A central
theme throughout the New Testament, involving approximately 258 passages, is
holiness. The Bible says that God is
holy, Jesus is holy, and His children are commanded to be holy. Our physical body is called the temple of God
and is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit.
The writer of Hebrews states, “without holiness no man shall see the
Lord”, and the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Peter, modifies and quotes
Leviticus, “Be holy for I am holy”, in the Greek aorist imperative as a
command. Five related Greek words were translated into the various tenses of
the words holy, sanctify, and saint. Hagios, the primary root, is translated
“Holy” 162 times, and “Saint” 62 times, God indicating His expectation even in
the name He gave His children... Saints!
Hagios,
holy, means: to be clean, pure, blameless in heart and life, without blemish.
Fundamentally, the idea is separation, consecration and devotion to God,
sharing in God’s purity and abstaining from earth’s defilement. Holiness is
God’s innermost nature, and has a moral content, standing opposed to physical
or spiritual impurity. Anything God commands, grace enables. The Holy Spirit
indwells man to encourage and empower godly choices: Holiness is the product of
our right choices.
The word
holy appears in 554 Bible passages, mostly in reference to the Godhead and the
elect. The predominate biblical description of the character and nature of
Christ and His Bride… His Body… His Church -- the Church He is coming back for
-- is Holy. The characteristic of God
that stands above all else is “Holy”, and in His Holiness we find love,
faithfulness, power and all the other characteristics of God. God is Holy! It is clear from a multitude of
scriptures that God wants His children... born again believers, to be Holy as
He is Holy. This is not the externally
clean outside of the “cup” holiness many show to the world as a pretense, but
true inner holiness of the heart… purity of thoughts and desires. Holiness is
the product of a transformed life... a changed heart that passionately pursues
God.
Transformation is the regenerating
life process of “Crucify – Renew – Transform”, which completes the
sanctification process of the Holy Spirit as the believer progressively grows
into Christlikeness... into holiness. In Transformation we willfully submit to
the Lordship of Christ -- recognizing our chains of enslavement to sin are
broken -- and willfully die daily to Self and Self’s interests and desires
while willfully setting our minds on things above, all of which renews our mind
to reflect Christ’s mind. Notice these “willfuls” are all willful, purposeful
acts: We choose to be holy. Holiness is not an imitation of Christ’s life; it
is a participation in Christ as the indwelling Spirit of God manifests Christ
releasing His indwelling life… His character, virtues, values, and attitude,
within us. It is the indwelling Christlife living its life through us as our
life that makes us holy.
Holiness is
not that we don’t do things we think God disapproves of; it’s that we love Him so much that we like the same things He likes - we
become like Him. We allow the Holy
Spirit to change us, forming and manifesting Christ in us, and we count the
things we give up as “dung” in comparison to the love of Jesus. We allow no habit, no desire, absolutely
nothing of this life to have any hold on us, becoming people of One Thing…
Jesus!
In Matthew
5:19-48 Jesus repeatedly evokes the higher moral standards Grace requires --
part of the new covenant commandments of our Lord -- standards which address
the heart thoughts that drive all our words and actions. Our obedience to our
Lord’s commandments -- to the extent of our understanding -- not only
demonstrates our love for Him, but paces our transformation into
Christlikeness. “Therefore you shall be perfect”: “Perfect”, teleio in the
Greek, means spiritually mature, having the holy nature of God. This is what
the Apostle Paul was referring to in Rom. 8:29 when He says God predestined
believers to be “conformed into the image (nature) of His Son.” Saints, we are
to be transformed into Christlikeness! “Therefore you shall be perfect, just
like your Father in heaven is perfect.” Jesus wants us to be like Himself and
like the Father… like our Daddy!
And our
response:
“NOT MY WILL, BUT YOURS, BE DONE”
(1 Cor.3:16-17, 6:19-20; Heb. 12:14; 1 Peter 1:16; Matt. 23:25-28; Matt.
5:19-48; Lk. 22:42)
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