Be Ye Holy!

Question: I don't understand the doctrine of holiness. Doesn't modern Christianity falsely give us a bubbly feeling that God loves despite our sins, and yet we are called to holiness. Doesn't God want His people to be holy. Shouldn't this be taught in Churches today?

1 Thessalonians 4:7 KJV

"For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness...."

1 Peter 1:15-16 KJV

"But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy."

2 Corinthians 7:1 KJV

"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."

Answer by Larry Zoro: We are holy in Christ. We are made perfect in the beloved. If we are in Christ, we take on His holiness as a free gift. That is our positional standing in Christ. 

The word for saint is ἅγιος (hagios). It means holy one. Should we strive to become something we have already become in Christ? 

"Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus" Hebrews 3:1.

Paul addresses the Hebrew Church as holy brethren. Why? I'm sure they were not all holy (without sin). Should we ignore our sins and live as though we never sinned? No, we are sinners saved by grace. We are positional holy in Christ but in the flesh we are far from it.   

In this evil age, I am not about to call myself holy by my own efforts. I don't strive daily for something that I already have in Christ. Neither do I advocate living a life of sin. It is simple logic: since I am holy, I must now live up to the holiness that was imparted to me. I strive to master holiness in my life but I can never say I pulled myself up by my own boot straps. That is to say that I had attained holiness by my own works. 

It is true that despite our imparted holiness God will judge our sins in this world so we will not be condemned with the rest of the world. God does judge His people with temporal judgment. Many Christians are sick and dead due to sin they have not repented of.

 "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged" 1 Corinthians 11:31,32.

Many Christians believe that God does not see our sins anymore. It is true that God will not send us to Hell due to us being sinners. "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." But I must warn you. God knows your sin and what easily besets you.

Sure you can ask God for forgiveness and even confess, "I'll repent this time Lord. Truly I will." But God knows your heart. I think the worse thing about living in sin is that we lose rewards that could have been by not living in a pleasing relationship with God. 

It might seem contradictory that we must pray for forgiveness while at the same time having been already forgiven and on our way to Heaven . It is just the way that it is. A Christian is forgiven of all their trespasses but yet in this world we must daily ask for forgiveness. 

"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors" Matthew 6:2.

We pray for forgiveness not for salvation sake but for our relationship with God and for our earthly sanctification.

Let's make a plan in our lives to try harder to perfect the holiness in our lives.  Let's live up to the imputed righteousness of God by living better each day in our human body. 

This subject is far from over, it must be taught over and over again with many more Scriptures. Many just want to wrestle with Scripture and feel good about themselves. We are not good yet and must walk worthy of our calling.