What is Holiness?

 “Be holy as I am holy”, says the Lord God Almighty.

What is Holiness for a Christian?

In the verses below we can see that it has always been God’s intention for His people to be holy because He is holy. The Lord tells us to consecrate ourselves and be holy.

To consecrate oneself means to dedicate oneself to a higher purpose, for a Christian today this means our purpose is to dedicate ourselves to God through Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.

In the Old Testament God instructed the Israelites, His chosen people, to be holy like Him. If we look at the Hebrew word for ‘holy’ we see that it is ‘qadosh’ (Strong’s 6918: pronounced ‘kaw-doshe’) and its meaning is sacred, holy. And its expanded meaning is: separated apart and consecrated to God; separate from human infirmity and sin. The Levitical priests had to be separated in this way with all the ceremonial washings and cleansing before they were allowed to enter God’s presence.

Lev 11:44 (NIV)

I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.

Deuteronomy 23:14 (NIV)

For the Lord your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy, so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you.

The Apostle Peter quoted this scripture (Lev 11:44) in 1 Peter 1:15-16 and thus we know without a shadow of doubt that this instruction still applies to Christians today!

1 Peter 1:15 (NIV)

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.”

1 Timothy 1:9

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time.

Holiness is a characteristic of who God is, and as such holiness should be of paramount importance to us as believers, because without it we will never see God!

Hebrews 12:14 (NIV)

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.

Let’s first understand what the word ‘holy’ means from the original Greek text of the New Testament.

Holiness in the verse above is from the Greek word ‘hagiotes’ meaning holiness or sanctity. Hagiotes is derived from the Greek adjective ‘hagios’ which means set apart (for God) for the specific purpose of being holy and sacred.

From this we can safely conclude that God expects us, as Christians, to set ourselves apart to be holy to Him. In fact, Heb 12:14 above states quite emphatically that we won’t see the Lord unless we pursue holiness.

Also, as we endeavour to pursue holiness, we will experience a measure of pain as He chastises us for our own good, through the process of dying to self.

Nevertheless, this chastising process will yield within us the peaceable fruit of holiness and righteousness in Christ Jesus.

Hebrew 12:9-11 (NLT)

9 Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?

10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

In other words, that which is holy belongs to God, and conversely whatever belongs to God is holy. We are sanctified and "set apart for a holy use or purpose" by God, and to find out what our use and purpose is in Christ Jesus we need to live life in the Spirit.

We, as born-again Christians, are now set apart as holy by the cleansing blood of Jesus – we are now a royal priesthood – each and every one of us who are true believers.

1 John 1:7 (AMP)

but if we [really] walk in the Light [that is, live each and every day in conformity with the precepts of God], as He Himself is in the Light, we have [true, unbroken] fellowship with one another [He with us, and we with Him], and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin [by erasing the stain of sin, keeping us cleansed from sin in all its forms and manifestations].

1 Peter 2:9-10 (AMP)

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a [special] people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies [the wonderful deeds and virtues and perfections] of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 10 Once you were not a people [at all], but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

God has selected us to be His children, His sons and daughters and has called us to come out of this world, to be different and separate from the rest of the world. Jesus said,

John 17:14-16 (NIV)

14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.

The Christian must live in this present evil world, but his life must be different from the lives of the other people, the unbelievers that are in the world – who are not born-again, who do not know Jesus as Lord and Saviour. In other words, our lives and the way and manner in which we live, must reflect God’s holiness.

If you are a Christian and you still get drunk, that is not holiness!

If you are a Christian and you still swear, that is not holiness!

If you are a Christian and you still gossip, that is not Holiness!

In fact, as a Christian anything you do that is contrary to the Word of God is not holiness and without holiness no one will see the Lord!

Christians should be living their lives in a manner that is worthy of Jesus and in a manner that will bring glory to His Name!

Jesus is the Word – know Jesus and know the Word!

John 1:14 (NIV)

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

We are in the world, but we are not of the world, we have been separated from the world and from sin by the blood of Jesus!

John 15:19 (NIV)

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.

We, as born again believers in Christ Jesus, must come out from any of this world's ways that are sinful and evil, out from the religious and spiritual "Babylon" that is this whole worldly lifestyle.

Revelation 18:4 (NIV)

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

“‘Come out of her (the world), my people,’[Jer 51:45)

so that you will not share in her sins,

so that you will not receive any of her plagues;

Making such a distinction and living by it is one of the many ways that God's true servants are different from the rest of the world.

Instead of being immersed in the lawless and sinful ways of the world, we should put our thoughts on better, higher things:

Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9 Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

This scripture makes is very clear that we should avoid filling our minds with entertainment that is sinful: void of (God’s) love, lustful, sexually illicit or that is filled with murder, hatred, evil and all other such things.

We often justify our sinful actions by saying things like: "It’s only a song — it's only make-believe, it's only a movie, that’s who I am."

On the contrary, the Bible says this:

2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV)

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

We cannot call ourselves Christians and continue to walk in the ways of the world – we must walk in the way of the Spirit (be holy)! Christians need to be different from the rest of this world — to say no to sin, to evil and to wrong things as it is written:

2 Corinthians 7:1 (NLT)

Because we have these promises, dear friends, let us cleanse ourselves from everything that can defile our body or spirit. And let us work toward complete holiness because we fear God.

We will continue to be holy if we live a life of holiness and hold on to the reverent fear of God. That is the way of obedience and conformity with God's ways and His Word. That is living life in the Spirit. When we live life in the Spirit, we will bring glory to Jesus!

God wants a glorious Church without spot or blemish. Jesus gave his life for the Church in order to make her holy. Jesus likened His love for the Church (His bride) as a Christian husband should love his wife:

Ephesians 5:25-27 (AMP)

25 Husbands, love your wives [seek the highest good for her and surround her with a caring, unselfish love], just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, 26 so that He might sanctify the church, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word [of God], 27 so that [in turn] He might present the church to Himself in glorious splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy [set apart for God] and blameless.

Only in Christ Jesus and in the power of the Holy Spirit are we able to live a holy and righteous life – we have to be born-again!

If you have been reading this article and you are not a born-again Christian and have not asked Jesus to be your Lord and Saviour and you sincerely want to from the bottom of your heart, just pray a simple prayer something like this:

Dear Lord Jesus, I bow before you as a sinner. I ask you to come into my heart and be my Lord and Saviour. I repent and turn away from my sinful life and I ask you to lead me on the path of holiness and righteousness from now on and for evermore. Amen!

If you have prayed this prayer, congratulations you are now a born-again Christian and a true son of God in Christ Jesus!

Prayer:
Dear Father God
I pray in Jesus name that you would help me to live a holy life as Jesus did. I pray that you would help me to be a doer of the Word and not just a reader. Lord help me to be holy as you are holy and help me to separate my life from the world and become truly yours. Amen!

To Jesus belongs all glory, honour and praise!

Jesus, the Name above all Names!