Holy

“To the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints…(1 Corinthians 1:2)

At a large Christian youth meeting where I had been invited to preach on the subject of holiness, I asked those who were sure that they were holy to put up their hands. Not even one hand went up!

Then I asked how many were Christians.  Almost every hand went up.

In the brief interaction that followed, several theories were shared as to why Christians believe that they are “not holy.”

Of course most of opinions were nothing other than mere religious conjecture.

In our meditation today, the apostle Paul affirmed that the Christians in Corinth were “saints” who had been “sanctified in Christ Jesus.” What?

If someone had asked those Corinthian Christians to raise their hands if they were sure that they were sanctified, very few hands would probably have gone up. 

For starters, this particular Church had serious moral issues – sexual immorality, incest, idol worship, abuse of spiritual gifts, disunity and discord, just name any sin.  However, they were holy saints of God, according to the apostle Paul.

The misunderstanding of the concept of holiness is a major source of confusion among the saints. Many often confuse ‘holiness’ with righteousness, godliness and moral uprightness.

In the Old Testament, ‘qadosh,’ the Hebrew word for ‘holy,’ was used for people, objects, places, and days in regard to being set apart or dedicated to a particular divine purpose.   

The people of Israel were a ‘holy nation’ not because they were perfect before God; it was because of their special relationship to the ‘holy’ God and their unique position in the world as a people that God had “severed from all the other people, that you should be mine”

Leviticus 20:26

For example, the temple and the vessels therein were ‘holy’; the Sabbath was ‘holy’’; Zion was a holy hill. 

Mere objects cannot be morally upright, can they?

Even the people of Israel were a ‘holy nation’ not because they were perfect before God; it was because of their special relationship to the ‘holy’ God and their unique position in the world as a people that God had “severed from all the other people, that you should be mine” (see Leviticus 20:26).

So, does being holy mean that you are sinless? Not at all; we all sin all the time in thoughts, words and actions (sins of commission and omission.)

But is ‘moral uprightness’ all it takes to make us holy? Not at all; I mean there are millions of people who are morally upright yet they hate Jesus with a passion!

Accepting Christ’s work on the Cross is what makes us holy because it separates from the rest of the people (position).

What made the vessels of the temple holy was not their being morally upright (of course they had no capacity to avoid being sinful); it was their being set apart for a sacred purpose that made them holy.

Against that background, you are holy; set apart by Christ and dedicated to His purposes and will.

Holiness is much more about the position than the condition.

That’s what He means when He says; “You shall be holy for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

It’s all about living like you’re different (separated) from the rest. 

We are called to live as such in this world; to be different from the people of the world (Romans 12:2).

That’s what the Bible means when it says you are holy.

Prayer:

Lord, I thank you for separating me and making me yours. Yes, I am a holy saint, sanctified by the Blood of Jesus and set apart. Help me to live as such for your glory, Amen!