The Call to Holiness – Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.   Isa. 6:3

The Call to Holiness

Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.   Isa. 6:3

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.  Eph. 4:24

There is a great emphasis in today’s Evangelical culture on the love of God.  The Bible states quite plainly and boldly that “God is love.”  However, the holiness of God, which is equally a part of His essential nature is not emphasized nearly as often as love from contemporary pulpits.  In order to know God properly for who He is and what He requires of man, one must understand both aspects of His being, His holiness as well as His love.  In order to distinguish divine love from human affection the holiness of God must be seen clearly and understood correctly.  A Christian cannot practice love, truly and spiritually without being holy.  There is a sense in which all genuine Christians have been made righteous and holy in that these qualities have been imputed to him by means of Christ’s shed blood.  But that imputed righteousness must be authenticated by a practical outworking of holiness in the life of everyone who professes to know God in Christ.  Practical holiness, therefore is not optional for the believer, but rather a command, a necessity and his destiny.

As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:   But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.  1Pet. 1:14-16

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…  Rom. 8:29

It must be emphasized that love and holiness cannot be separated, nor can they be isolated in the life of a Christian, one to the exclusion of the other.  Any attempt to do so is to miss the essence of Biblical Christianity and to misunderstand the very nature of God, who is both holy and loving.  This is, perhaps the great error of today’s generation of Christians.  The basic Gospel message is, indeed a statement of both the love and the holiness of God.  “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” Why was it necessary for God to give His Son as a propitiation for our sins?  Simply because God is holy and He cannot tolerate sin.  The act of sending Christ to die for sin is a demonstration of His great love in view of His absolute and uncompromising holiness.  It therefore would behoove us, as supposed followers of God in Christ, to search out and to dwell on this truth of the importance of holiness, and to find out what holiness truly is.

Probably the most basic idea in holiness as set forth in Scripture is God’s utter apartness, or separation from His creation.

Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness…?  Ex. 15:11

Being entirely unique, God is utterly perfect, utterly pure and absolutely consistent in all of His moral and spiritual traits.  His holiness is said to beautiful and we are commanded to worship Him in “the beauty of holiness.”[1]  Whereas creation is tainted with sin, an absolute moral purity emanates from God’s being as a result of his separateness from nature.  This fact is, in one sense incomprehensible to the fallen human mind, and yet humanity is accountable for its lack of holiness and obedience to their Creator by virtue of the conscience that He has instilled in them.  Rom. 2:15.  By sending His Son into the world to die for fallen man, God stated, among other things His desire and intention to restore all of nature, including mankind to a state of holiness consistent with His nature.  He didn’t go to the extremity of sending His Son to die on the cross so that those He redeemed could continue on in the unholiness of their sin and selfishness.  See Romans chapter six.

What then is holiness, and why is it so misunderstood, mischaracterized, de-emphasized and even disparaged today?  In this essay we wish to deal with the first part of the question, “What is true holiness?” and leave the second part, that is the “why’s of its absence” for another message at another time.  Holiness is simply being Christ-like in a thoroughly consistent way.  The natural (carnal) response to the call to holiness is that Christ was divine and we are merely human, thus making the consistent holiness that Christ exhibited impossible for the Christian to achieve here on the earth.  A number of statements in the New Testament refute this assertion.

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.  2Pet. 1:4

While we as redeemed mortals may not achieve absolute perfection while living on the earth, we are, nevertheless commanded to strive for holiness in our lives while journeying to heaven.  Excuses for carnal, unholy living amongst Christians (again, this is not our subject here) abound in today’s church culture.  It is the practical lifestyle of the Christian, and how it can and must conform to the will and even to the nature of God that we are concerned with in this message.  A host of passages in the Old as well as in the New Testament come to mind.  Holiness is both an inward disposition in the believer, as well as an outward way of living and behaving.  Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the pure in heart, etc.”  See Matthew Chapter 5.  These are the inward characteristics possessed and nurtured by the one who desires holiness.  If these inclinations are truly present in the heart and soul of a man or a woman, then obedience to the imperatives and commandments of Scripture are only a natural out-flowing of that person’s life.  For a man to love his wife, a wife to submit to her husband, and for a child to obey his parents from the heart are all impossible apart from the transformation of the new birth and divine impartation of these qualities to the individual.  Even then, obedience to the commands of Scripture are not automatic.  The exertion of faith is continuously necessary in order to cultivate the fruit of holiness in the life of the believer.  This is salvation (or sanctification, if you will) by faith, not by works.  A works-oriented salvation would be characterized by good works performed for the purpose of earning righteousness, rather than expressing the righteousness that has been imparted to the Christian by virtue of Christ’s death and resurrection.

Since God is separate from His creation, and entirely apart from it in a moral and spiritual sense, so holiness for the child of God is an utter apartness from the world around him.  This is not isolation in the sense of monasticism, asceticism, or mysticism[2] in any way, but an inward apartness that manifests in a practical separateness from the culture of this present world.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  Rom. 12:2

The Christian is in the world, but he does not think, act or conform to the world in his habits, tastes, dress or any of the other patterns set around him.  He doesn’t reason pragmatically in order to compromise his testimony to the world by the way he lives.  He is willing to be misunderstood and even persecuted and rejected by the people of the world because of his distinctness, and for his stand on righteousness.  Moreover, it is in his response to this misunderstanding and persecution, by not retaliating against it that he truly testifies to the grace of God.

“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.”  Rom. 12: 21.

          It must also be emphasized that holiness is not mere social, religious or political conservatism.  Many a “conservative” Christian and “conservative” church are dead in their carnal, unholy, and self-oriented manner of thinking and living.  However, there is a certain conservatism that a truly holy person manifests in his life.  His dress, and all of his activity reflect this.  Nevertheless, being conservative cannot be equated with being separated in the Biblical sense.  On the other hand, pragmatic compromise with the world for the supposed sake of “winning them to Christ” is equally unholy and displeasing to the holy God.  Fervent love for one another and for those outside the household of God must, therefore be under-girded with a steadfast commitment to holy living, and holy communication of uncompromised truth.  When delivering the Gospel to the non-believer, the faithful Christian presents a balanced message, incorporating both the judgment and wrath of God, as well as His love for all men.  Giving sandwiches to the lost, who are hungry without telling them of their need for repentance is not love in the spiritual sense.  It is human pity, not godly compassion.  The true disciple of Christ holds steadfastly onto both of the aspects of holiness and love as he travels the narrow way to his destiny in God’s everlasting kingdom.  Because he knows and loves God, and truly loves his neighbor, he speaks the truth to him in love.

Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.  Heb. 12:14

[1] 1Chron. 16:29; 2Chron. 20:21; Ps. 29:2; Ps. 96:9

[2] Monasticism and asceticism  both refer to an extremely austere lifestyle entailing denial of nearly all physical and mental pleasures in order to achieve a greater level of spiritual freedom and elevation.  Mysticism connotes a spirituality based upon an inward experience achieved through  meditation and contemplation.

 W. Michael Clark