A HOLY NATION:

The Doctrine of Holiness

by Pastor Terry L. Reese

 

1 Pet. 1:14-16: As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts {which were yours} in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all {your} behavior; because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

 

The standard for the Christian is a lifestyle of Separation, or personal holiness. Like the Priests of the OT (2 Chron. 35:3, Ezra 8:28), and like anything that belongs to, is associated with, or dedicated  unto a holy God (Ex. 30:10; Lev. 27:14, 21, 28; 30, 32; Neh. 8:9), we are “Holy unto the Lord.” We have been cleansed by His blood (Heb. 9:22), are positionally holy, having been justified (2 Cor. 5:21), as well as set apart for His service.

 

1 Pet. 2:9 “But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR {God's} OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”

 

Even as we are considered holy in this positional sense, we are, experientially, to live holy and separated lives, sanctified by the cleansing of the Word (Eph. 5:26) and in conformity with the moral law of the revealed standards of Scripture as exemplified by the life and witness of Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:5-11, 1 Pet. 2:21). It is the ultimate will of God for us that we be “conformed to the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29),” even as we daily live by the Spirit, “putting to death the deeds of the body (Rom. 8:13)” and present our “bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God (Rom.12:1).”

 

1 Thess. 4:3: “For this is the will of God, your sanctification…”

 

Christians are not called unto a monastic-style withdrawal from outward interaction with the world (John 17:15), but they are called unto a life of moral purity, as well as a standard of ethical and philosophical nonconformity and spiritual separation from the world system, being instructed to “deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age (Titus 2:12).” Personal separation from the inverted values of “this present evil age (Gal. 1:4),” in fact, is held-up as objective evidence relating to our justification:

 

1 John 2:15: “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

 

The Christian is to be separated in terms of his customs (Romans 12:2), with regard to all that we say (I Tim. 4:12) and do (1 Cor. 10:31). He is also to be separated in terms of his associations, not engaging in spiritual confederacies with un-believers (2 Cor. 6:14-7:1). Furthermore, the world’s wisdom is not to be our wisdom (1 Cor. 1:18-31), and the pride and arrogance associated with world’s ethic (Matt. 19:30), manifesting itself in militant or evil practices (2 Tim. 3:1-6) are not to be our practices (Matt. 5:43-48, Rom. 12:9-21).

 

Matt 5:48 "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”

 

It should be observed that while a genuine and on-going progressive sanctification is to be regarded as both possible and normative for the believer as he or she cooperates with Divine grace, the Wesleyan concept of a perfected holiness, or a perfected love—within the confines of this present life—is an unscriptural view of sanctification that not only flies in the face of clear biblical revelation concerning the believer’s ongoing struggle with sin (cf. Paul’s account of his internal battles regarding the persistent nature of sin, despite his new identity in Christ; Rom. 7:14-25), but which also involves the believer in engaging in incredible and dishonest contortions of mind in order to escape the self-evident reality of our present failure to meet God’s perfect ethical and moral standards (1 John 1:8).