When I first saw the word for this week, holiness, I figured I’d discuss God’s holiness, because He is the only one who is truly holy. Holiness is an attribute of God that we can never achieve as humans, since we are sinful and we are not perfect; being holy is being without sin. But then I read some definitions on holiness, and it is something we should all strive for.
According to my theological dictionary, holiness is “the devotion and purity of life associated with Christian discipleship, in which ones lives according to God’s will and exhibits that commitment in all areas of behavior.” Isn’t that what we should all be doing as Christians? We need to be disciples (or learners/imitators) of Christ. We need to live according to God’s will, what He wants for our lives. And we need to be committed to God in everything that we do. Before today, I had never seen that sort of definition of holiness before. I have always had the mentality that holiness is simply defined as not sinning, and thus it’s completely unattainable. But the above definition seems a little more concrete and detailed.
How do we exhibit holiness? Do what Jesus Christ did. Live as Jesus Christ tells us to live, and be fully committed to that lifestyle. Even though that is still a somewhat unreachable goal in my life, since unfortunately I do often stray from living like Jesus, it feels like something I can at least try to do. I can’t wrap my mind around trying to be holy as God is holy; but I can understand these simple instructions for life, since they are what every Christian should strive for anyway.
This is elaborated on in 1 Peter 3:14-16, where Peter writes, “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.’” Peter is quoting this from any of three verses in the Old Testament - Leviticus 11:44, 11:45, and 19:2. In these verses, God is commanding the people of Israel to be holy because He is holy and because of what He has done for them. When Peter repeats these commands, it shows us that they apply to us too. We should strive to be holy because of who God is - He is holy.
14 comments:
Katie,
You described holiness in these terms... "being holy is being without sin" suggesting that holiness describes moral character or behavior. I'm struggling to agree with your definition of "holiness". I also understand holiness in terms of being set apart. But that is a discussion for another time and place.
I would prefer to include in the description of "sin" in terms of what we are as much as what we do or don't do. With that in mind I believe that anything that is "not of faith" is sin.
So I would respectfully ask this: How can we who are sinful creatures (the result of the Fall)become holy by are own actions or behaviors?
Dean,
The short answer is that we cannot. I don't think that's what Katie was trying to say, but I don't want to speak for her either. Maybe she can give a better answer. My personal opinion is that she was talking about how we should strive for holiness as defined by the dictionary of theological terms that she uses. She was clear that it is a very intimidating word because we know we cannot be holy as God is (sinless). But the definition she found in that dictionary at least gives us a goal we can press on toward, as Paul says in Philippians 3. As far as what is our responsibility with holiness and what is ultimately God's work, PLEASE check out the blog post that will be up on Thursday. I think your question may be answered there. Thanks for continuing to read and interact with our blogs!
Logan
Logan did a great job of speaking for me! I agree with you that we cannot achieve holiness by our own actions or behaviors; in fact, without God's Spirit living in us, we can't do anything whatsoever to even approach that goal. Holiness is unattainable for all humans (this side of heaven), because as you pointed out Dean, we are sinful by nature. But just because holiness is unattainable doesn't mean we shouldn't strive for it.
Holiness also does have an aspect of being "set apart," but as you said that is a different nuance of the word. If I were writing a 2nd post on holiness, that's where I'd go with it. :)
So are you suggesting that although we can never attain "holiness" (using your definition)here in this life, we must still strive to be holy nevertheless?
Isn't that the same thing as asking each of us to keep the 10 Commandments, the Law?
My point here is two-fold...1) Your definition of holiness suggests that as disciples of Christ holiness must/should be our goal. and 2) does not such definitions take away from Christ's work and rather burdens us as disciples with something only God can do?
[Please don't get me wrong ... I am NOT suggesting antinomianism, btw)
Thoughts?
Dean, I appreciate your thoughts and I understand what you're trying to say.
We should want to pursue holiness not because we have to, but because we want to honor God. We honor God by desiring to be like Christ (however unattainable that may be), and Christ is holy. Only God is holy; humans cannot be. But we desire to honor Him by striving to be like Him. Does that make sense?
I think all this will become more clear with Logan's blog post tomorrow, so please watch for that.
We cannot be holy. To be holy, as an attribute (noun form) is like to be loving, to be kind, or to be beautiful. That is the God attribute which is pure (holy) that we simply do not possess.
Holy is also a verb. This different holy is possible for us to achieve because we can choose holiness, do holiness, or practice holiness. Holiness (verb form) is simply the opposite of sin. Actively choosing God’s will is practicing holiness just as choosing selfishness is sin. We are blessed with a free will to make this choice.
Compare holiness to light. God IS holy and God IS light. We cannot ‘be’ holy or ‘be’ light. However we can choose to walk in holiness and walk in light, rather than choosing sin and darkness. Hebrews 12 talks about this discipline of holiness.
I hope this helps
1 Thessalonians 4: 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given[a] us His Holy Spirit.
We cannot be holy. To be holy, as an attribute (noun form) is like to be loving, to be kind, or to be beautiful. That is the God attribute which is pure (holy) that we simply do not possess.
Holy is also a verb. This different holy is possible for us to achieve because we can choose holiness, do holiness, or practice holiness. Holiness (verb form) is simply the opposite of sin. Actively choosing God’s will is practicing holiness just as choosing selfishness is sin. We are blessed with a free will to make this choice.
Compare holiness to light. God IS holy and God IS light. We cannot ‘be’ holy or ‘be’ light. However we can choose to walk in holiness and walk in light, rather than choosing sin and darkness. Hebrews 12 talks about this discipline of holiness.
I hope this helps
1 Thessalonians 4: 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given[a] us His Holy Spirit.
Thanks for your comments, Bri! That's where I was going with my post - that we cannot be holy, but we can try to walk in holiness. Thanks for reading the blogs! :)
Wow ... Bri's comments takes us in another direction altogether, something perhaps for another day. I would say that the opposite of sin is NOT holy or holiness , but rather faith.
And using Bri's text (and argument)from 1 Thes 4 I would say that it is God as the active agent here that MAKES us holy in Christ Jesus. It is NOT (in my opinion) a call to holiness as if we could be or do such a thing. Look again at the text.
This text is a pronouncement of the Gospel, what God is doing, has done, and will continue to do for us in Christ. It is not an imperative or command to "holiness", an action on our part.
That being said, what I was trying to initially get to with this conversation is to suggest that our idea of "holy" (from the dictionary that Katie cited) is so limited compared to the Hebraic understanding of the word. And often in our zeal to describe the LORD we confine God to a human understanding, using terminology like sinless, pure, purity, etc.
For the ancient Hebrew (and I immediately think of Isaiah Chp 6) it was more than the LORD's purity, holiness (using the first definition) or sinlessness that drove the prophet to say that he "was undone". It was God's transcendence ... His other-ness... something impossible for us to either fully comprehend or describe as the creature.
Dean,
Thursday morning just can't get here fast enough :). It's amazing to me that you put the word "MAKE" in all caps because that is precisely the point (and method by which I chose to make it) of my post. And just remember, I wrote it on Monday night, before there were any comments on Katie's post or anything. God definitely used this week's word to make a point to anyone who is reading these blogs about how much we must depend on Him and stop thinking we can pursue something that is only done by His work.
Logan
Amen, Brother ... Amen!
Hey Katie, I almost struggled with the definition you provided about holiness, BUT when we put it into the context of God's holiness, God is pure, God is righteous, God is just, God is good. We are commanded to be holy as God is holy and so I TOTALLY AGREE with your call to holiness.
I saw somebody comment that the opposite of sin is not holiness, but faith. I have to say I disagree, although I understand where they were going. faith is for the sinner. We are all sinners. Holiness is being set apart. And I would add that there are two types of holiness. 1)God's holiness, which I have heard described as holy, holy, holy and 2)man's holiness, which can only be achieved through accepting Jesus Christ, by faith, that he may be set apart from the world despite his sin. It is then the repentant sinners duty, privelege, and honor, to seek the Lord, daily, and conform to the image of Christ. Great post Katie!
I would have to disagree that we can't achieve Holiness in this life. I don't think Jesus would say "Be Holy as I am Holy" if that was impossible to do. Holiness is the character of God and we achieve that by a consecration of ourself to his divine purpose and a sanctifying grace by the work of His Holy Spirit. I believe their is a process in which we walk with the Lord. It starts with prevenient grace where God draws us to himself and then as we open ourselves up to God the Holy Spirit works by convincing us of our sin and our need for Christ and this is when regeneration(new birth, salvation, initial sanctification) begins and the power of original sin is broken but, we can still choose to sin but, we have more of an inclination toward righteousness than to sin. Then further a long the journey as we grow as Christians I believe their is this crisis period when we really decide to be a follower instead of a mere fan of Christ and our hearts are cleansed. 1 Thessalonians 4:3 talks about how sanctification is the will of God, that we come to a point where we become total devoted followers of Christ. It doesn't mean that we won't ever sin again. It just means God doesn't expect us to because that power has been broken and we have matured in grace.
Scott, thanks for your comment! I would ask you this question: can holiness and sin exist together, at the same time?
Also, you said in your comment, "Holiness is the character of God and we achieve that by a consecration of ourself to his divine purpose and a sanctifying grace by the work of His Holy Spirit." Are you saying that we can achieve the character of God, thus being like Him?
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