A LIFE OF HOLINESS

There has been much teaching and preaching about “holiness” in the church over the years. Some of this teaching has been confusing because it is based on a false understanding of scriptural holiness. When God chose the Nation of Israel to be His chosen people, to show the rest of the Gentile Nations how they should live, He gave them certain instructions and laws to govern their lives. In (Lev 20:26) we read “And you shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine”. This standard of holiness is repeated over and over, both in the OT and in the new. The Hebrew word for holy is [qadosh], Strong’s # 6918, which means among other things—set apart, dedicated to sacred purposes, clean, morally or ceremonially pure.

Several “distorted appearances” of holiness have developed in Christian circles. The first, and probably the most blatant, would be what Jack Hayford calls “dehumanized holiness”. By this he means a mechanical, artificial, or abstract practice of holiness. Those who practice this type of distorted holiness, see themselves as superior to others in their knowledge, and think they have nothing more to learn. The implication is that holiness comes from “what” you know, not “who” you know. This type of distorted holiness is imposed from the outside rather than coming from a changed heart. It had its beginning in early “Gnosticism” teaching, which the Pharisees of Jesus’ day practiced. There are still Pharisees in the church today in some circles! Next we have what we could call “legalized holiness”, or the belief that how well we keep the letter of the law, determines how holy we are. This type of holiness teaching rules out completely any guidance by the Holy Spirit, and opens the door for control by unclean “religious spirits” A third type of distorted holiness teaching is sometimes referred to as “Antinomian holiness”, or “false grace”. This is the false belief that grace releases us from the obligations of moral law and the development of right character. We often see this today in some charismatic circles, where there has been very little emphasis on the word of God, and more on subjective things like feelings, visions, or prophesy. This is only a very brief look at this problem of distorted views of this important subject. It should be developed more fully at a later date, but in the meantime this might give you something to think about as you consider this word “holiness” in your scripture reading. Peter quotes Lev 11:44 in his first letter (1 Pet 1:16) “be holy, for I am holy”. We would be wise to heed this word from Peter, an Apostle of our Lord! Sincerely in Him---Gramp