Book Club Questions for The Holiness of God

1.Sproul writes that holiness is the attribute of God that provokes both profound fascination and intense fear in human beings. Before reading any further, how would you have defined holiness in your own words? How does your definition compare to what Sproul begins to suggest?

2.Sproul uses the phrase 'the missing jewel of the evangelical church' (borrowing from A. W. Tozer) to describe the loss of a sense of the sacred. What evidence do you see — in worship styles, in prayer, in everyday Christian conversation — that holiness has been undervalued or domesticated?

3.Sproul argues that we cannot understand ourselves rightly until we understand God rightly, and that holiness is the key to understanding God. Why would a distorted or shrunken view of God's holiness lead to a distorted view of sin, salvation, and Christian living?

1.Sproul uses the legend of the Holy Grail and the wider phenomenon of the 'quest for the sacred' to argue that the hunger for holiness is universal. What does this universality suggest about human nature and our relationship to God?

2.Sproul draws on Rudolf Otto's concept of the 'mysterium tremendum et fascinans' — the mystery that is both terrifying and fascinating. In your own experience, have you ever felt something like this in the presence of what seemed sacred or transcendent? What was that like?

3.Sproul distinguishes between the idea of holiness as 'moral purity' (the common understanding) and holiness as 'otherness' or transcendence — the idea that God is in a category entirely apart from creation. Why is the second definition actually more foundational than the first?

1.Sproul notes that Isaiah's vision takes place 'in the year that King Uzziah died' — a moment of national crisis and personal grief. Why might God choose such a moment to reveal his holiness so dramatically? What does the timing suggest about how God uses circumstances to bring us to the end of ourselves?

2.The seraphim cry 'Holy, holy, holy' — a threefold repetition that Sproul explains as the Hebrew superlative, emphasizing that God's holiness is in a category of its own. What is the significance of the fact that it is holiness, not power or love, that the angelic beings proclaim without ceasing?

3.Isaiah, a prophet who regularly spoke for God, cries out 'Woe is me! For I am undone!' when he sees God's holiness. Sproul calls this the 'trauma of holiness.' Why does a vision of God's holiness produce self-destruction before it produces praise?

1.Sproul points to the miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5 as a revealing moment: Peter's response to Jesus's power is not celebration but prostration — 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.' Why would a miracle of abundance produce a confession of sinfulness? What was Peter perceiving about Jesus?

2.Sproul draws a direct parallel between Peter's 'Depart from me' and Isaiah's 'Woe is me.' What does the recurrence of this pattern across the Old and New Testaments suggest about what authentic encounter with the holy God — in any form — always produces?

3.In Mark 1, the demon in the synagogue cries out to Jesus: 'What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are — the Holy One of God.' Sproul notes the irony that demons recognize Jesus's holiness more quickly than his followers do. What does this say about how familiarity can dull our perception of who Jesus really is?

1.Sproul describes the young Luther as a man tormented by his own sinfulness — confessing for hours, yet never finding peace. Why couldn't Luther find peace through the confessional, despite his extreme diligence? What was he missing?

2.Sproul recounts the famous story of Luther as a young lawyer caught in a terrifying thunderstorm, crying out to Saint Anne and vowing to become a monk. Sproul sees this as a genuine, if immature, response to the terror of God's holiness. What was Luther actually running toward in the monastery — what was he hoping the monastic life would give him?

3.Sproul describes Luther's first Mass as a priest — a moment of such overwhelming terror at the nearness of God that Luther nearly fled the altar. What does Luther's reaction reveal about how seriously he took the holiness of God, and how does that contrast with the casualness often seen in contemporary worship?

1.Sproul argues that God's holiness creates what seems like an impossible dilemma: a holy God cannot simply overlook sin, but if he does not overlook it, there is no hope for any sinner. Have you ever felt the weight of this tension? How have you typically resolved it in your thinking?

2.Sproul distinguishes between justice and grace — and insists that God's grace is never at the expense of his justice. He argues that the cross is where both are fully satisfied. How does the cross demonstrate God's justice at the same time as it demonstrates his mercy?

3.Sproul uses the phrase 'the bleeding of God's righteousness' to convey the idea that God's holiness is not watered down in redemption — it is upheld at enormous cost. How does this phrase reframe the way you think about the cross?

1.Sproul looks at the story of Moses and the burning bush, where God commands Moses to remove his sandals because he is standing on holy ground. What is the significance of that command? What does it communicate about the relationship between God's presence and ordinary physical space?

2.Sproul addresses the troubling story of Uzzah, who reached out to steady the ark of the covenant and was struck dead (2 Samuel 6). Many readers find this story deeply offensive. How does Sproul explain it, and do you find his explanation satisfying?

3.Sproul also examines the rebellion of Korah in Numbers 16, where the earth opens and swallows the rebels. What was the nature of Korah's sin, and how does it connect to a failure to honor the holiness of God?

1.Sproul argues that justice is not an external standard to which God is accountable, but rather flows from his holy character — God himself is the standard of justice. What difference does that make to the question of whether God's actions can be called 'just' or 'unjust'?

2.Sproul addresses the problem of evil — the question of how a holy, good, and powerful God can permit suffering and injustice in the world. How does he engage this challenge? Do you find his response fully adequate, partially satisfying, or still leaving important questions open?

3.Sproul makes the point that the problem of evil actually cuts both ways: we ask why God allows evil to go unpunished, but if he were to punish all evil perfectly and immediately, none of us would survive. How does this reframe the question?

1.At the beginning of this study, you were asked how you would define holiness. How would you define it now? What is the most significant shift in your understanding of what holiness means and why it matters?

2.Which chapter or theme in the book was most impactful for you personally — and why? Was it the Isaiah 6 encounter, Luther's torment and breakthrough, the hard Old Testament narratives, the question of divine justice, or something else?

3.Sproul argues throughout that a diminished view of God's holiness produces a diminished gospel. Looking back over the book, where do you see the clearest evidence of that connection? How has your understanding of the gospel itself been sharpened or deepened?