We have so-far observed that Scripture tells us to be holy. We have also observed that few of us are interested in holiness, but that perhaps we’re mistaken in this. (Of course we are!) After all, if God is holy, and God is glorious and wonderful and we like God, then perhaps holiness is a part of a kind of life that isn’t so bad. (Of course it is!)
“Holiness” as Half-Holiness
When “holiness” comes up in church-talk, our minds slide back to Leviticus. Leviticus is the book of the Bible that seems most concerned with “holiness.” (And it is! Around 10% of the Bible’s references to holiness are in Leviticus.)
But Leviticus, as wonderful as it truly is, spends most of its time on only half of holiness—it’s the negative half. It is the “come away and be ye separate”-half. This is an important half, but a half is not the whole.
Or, to say the same thing a different way, Leviticus is Scripture. But what is Scripture about? Leviticus is about what Scripture is about. Leviticus makes a contribution to our understanding of the whole of Scripture. Leviticus is a part of a greater project. Leviticus is a part of something, but not the whole thing. What is the whole thing?
The Whole Holiness
The whole of holiness is not described as such anywhere. My designations of “half” versus “whole” holiness is not based in any specific passage. But whole-holiness weaves through the entirety of Scripture and is put before us plainly in many places.
It is what the book of Proverbs is about—a man and woman shaped by the wisdom of God to live righteous, joyful, lives together in a flourishing community. It’s what we love about the lives of all our biblical heroes, their victories and the way the respond to failures. It’s what we love about Jesus, most of all. He is the great fly in the ointment of our shriveled holiness—He who touched lepers and welcomed sinners, who lampooned the religiously righteous and ignored the upwardly mobile.
What must holiness be if the most holy one, the one who embodied the very actual holiness of God, was a “friend of sinners, a drunkard and glutton”? (Mat 11:19) And, of course, He wasn’t a drunkard, or likely much of a foodie. That’s just how his opponents wanted to portray Him. But the exaggeration wouldn’t have stuck if Jesus didn’t mind a little wine with some good falafel and some bad company, from time to time.
Maybe… no, certainly: We need a fuller understanding of holiness.
Where To Start, Where To Go
Holiness that’s clean, pure, and separate is a fine start for pig-slop covered sinners growling at the glory of God. It’s nice to see the filthy made clean, that’s true. But it’s also kind of comical. Freshly scrubbed and bleached and combed and brushed and standing there—well, welcome to the party! But now what? The Huck Finn in all of us needs an understanding of holiness beyond wearing itchy woolen pants and too tight shoes. The Widow Douglas did half the job, but we need more Scripture to see the whole thing done.
That’s the question we’re after: now what? Holiness that’s too small for Jesus to fit into is too small to be true holiness. And don’t let’s have any, “Well, Jesus could because He wasn’t a sinner, but we can’t because we are sinners.” I’m sure there are situations where this is a meaningful statement for some of us. But it is not the best or last word on the subject when Scripture says, after all, “be ye holy as I am holy.” And that holiness is so perfectly and utterly embodied in Jesus that “Christlikeness” and “holiness” are, functionally, synonyms. And we are to be as Christlike as we can be.
If we must be holy as God is holy, then we must be holy like Christ. And if there’s anything that a person who’s met Jesus wants, it’s to be like Jesus.
And yet, holiness is not the first word we think of when we think of Jesus. Maybe “peace,” or “love,” or “joy,” or “strength,” or “courage,” or “power,” or “wisdom.” But not holiness? That’s a problem. Let’s think about holiness a little bit more.
First, let’s pause at another prayer-moment, a bend in the road that perhaps we didn’t expect.
Father, You know how thankful I am for Jesus, how much a love Him, and how much I admire Him! Worshipping You in Him is easy! Your glory radiating through His perfections simply draws forth praise. Jesus is wonderful! You are wonderful! And so I can see how my ideas of Christian Living have short. How can Christian Living be anything but great since it’s supposed to be like Jesus? I can see that I’ve misunderstood some things. So I’m excited to forge forward into Christ-like holiness. Lord, help me to love holiness and to grow in it. By Your grace and for Your glory, In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Photo by Ivana Cajina on Unsplash
