In part 1 of this series covering the Biblical concept of holiness, I (hopefully) explained how understanding holiness begins by understanding the unique nature and character of God. Holiness is fundamentally a theological category. God is essentially holy as the One who is Wholly Other, incomparable, the one and only God.
Part 2 then explained the resulting relational dimension of holiness. People and places may become holy when God comes into contact with them. Ancient Israel is called a holy nation because God enters into a covenant relationship with them and only them.
Now, in part 3, the stage is set for understanding the ethical dimension of holiness. Behavioral holiness, being set apart, being different, is the most common, popular definition of holiness. And behavior is certainly an important component of holiness, but notice how much Biblical groundwork has been required for us to construct the necessary framework for understanding this ethical dimension properly.
We are finally in a position to grasp the apparent strangeness of a text like Leviticus 20:7:
“Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am the Yahweh your God. Keep my decrees and follow them. I am Yahweh, who makes you holy.”
What’s the deal? If the Israelites became holy when God brought them into the covenant (i.e. I am Yahweh who makes you holy), then why do they need a warning about making themselves holy (i.e. consecrate yourselves and be holy)? Are they already holy or not?
How can these two seemingly contradictory statements stand side-by-side in the same sentence?
“You are holy, so you must become holy.” “Make yourselves holy because you are holy.”
It sounds contradictory…UNLESS you understand the multiple levels of meaning connoted by this word – holy/holiness.
Because our holy God is distinctive and unique (part 1), when he brings others into relationship with himself (part 2), he requires that they, too, become distinctive and unique like him (part 3). So, Yahweh commands the Israelites:
“Consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am Yahweh your God. Keep my decrees and follow them.”
This is a repeated refrain throughout the Old Testament, especially in the book of Leviticus, sometimes called the book of holiness. Here is a short list of further examples:
“I am Yahweh your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44)
“I am Yahweh who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; therefore, be holy because I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:45)
“Be holy because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.” (Leviticus 19:2)
God emphatically presents himself as the model of holiness. For the Old Testament, the process of making oneself holy, of consecrating oneself, entailed obedience to the Torah, that is, the code of behavior given to Moses for members of the Sinai Covenant.
The Torah included a wide variety of elements that we would see as both cultic/ritual (e.g. what kinds of clothes to wear) and ethical (e.g. do not steal), although no self-respecting Israelite would have considered making a division between ritual and ethics. As far as Moses, Aaron and every other Israelite were concerned, it was all ethics.
God’s people were expected to live unique, distinctive lives because their God was/is a unique, distinctive Person. They were to be set apart just as the eternal Creator is set apart from his temporal creation. And a central component of God’s holiness is his unique, divine character distinguished by personality traits like justice, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, patience and love, etc.
Yes, God emphatically presents himself as the model of holiness, but God’s people cannot make themselves Wholly Other. (Please, don’t try. It gets really creepy.) But we can obey God’s call to emulate his character, to live among others in the same way that he chooses to live with us.
Thus, for God’s people to display his character, to make ourselves holy as God is holy, means that we too must live lives of justice, righteousness, faithfulness, mercy, compassion, patience and love – “being perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
So, holiness does eventually become a matter of ethics.
In a world characterized by injustice, unrighteousness, faithlessness, lack of mercy, absence of compassion, impatience and hatred, reflecting the holiness of God’s character will set God’s people apart as a unique community; a stark contrast to the status quo around us. At least, that is the goal.
I believe that understanding this 3-step unfolding of holiness is crucial to a proper, Biblical Christian ethics. By rooting our view of holiness positively in God and who God is, we are better able to cultivate a positive, rather than a negative, approach to godly behavior.
Typically, when conversations about holiness begin (rather than conclude, as I do here) with ethics we end up thinking negatively. Becoming holy is a matter of what we don’t do. “I don’t drink, and I don’t chew, and I don’t go with girls who do!” as the old saying goes. Being different from the world around us becomes a primarily negative concern focused on prohibitions; a matter of not associating, not doing, not participating, not sharing in the concerns or behaviors of those around us.
Certainly, abstaining from evil is important if holiness is to mean anything. But making these sorts of prohibitions the entry point into holiness is wrong Biblically and theologically. It, therefore, leads to any number of wrong-headed, practical mistakes. (Perhaps, most significantly, it has a horrible tendency to blind God’s people to the continued reality of God’s Image in every human being, no matter their misbehavior. But this is an important issue for another day.)
For our purposes in this post, I will only mention one practical mistake: a prohibitive view of holiness invariably teaches us to view life principally in terms of what we don’t do, who we aren’t. That is, we are not like them.
That is grossly backwards and upside-down. Holiness is intended positively to express who we are. We are God’s people! And so, we are like our God in the sorts of things we do, in how we love others, show mercy, remain faithful, always being compassionate and patient.
Thus, holy behavior is rooted in our identity as sinners saved by God’s grace. Only in a derivative sense is holiness concerned with not being like others. Holiness is first and foremost concerned with being like Jesus, our Lord and Savior in the flesh.
Naturally, anyone who truly wants to live like Jesus will find any number of abhorrent thoughts, feelings and actions to avoid, but that is only the shadow-side of holy living. The substance of a holy life is not determined by the shadows but by the beautiful light of God’s own presence and by heeding the Spirit’s call to “fix our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2; see 3:1).
With our lives fixed on following Jesus, we avoid the shadows without even trying because we will be too busy living out the grace, mercy, righteousness, faithfulness, love and compassion of our crucified Lord.
See the difference?
OK, there has to be a 5th installment. Next time: The Meaning of Holiness, Part 3B, “Sinners in the Hands of a Forgiving God”
