Ephesians 4:22-24
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
Theologians debate about how to define and understand holiness. There are many different perspectives on holiness, even within Arminian/Wesleyan/Holiness denominations.
Paul states simply and clearly in these verses what holiness is and how it affects us.
To understand holiness, we must start with . . .
I. The Holy God
Holiness is a word that describes God’s essential characteristic. It is a word exclusive of God. Only God is truly holy.
God defines holy:
God is the Holy.
God alone is holy.
God defines “holy.”
God is by Himself because there is none higher.
The most significant thing we can think about is the holiness of God. God is wholly other. Nothing can compare to our awesome God. We must start all thinking about religion and life at this critical point.
John Chrysostom said: “He whom we call God is the unutterable, the inconceivable, the invisible, the inapprehensible; the One who surpasses the power of human utterance and transcends the grasp of human intellect” (On the Incomprehensible).
If anything else is holy, it is holy only in relationship to God.
Only that which is in relationship to God can be called holy.
God’s presence is what makes something holy.
“Holiness” used in v. 24 has moral and religious connotations. Holiness as an act must grow out of holiness as a heart condition.
II. The Call to be like our Holy God
Gen 1:26
Holiness is our highest calling. It is what we were created for: fellowship with God and fellowship with each other. We were created to love and be loved.
We are God’s creation. Just think what we can become when we are placed in the hands of the potter (see Jer 18).
God sets the standard and provides the motive. Eph 5:8: “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light.”
God wants to conform us to His character. He wants to remake us into people fit to wear the label, “The people of God.” He wants to make us new creations in Christ. He wants to make something new and beautiful out of our lives.
The human response to God’s holiness is worship and fear expressed in submission.
III. What gets in the way
At the heart of the problem is idolatry and conformity to the world (Romans 12:2). We have so corrupted the image of God in us that sometimes it is hard to see.
IV. The Remedy in Christ
Recreation is a divine act and is a divine initiative. The presence of the Holy One in our midst always brings transformation. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us, and we have beheld His glory” (John 1:14).
We must act by “putting on.” We have a new source of power and identity.
A new Adam who reverses the problems created by the first Adam.
The old self came from deceit. The new self comes from the truth.
The new life in Christ changes everything about us.
One mark of the new person in Christ is the essential process and journey we are on all our lives. It is the putting on of a new nature. We become like our Lord. You will become like the people you hang around. We will become like our Lord if we hang around Him, if He is our companion.
We believe the work of God in our lives is never finished. There is always room for improvement. You are never as good as you can be.
There is a definite point in our spiritual growth where we give all to God.
The sooner we do this, the sooner we can grow to maturity in Christ and be the people God wants us to be.
Everything we do in our lives should then be measured by this commitment.
This process of growth is through God’s grace in response to our obedience.
“Holiness is God’s provision for us through Christ and His work within us by the Holy Spirit, freedom us from sin and progressively restoring us to Christlikeness in spirit, attitude, and lifestyle.” (William Greathouse)
Thomas Aquinas prayed, “Give me, O Lord, a steadfast heart which no unworthy thought can drag downward; an unconquered heart, which no tribulation can wear out; an upright heart, which no unworthy purpose may temp aside.”
Has Christ made any difference in your life?
James Earl Massey, “The most stupendous fact in Christian experience is our opportunity to change in the direction of what we view in the person and life of Jesus.”
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