Holiness in the Church

Holiness in the Church

According to the O.T. things or places were holy that were set apart for a sacred purpose; the opposite of holy is therefore common or profane. Similarly a holy person meant one who held a sacred office. The Israelites were a holy people because they stood in a special relationship to Jehovah. under the guidance of the Prophets it was seen that what distinguished Jehovah from the gods of the heathen was his personal character. The word HOLY therefore came to refer to moral character. Israel must be holy in character because the God of Israel was holy. The Law of Holiness shows how the attempt was made by means of ceremonial observance to secure this holiness of character. The attempt failed because the later Jews observed the letter and neglected the spirit; they attached more importance to the ceremonial than to the moral; and the result was a lapse into formalism. But in the writings of the Prophets it is clearly laid down that the value of worship in the eyes of God depends upon the personal character of the worshipper.

Whether we like it or not, there is no avoiding the fact that we are called to be holy. It's not just an Old Testament concept that's swept away in the New Testament - the Old Testament tell us: take the way of holiness and be holy, for I am holy,(1) it is repeated and even amplified in Peter's letter. In Hebrews we read: Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy, without holiness no one will see the Lord. (2). Holiness is so important that without it, you will not see th Lord, either here in this life or the life to come. The problem is that, on the whole, we don't like it. The idea of holiness seems intimidating or fearful to us. We feel it as a duty rather than a privilege. Too often, if we're honest with ourselves, our emotional gut-reaction is that we want to sin, but we're prepared to do God a favour and withhold that pleasure from ourselves. Yet the bible talks as though it expects us to be holy as a matter of course. In fact, it says that we are holy - it says that's our identity, and it seems to take it for granted that it's also how we'll behave: it says we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.