Be Holy!

It is God's desire that all who trust in Christ for salvation, all true believers, be holy. He even commands us to be holy. Peter writes, "But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy'" (1 Pet. 1:15-16). "Holy" is an interesting word. In New Testament Greek it means  "separated" or "to set apart to God," and can be translated "sanctify," just as "holiness" can be translated "sanctification" (W.E. Vine, M.A., Vine's Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Unabridged Edition, [MacDonald Publishing Company: McLean, Virginia, no copyright], 565).

When referring to God, He is seen as "the absolutely Holy One, in His purity, majesty and glory," whether used of the Father, as in these verses, or of the Son, or of the Spirit" (Ibid, 566). Often the word "holy" is used "of men in so far as they are devoted to God" and "is often presented in a way which involves Divine demands upon the conduct of believers" (Ibid). Here in 1 Peter 1:15, believers are called to cleanse themselves "from all defilement, forsaking sin, living a holy manner of life" (Ibid).

Hebrews 10:10 says, "By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." Having been sanctified in Christ, all believers are called "saints," or literally, "sanctified" or "holy ones" (Ibid, 1000). God calls all believers to this state of sainthood, or, more specifically, to sanctification. In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul refers to believers as "those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints."

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to "pursue holiness." In Hebrews 12:14, he writes, "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." "Holiness" or "sanctification" is something to be pursued. Sanctification is a process of growth. When you trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior you were saved, you were justified in God's eyes. When God looks at you He sees you through the lens of Jesus. He sees the blood of Christ which covers you and therefore, He sees you as holy or righteous.

Romans 4:3 says, "For what does the Scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'" This does not mean that our faith makes us righteous; that we have somehow arrived. No, it means only that our faith connects us with Christ in such a way that His righteousness is reckoned to us. Positionally, we are seen as righteous in Christ. Practically, we need to grow in faith each day so as to become more and more like Christ until we reach heaven fully righteous.

Having been saved by grace through faith, we must now learn to live by that same faith. Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). Now when he says, "I have been crucified with Christ," what does that mean?

In Romans 6:3-4, Paul, speaking of baptism, said, "Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Baptism, being dipped under water and then raised back up out of the water, symbolizes our dying with Christ through our faith in Him and our rising with Him to a new life, a changed life.

Paul further clarifies: "For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (vv. 5-11).

"Our old man," our old sinful self, "was crucified with Him," that is, with Christ, setting us free from our slavery to sin. Having been "freed from sin," we are to live the resurrected life with Jesus. Like Jesus, the life we now live, we live to God. Again, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God" (Gal. 2:20b). Amen.