Lexicon

H6918 - qadosh

Strong's: H6918 · BLB lookup Pronunciation: kaw-doshe' Part of speech: adjective OT occurrences: ~117 Greek equivalent (LXX): hagios (G40)

Semantic range

Holy, set apart, separated from common use, dedicated to God
Sacred, consecrated, devoted to divine purposes
Pure, clean, morally pure, without defilement (especially of God)

The root concept is separation / setting apart. What is qadosh is separated from common / profane use, dedicated for divine purposes.

Theological force

YHWH as the supremely Holy

The most concentrated theological use of qadosh is of YHWH Himself. Three-fold qadosh repetition (the Trisagion) appears as the supreme angelic-doxology:

Isaiah 6:3, qadosh, qadosh, qadosh, YHWH Tzeva'ot, "Holy, Holy, Holy, the LORD of hosts"
Revelation 4:8, repeated by the four living creatures: hagios, hagios, hagios, kyrios ho theos ho pantokratōr

The Trisagion grounds:

Divine transcendent otherness, God is utterly different from creation
Divine moral perfection, God is pure, free of all defilement / sin
The Trinitarian shape (per patristic / Reformed reading), three-fold repetition prefiguring the three Persons

Isaiah's "Holy One of Israel"

Isaiah uses Qedosh Yisrael, "the Holy One of Israel", 25 times, more than any other OT book combined. This is Isaiah's signature divine title, anchored in his temple-vision (Isaiah 6) where the qadosh-cry first overwhelmed him. The "Holy One of Israel" is:

Isaiah 1:4; 5:19, 24; 10:17, 20, repeated invocations
Isaiah 12:6, "great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel"
Isaiah 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3, 14, 15; 45:11; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7, pervasive
Isaiah 54:5; 55:5; 60:9, 14, climactic eschatological uses

Holiness and call to holiness

The Levitical refrain: "Be holy, for I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 21:8), God's holiness grounds the human call to holiness. The pattern: God sanctifies His people; they live as set-apart from the world's ways.

NT continues this: 1 Peter 1:15-16, "be holy in all your behavior, because it is written, 'You shall be qadoshim, for I am qadosh.'"

The Holy of Holies

The OT tabernacle / temple's innermost sanctuary was the Qadosh Qadoshim, "Holy of Holies" / "Most Holy Place" (Exodus 26:33-34). The holiness-spectrum:

The world (common)
The temple courts (set apart)
The Holy Place (more set apart)
The Holy of Holies (most set apart), the immediate presence of God; entered once a year by the high priest with atoning blood

The tearing of the temple veil at Christ's death (Mt 27:51) opens this Qadosh Qadoshim, Christ's atoning blood gives access to the once-restricted divine presence.

Christ as the Holy One

NT uses hagios (LXX equivalent of qadosh) of Christ:

Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34, demon: "I know who You are, the Holy One of God!"
Acts 3:14, Peter: "the Holy and Righteous One"
Acts 4:27, 30, "Your holy servant Jesus"
Revelation 3:7, Christ: "the Holy One, the True One"
1 John 2:20, "you have an anointing from the Holy One"

The Christological transfer: the OT Qadosh of Israel = the NT Holy One who is Christ.

Apologetic / theological significance

Qadosh anchors:

The transcendent otherness of God, against any pantheistic conflation of God and creation
God's moral perfection, the ground of moral truth and judgment
The need for atonement, sinners cannot enter the presence of Qadosh without cleansing
The seriousness of sin, sin is offensiveness against the Holy One, not minor failure
The Trinitarian Trisagion, Trinitarian-shape revelation
Christ as Holy, divine identity Christology

Notable verses

Exodus 3:5, "remove your sandals; this is qodesh ground"
Exodus 19:6, Israel as a "goy qadosh", holy nation
Exodus 26:33-34, the Qadosh Qadoshim
Leviticus 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7, 26; 21:8, be holy as I am holy
Joshua 24:19, "He is a qadosh God"
1 Samuel 2:2, "no one is qadosh like the LORD"
Psalm 22:3; 99:3, 5, 9, qadosh God
Isaiah 6:3, Trisagion
Isaiah 1:4; etc., the Holy One of Israel
Habakkuk 1:12-13; 3:3, qadosh; eyes too pure to look on evil
Hosea 11:9, "I am God and not man, the qadosh in your midst"

Patristic / scholarly note

Patristic engagement: extensive across all church-historical periods. The Reformed tradition particularly emphasizes divine holiness (R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, 1985, the modern classic).

Modern conservative scholarship:

John Webster (Holiness, 2003)
David Peterson (Possessed by God, 1995), biblical-theological treatment
Otto's The Idea of the Holy (1917), phenomenology of the mysterium tremendum

Notes

Lexical workspace for qadosh.