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Prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope
fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As
obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when
you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be
holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am
holy" (1 Pet. 1:13-16).
In principle, holiness is what all of us
expect when we turn on the faucet, order a meal at a restaurant, or
take off muddy shoes when we come into the house. We expect our
water, our food, and our homes to be kept clean for our use and
health.
This was the principle in view when, in the
1860s, Russian scientists recommended moving the water supply pipes
of St. Petersburg. Untreated sewage flowed into the Neva River a few
hundred yards upstream from the intake pipes for the city's drinking
water.
In 1992, 130 years later, environmentalists
visiting the city of 5 million people were shocked to find that the
situation had not changed. Residents routinely continued to boil the
brownish-yellow water that came from their taps. Many strained their
water through cheesecloth before drinking it. Unboiled, the water
contained toxic bacteria that caused diarrhea, stomach cramps, and
nausea.
Holiness is like clean water that has been set
aside for our use. Holiness is to unholiness what . . .
whole is to broken
usable is to unusable
special is to ordinary
valuable is to worthless
a clear conscience is to guilt honesty is to
deception excellent is to unacceptable pure is to stained good is to
bad happy is to sad fresh is to spoiled gain is to loss complete is
to incomplete
Holiness is a positive term, brimming with
good connotations--if we understand what it truly means and don't
load it down with all the baggage of bad experiences or improper
usage.
What did Peter mean when he said we are to be
holy? At its most basic level, holy (from the Hebrew qodes; Greek
hagios) refers to the condition of being set apart, separated from
others, different. It is a word whose highest meaning is found in
referring to God, and to objects and people that God has set apart
for His own use and service.
In reference to God, holiness speaks of the
vast differences between Him and us in both His nature (such
characteristics as His power, knowledge, glory) and His moral
perfection (His absolute sinlessness). Because God is holy, we
worship Him and can rely on Him to be absolutely good in how He
relates to us.
Sometimes the Scriptures use the same term to
describe temple furniture and objects that were to be set apart for
the sole use of worship and temple service. On other occasions the
term holy is used to describe people chosen and set apart by God to
be His representatives and witnesses among all the nations of the
world.
The term saint sounds different, but it comes
from the same root as holy. In biblical terms, a saint is a person
whom God has set apart for Himself. Saints are not just honored
people of the past. They include real-life, down-to-earth, common
people who have been set apart as the Lord's own special possession,
and as receivers of His special favor. All who know Christ as Savior
are called saints because God has called them His people, His
spiritual children--distinct from nonbelievers (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:2;
Eph. 1:18).
The word sanctification, used often in the New
Testament, is also from the same root word as holy. This word has
three closely related meanings:
1. Sanctification is God's official act of
setting us apart as His forgiven children. In 1 Corinthians 6:11,
after listing several unholy actions, the apostle Paul stated,
"But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
When we put our faith in Christ as our Savior, our only hope of
forgiveness, God cleanses us and declares us His special children,
holy and set apart for service to Him. This might be called
positional holiness. It is ours not because we have earned it but
because we have placed our complete trust and reliance in Christ.
2. Sanctification is the lifelong process
whereby God makes a believer more and more like Jesus. This is where
we find ourselves right here and now, and this is the
set-apart-for-God's- special-use sense of the term that the Bible
spends the most time discussing. Because we have been chosen by God,
our purpose is to live increasingly in a manner that is consistent
with our calling.
While we never arrive at the goal of
Christlike moral perfection in this life, we can for the rest of our
lives experience the results of being in a right relationship to God.
This is the progressive, practical side of holiness.
In a letter to a church in Thessalonica, Paul
wrote, "It is God's will that you should be sanctified" (1
Th. 4:3). A few paragraphs later he said, "May God Himself, the
God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole
spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ" (5:23). These are examples of the many New
Testament texts devoted to helping us understand how we are to grow
in sanctification--to become more holy in practice so that we show by
our actions that we belong to the Lord.
3. Sanctification is the ultimate goal, the
moral perfection that God's spiritual children will one day attain.
In 1 John 3:2-3, the author stated, "Dear friends, now we are
children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But
we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see
Him as He is. Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself,
just as He is pure." We who are children of God will one day be
like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!
What is the basis for God's call to be holy?
The call to holiness is loud and clear in both Old and New
Testaments. In both cases, though separated by hundreds of years and
very different social and cultural situations, the basis is the same.
In both cases, God gives His people overwhelming reasons to be
grateful as they separate themselves for His service and pleasure.
In Leviticus, God said, "I am the LORD
who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore be holy,
because I am holy" (11:45). He reminded the Jews that He had
just delivered them from a life of cruel slavery in Egypt. He had
rescued them by using 10 miraculous plagues, which climaxed in the
night of the Passover, to break the stranglehold of Pharaoh and to
begin leading His people toward the Promised Land.
The foundational motive of gratefulness is
also seen in New Testament calls to holiness. Peter wrote his letter
after the sacrificial death of Christ. He looked back to the Father's
gift of His Son to provide for the salvation of all who would put
their trust in Him (Jn. 3:16-18). Peter reminded his readers,
"You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver
or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down
to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ,
a lamb without blemish or defect" (1 Pet. 1:18-19).
Because of all that God has sacrificed for us,
His people in every age have compelling reasons to let God
distinguish them for His use in the world. Because of what He has
shown us about Himself, we have indisputable reasons to reflect the
moral virtues of the One who has made us and then bought us for
Himself.
In the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, we
read, "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be
holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord" (12:14). Jesus
said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see
God" (Mt. 5:8). According to these statements and others in the
Bible, distancing ourselves from what God hates and associating
ourselves with what He loves are what we need to do (see also Rom.
12:1-2; 2 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 2:14-15).
Is there any hope for us?
At this point we might be thinking, It sounds
like God's standards are unrealistic. If that's what He demands, I
may as well give up now. But don't despair. Remember the encouraging,
down-to-earth example of Peter. He too had his ups and downs. It may
seem to be little comfort, but we're all in the same boat. Nobody in
the world even comes close to being holy in the way God requires. But
there's hope because God is gracious. He can change us, and He has
gone to great lengths to help us along the way.
As we have already seen, in one very important
sense all who have expressed personal faith in Christ are already
holy. There's nothing more to be done. But this is only part of the
total picture--though it is the crucial first step to living a life
that is characterized more and more by holiness.
Why should we be holy? The reasons include:
We were designed to find our fulfillment in a
life that is set apart for God. Sin may seem to bring pleasure, but
in the long run it is self-destructive. It makes sense to live in a
way that reflects our special identity and purpose. God has chosen us
to be special, different, holy, as a testimony of His love and grace
in a world that is infected and enslaved by sin. Holiness is the
appropriate grateful response to the gift of salvation, to the great
price God paid through His Son to rescue us from sin. God is holy,
and if we want to know Him better we must learn to live for Him on
His terms. God commands us to be holy. It's a taste of heaven now
that can help us focus on the wonderful life that awaits us.
What more reason do we need?
Curtis
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