Holiness is Wholeness: According to Noah Webster

Noah Webster's 1828 dictionary must be regarded as classic in defining words in English and in keeping with the use of these words in the Bible. Yet many are not aware of his first word in defining holy. The most fundamental or most proper definition he could give the word is whole.

I quote, in full, his 1828 dictionary entry for both holy and holiness:

HO'LY, a.
1. Properly, whole, entire or perfect, in a moral sense. Hence, pure in heart, temper or dispositions; free from sin and sinful affections. Applied to the Supreme Being, holy signifies perfectly pure, immaculate and complete in moral character; and man is more or less holy, as his heart is more or less sanctified, or purified from evil dispositions. We call a man holy,when his heart is conformed in some degree to the image of God, and his life is regulated by the divine precepts. Hence, holy is used as nearly synonymous with good, pious, godly.
Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1 pet.1.
2. Hallowed; consecrated or set apart to a sacred use, or to the service or worship of God; a sense frequent in Scripture; as the holy sabbath; holy oil; holy vessels; a holy nation; the holy temple; a holy priesthood.
3. Proceeding from pious principles,or directed to pious purposes; as holy zeal.
4. Perfectly just and good; as the holy law of God.
5. Sacred; as a holy witness.
Holy of holies, in Scripture, the innermost apartment of the Jewish tabernacle or temple, where the ark was kept,and where no person entered, except the high priest, once a year.
Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, the Divine Spirit; the third person in the Trinity; the sanctifier of souls.
Holy war, a war undertaken to rescue the holy land, the ancient Judea, from the infidels; a crusade; an expedition carried on by christians against the Saracens in the eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth centuries; a war carried on in a most unholy manner.


HO'LINESS, n. [from holy.] The state of being holy; purity or integrity of moral character; freedom from sin; sanctity. Applied to the Supreme Being, holiness denotes perfect purity or integrity of moral character, one of his essential attributes.
Who is like thee, glorious in holiness? Ex.15.
1. Applied to human beings, holiness is purity of heart or dispositions; sanctified affections; piety; moral goodness, but not perfect.
We see piety and holiness ridiculed as morose singularities.
2. Sacredness; the state of any thing hallowed, or consecrated to God or to his worship; applied to churches or temples.
3. That which is separated to the service of God.
Israel was holiness unto the Lord. Jer.2.
4. A title of the pope, and formerly of the Greek emperors.

Now from these two entries, we see that he regarded wholeness as the core idea for holy or holiness. Yet we can also see him struggling, as he mingles in other elements to the definition like perfect or sanctified. So I do not claim unsurpassed clarity for my forebearers in defining words, but I do claim that we have drifted from their primary insight into this most beautiful word. If we return to that primary definition, we just might find the clarity that even eluded Noah Webster.

For those unfamiliar with Webster a few important facts to learn from a quick internet search. It is said that Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary contains the greatest number of Biblical definitions given in any reference volume. Webster believed "education useless without the Bible". Noah Webster was convinced that the Bible and Christianity played important roles in the lives of a free people and its government. "In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed.... No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people...."

We have been told through our education in school and church, based on some sense of historical and technological superiority, that our forebearers were sort of dumb. If that is true, then forget Webster's 1828 dictionary and read the rather poor definition in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, and settle for it. But instead, may God renew our minds and our dictionaries to see ourselves in continuity with our forebearers like Noah Webster and not as people with no need for them.

In Christ,

Pastor Jon Westlund