The Source of Holiness Teaching
The supreme source of holiness teaching is the Bible itself, which is
the inspired Word of God. It contains everything we need to know
concerning salvation and godly living (II Timothy3:l5-17).
All holiness teaching must come from the Bible. A true holiness standard
is either (1) a specific biblical statement or (2) a valid application
of a biblical principle. For example, the Bible specifically teaches
that drunkenness is sinful, so we must acknowledge and teach that truth.
In addition, the underlying biblical principle is that all intoxication
is wrong; therefore we should abstain from intoxicating drugs such as
marijuana and cocaine, even though the Bible does not mention them by
name.
The Bible is not merely a collection of rules. It does not try to give
specific answers to the countless situations that may face an
individual. Rather, it contains basic guidelines that apply to people of
all cultures, times. and situations.
To help His people understand and live by scriptural principles, God has
given the church spiritual leaders. Their task is to equip the saints
for the building up, maturing, establishing, and growth of the body
(Ephesians 4:11-16).
Spirit-filled pastors and teachers proclaim God's Word, explain it, and
apply its principles to the situations of contemporary life.
Finally, the Holy Spirit teaches us directly through internal promptings
and convictions. The Spirit is given to teach and guide us (John 14:26;
16:13). The Spirit writes God's laws upon our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33).
We have an anointing - a fundamental nature of holiness and truth that
resides within - that no one has taught us (I John 2:27). In times of
decision, struggle, crisis, or uncertainty, we should be sensitive to
the still, quiet voice of the Spirit.
The three holiness teachers - (1) the Bible, (2) spiritual leadership,
and (3) the indwelling Holy Spirit - work together in harmony and
complement one another. The Bible is our final authority. God does not
give human beings the right to change His message, nor will the
indwelling Spirit speak contrary to the written Word He Himself
inspired.
The Motivation for Holiness
Holiness is not a means of earning salvation but a result of earning
salvation. As such, it comes by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Holiness does not come by works of the flesh but only by submission to
the Holy Spirit's leadership. We cannot manufacture our own holiness; we
can only be partakers of God's holiness (Hebrews 12:10).
Holiness is both instantaneous and progressive. As Christians we
received immediate sanctification (separation from sin) when we
repented, were baptized in Jesus' name, and received the Holy Spirit (I
Corinthians 6: 11). God counted us as holy by imputing the righteousness
of Christ to us. Even so, we must follow after holiness (Hebrews 12:14).
We are already sanctified, but we are also called to be saints
(sanctified, holy ones) (I Corinthians 1:2).
Holiness comes by (1) faith,(2) love and (3) walking after the Spirit,
which provide the basis, foundation, motivation, and power for holiness.
First, genuine faith in God inevitably results in obedience to God (Acts
6:7; Romans 1:5; 10:16; 16:26; James 2: 14-26). If we believe God we
will believe His Word, and if we believe His Word we will accept its
teachings and apply them to our lives. By faith we accept Christ's
atonement as sufficient for our salvation and apply His death, burial,
and resurrection to our lives. Specifically. by faith we die to sin in
repentance, are buried with Jesus Christ in baptism for the remission of
sins, and receive new life through the Holy Spirit, who enables us to
live holy. By faith we continue to walk with God until the ultimate work
of salvation-glorification.
Along with faith in God, we need a love for God, His Word, and holiness.
Without love, all attempts to live for God are vain (I Corinthians
13:1-13; Revelation 2:1-7). If we love God, we will obey His
commandments and seek to implement holiness in our lives (John 14:15,23;
I John 2:3-6). When we truly love God, we will actively hate evil (Psalm
97:10) and we will seek to become like our holy God. The greater our
love for God, the greater our desire for holiness.
Love is far stricter and more demanding than law, for love always goes
farther than duty. Love for God will cause someone to draw much closer
to God than legalism will, both in attitudes and in disciplined living.
Love rejects everything that is not clearly compatible with godliness,
or that is not conducive to Christianity, even though no rules have
specifically labeled these things as sin. In this way, the principle of
love leads to greater holiness than does the law of Moses or a
codification of rules.
Love dominates all actions and all relationships. All the law is summed
up in love: we are to love God with all our being and to love our fellow
humans as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40; Romans 13:9-10). Instead
of the law of Moses we have "the perfect law of liberty,"
which is the "royal law" of love (James 1:25; 2:8; 2:12).
Since holiness is God's very nature, when we receive the Holy Spirit of
God we receive a holy nature. Through the Spirit's power, we can
overcome sin and live righteously (Romans 8:2-4; Galatians 5:16; I
Thessalonians 4:7-8). We have freedom from sin's dominion - the power to
choose not to sin (John 8:34-36; Romans 6:11-25). We will not continue
to live in sin, and in fact our newly given nature cannot sin (I John
3:9). We still have the ability to sin and we still have the sinful
nature subdued within us (Galatians 5:6-17; I John 1:8; 2:1), but the
bornagain nature restrains us from habitually committing sin. As long as
we let the Spirit lead us we will not sin.
Holiness is not an external law but an integral part of the new nature.
The Spirit places God's moral law within us, not written on tables of
stone but written in our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 10:16). In
living for God, we do not merely follow an outward list of rules, but we
follow the nature of the Holy Spirit within us. We live holy because
that is what the new man is and wants to be. We abstain from sin and
worldliness because it is anathema to our new nature. We still struggle
against the continual desires and lusts of the old nature, but it is an
internal struggle. No dictator imposes rules on us; we impose
restrictions on the sinful nature because we no longer wish to follow
the flesh but to follow the Spirit"
One author commented on Romans 8:2-4, "Christian holiness is not a
matter of painstaking conformity to the individual precepts of an
external law-code; it is rather a question of the Holy Spirit's
producing His fruit in the life, reproducing those graces which were
seen in perfection in the life of Christ. The law prescribed a life of
holiness, but it was powerless to produce such a life, because of the
inadequacy of the human material that it had to work upon. But what the
law was powerless to do has been done by God. . . .All that the law
required by way of conformity to the will of God is now realized in the
lives of those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit and are released
from their servitude to the old order. God's commands have now become
God's enablings."l
Following holiness requires personal effort; it is not automatic. Some
teach that any attempt to live holy is "of the flesh," but
genuine faith always includes obedience and always produces good works.
We must open our lives to the working of God's Spirit and actively
implement spiritual principles. The Bible commands us to reckon
ourselves dead to sin but alive to God, yield our bodily members to God
instead of sin, resist the devil, draw near to God, subdue the sinful
nature, discipline the flesh, kill the deeds of the body,cleanse
ourselves,labor to enter into rest, lay aside every weight and sin, and
run with patience. "Make every effort to be found spotless,
blameless and at peace with him" (II Peter 3:14, NIV).
Philippians 2:12-13 charges us, "Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and
to do of his good pleasure." God actually performs the work of
salvation, providing the desire and the power to live righteously, but
we must reverently and watchfully implement holiness in our lives.
One writer explained, "The pursuit of holiness is a joint venture
between God and the Christian. No one can attain any degree of holiness
without God working in his life, but just as surely no one will attain
it without effort on his own part. God has made it possible for us to
walk in holiness. But He has given to us the responsibility of doing the
walking; He does not do that for us....We pray for victory when we know
we should be acting in obedience."2
As an analogy, a farmer is totally dependent upon God for sunshine,
rain, and the miracle of life in the seed. Nevertheless, he will not
have a crop unless he cultivates, plants, tends, and harvests. In short,
we cannot do what God must do , but God will not do what we can do.
Legalism
Legalism means strict or excessive conformity to a legal code or set of
rules. In a Christian context, legalism has two negative connotations:
(1) basing salvation on good works or on strict observance of law and
(2) imposing nonbiblical rules. The Bible strongly condemns legalism in
this sense (Matthew 23; Romans 3-4; Galatians 3).
Law is helpful as a line of demarcation, a minimum standard, or a safety
net, but ultimately it is insufficient to produce holiness. As we have
already seen, true holiness comes by faith, love, and the Spirit. They
are the proper alternatives to legalism, and they will actually lead to
far more self-discipline that law can.
For example, law, or fear of getting caught, can cause a man to remain
physically faithful to his wife and restrain him in a time of
temptation, but he may still be very unfaithful in thoughts, attitudes,
behavior, and flirtations. By contrast, true love for his wife will
drive away all contrary thoughts and desire, and in the long run only
love will make the marriage a true success. Similarly, a person who
seeks to serve God merely by rules will ultimately fail, because he will
face situations that his rules do not specifically address and because
he will lack the inward principles and convictions needed to guide him.
Sometimes leaders present biblical standards of holiness as a set of
rules and regulations, justifying them only by tradition and human
authority. In rebelling against this legalistic approach. some people
discard true holiness principles and valid practical applications. The
problem on both sides is a failure to commit quality time in serious,
prayerful study of the Word of God.
Many strongly suppose that the proper alternative to legalism is
antinomianism (no law). license (freedom without responsibility), or
libertinism (no moral restraints). True holiness is not
'"freedom" to act and look like the world, however, but
freedom from the need to conform to the world. Genuine spiritual freedom
is not "freedom" to commit sin, but freedom from sin's
bondage.
There can be no real freedom outside truth (John 8:32). Spiritual
freedom is not freedom from truth, but freedom to know and submit to the
truth. For example, a man who is ignorant of the law of gravity and
therefore walks off a cliff unconcernedly is not free. Rather, he is
free when he understands the danger of walking off the cliff and has the
ability to avoid doing so, thereby preserving his life and liberty. A
Christian is free because he knows what sin is and how deadly it is and
has the power to overcome it.
As Christians we still have commandments to obey (Matthew 28:20; John
14:15, 23). The ceremonial law has been abolished, but we still must not
participate in spiritually unclean things (II Corinthians 6:17). The
Christian life is like a contest, with spiritual guidelines that we must
follow. "And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not
crowned unless he competes according to the rules" (II Timothy 2:5,
NKJV).
Moral law is a restraining force , but the sinful nature needs a
restraint upon its desire, while the spiritual man needs protection
against evil. Like a fence around a garden, holiness teachings do not
curb our freedom in Christ but preserve it. Like gravity keeping the
earth in orbit around the sun, they bind us closely to our holy God, who
is our source of life and strength. Like train tracks or the banks of a
river, they keep us on course, preserve our identity, and channel our
spiritual energy.
(The above material was published by the Pentecostal Herald in Hazelwoo,
MO)
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