Holiness: How We Are Most Unlike God

Some of God's attributes can be shared with his people(Communicable attributes) and some cannot(Incommunicable attributes). Holiness is an attribute of God that is communicable to his people. Holiness defines who God is and how he desires us to be like him. Holiness can be hard to define completely because we are so unholy-and God is the only perfect example of holiness. We should study the life of the Lord Jesus for an example of holiness in the flesh. His is the only perfect example we can study. There are many godly men in scripture who can give us an imperfect example-like Abraham-Moses and Isaiah-or Job and Daniel-to name a few.Holiness is an attribute of God that sets Him completely apart from us; it is how we most fail to be like God-and at the same time it is what he commands us to be-1 Peter 1:15-16.

Here is a definition of holy from The NT Word Study Dictionary:

NT:40

40.  hágios; fem. ‎hagía‎, neut. ‎hágion ‎(39), adj. from ‎hágos ‎(n.f.), any matter of religious awe, expiation, sacrifice. Holy, set apart, sanctified, consecrated, saint. It has a common root, ‎hág-‎, with ‎hagnós ‎(53), chaste, pure. Its fundamental idea is separation, consecration, devotion to the service of Deity, sharing in God's purity and abstaining from earth's defilement.

(I) Pure, clean, ceremonially or morally clean, including the idea of deserved respect, reverence.

(A) It particularly means perfect, without blemish (Rom 12:1).

(B) Metaphorically it means morally pure, upright, blameless in heart and life, virtuous, holy. (1) Generally (Mark 6:20; Rom 7:12; 1 Cor 7:34; Eph 1:4; 5:27; 1 Peter 1:16; Sept.: Lev 11:44). (2) Spoken of those who are purified and sanctified by the influences of the Spirit. This is assumed of all who profess the Christian name, hence ‎hágios‎, saint, ‎hágioi‎, saints, Christians (Acts 9:13,14,32,41; 26:10; Rom 1:7; 8:27; 1 Thess 3:13). Spoken of those who are to be in any way included in the Christian community (1 Cor 7:14). Holy kiss means the sacred Christian kiss, the pledge of Christian affection (Rom 16:16; 1 Cor 16:20; 2 Cor 13:12).                                                                                             

(II) Consecrated, devoted, sacred, holy, meaning set apart from a common to a sacred use; spoken of places, temples, cities, the priesthood, men (Matt 4:5; 7:6; 24:15; 27:53; Acts 6:13; 7:33; Rom 11:16, of firstfruit); of a male opening the womb (Luke 2:23); of apostles (Eph 3:5); of prophets (Luke 1:70; Acts 3:21; 2 Peter 1:21); of angels (Matt 25:31).                                                                                                 

(III) Holy, hallowed, worthy of reverence and veneration

  (A) Of God (John 17:11; Rev 4:8; 6:10; Sept.: Isa 5:16; 6:3). 

  (B) Of His Name (Luke 1:49; Sept.: Lev 22:2).

  (C) Of the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:18).

  (D) Of holy covenant (Luke 1:72).

  (E) Of the Holy Scriptures (Rom 1:2; Sept.: Dan 11:28,30).                   

(from The Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament © 1992 by AMG International, Inc. Revised Edition, 1993) .

The truth is the that culture we live in today is one of the greatest hindrances to God's people practicing holiness. No matter how much our heats yearn for this(and they certainly should)just getting up and living in this modern world pollutes us everyday. We should not feel sorry for ourselves-because believers in the early Church lived in a cultural cesspool just like we do-and they managed to cultivate holiness to a higher degree than the modern Church. I think it may have been the fact of persecution-like being thrown to the lions-that helped those people live more in tune with God. Believers today in nations that persecute Christians are more focused on the eternal and holiness seems higher on their list of priorities than on ours.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

We must make living a holy life as much a priority for us as it is to God. Anything less is a sin.I am not talking about perfection or sinlessness-but I am talking about the desire for holiness and the grief that is known in the heart of the true Christian when we fall short. It is about desire-not perfection. A Christian who does not desire to be holy is an oxymoron indeed. So many today who claim to know Christ-know nothing of holiness or a desire to be holy. That is an indication of a person who does not know God and is not genuinely saved..        Just sayin'