ContradictionsReading order 100Bible context 3 min read
Is only God holy?
Revelation's exclusive claim to divine holiness contrasts with repeated descriptions of holy people.
- Textual conflict
- Interpretive tension
- The passages pull in different directions, but the conflict depends on how their wording, scope, or narrative context is read.
- Importance
- Foundational
- A central claim about origins, salvation, divine justice, or religious authority.
God-only holiness contrasts with expressly holy people, but consecration, conduct, and divine holiness carry meaningful semantic differences.
An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.
Only the Lord is holy
Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
Revelation 15:4
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Revelation 15
Humans are commanded and expressly said to be holy
And ye shall be holy men unto me: neither shall ye eat any flesh that is torn of beasts in the field; ye shall cast it to the dogs.
Exodus 22:31
Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)
Read the full chapter:Exodus 22