So what is holiness?
- God is holy. Holiness is an essential aspect of God's nature: absolute purity and moral perfection.
How does God's holiness nature apply to me?
- Conforming to the character and will of God. Thinking as God thinks, loving what God loves, hating what God hates, and acting as Christ would act. Having the mind of Christ.
Scripture reference:
I Cor. 2:16 - For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
Philippians 2:5 - Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Old Testament concept of holiness was "separation from and dedication to." Example, the Sabbath was holy because it was separated from work, travel, and other activities and dedicated solely to sacred use.
God commanded His people to be holy, separated from all other people and dedicated to the worship of the one true God. Levitical laws separated the Israelites from other nations in many areas: diet, clothing, appearance, farming practices, Sabbath observance, sanitation, and morality. These laws taught clear distinction between clean and unclean, the holy and profane. The holiness doctrine made Old Testament Judaism unique among ancient religions, particularly in its concept of separation and its linkage of morality and religion.
Scripture reference:
Leviticus 11:44 - For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy:
neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Leviticus 19:1 - 2 - And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say
unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.
Leviticus 20:7 - 8 - Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I am the Lord your God. And ye shall keep my statutes, and
do them: I am the Lord which sanctify you.
Leviticus 11:47 - To make a difference between the unclean and the clean, and between the beast that may be eaten and the
beast that may not be eaten.
Ezekial 22:26 - Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between
the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my
sabbaths, and I am profaned among them.
*** The ceremonial law foreshadowed greater spiritual truths to come through the teaching of Jesus Christ. The new covenant abolished ceremonial types while retaining moral law and spiritual holiness.
Scripture reference:
Galatians 3:24 - 25 - Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
But after that faith is come, we are no long under a schoolmaster.
Hebrews 10:1 - For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with
those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Colossians 2:16 - 17 - Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon,
or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.
Building on the Old Testament concept of holiness what does the New Testament teach us about holiness?
1. Separation from sin and the world system.
2. Dedication to God and His Will.
Just as a person forsakes all other romantic relationships to enjoy the total commitment of a marriage relationship, we do the same when we become a new creature in Christ by not conforming to the ways of the world.
Scripture reference:
Romans 12:1 - 2 - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice,
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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.
II Cor. 6:17 - Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing;
and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
II Cor. 7:1 - Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
Ephesians 4:22 - 24 - That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful
lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness.
Conclusion ...
Holiness simply means to be Christ-like: think like Jesus, love what He loves, and to hate what He hates. To have true holiness is to not fulfill the desires of our flesh but rather put on the personality and mind of Christ. As we become like Jesus our decision-making and actions will become like the question, "What would Jesus do?" In all that we think, say, or do we can ask for Jesus to help us along the way and He will guide us.
