Holiness in the Life of the Believer

Across the borders of denominations we see a wide variety of belief concerning the topic of holiness. In some churches, particularly those of the Methodists, Church of God, Assemblies of God, and Pentecostal Denominations, we see an extreme push for holiness that often leads to a purely legalistic lifestyle. This is a very important thing for us to understand about ourselves, and seek to understand better. Other churches neglect the whole concept of holiness and teach that you can do whatever you want as long as you don’t feel guilty, or perhaps they teach that as long as you repent of it after doing it that there is no issue.

            So what is “holiness”? Why does it matter? What does the Bible have to say concerning the topic? What does this mean to us in the area of Salvation? How does this affect our lives in as a whole? These are the questions that we should be asking ourselves as believers, and we need to think critically and Biblically concerning each and every one of these. No question asked of theology or of the nature of God and our relationship with Him should ever be answered halfheartedly or passively.


           Definitions: let’s begin by looking at some definitions from Miriam-Webster’s Dictionary. Here are the five definitions found on the Miriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary. 1: exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness 2: divine <for the Lord our God is holy — Psalms 99:9(Authorized Version)> 3: devoted entirely to the deity or the work of the deity <aholy temple> <holy prophets> 4a : having a divine quality <holy love>b : venerated as or as if sacred <holy scripture> <a holyrelic> 5—used as an intensive <this is a holy mess> <he was a holyterror when he drank — Thomas Wolfe> ; often used in combination as a mild oath <holy smoke> — ho·li·ly adverb.

            We see that the word for holy definitely points toward God and toward being set apart or “sacred” as many would say.

            In several letters written by Paul, we see the word holy being used to also imply a sense of purity and Christ-like attitude and lifestyle. Throughout the Bible we see a call to holiness to the people of God. Even we as gentiles are called to live holy before our God. In fact, in both the Old and New Testament, there is a sort of requirement of the people of God to be holy, set apart, and pure in their way of living. In 2 Corinthians 7, Paul makes this plea, “Since we have these promises, beloved [Followers of Christ in Corinth], let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.”(ESV) But what did Paul mean in saying these things? What was the context of this verse?

In the verse just before we learn the following

1.      The Corinthians were being restrictive in their affection toward Paul and his fellow travelers.

2.      The Corinthians were taking part in worldly actions and giving themselves over to lawlessness (2 Cor. 6:14)

3.      Paul is obviously addressing what he sees to be a serious problem within the Church of Corinth.

The idea of being holy and set apart is not just something that was required of the Corinthians. Paul told the Colossians that Christ died “in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him [The Father] (Col. 1:22. ESV).”

Leaders are held to an even higher standard because of their role as influencers within the Church Body. Paul writes about this in his letters to Timothy as well as to Titus (1 Timothy 3:1-3, Titus 1:5-8). In both passages Paul states that the “overseer must be above reproach” and he also lists off over qualification that reflect this need for purity, including being the “husband of one wife”, being “sober-minded”, etc.

But why live holy? Why be set apart?

1.      God clearly desires for us to be holy.

a.       In Leviticus He tells the priests to tell His people “be holy, for I the Lord am holy.” And as part of the Church we are “grafted in” to the people of Israel and this becomes part of who were are to be.

b.      The whole reason for the Jerusalem Counsel (Acts 15) was to determine the laws that we as Gentiles must follow. It was a holiness issue!

2.      How can we be a light to the World when we look just like the World?

a.       Romans 12:2 tells us not to be caught up in things this world does or be like them, but to be transformed through the renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit.

b.      The Holy Spirit works in us to make us more holy.

Talking it out: Let the students interact at this point, talk about how we can apply this to our lives ant to our culture today. Ask questions like “how does this affect how we treat others?”, “How does this affect us in our schools, in our jobs?”

           “I have a rock at home that, when I was a child, I took and spray-painted Gold. I kept that rock in my room and pretended like it was real! But it was obvious that it wasn’t real gold, but it did catch people’s attention. The problem is that it has considerably less value because it wasn’t pure Gold. Gold, real gold, is at its highest value when it’s been purified. The question I leave you with is this…are we living our lives in such a way that we look like Gold on the inside, but inside we are nothing more than a rock coated in gold spray-paint? Let us seek to live Holy and listen to the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to lead us and purify us.”

            In the Psalms, David states the following : “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing form the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” (Psalms 24:3-5 ESV). If we want to be people in stand in the presence of God and are led by His Spirit, then we must seek to be holy and have “clean hands” and a “pure heart”. These terms are holistic, speaking of the whole being pure.

·         We must have “clean hands”

o   This term gives us the impression of having innocence in deed.

o   Pilot “washed his hands” of the death of Jesus.

o    In the same sense we are seeing that David is saying that those whose deeds are blameless are able to come before God

·         And a “Pure heart”

o   Not only are our deeds to be blameless, but our intentions as well

o   We must not forget that God looks at the hearts of men and judges them accordingly.

o   What good is it for to do what is right, if our intentions are evil in nature?

As Christians, we must strive to be Spirit-led people. We must work to honor God and to show His Nature to everyone around us. Let us make ourselves humble before God and seek to be pure and holy vessels, useful to the Spirit for the sake of His kingdom.

Work Cited

“The Holy Bible”. ESV. Crossway Bibles Publishing. Wheaton, Illinois. 2008

“Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary”. Online Resource. <http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/holy>