God's Holiness Determines God's Attributes

There are some things that God cannot do. For example, God "cannot lie" (Titus 1:2). He can’t do anything that conflicts with His holy character and nature. What God is, determines what God does. Since He is "holy" (cf. Leviticus 11:44; 1 Peter 1:16), all of His attributes share in that perfection.

As Christians, let’s look at what this fact means to us on a practical level. As a holy God, He is perfect in His righteousness, justice, truthfulness, and faithfulness.

1) His perfect righteousness assures us that we can fully yield to His will because He’ll always do what is right. In Genesis 18:25 we read, “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

2) His perfect justice means that God will be unquestionably fair. Our "works" will ultimately determine our eternal destination (Matthew 25:31-46; cf. Ecclesiastes 12:14).

3) His perfect truthfulness assures us that we can take Him at His word. Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”

4) His perfect faithfulness tells us that God will never let us down. We read, “His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Beloved, we can have absolute confidence in our righteous, just, truthful, and faithful God — because He is holy! (1 Peter 1:16).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets