LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
To Be Holy Is To Be Separate
"For it is written: Be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16).
The fact that God is holy is not news to anyone. Not only that, in the words of the seraphim, the Lord Jehovah of hosts is holy, holy, holy. But it may come as a surprise that God commands his people to be holy. If we believe that this is impossible, there may be two reasons.
First of all, if our spiritual eyes are on our capacity and devotion to the Lord, then surely we will affirm that it is totally impossible to become saints. In fact, "for men it is impossible, but not for God; for all things are possible with God" (Mark 10:27). It is of fundamental importance to realize that the sanctification of a sinner is only possible "because I the LORD am your God... I the LORD sanctify you" (Lev. 20:7-8) and, furthermore, "the will of God is your sanctification" (1 Thess. 4:3). But our disbelief is a concrete obstacle.
Second, we may have misconceptions about what it means to be holy. Before considering one of the important aspects of holiness, it is important to understand what it is not to be holy.
A holy person is not someone who does not sin. As long as we live in this corruptible body we will not be free from the presence of sin and "if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us" (1 Jn. 1:8). Those who love the Lord hate sin, but they also sin. But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, for "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 Jn. 1:9).
A holy person is not someone who, little by little and with a lot of effort, tries to improve his old nature. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh" and "the flesh profits nothing" (Jn. 3:6; 6:63). When God sanctifies us, he does not take advantage of anything of ours, he does not perfect what is contaminated by sin, but he gets rid of the old and in its place he places something of his own, something perfect and eternal.
"Ye shall therefore be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that ye may be mine" (Lev. 20:26). In this verse we clearly see that to be holy is to be separated by God and for God. The Lord calls us to a separate life for him. Separation for God is holiness.
It is curious that practically the entire concept of holiness in the Bible is found in the Pentateuch, after the crossing of the Red Sea. Using many verses from the books of Exodus and Leviticus, the Holy Spirit teaches us what it is to be holy. In the other books of the Bible little is added to the teaching on holiness. The great exception is the revelation that the Lord Jesus is the Holy One of God (Mark 1:24). That suggests that sanctification is something that must be learned at the beginning of our Christian journey.
In Christ we have been sanctified, we have been set apart for God once and for all. We must promptly allow God to manifest that eternal and consummating reality in our daily experience. With trust and faith in him, let us proclaim: We are holy, because he is holy!