Discussion question your group will work through:
1.When you hear the word 'holy' — whether applied to God or to a person — what images or feelings immediately come to mind? Be honest: are those associations mostly positive, negative, or mixed?
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About This Study Guide
Why don't we trust God? We sing about His faithfulness, confess His goodness with our lips, and yet we quietly live as though He might hold out on us — as though He might not actually have our best interests at heart. In Holier Than Thou, Jackie Hill Perry argues that the root of our distrust is not a deficit of willpower or spiritual discipline, but a misunderstanding of who God actually is. Specifically, we have misunderstood His holiness. We have reduced "holy" to a moral checklist, a synonym for uptight or unapproachable, when in reality God's holiness — His utter "other-ness," His set-apart completeness — is the very thing that makes Him worthy of our full and joyful trust. Drawing readers through Scripture with her characteristic blend of theological depth and poetic honesty, Jackie dismantles our small, suspicious versions of God and replaces them with the awe-inspiring reality: God is not like us, and that is the best news in the world.
This study guide is designed to help you move through Holier Than Thou slowly and personally, one chapter at a time. Each week, read the assigned chapter before your group meets (or before your personal study time). Then work through the questions, pausing to journal your honest reactions before discussing them with others. Don't rush past the questions that feel uncomfortable — those are often the ones God most wants to use. If you are working through this guide in a small group, commit to creating a space where people can be real about their doubts and their distance from God.
By the end of this guide, you will not merely have a tidier theology of holiness. You will have been invited — again and again — to let the holiness of God become the ground beneath your feet rather than a wall that keeps you away. You will have sat with the God who is wholly unlike us, and discovered, perhaps for the first time or the hundredth time, that this is not a threat but a gift. Expect your trust to be stretched, your assumptions to be challenged, and your worship to grow larger.
11-Week Schedule
- Week 1Introduction — The Problem With Holy7 questions
- Week 2Chapter 1 — Holy, Holy, Holy7 questions
- Week 3Chapter 2 — God Is Not Like You7 questions
- Week 4Chapter 3 — God Is Self-Sufficient7 questions
- Week 5Chapter 4 — God Is All-Knowing7 questions
- Week 6Chapter 5 — God Is Everywhere7 questions
- Week 7Chapter 6 — God Is All-Powerful7 questions
- Week 8Chapter 7 — God Is Good7 questions
- Week 9Chapter 8 — God Is Just7 questions
- Week 10Chapter 9 — God Is Love7 questions
- Week 11Review & Reflection8 questions
Week 1: Introduction — The Problem With Holy
Free sampleRead the Introduction of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Isaiah 6:1–8; Exodus 3:1–6.
1.When you hear the word 'holy' — whether applied to God or to a person — what images or feelings immediately come to mind? Be honest: are those associations mostly positive, negative, or mixed?
2.Jackie opens by identifying a gap that many believers live with: we say we trust God, but our actual lives tell a different story. Where do you most clearly see that gap in your own life right now?
3.The book's central thesis is that our inability to trust God is rooted in a misunderstanding of His holiness. Before reading further, does that diagnosis resonate with you? Why or why not?
4.Jackie traces the distrust problem all the way back to Eve in the Garden — the assumption that God might be holding out on her. In what areas of your life are you most tempted to suspect that God is holding out on you?
a.What does that suspicion reveal about how you actually picture God?
b.How does that picture differ from the God described in passages like Isaiah 6?
5.When Isaiah encountered God's holiness in the temple (Isaiah 6:1–8), his first response was undone terror — 'Woe is me!' — and yet the encounter ended in commissioning and purpose. What does it tell us that a true view of God's holiness doesn't destroy us but sends us?
6.Jackie suggests that the church has often domesticated holiness, shrinking it into a behavioral checklist. How have you seen this happen in your own church experience or spiritual formation?
7.What do you most hope to gain — or most fear you might be confronted with — as you work through this book?
Week 2: Chapter 1 — Holy, Holy, Holy
Read Chapter 1 of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Isaiah 6:1–8; Revelation 4:8; Leviticus 11:44–45.
1.Jackie draws attention to the fact that holiness is the only attribute of God repeated three times in Scripture — 'holy, holy, holy' in both Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4. Why do you think the biblical authors (and the seraphim themselves) single out holiness in this unique way?
Week 3: Chapter 2 — God Is Not Like You
Read Chapter 2 of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Numbers 23:19; Isaiah 55:8–9; Psalm 50:21.
1.Jackie addresses our tendency to assume God thinks and operates the way we do. Can you think of a specific time when you caught yourself projecting a human quality — impatience, favoritism, pettiness, forgetfulness — onto God?
Week 4: Chapter 3 — God Is Self-Sufficient
Read Chapter 3 of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Acts 17:24–25; Psalm 50:10–12; John 5:26.
1.Jackie discusses God's aseity — His self-existence and self-sufficiency. Before reading this chapter, had you thought much about the idea that God has no needs? What was your gut reaction to that concept?
Week 5: Chapter 4 — God Is All-Knowing
Read Chapter 4 of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Psalm 139:1–6; Hebrews 4:13; 1 John 3:20.
1.Jackie addresses God's omniscience — His complete and exhaustive knowledge of all things, including every detail of our lives and hearts. What is your honest, emotional reaction to the idea that God knows everything about you — including the things you hide from others?
Week 6: Chapter 5 — God Is Everywhere
Read Chapter 5 of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Psalm 139:7–12; Jeremiah 23:23–24; Acts 17:27–28.
1.Jackie explores God's omnipresence — His being fully present everywhere at all times, not spread thin but wholly present in every place. How does this differ from the 'God is kind of everywhere in a vague sense' version we often settle for?
Week 7: Chapter 6 — God Is All-Powerful
Read Chapter 6 of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 19:26; Romans 8:31–39.
1.Jackie addresses the way human experiences of power — abusive authority figures, corrupt institutions, broken trust — color how we relate to a God who is all-powerful. How has power been used against you or someone you love, and how has that shaped your picture of God?
Week 8: Chapter 7 — God Is Good
Read Chapter 7 of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Psalm 34:8; Mark 10:18; Romans 8:28; James 1:17.
1.Jesus says, 'No one is good except God alone' (Mark 10:18). Jackie treats this not as a throwaway comment but as a load-bearing theological truth. What does it mean that goodness, in its truest and fullest sense, is not a human achievement but a divine attribute?
Week 9: Chapter 8 — God Is Just
Read Chapter 8 of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Genesis 18:25; Psalm 89:14; Romans 3:25–26.
1.Abraham asks, 'Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?' (Genesis 18:25). This is one of the most audacious questions in the Bible — a man arguing with God. What does it reveal that Abraham assumes God's justice as the very basis of his appeal?
Week 10: Chapter 9 — God Is Love
Read Chapter 9 of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: 1 John 4:8–16; John 3:16; Romans 5:8.
1.The Bible does not merely say God is loving — it says God is love (1 John 4:8). Jackie unpacks why that distinction matters. What is the difference between love being something God does and love being something God is?
Week 11: Review & Reflection
Review your notes and journal entries from all chapters of Holier Than Thou.
1.Jackie's central thesis is that we don't trust God because we misunderstand His holiness — and that seeing God as truly holy, truly 'other,' is not a barrier to trust but the very foundation of it. In your own words, make the case for that argument. Do you now believe it? Why or why not?
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Frequently Asked Questions
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This study guide covers Holier Than Thou in 11 weeks, with chapter-by-chapter discussion questions, reading references, and closing prayers for each session.
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The complete guide includes 78 discussion questions across 11 weeks — an average of 7 questions per week, designed for group conversation.
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