Chapter Ten: Holiness
CHAPTER TEN
Holiness
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
1 JOHN 1:5
The outward evidence of godliness is Godlike character. Although it is this character that is usually thought of as godliness, as we have seen in earlier chapters, Godlikeness in character is built upon the foundation of God-centeredness: devotion to God.
If we want to develop godly character, we must learn what the Bible says about the character of God Himself. The apostle John gives us two statements about God that together sum up the biblical revelation of God’s character: “God is light” (1 John 1:5) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8). The Christian who wants to train himself to be godly must understand the meaning of these statements about the character of God and must appropriate their teachings in his life.
What was John telling us about the character of God when he made the statement, “God is light”? Professor Howard Marshall explains, “Two notions became associated with God as light. One was that of revelation and salvation . . . the other is that of holiness; light symbolizes the flawless perfection of God.”[25] In 1 John 1:5, it is the idea of God’s holiness that is in view. God is absolutely holy; in Him there is not the slightest hint of any moral flaw. A well-known soap has been advertised as being “99.44 percent pure.” While that may be quite an achievement for soap, it would be blasphemous as a statement about God. God is infinitely perfect in His holiness. Not the slightest degree of sin taints His character.
To be Godlike in our character, then, is first of all to be holy. The practice of godliness involves the pursuit of holiness because God has said, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Paul tells us that we have been called to a holy life; we have been redeemed for that purpose. Any Christian not earnestly pursuing holiness in every aspect of his life is flying in the face of God’s purpose in saving him.
What is holiness? The best practical definition that I have heard is simply “without sin.” That is the statement that was made of the Lord Jesus’ life on earth (see Hebrews 4:15), and that should be the goal of every person who desires to be godly. Granted, we will never reach that goal in this life; nevertheless, it is to be our supreme objective and the object of our most earnest efforts and prayers.
John said that he wrote his first letter so his readers would not sin (see 1 John 2:1). Most Christians seem content not to sin very much, but John’s goal was that we not sin at all. Every sin, no matter how small it may seem to us, is an affront to God’s authority, a disregard for His law, a spurning of His love. Because of this, sin cannot be tolerated in any form, to any degree. That “inconsequential” lie, that “just a little bit” of dishonesty, that fleeting lustful look, offends our holy God and wages war against our own souls (see 1 Peter 2:11).
When Paul was instructing Timothy about his relationship with younger women, he said to treat them “as sisters, with absolute purity” (1 Timothy 5:2). His every thought, look, and act toward them was to be conditioned by a perfect standard of holiness —absolute purity. When Paul was instructing the Ephesian Christians about the importance of holiness, he said, “I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do” (4:17). He insisted on holiness, and he did so with the Lord’s authority. Holiness is not an option but a must for every Christian.
Even for the most godly Christian, there will be failure in the pursuit of holiness. The apostle John says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves” (1 John 1:8). We still have a sinful nature within us, and we still live in a wicked world ruled by a wicked Devil. Temptation is on every hand, and our old nature responds to it. But what is the desire of our hearts? What is the object of our most earnest prayers? What is the major bent of our lives? If we want to train ourselves to be godly, it must be holiness in every area of our lives.
But let’s get specific. When Paul exhorted the Ephesian Christians to a life of holiness, to stop living as the Gentiles did, he dealt with three general areas of morality: honesty (a refusal to lie, steal, or deceive in any way); peaceableness (freedom from bitterness, anger, or strife of any kind); and purity (not even a hint of sexual immorality in word, look, thought, or act).
We all acknowledge the need for Christians to walk circumspectly in each of these areas. At the same time, we recognize how increasingly difficult it is to do so. Honesty and purity are no longer essential elements of our culture. Lying, cheating, and stealing have become commonplace in business, education, and sports. Sexual immorality is no longer an issue; it is an accepted practice in almost every area of society. And our soaring divorce rate and litigious society are symptoms of our desperate need for peaceableness.
The Christians of Paul’s day lived in the same kind of society; quite possibly it was even worse. Paul said of the non-Christians of Ephesus, “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more” (4:19). Things couldn’t have gotten much worse in the culture those first-century Christians lived in. Yet in the midst of such gross ungodliness, the Christians were expected to put off the traits of their sinful natures and to put on the traits of righteousness and holiness.
God expects no less of us today. Our responsibility to pursue holiness, even in the midst of a wicked society, is just as great as was the first century Christians’. Yes, it gets more difficult each year; the temptations seem more numerous, the ridicule of the ungodly toward those who seek to live a godly life grows more abusive. But we are still called to be holy as He is holy. We cannot and must not evade God’s standard for us.
How do we pursue holiness? Some time ago I heard a seminary professor tell of a friend who would frequently write the letters “YBH” in the margins of books he was reading. When asked what they stood for, he replied, “I agree with the author’s challenge to a more consistent Christian life, but my heart says, ‘Yes, but how?’” I suspect some of you are asking the same question about holiness: “Yes, but how?”
I have previously mentioned that several years ago God gave me the privilege of writing a book on the subject of holiness. Since its publication, I have had many opportunities to speak on the subject of holiness, often in only a single forty-five-minute message. Because of the necessity of covering such a vast subject in a limited time, I have given much thought to what I think are the most essential elements of holiness. They can be summed up in five words: conviction, commitment, discipline, dependence, and desire.[26]
CONVICTIONS: KNOWLEDGE OF THE TRUTH
In the passage in Ephesians 4 that we have been considering, Paul says, “Be made new in the attitude of your minds.” To the Christians at Rome he wrote, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (12:2). This process of renewing our minds involves establishing convictions. As we prayerfully expose ourselves to the Scriptures, we begin to understand what God’s will is regarding our conduct and character. And then as the Holy Spirit applies His Word to specific areas of our lives, and as we are obedient to His promptings, we begin to develop Bible-based convictions. Our values begin to change so that God’s standard becomes our delight and our desire.
One has only to prayerfully meditate over Ephesians 4:25–5:7, for example, to realize that God has set down very clear standards regarding honesty, peaceableness, and purity. As we progress in our Christian life, however, we begin to realize more and more the extent of these standards. At first we may be convicted of gross lying; later on we realize that speaking truthfully to our neighbor covers any intent to deceive directly or indirectly; then the Holy Spirit convicts us about “white” lies or social lies that are told to save face or avoid embarrassing someone else.
Each year that we practice godliness the Holy Spirit continues to renew our minds, giving increased understanding of His Word and enabling us to develop convictions in greater conformity to His will. Without such Bible-based, Spirit-developed convictions, we easily fall prey to man-made convictions that tend toward one of two extremes. At one extreme is a strict code of legalistic “don’ts” that often miss the more weighty issues of Christian character; at the other is a loose permissiveness that too often conforms to the world’s values and customs.
The only safe path is to allow the Holy Spirit to establish convictions through His Word. Even on this path, however, we need to be careful not to build convictions upon a misunderstanding of some isolated text of Scripture. Here is where the insight of other Christians can help us. One of the values of Bible-study discussion groups is the opportunity to test our understanding and application of the Scriptures against the thinking of other believers. Godly pastors and teachers who have a gifted insight into the Scriptures can also help us to correctly understand them. Paul himself stated that a part of his calling was to help God’s people grow in the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness.
This is where holiness begins: with the knowledge of the truth that renews our minds and enables us to understand how God wants us to live.
A COMMITMENT TO OBEDIENCE
Someone has said, “A belief is what you hold; a conviction is what holds you.” A conviction is not truly a conviction unless it includes a commitment to live by what we claim to believe. A commitment is not a vow but a resolution —a determined purpose to live by God’s Word as He applies it to our lives. First, we need a commitment to holiness as a total way of life. We must decide that holiness is so important to God that it deserves priority attention in our lives. We must commit ourselves to obeying God in all of His commands. We cannot pick and choose according to our own values. A little bit of fudging on one’s income tax return is sin just as much as outright theft; an unforgiving spirit toward someone else is sin just as much as murder. I am not suggesting that all sin is equally offensive to God; I am saying that all sin is offensive to God. The measure of sin is not just in its effect upon our neighbor but in its affront to the majesty and holiness of a sovereign God.
Sin is serious business to God, and it becomes serious business to us when we reflect upon the fact that every sin, regardless of how seemingly insignificant it appears to us, is an expression of contempt toward the sovereign authority of God. There is nothing that so motivates me toward a genuine heartfelt confession of sin and a serious resolve to turn from it as a reflection upon the fact that sin of any degree is an affront to His dignity and a contempt for His law.
The psalmist recognized the seriousness of any and all sin when he said, “You have laid down precepts that are to be fully obeyed” (119:4). He recognized that partial obedience —for example, refraining from outright theft of our neighbor’s property while allowing our heart to covet it —is actually disobedience. God’s precepts are to be fully obeyed. And Jesus clearly taught us in the Sermon on the Mount that obedience in our thought life is as necessary as obedience in our actions.
The psalmist’s response to his recognition of the seriousness of all sin was a commitment to obedience. He longs that his ways will be steadfast in obeying God’s decrees (verse 5). He even takes an oath that he will follow God’s righteous laws (verse 106). Clearly, he solidified his convictions about God’s will with a determined commitment to obey it.
We need not only a commitment to holiness as a total way of life, but frequently a commitment regarding specific areas of temptation. Job made a personal covenant not to look lustfully at young women (see 31:1). Daniel resolved not to defile himself with forbidden food, even though from the king’s table (see 1:8). These two Old Testament saints are commended by God Himself as among the most righteous who ever lived (see Ezekiel 14:14); yet both found it necessary to make a commitment regarding some specific area of temptation. Job found his temptation in his own breast; Daniel found his in his particular circumstances. Both responded with a commitment to obey God. They lived up to their convictions.
THE DISCIPLINE OF CHOICES
The third of the five essential elements of holiness is the discipline of daily choices. We have already looked in chapter 5 at the serious consequences of our daily choices; over time we become what we do. To experience the holiness God calls us to, we must learn to make the right choice in the face of each specific temptation. Paul said the grace of God “teaches us to say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions” (Titus 2:11-12). Although he was probably referring to an overall attitude toward sin, and thus to renounce it as a way of life, I find it helpful to take the same attitude toward specific occurrences of temptation. I even go so far as to verbalize (softly or to myself) a firm no, at the same time breathing a prayer for the aid of the Holy Spirit to carry through with that choice.
In Romans 8:13, Paul tells us to put to death the misdeeds of the body. We do this by the choices we make —not only to say no to temptations but also to say yes to the positive steps we must take to pursue holiness. We must exercise ourselves in the disciplines of choosing to feed upon the Scriptures so that our convictions will conform more and more to God’s will for us, of choosing to pray constantly for His enabling grace to say no to temptation, of choosing to take all practical steps to avoid known areas of temptation and flee from those that surprise us. These are some of the practical steps we must take to discipline ourselves in holiness. We can easily see that this discipline involves nothing less than an all-out effort to turn from every sin and do the will of God in every area of our lives.
Any time we stress the personal responsibility of practical actions, however, we are in danger of thinking that the pursuit of holiness does depend upon our own willpower, our own strength of character. Nothing is further from the truth. We are both personally responsible and totally dependent in our practice of godliness. We cannot change our hearts; that is the exclusive work of the Holy Spirit. But we can and must avail ourselves of the means He uses.
In Romans 12:2, we are told to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. The word transformed means “to be changed within.” John Murray says, “The term used here implies that we are to be constantly in the process of being metamorphosed by renewal of that which is the seat of thought and understanding.”[27] It is nothing less than a total renovation of our values and desires. This renewal is the exclusive work of the Holy Spirit. Through His ministry we are transformed more and more into the likeness of our Lord. Conceivably, even an unsaved person can change certain actions, but only the Holy Spirit can transform us within; only He can give us new values and desires.
Again the godly writer of Psalm 119 recognizes this dependence upon the Spirit to change his inward thoughts and desires. He prays, “Turn my heart toward your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; renew my life according to your word” (verses 36-37). This same man who elsewhere in this psalm expresses so strongly his sense of personal responsibility here acknowledges his total dependence upon God for the work of inner transformation. Paul said he had learned to be content in every situation. There was no doubt he felt responsible for this changed attitude toward varying circumstances. But he was just as clear that he was totally dependent upon the Holy Spirit working within him to accomplish such a change (see Philippians 4:11-13).
This principle of simultaneous personal responsibility and total dependence upon God for fulfillment is one of the most important principles in the practice of godliness. We will not make progress in godliness without consistent application of this principle in our lives.
A GOD-CENTERED DESIRE
The fifth essential element in the pursuit of holiness is the development of a God-centered desire for holiness. We have already considered in chapter 5 the necessity of a Godward motivation in the development of all the graces of Christian character. The need for such a Godward motivation, however, is especially critical in the pursuit of holiness —the putting off of the sinful traits of the old self. We want victory in our lives, whether it is in a Ping-Pong game or in our struggle with sin. We want to feel good about ourselves, and we know we will not as long as we are allowing some sin to gain mastery over us.
To paraphrase a writer from a previous century, so often when we sin we are more vexed at the lowering of our self-esteem than we are grieved at God’s dishonor. We are irritated at our lack of self-control in subjecting ourselves to some unworthy habit. We are unable to stand the disappointment of seeing ourselves fail.
God does not honor these self-centered desires. This is one reason we do not experience more of His enabling power in our day-to-day struggles with so-called besetting sins. God does not give us His power so that we might feel good about ourselves; He gives us His power so that we can obey Him for His sake, for His glory. It is not wrong to feel good about ourselves, but this should be a by-product of obedience motivated by a desire to please God.
We have learned in earlier chapters that godliness is first of all God-centeredness. This concept is extremely important in the area of holiness. Our desire for holiness, our motivation to pursue it, must be a God-centered desire and motivation. Developing this God-centered motivation requires practice or training; it does not come naturally or easily. We are by nature self-centered. If we are diligent to examine ourselves, we will often find that our motivation is self-centered. We must confess and renounce this, just as we must any disobedient action, and then seek a God-centered motivation.