TRUE HOLINESS

Because God is holy, man is to be holy. Man’s responsibility is anchored in who God is. The command is “You shall be holy, for I, your God, am holy” God is both the standard and the motivation. Ultimately it is not the written Law that is man’s standard but God’s unchanging holiness, God Himself in His eternal essence.

Sin, therefore, though it is the breaking of the Law is more profoundly an attack upon the very person of God. Sin is properly evaluated when it is compared to God’s holiness; it is seen to be what it really is when God is seen to be who He really is. The sinfulness of sin is apparent when the holiness of Deity is revealed. Sin is sin because God is holy, for sin is that which is inconsistent and incompatible with who God is. Because of this man should flee sin and pursue holiness. We are not told to be omnipotent, omniscient, or immutable, but we are, without equivocation, to be holy. This is the only attribute that we are commanded to emulate.

Right is not determined by consensus or decree, but by the thrice holy God. It must be emphasized that holiness is not what God wills but what God is. An act or attitude is not holy because God determines that the act or attitude will be holy for man but because the act or attitude is consistent with what or who God is. In other words, right and wrong are determined by God’s essence not by His will. Again, God is Law. But it must be observed that in the most profound sense God’s will is part of His essence, not something that is external to His essence. The will is part of God; the essence is all that God is.

God’s holiness is also revealed in Yeshua, who is called “the Holy One of God". Of all men, He alone has exhibited true holiness, the holiness of God. No fault could or can be found in Him because no fault is in Him, neither in thought, deed, nor word. He “committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”. His life, His teachings, and His works were all personifications of holiness; in flesh He manifested God’s holiness perfectly.