58 PART I BIBLICAL HOLINESS

pret the concept of God's holiness as expressed in God's jealousy. Someschol-

ars interpret God's jealousy as an expression of God's need to maintain and
demand exclusive worship. Rivals threaten God's self-identity. "God] cannot
tolerate worship ... that is in de ance of [God's] essential andinnermost
nature."13 God then punishes those who worship others or who worship inad-
equately. The suggestion in this type of interpretation is thar God mustmain-
tain and protect God's own authority, sovereignty, justice, and supremacy.
If, however, we interpret God's jealousy from the perspective of love,
the focus is not on God's self-identity but on the relationship with human-
ity that God desires. De ance or faithlessness is not so much an affront to
God but an aberration of the imago Dei that God created. We could saythat
even God's justice, then, must be interpreted soteriologically. It is out oflove
that God calls humanity to enact its original design. Only a relationship with
God can enable the full expresion of humanity's own holiness. The potter,
gardener, shepherd, mother, and doctor do not discipline their subjectsonly
because they are inadequate or because the subjects show their caregivers in a
poor light. Or putting it bluntly, God does not discipline the peoplebecause
they make God look bad! God's more negative activities are always redemp-
tive in the larger picture. This may seem the easy way out of the conundrum
of God's more "destructive" side. But such a rendering, with divine loveasits
guide, can be seen clearly in the Old Testament. And such a rendering surely
anticipates the redemption of God in Christ, who was sent rst to the lost
sheep of Israel.

HOLINESS IN HUMANITY
According to George Allen Turner, "While the terms associated with
'holiness' stress the contrast between Jehovah and [humanity), which can be
bridged by an act of cleansing, those associated with 'perfection' point to hu-
manity's kinship with God and the possibility of lowship."4 Srictly put
only God is holy. Yet God commands, "Be holy as I am holy." This command
pervades Old Testament theology, and when the New Testament turns to this
theme, the writers quote the Old Testament. We could say that the meansof
human holiness, or perfection, changes in the New Testament, but this is not
wholly accurate. Faith and grace permeate the Old Testament as well.5 The
Old Testament has a soteriology that is, yes, ful lled in Christ and aided by
the Holy Spirit. But Israel's call to holiness is also accomplished by faith. In
a sense, we do not need Paul to point out that Abraham believed, and it was
credited to him as righteousness (Rom. 4). We also do not need James to show
us that Abraham's faith worked itself out in true righteousness and love(James
2). These themes are strongly and independently evident in the Old Testament
(Gen. 15:6; 22:1-19).
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