"Thou shalt be holy!" said God (Lev. 11:44ff). In Isaiah alone there are 30 times when God is called "the holy One of Israel." Isaiah's call to be a prophet began at his inaugural vision when he is convicted of his own terrible uncleanness before One who is described as "holy, holy, holy" by the seraphim (Isa. 6:lff).

What does it mean that God is "holy"? In the final analysis, "holiness" in God is a character trait or an attribute. It is something he is. Rees tin Baker's Dictionary of Theology, 269f) speaks of God's transcendence, majesty, supremacy, and his ethical spotlessness. McComiskey(in Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Vol. 2, 787) suggests God's tremendous and mysterious power and "his character as totally good and entirely free from evil." Most scholars bring in the idea of purity.

Obviously all this means we can depend on the Judge of all the earth to do right (Gen. 12:25). And it should be just as obvious that what is "right" is right because it is how God is and what he does. There is no law external to God, which determines right: and wrong. God himself is the standard of what is right. Ceviation, in any way, form what he is and does is unholiness-sin.  We know nothing of what is right apart from the self-revelation ofGod. If we will not accept the character of God as the root of all righteousness we have no root for it whatever. It is neither healthy nor correct to say, "A thing is right just because it is right!" Being founded in the character of God's moral and ethical standards can be seen to accord with sound thinking, but if they aren't grounded on character they aren't grounded at all!