A trinitarian - relational view of holiness

God's holiness is often expressed as "moral perfection" (i.e. separation from "worldliness" and sin). But this moral view of holiness fails to apprehend the ultimate ground of holiness which is God's triune relationship of love as Father, Son and Spirit. This trinitarian - relational basis of God's holiness (we might speak of his "wholeness") is from all eternity, precedes creation, and thus precedes the presence of sin and evil.

L.T. Jeyachandran expounds a trinitarian view of holiness in one of the chapters in Beyond Opinion: Living the Faith We Defend, edited by Ravi Zacharias (Thomas Nelson, 2007). Here's an excerpt (and thanks to Jerome Ellard for telling me about this book):

If I were awakened suddenly in the middle of the night and asked this question, “What is holiness?” my instinctive answer would be “Absence of sin!” Although that may be enough of an answer for our understanding of holiness because of our fallenness and familiarity with sin, it would be inadequate as a definition of the holiness of God. He is holy without any reference to sin. How do we define that kind of holiness?...

...The answer lies in the trinitarian being of God. Love is the epitome of all virtue and the highest expression of holiness... The Bible introduces love as an interpersonal quality requiring a subject-object relationship that is available in the Trinity because of the Father-Son relationship through the Holy Spirit. The trinitarian God is complete in his love relationship without reference to his creation. The Father loves the Son before the creation of the world (John 17:24). The infinite personal medium through whom this love is communicated is the Holy Spirit, and he is the one who pours the love of God in our hearts as well (Romans 5:5)....

....A trinitarian understanding of holiness avoids two errors. On the one hand, the classical moral argument in favor of God talks about him in rather flat, one-dimensional terms as a much-needed frame of reference for any system of moral values. However, the plea that God is the infinite, moral standard (as he is often referred to in these arguments) does not tell us who this God is. On the other, we have no alternative except to posit a dualism where good and evil are seen as equal and opposite. But it is quite obvious, even from a philosophical point of view, that good cannot simply be stated as the absence of evil. In fact, the opposite is the case....

....The Ten Commandments that God gave to his people (Exodus 20:1–17) sum up God’s requirement in terms of relationships—with him and with one another. The Old Testament also sums up the commandments as love relationships with God (Deuteronomy 6:4–5) and among his people (Leviticus 19:18). In other words, holiness by God’s own definition (Leviticus 19:2) is seen in the relational commandments that comprise the rest of that chapter. Holiness is therefore not the stand-alone ascetic quality that is the hallmark of some Eastern religions but a community of people in right relationship to one another.