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book II, Translated by Henry Beveridge, Grand Rapids, The Christian Classic Ethereal Library, Wheaton College. 

CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, Translated by Henry Beveridge, Grand Rapids, The Christian Classic Ethereal Library, Wheaton College. 

CALVIN, JOHN (1543)(1996) The Bondage and Liberation of the Will, Translated by G.I. Davies, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House. 

COURSON, JON (2005) Application Commentary, Thomas Nelson, Nashville. 

GRENZ, STANLEY J. DAVID GURETZKI and CHERITH FEE NORDLING (1999) Pocket Dictionary of Theological Terms, Downers Grove, Ill., InterVarsity Press. 

MARTENS, ELMER A. (1990) God’s Design: A Focus on Old Testament Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House. 

NUTE, ALAN G. (1986) in 'Titus', The International Bible Commentary, F.F. Bruce, General Editor, Grand Rapids, Zondervan/Marshall Pickering.

SCHRECK, ALAN (1984) Catholic and Christian, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Servant Books. WHALE, J.S. (1958) Christian Doctrine, Glasgow, Fontana Books. 

SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. (1874-1890)(1980) Dogmatic Theology, Volume 1, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers. 

SHEDD, WILLIAM G.T. (1874-1890)(1980) Dogmatic Theology, Volume 2, Nashville, Thomas Nelson Publishers. 

STRONG, J. (1890)(1986) Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Pickering, Ontario, Welch Publishing Company. 

The Orthodox Study Bible, New Testament and Psalms, (1993) Saint Athanasius Orthodox Academy, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee.

WEBER, OTTO (1955)(1981) Foundations of Dogmatics, Volumes 1 and 2, Translated and annotated by Darrell L. Guder, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.