A couple weeks ago, I was ruminating a bit on the concept of holiness, specifically regarding how sometimes we don’t really like to think about it—also how, many times, we’re not really sure what it means. Does holy describe something or someone that’s really, really good? Does it mean it’s super important? Does it mean it can be used to ward off vampires and kill zombies? Maybe it’s all these things.
When I got this chance to write about Luke, I decided to look up holy and holiness in just this book, and I found it interesting that Luke has notably more references to these words than the other gospels. Feeling justified, therefore, in making this connection to something I wanted to write about anyway, I plodded forth to research.
What I found is that Luke has nineteen usages of the word holy and one of holiness (this is in the NRSV, which is so obviously the best Bible version that I’m not even going to bother discussing why). No other gospels mention holiness, and Matthew comes in second in the holy race, with only nine mentions. At a 2:1 ratio, surely something significant is happening here. Surely, Luke is somehow more concerned with the concept of holiness. So, what does he say about it?
Well, thirteen of those usages are mentions of the Holy Spirit, and the other seven are as follows:
- In her song in 1:49, Mary says God’s name is holy.
- In his song in 1:70-75, Zechariah says God’s prophets were holy and God’s covenant with Israel was holy. He also reminds listeners that, because of this covenant, Israel can serve God in holiness.
- In an aside in 2:23, Luke reminds us that God’s law required every firstborn male to be designated as holy to God.
- In 4:34, a demon, whom Jesus is about to cast out of a man, declares that Jesus is “the Holy One of God.”
- Finally, in 9:26, Jesus describes the angels who share God’s glory as holy. (Also interesting: Luke mentions angels significantly more than the other gospel writers as well, but this is the only time out of twenty-four mentions that they are described with an adjective.)
What immediately jumps out at me as interesting is that Luke’s narrator never uses the terms holy or holiness himself, except to name the Holy Spirit. Mary and Zechariah use it; a demon uses it; Jesus uses it; and Luke interrupts the narrative once to explain that the law refers to firstborn males as holy. But Luke as the narrator telling these stories about Jesus never actually uses the term to describe anything or anyone else. Maybe to Luke, the concept of holiness is so important, so significant, so special that he refuses to use it himself.
So, what does holy mean? Well, the root of the Greek word translated into holy throughout Luke and most of the New Testament is hagios, which means, at its root, “different from the world and set apart by or for God.” (Here’s the link to a relevant entry in Strong’s Greek concordance, if you want to look up more on this: https://biblehub.com/greek/40.htm.)
Thus, the “Holy Spirit” mentioned so often throughout Luke is special because it is different from other spirits. It is associated especially with God as part of God. Mary says God’s name is different from all others. Zechariah says those who spoke most truly about God were different from others dedicated to God; also, God’s agreement was Israel is different from all other agreements and covenants, allowing Israel to live in peace and be different from other nations. The law declares that each firstborn son was to be different from the other children, perhaps to set a good example for any younger siblings. The demon recognizes that Jesus is completely different from any other human, “the Holy One of God.” Lastly, God’s angels are completely different from the fallen angels, sharing Jesus’ and God’s glory at the time of Jesus’ second coming.
What does this mean for us? Well, Luke does not appear to make a big deal out of telling his readers they should be holy. That’s something that Peter and Paul do more, later in the New Testament. To Luke, holiness seems to be less a personal goal and something more of a formal concept, something that describes only God and things very closely associated with God. To Luke, God is holy, Jesus is holy, and God’s Spirit is holy. They are different from the world, but if this ever-present Spirit of difference lived in us, wouldn’t it separate us from that which is evil, bringing us peace?
With God’s spirit, can’t we also be holy?
Wholly, wholly holy.
Lord God almighty…
Kelly Reed teaches English as a Second Language at La Sierra University, where he has also acted in numerous drama productions.