What is Holiness?

From Chapter One In its strictest (vertical) sense, holiness means being set apart for perfect and complete unity with God. It is the lifestyle that Jesus demonstrated as He walked this earth as a man. John quotes Jesus as saying, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30) and “…I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.” (Joh 8:28) In holiness, we submit ourselves to God’s will, saying, “Father…not my will, but thine, be done” (Luk 22:42). We must build our lives on this rock-solid foundation of holiness with God if we want to weather the storms of life and not be destroyed by them (Matt 7:24,25). On the horizontal level, Christ instructs us to love others as ourselves and do unto them as you would have them do unto you. We must treat others with the same respect and compassion we have for ourselves. Indeed, this is the first step in establishing a holy relationship. However, I believe there is a second step that is as critical as the first. That is the step of commitment. The prophet Amos asks the question: “How can two walk together unless they agree” (to walk together)? (Amos 3:3; emphasis mine) The most well-known example of a holy relationship on earth is the bond that two enter through marriage. They commit to each other “for better, or for worse, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, till death do us part.” In that union, each has a role to perform, which complements the other and enables the marriage union to function despite future difficulties. Paul uses the analogy of marriage in the fifth chapter of Ephesus to help clarify the holy relationship between Christ and the church. I will discuss these in more detail in later chapters. But to take things a step further, it would seem God has designed all living organisms to exhibit perfect harmony between parts and the whole. We see it in human and animal life, where all the body’s functions, mediated by the brain, are perfectly coordinated. We also see it in plant life, as roots, stalks, branches, and leaves all work together for the plant’s growth and propagation. Finally, we can consider the interrelationships between plants and animals, where plants provide oxygen for animal life and animals provide carbon dioxide for the plants. All of these relationships – between parts and wholes and between wholes- illuminate what God’s holiness is like and what its implications are for human personal and spiritual connections. In the thirteenth chapter of Corinthians, Paul states that we must maintain three qualities in our relationships with others. I have already mentioned love. The other two are faith and hope. These three spiritual qualities, together, make up the foundation of holiness, just as gravel, cement, and water are the ingredients of a concrete foundation. These qualities are not qualities that we bring to holiness but are attributes of God that we share with God as we participate in His divine nature (II Pet 1:4). It is the faith of God, the hope of God, and the charity, or the sacrificial love, of God that gives holiness its great sense of purity and beauty. Only as these qualities of God permeate and flow through us do we experience what it means to be a sanctified and holy child of God. As we look at the quality of faith, I would like to note that the KJV uses the phrase “faith of Jesus,” whereas other translations use the phrase “faith in Jesus” (Gal 2:16). Both phrases can be technically correct translations; however, I think it is essential to realize that our faith is in Christ and originates with Jesus. The writer of Hebrews states: “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Heb 12:2 emphasis mine) The faith of Jesus, authored and completed in us, gives us the capacity to have faith in Jesus. Because our faith originates in Christ, I believe faith qualifies as a foundational component of holiness. Paul states that “the just shall live by faith” (Rom 1:17, Gal 3:11, Heb 10:38). To have a holy relationship with God or another person, you must have faith in the truth and viability of what they have said or promised, to the point that you will act on it. It isn’t reasonable to think you can have a holy relationship with someone you can’t trust. But learning to trust may take time. When I married my wife 57 years ago, I didn’t realize I had entered that marriage carrying deep betrayal and rejection wounds. As a result, even after we were married, I lived a very independent and self-sufficient life, burying myself in work. I committed my life to three different professions at one time— school principal, pastor, and photo lab technician. To put it mildly, my family suffered. My wife eventually reached a point where she cried out to God, telling him that because He put us together, she would not divorce me, but that she did feel like dying. It became a turning point in our marriage when she finally dared to tell me about her conversation with God and how miserable she felt. I finally realized the pain she was going through because of her devotion to me. Her honesty opened my eyes to the fact that she was a woman I could fully trust. She would never leave me or forsake me. That experience was one of the great healing experiences of my life, and as a result, the foundation of holiness began to grow in our marriage. The same thing is true on a spiritual level; we will not walk in holiness with God unless we wake up to the fact that God is entirely trustworthy.