The Holiness of God

"There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God."

- Jonathan Edwards

讀畢 RC Sproul 的 The Holiness of God 後，叫我默然的是我們對聖潔的憎恨。說恨惡聖潔，好像很奇怪，但人其實就是這樣，人其實骨子裡不認同聖潔是美好或值得嚮往。我們不單只不愛神，更憎恨衪。為什麼？因為神是全然聖潔，而我們是全然墮落。在聖潔的神前面，我們站立不住，失去一切以為可以自恃的事，心中任何的不潔都在神前面表露無遺。試問，這又豈有不惶恐、恐懼、甚至老羞成怒的道理？在平靜風浪的記載中，耶穌平靜風浪後，門徒們的反應不是慶幸大難不死，而是更加恐懼：

And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? - Mark 4:34 KJV

作者說：

We fear God because He is holy. Our fear is not the healthy fear that the Bible encourages us to have. Our fear is the servile fear, a fear born of dread. God is too great for us; He is too awesome. He makes difficult demands on us. He is the Mysterious Stranger who threatens our security. In His presence we quake and tremble. Meeting Him personally may be our greatest trauma.

在聖潔的神面前，我們所以能站立得往，不用誠惶誠恐，全然因為是神的恩典。Martin Luther 說：

Then I grasped that the justice of God is that righteousness by which through grace and sheer mercy God justifies us through faith.

不過，若果不認識神的聖潔，我們就不會明白神的公義與憤怒。那麼，神就跟我們造出來的偶像沒有兩樣，給我們的就只是愛與安慰，無視我們一切得罪衪的惡行。也惟有明白衪的公義，我們才能真真正正為到衪白白給我們的恩典而感恩。作者說：

Our thinking goes like this: If there is a God at all, He is certainly not holy. If He is perchance holy, He is not just. Even if He is both holy and just, we need not fear because His love and mercy override His holy justice. If we can stomach His holy and just character, we can rest in one thing: He cannot possess wrath.

If we think soberly for five seconds, we must see our error. If God is holy at all, if God has an ounce of justice in His character, indeed if God exists as God, how could He possibly be anything else but angry with us? We violate His holiness; we insult His justice; we make light of His grace. These things can hardly be pleasing to Him.

願人都尊你的名為聖。阿們！