MAKING YOU WHAT YOU AREN'T
As our society grows less religious and more secular, the proper understanding of religious terminology is reinterpreted, blurred, and lost. One such group of lost and dying words are those describing holiness.
Most today see religion in broad terms. Religion is about being “good”, and “good” to us means “nice” or “socially acceptable”. We tend to measure goodness primarily in terms of friendly relations with other people. So when we read the word ‘holiness’, our brains just tend to think that, since the word is religious and relates to God, ‘holiness’ is just being nice and doing what it takes to get along with other people.
This is almost the opposite of what ‘holiness’ is!
The basic idea behind holiness is ‘otherness’. Something that is holy is set apart – marked off as special or different, to be seen as special and to be treated differently from ordinary things.
The word “holiday” was originally “holy day” – a day set apart for commemoration of something special, a day to be treated differently than other days. Something holy is no longer ordinary.
‘To set something apart’ in this way is to sanctify it. Things sanctified (or consecrated) are marked off as unique or special. They are ‘holy’, not ‘ordinary’ or ‘common’.
Religious people set things apart for God. When an altar or a bowl or a cup was consecrated, it was set aside as something for use in matters relating to God. It was holy.
Holiness, at least at its foundations, isn’t about moral goodness – but about being something other – something set apart for God’s use.
I’m bringing up this background on holiness/sanctification for two reasons. First, the air that we breathe is secular, and the chief characteristic of secularism is to rid us of the notion that anything is (or should be) special (sacred). Secularism reduces everything to ordinary or common status. Holidays, for example, must be reduced to celebrations that can be common to everyone, not just the religious.
Another example is sex. Traditional Christianity sanctifies sex as an act rightly engaged in only by a married heterosexual couple. Secularization sees sex as an ordinary human activity to be practiced by whoever wishes to, in whatever way they wish, and with whomsoever they wish.
Our society’s secularizing nature makes holiness a foreign and unfamiliar concept, so when people start following Christ, holiness isn’t readily understood.
That brings me to my second reason for bringing up holiness. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is about making Christians holy! When you become a Christian, the Spirit sets you apart (1 Corinthians 1.2, 6.11; 2 Thessalonians 2.13; Hebrews 10.10, 13.12; 1 Peter 1.2). This has to do, not with your progress in moral goodness, but with your status in God’s eyes. The Spirit entering into close relationship with you moves from being merely “a citizen of this world” to being a “citizen of God’s kingdom”.
Then the Spirit uses His regular uninterrupted relationship to you to change you, fitting you out for your destiny in God’s kingdom. The Spirit starts making you different. Your thoughts change. Your understanding changes. Your behavior changes. The Spirit makes you holy. He makes you what you aren’t.
This is the process of sanctification (John 17.17,19; Romans 6.19-22; Ephesians 5.26). The Spirit carries out this work of change in us for the remainder of our lives. He dwells in us at all times and uses everything that comes into our lives, good or bad, to move us closer to what we are going to be – conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8.28-29).
And that is why our statement of faith says: We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to … guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.
Most today see religion in broad terms. Religion is about being “good”, and “good” to us means “nice” or “socially acceptable”. We tend to measure goodness primarily in terms of friendly relations with other people. So when we read the word ‘holiness’, our brains just tend to think that, since the word is religious and relates to God, ‘holiness’ is just being nice and doing what it takes to get along with other people.
This is almost the opposite of what ‘holiness’ is!
The basic idea behind holiness is ‘otherness’. Something that is holy is set apart – marked off as special or different, to be seen as special and to be treated differently from ordinary things.
The word “holiday” was originally “holy day” – a day set apart for commemoration of something special, a day to be treated differently than other days. Something holy is no longer ordinary.
‘To set something apart’ in this way is to sanctify it. Things sanctified (or consecrated) are marked off as unique or special. They are ‘holy’, not ‘ordinary’ or ‘common’.
Religious people set things apart for God. When an altar or a bowl or a cup was consecrated, it was set aside as something for use in matters relating to God. It was holy.
Holiness, at least at its foundations, isn’t about moral goodness – but about being something other – something set apart for God’s use.
I’m bringing up this background on holiness/sanctification for two reasons. First, the air that we breathe is secular, and the chief characteristic of secularism is to rid us of the notion that anything is (or should be) special (sacred). Secularism reduces everything to ordinary or common status. Holidays, for example, must be reduced to celebrations that can be common to everyone, not just the religious.
Another example is sex. Traditional Christianity sanctifies sex as an act rightly engaged in only by a married heterosexual couple. Secularization sees sex as an ordinary human activity to be practiced by whoever wishes to, in whatever way they wish, and with whomsoever they wish.
Our society’s secularizing nature makes holiness a foreign and unfamiliar concept, so when people start following Christ, holiness isn’t readily understood.
That brings me to my second reason for bringing up holiness. The Holy Spirit’s ministry is about making Christians holy! When you become a Christian, the Spirit sets you apart (1 Corinthians 1.2, 6.11; 2 Thessalonians 2.13; Hebrews 10.10, 13.12; 1 Peter 1.2). This has to do, not with your progress in moral goodness, but with your status in God’s eyes. The Spirit entering into close relationship with you moves from being merely “a citizen of this world” to being a “citizen of God’s kingdom”.
Then the Spirit uses His regular uninterrupted relationship to you to change you, fitting you out for your destiny in God’s kingdom. The Spirit starts making you different. Your thoughts change. Your understanding changes. Your behavior changes. The Spirit makes you holy. He makes you what you aren’t.
This is the process of sanctification (John 17.17,19; Romans 6.19-22; Ephesians 5.26). The Spirit carries out this work of change in us for the remainder of our lives. He dwells in us at all times and uses everything that comes into our lives, good or bad, to move us closer to what we are going to be – conformed to the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8.28-29).
And that is why our statement of faith says: We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to … guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.