Although this is one of the scripture texts for Trinity Sunday (and relates to that favorite majestic Trinitarian hymn, "Holy, Holy, Holy") Holy, holy, holy in this passage is not a trinitarian proclamation—it's an artifact of Hebrew and other semitic languages that unlike English, don't have comparative and superlative adjectives, so you repeat the word once or twice. Instead of good, better, best, you'd say good, good, good.
Ligonier Ministries name came from its original location in Ligonier, Pennsylvania. The organization is an independent ministry and broadly Reformed; everything I've seen from them is on the conservative side. Scripture quotations in this book come from KJV, NKJV, NIV, ESV, and NASB. Their website explains:
Ligonier Ministries adheres to the ancient statements of faith (the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Creed of Chalcedon) and affirms the historic Christian faith as expressed in the five solas of the Reformation and the consensus of the historic Reformed confessions (Westminster Standards, Three Forms of Unity, and 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith).
For comparison, regarding the Three Forms of Unity, the PCUSA's Book of Confessions includes the Belgic Confession and Heidelberg Catechism but omits Canons of Dort. For another comparison, of the four church bodies / denominations (ELCA, PC(USA), RCA, UCC) that covenanted together in A Formula of Agreement, Canons of Dort are constitutive for only one—the Reformed Church in America.
You can find Proclaiming the Perfections of God on Powell's:
• Holy Holy Holy…
on Amazon:
• Holy Holy Holy…
The ten chapters originated as lectures at the 2009 Ligonier Ministries National Conference in Orlando, with "The Holiness of God" the conference theme. Chapter titles and subtitles are helpful for any Christian from any tradition to consider (I know, all the authors just happened to be guys), and make reasonable categories for a systematic theology class:
1. "I Am the Lord": The Only God by R. C. Sproul
2. "Hallowed Be Your Name": The Holiness of the Father by Sinclair B. Ferguson
3. "The Holy One of God": The Holiness of Jesus by Steven J. Lawson
4. "The Breath of the Almighty": The Holiness of the Spirit by Alistair Begg
5. "Cosmic Treason": Sin and the Holiness of God by Thabiti Anyabwile
6. "A Holy Nation": The Church’s High Calling by D. A. Carson
7. "Wounded for Our Transgressions": The Holiness of God and the Cross by W. Robert Godfrey
8. "You Shall Be Holy": The Necessity of Sanctification by Derek W. H. Thomas
9. "Train Up a Child": Walking Together with the Holy God by R. C. Sproul Jr.
10. "A Consuming Fire": Holiness, Wrath, and Justice by R. C. Sproul
The articles are well-written and very very serious. With many quotes and references from John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, the authors feel stuck in a different era. Chapter 10, Holiness, Wrath, and Justice?
But if there is a God (and there is), and if He is holy (and He is), and if He is just (and He is), He could not possibly be without wrath. If you have not been reconciled to Him through the blood of His Son, the only thing you have to look forward to is His wrath, which is a divine wrath, a furious wrath, and an eternal wrath.
That quote is just plain sad. God is a holy God who calls a holy people (see chapter 6, "A Holy Nation," and chapter 8, "You Shall Be Holy"), but wrath of god is a human construct that Jesus Christ obliterates. The mainline world in which I live is welcoming and grace-filled, but I'm glad I glanced through this book to view a different perspective. There's a helpful index of scripture references at the end.
