HOLINESS
HOLINESS
Below is an excerpt from a paper I wrote this summer –
LEVITICUS: GOD IS HOLY, THERFORE…
“Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy.” Leviticus 19:2 (KJV)
The 19th chapter of Leviticus provides us with an exposition on the practice of holiness. The holiness of God is revealed in relationship to the redemption of Israel out of Egypt. Consequently, it is not until after the exodus that God calls upon His people to live holy lives. The Mosaic Covenant is established so that Israel would be a holy nation.
While there are hints at how holiness is to be practiced by the people of God earlier in the Pentateuch, it is in the 19th chapter of the Book of Leviticus that holiness is defined in great detail.God speaks to Moses and instructs Moses what to tell the community of faith. God says, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”
The second half of this statement is easily grasped, the first half, not so much. We feel at home singing “Holy, holy, holy” when our focus is God. We often begin prayers with the words, “Holy God” or end them with “In your holy name, we pray.” Holy is an adjective that naturally attaches itself to God. What shakes us up is that God begins by saying that we are to be holy.
In Terence Fretheim’s book, “The Pentateuch”, Terence writes, “…the people are recognized as holy by God, as were the priests by the people and they were to treat themselves as holy just as God was to be. By virtue of this relationship to a holy God and this calling, and by God’s sanctifying action the word “holy” becomes a key reference for all the people of God, not simply the priests” (pp134).
We must approach this chapter with these things in mind, because there are several factors, which might incline us to hastily conclude that this chapter is irrelevant to 20th century Christians.
In the first place there are some commands given here which are difficult to understand, even as they relate to the Israelite. Secondly, there are some commands that are clearly inapplicable to New Testament saints.
Leviticus 19 is a crucial chapter for Christians (as well as the ancient Israelites) for a variety of reasons. First, Leviticus 19 is important to us because of the prominence of its teaching in the New Testament. Both our Lord and the apostles make a great deal of the two great commandments that are given here: “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy” (Lev. 19:2b). “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev. 19:18b).
Second, Leviticus 19 is vitally important because of the desperate need for the practice of holiness. As badly as Christians misunderstand holiness, it is practiced even more pathetically. Holy living is something, which is not characteristic of the last days, and it surely is not characteristic of Christianity in our own days as well.
Third, it is important because of the distorted perceptions of holiness. Holiness is a term that is used more than it is understood. It is one thing for holiness not to be understood; it is even worse that it is misunderstood. There are many misconceptions in Christian circles as to what holiness really is. In the King James Version of the Bible, the terms “holy” and “holiness” do not occur until the Book of Exodus.
Fourth, many Christians, who were very sincere, have gone astray seeking an unholy holiness. Many Christians who have been sidetracked into one of the cults have pursued a false conception of holiness. People generally do not join a cult in order to forsake holiness, but to attain it.
There are some necessities of holiness found in the first primary commandment. Here are some factors relative to this command.First, the necessity of holiness is seen by the fact that the entire nation of Israelites is commanded to be holy. Thus, holiness is not an option, but an imperative.
Second, the command also provides a motivation for holiness. The holiness of God is manifested in the deliverance of His people from Egypt, and by the manifestation of His glory from Mt. Sinai. Thus, the people should have been motivated to live a life of holiness, based on their gratitude for the redemption God had accomplished.
Third, there is also a provision for the holiness, which God required, of His people. The law, which was given as a part of the Mosaic Covenant, was God’s standard of holiness, and obedience to this law was the means to holiness. God did not command His people to be holy without telling them how to be holy.
Finally, God Himself provided the pattern for holiness. God is holy, which is the basis for Israel’s holiness. The holiness of God is thus the pattern for Israel’s holiness. Israel was not only to be holy because God is holy; they were to be holy as (like) God is holy. The actions that God required were those that He had already performed on behalf of His people.
We have seen that holiness is a necessity for the people of God, but it remains for us to discern the nature of this holiness. I’ve often wondered what this holiness, that God required, was to be like.
Holiness involved obedience to the commandments of God. God did not leave His people in the dark as to what holiness consisted of. The bottom line was that holiness consisted of obedience to the laws of God, obedience to His commandments.
Holiness involved sacrifice, in that it is costly. Holiness entails sacrifice. Of course, holiness required sacrifices—those outlined in the early chapters of Leviticus. But more than this, every act of obedience to the commandments of God was a sacrificial act. Obedience to God’s commandments was costly. Abstaining from eating the fruit from one’s trees for five years and observing the Sabbath days was also costly. Holiness was a sacrifice.
Holiness was more than a matter of observing religious rituals—it was intensely practical piety, involving a wide variety of actions as a part of one’s everyday life. True, holiness involved those special ceremonies and special holy days and going to that special place, the tabernacle, where rites were performed by a special priestly class. But chapter 19 describes a very practical, everyday, kind of holiness, of honoring parents, of honesty and kindness and compassion and justice.
Holiness is the imitation of God. In the ultimate sense, living a holy life is the imitation of God, who alone is holy. Thus, when our Lord came to the earth and lived “under the law,” fully keeping the law, He manifested the holiness of God to men.
Holiness was here to be revealed positively, rather than negatively. God’s holiness was manifested by His compassion on the Israelites when they were afflicted in Egypt, and when He delivered them from their bondage. So, too, holiness is to be manifested by the people of God by their kindness, grace, and compassion on others, especially the needy and the afflicted.
Finally, loving one’s neighbor as one’s self practices holiness.
It is not that only one loves one’s neighbor, but it is here emphasized manifests holiness that holiness must include an active love for one’s neighbor. Thus, just as God’s holiness is seen in His love for Israel in the Old Testament, and for the world in its weakness and need in the New, so God’s people must demonstrate God’s holiness as they show love for their neighbors, especially those in need.
Holiness is certainly about doing concrete actions to care for others, and not doing things that would harm them. But it goes beyond that — it is a way of acting that comes from a pure heart, of doing what is right and good because it is right and good, not only out of fear of being caught. Holiness is holistic.
It is important to stress that Israel’s holiness is a reality; it is not something to be aimed at or striven for, or to be associated only with worship. The call to “be holy” is a call to be true to the relationship in which the people already stand.
We see that the holiness described in Leviticus 19, and the holiness that bears fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23) is not mutually exclusive. Indeed, Leviticus 19 cannot make someone alive (Galatians 3:21). But following the commandments in Leviticus 19 can transform a life, as the laws listed there can — even today — be markers for holy living.
Through Moses, God says to us, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” And the place to begin is with love.