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The Universal Quest for Holiness |
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By Dr. Bill C. Konstantopoulos |
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Every human heart desires moral purity and a sense of peace in the inner self. The quest is evident in every religion from ancient Judaism to Hinduism, from Islam to the New Age cults, from Catholicism to Eastern Orthodoxy, and in every sort of Protestant group from Baptists to Presbyterians, and from Methodists to Church of God [Movement] people.
Never mind if some prescriptions for the quest are wrong, or the means at times complex and meaningless to us. The truth of the matter is that while every heart is prone to evil, at the same time it has the capacity for good and it desires freedom and purity. Let us consider various attempts to find holiness, setting aside for the moment the question of whether their quests are valid.
People have used extreme disciplines in their quest for the purification of the soul. Some have made untold sacrifices and have traveled immeasurable distances. Religion has instituted an incredible array of cultic practices and observances for the same purpose. Some seekers after holiness will kill what they call “the infidel,” with the belief that such an act will open the gates of heaven for them. (While it is easy to reject such a perception as erroneous and deceptive, the desire for spiritual perfection is nonetheless what drives certain religious groups to do these things. Some believe these acts of zealotry will assure them of achieving their spiritual goal, while others can only hope without any certainty of the outcome.)
Scholars of comparative religion observe that every great religion seeks to experience the divine, the holy, or the other. But without any revelation of who that divine being is and without any understanding of who man is and how he has come to be in this world, the various religions have devised their own disciplines and spiritual paths.
It is not my aim here to get entangled in the complex study of comparative religion, but simply to note that the quest for purity and peace is universal. There is a vacuum in all of us that cannot be filled with anything else except the divine. But how do we experience the divine? Man is incapable of experiencing or being conformed to the divine without a revelation. This is where we get the real distinction between other religions and the Christian faith. While other religions urge individuals to search for the divine, the Christian faith holds that God has revealed Himself to mankind in an indisputable way.
The Bible begins with the words, “In the beginning God . . . .” It then proceeds to tell us how the Spirit of God moved upon a creation that was “formless” and how He spoke light into existence and divided it from the darkness.
The evangelist John begins his gospel with the words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John then tells us that this God reveals Himself to us in tangible ways so that we can see, hear, and feel Him. This sovereign God, Who is self-existing and self-sufficient and Who has all power and all knowledge, reveals Himself in the finite, temporal world.
Simple observation of the marvels of creation will fill the heart with awe of how great, wise, powerful, just, righteous, loving, merciful, and holy the Creator God is. Stand at the brightness of a sunrise and behold the beauty of a sunset; endeavor to comprehend the vastness of this universe and how infinite God is. Only a fool will conclude this universe just happened. God made everything, and it all declares the glory and majesty of God.
The Bible tells us that God made humankind. “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them” (Gen. 1:27 NASB). Then the Bible tells us that God breathed into the nostrils of this creature and he became a living soul. Many ideas are suggested by the expression, the “image of God.” It certainly does not mean that the appearance of the human body resembles God, or vice versa, even though Scripture often uses anthropological characteristics to describe God.
Mildred Banks Wynkoop and others have defined the image of God as our capacity for loving relationships. H. Ray Dunning elaborates by speaking of our “relationships with God, others, ourselves, and the earth.” I believe the “image of God” refers to the capacity of humanity, given by God, to love others as God loves and to be conformed to the moral and spiritual nature of God. Adam Clarke says, “This has reference not to the body of man but to his soul—his mind, soul, must have been formed after the nature and perfection of God.” He further states, “God is holy, just, wise, good and perfect: so must the soul be that springs from Him. There could be in him nothing impure, unjust, ignorant, evil, and low, base, mean or vile.” Paul alludes to this image when he talks about the “new self” that is “created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph. 4:24 NASB) and is “renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him” (Col. 3:10).
The women and men whom God thus created for His pleasure and His glory had all the potential to be conformed to the moral nature of God; to function with the capacity to love and relate fully to God, to others and to themselves; and to be motivated and made capable for every work of faithful service by the imprint of their Creator upon them. This man and woman were placed in the Garden of Eden, where everything was permeated by the nature of God. Thus, Adam and Eve enjoyed perfect fellowship, perfect communion, and perfect relationship with God. They were wise, holy, and righteous. The provisions of the Garden were adequate for them in order to please and glorify God.
Adam and Eve had two responsibilities in the Garden: One was “to cultivate it and to keep it” (Gen. 2:15). The other was to refrain from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Gen. 2:17). There is no need here to discuss the nature of the tree, because the destiny of humanity did not rest upon the nature of the tree but upon the fidelity of their obedience to the command of God. They had mastery over the Garden and the earth so long as they remained under the lordship of a sovereign God.
The whole future of God’s relationship with humanity rested on these words: “but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat” (Gen. 1:17). But they did eat from that tree; they did disobey God; and the tragic outcome is painted with vivid colors in the pages of the Bible: fellowship with God was lost; God’s trust was broken; the intent of God for humanity was interrupted; sin was born; and alienation from God became the human condition.
The sin of disobedience brings separation, pain, exclusion from the holy environment of the Garden, confusion, and misdirection in life. The disobedience of the first couple led the whole human race down the tragic path of despair and hopelessness, missing the “image of God” and lacking His peace.
Theologians have long debated whether the image of God was obliterated by the fall or simply obscured. Is the depravity of humanity total or does there remain some good in each of us, leaving us with the capability to do good? Whatever your answer to these questions, the fact remains that fallen humanity immediately began to reap the wages of their sinful disobedience, and ever since that time we stand in need of redemption.
The sovereign God who took the initiative to make humanity now took the initiative for our redemption. The redemptive initiative of God is revealed in two ways in the Garden. First, we hear it in the words of God that the seed of the woman will bruise the serpent’s head. Second, we see it in God’s provision of skins to clothe Adam and Eve, which implies that the sacrifice of death of living creatures had occurred. So in the garden we have the introduction of hamartiology (the nature and effects of sin) and soteriology (the promise and the means for salvation).
But God had a plan for the redemption of mankind and provided laws in order to restore the fallen human nature. The plan of God—which involved the coming of a redeemer or savior—was communicated through symbols, types, rituals, and prophetic predictions of the coming Messiah, Who would be called Emmanuel (God with us). Hundreds of years passed before the time was right for God to send His Son to redeem the fallen human race. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
Christ was born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, died on a cross, and was raised from the dead in order to redeem us so that we can walk in newness of life. This is why the apostle Paul says: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3-4). Elsewhere, he also says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires to live sensibly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:11-14).
Two phrases in this second passage merit our attention: “to redeem us” and “to purify for Himself a people for His own possession.” The aim of God in redemption is to have a holy people for Himself. The salvation provided by the grace of God, through Christ, encompasses the totality of our deliverance from sin and our restoration to God. So before we talk about the gift of holiness, the process of holiness, and the experience of holiness in the life of the believer, we must clearly understand the nature of hamartia (sin), its root, and its fruit, which we have inherited and perpetuated by our actions. We have inherited the nature, the instinct, and the inclination to sin, but we brought it to fruition by committing acts of sin, such as lying, coveting, and lusting. We are not personally responsible for the instinct to sin, but we are responsible for yielding and following that instinct.
Sin is anomia (lawlessness, the willful trans-gression of the law). It is disobedience to the Word of God. It is saying no to the will of God. It is missing the mark, veering aside from the intent or purpose of God. So we have the nature of sin (called “inbred sin” or “the Adamic nature,” as it is called by some) and we have committed acts of sin, acts which we willfully committed, knowing that they violated the law of God. Holiness must deal with both levels of sin and provide deliverance, cleansing, and restoration whereby we regain the relationship God intended for us to have with Him so that we can live unashamedly in His presence.
We must think critically about the apolytrosis (redemptive work) of Christ. Every divine grace bestowed upon us, every victory won, every change that takes place within the heart of a believer—whether it is deliverance, sanctification, empowerment, or moral transformation—all rest upon the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. All are provided through the merit of His shed blood on the cross of Calvary. Consider all that His blood does for us:
*We are purchased by His blood (Acts 20:28). *We are justified by His blood (Rom. 5:9). *We have been brought near to God by His blood (Eph. 2:13). *We are redeemed by His blood (Col. 1:14). *We are forgiven of sin through His blood (Col. 1:14). *We have peace with God through His blood (Col. 1:20). *We are cleansed by His blood (Heb. 9:14; 1 John 1:7). *We have been released from our sin by His blood (Rev. 1:5).
Let us say a few words about the New Testament truth of soteriology (salvation). Soteria refers to the redemptive plan of God; it encompasses all the grace and mercy of God to fully restore us and make us fit for heaven. The meaning of the word is wholeness, completeness, and health. It further means safety, preservation, and deliverance from danger. It means deliverance from sin (Jer. 31:31-34), deliverance from the spiritual consequences of sin (Ps. 5:10-12), and deliverance from future condemnation or the judgment of God (Rom. 3:1). Salvation also means freedom from sin as a present power (2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 6:2).
In describing the plan of salvation, Scripture also talks about justification. The apostle Paul says, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God” (Rom. 5:1). The Greek word in the New Testament is lutrosis (to release or set free, especially by paying a ransom). A related Greek word is apolutrosis (to let go, to free from captivity or slavery). The Bible presents sin as a kind of slavery and sinners as slaves (see John 8:34; Rom. 6:17-18). “Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34). “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed” (Rom. 6:17). Justification has the idea that our sin is forgiven, our debt has been cancelled, and our guilt has been removed through the death of Christ on the cross; therefore, we have peace with God and no longer live under the bondage of sin’s condemnation. Justification denotes the forgiveness of sin we have committed and the restoration of our moral integrity before God, even though sin’s consequences may persist for the rest of our earthly life.
The Bible’s teaching of salvation also utilizes the word regeneration, which has the meaning of the old replaced by the new. The verb form of the word in the Greek New Testament is anagennao, which means “to beget again.” This is the word used to describe the believer’s status as a child of God (Col. 3:26); one born of the Spirit (John 3:8); or one born again (John 3:3).
Another word used in the Greek New Testament for regeneration is the word poliggenesia. It is used in Titus 3:5 to describe the spiritual rebirth of the individual soul. Through this experience, an individual puts off the old sinful nature and puts on the new regenerated nature. This is, in the words of Paul, the one who “lays aside the old self with its evil practices” and has “put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created Him” (Col. 3:9-10). Wiley states, “Regeneration is that mighty change in man, wrought by the Holy Spirit, by which the dominion which sin had over him in his natural state, and which he deplores and struggles against in his penitent state, is broken and abolished; so that with full choice of will and the energy of right affections, he serves God freely, and runs in the way of His commandments.”
Neither justification nor regeneration can be effected in our lives without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Sanctification and the life of holiness are the work of the Holy Spirit. Thus the Bible exhorts us to “be filled with the Spirit,” to “walk in the Spirit,” to “live in the Spirit,” and to “pray in the Spirit.” Then the Bible warns us not to “grieve the Spirit” (Eph. 4:30) and not to “quench the Spirit.” When the Holy Spirit makes His abode in us, we become the temple of God, purged from the dominion of sin, endowed with the perfect love of God, empowered to conform to the image of Christ, and anointed to be victorious in doing the will of God joyfully and eagerly.
The New Testament makes it clear that the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer is indispensable. Without His assistance, we can neither pray effectively nor progress in the experience of holiness. In the process and experience of holiness, we find our best ally in the Holy Spirit, “for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Rom. 8:2).
The Bible’s teaching about salvation and the lifelong journey of holiness also talks about self-denial, surrender, and consecration. The sinful self always appears in Scripture as a stumbling block to the intended purpose of God in our lives. Individualism and the demand for individual rights is not the ideal held before us by Scripture; rather, we are called to a life of humility and servanthood, yielding to the lordship of Christ so that He increases in our lives and we decrease.
We tend to avoid two words when we consider the process of salvation and the pursuit of holiness; but according to the New Testament they are indispensable. These words are brokenness and abandonment. Brokenness incorporates repentance, contrition, and humility, relying wholly on the grace of God without putting confidence on any self-merits. It is to that end that the psalmist states, “A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise” (Ps. 51:17).
It is inconceivable that the Holy Spirit could dwell within us and effect holiness in our lives without our total abandonment to the grace of God and a total trust in His faithfulness. Jesus said that the key to genuine discipleship is for one to deny oneself. Paul says to Titus that the grace of God teaches “us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires” (Titus 2:12). Instructing the Roman Christians how to achieve nonconformity to this world and enter into the transformation of the renewed mind, Paul states, “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1).
The Greek word here is thusia, from the root word thou (to sacrifice). The word thusia refers to the sacrifice or offering that a worshipper abandoned at the altar of God. The only limit to the extent of holiness in our lives and usefulness in the kingdom of God is the extent of our brokenness and self-abandonment for love’s sake, the point at which Christ is all in all.
Sanctification (hagiasmos or hagiosuni in Greek) is an important part of the totality of our salvation. The Bible says it includes the will of God for our entire life, including the soul, mind, and body. The root word hagios, which means “set apart,” “sanctified,” “consecrated,” or “saintly,” has its root in hagnos, which means “chaste.” “The fundamental idea,” says Dr. Spiros Zodhiates, “is separation, consecration and/or devotion to the service of deity, sharing in God’s purity and abstaining from earthly defilement. The word hagios, holy, means pure or ceremonially clean as well as morally pure. According to Romans 12:1, it means ‘perfect without blemish, morally pure and blameless in heart and life.’”
So to experience sanctification is to be set aside as God’s for His exclusive use. The New Testament term makes clear that sanctification is the work of the Holy Spirit: “God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth” (2 Thess. 2:13). Sanctified believers are “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood” (1 Pet. 1:2). So sanctification is an entire separation of the life to God with an instant cleansing by the Holy Spirit, which effects holiness in our lives with progressive changes.
The word hagiosune (holiness) is a quality of character and appears only three times in the New Testament:
· a. Romans 1:4. “Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.” This refers to the holiness of God.
· b. 2 Corinthians 7:1. “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Here we have an exhortation to the believer to endeavor to perfect holiness, or to live a victorious life in the fear of God.
· c. 1 Thessalonians 3:13. “So that He may establish your hearts without blame in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” Here Paul speaks of the holiness of man, a life that is well pleasing to God. Ephesians 1:4 confirms that God has chosen us before the foundation of the world to be holy. Colossians 1:22 says that it was God’s intent through the death of Christ “to present [us] holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”
One more New Testament word describes the gateway to all the grace of God and all the benefits of salvation. That word is metanoia (repentance). Scripture states that “God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent” (Acts 17:30) and that such repentance is a turning toward God (20:21). Now metanoia has to do with change of direction, not merely a change of mind, and it is enabled by the Spirit of God. It is a change of attitude and disposition, as well as a change of life purpose. It is a change from evil to good to better. “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matt. 3:8). It is a humble contrition and godly sorrow toward God through which the individual is greatly troubled by the Spirit of God by seeing what has been done and what has been missed as a result of sin. Repentance is not just a single act but a state in which we always maintain a repentant attitude toward God.
Repentance is the brokenness of the human heart before God. Such brokenness leads to faith and proceeds to the experience of salvation, the infilling of the Holy Spirit, and a life of holiness. In fact, the brokenness of repentance is essential for revival or spiritual renewal.
In repentance we say, “I am deeply sorry for trusting in myself, seeking my way, and I change my mind. I fully abandon myself in the hands and mercy of God and fully trust in His faithfulness for the well-being of my soul.” A repentant attitude, energized by the Holy Spirit, is the gateway to every spiritual benefit offered to us by God. After all, the essence of holiness is having our lives conformed to the life of Jesus Christ, Who “that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate” (Heb. 13:12).
This article is a chapter from Dr. Konstantopoulos’ book The Holy Spirit within Us (Anderson, IN: Warner Press, 2010) 46-58. [© 2010 Bill Konstantopolous. Used by permission.]) LeClerc, Diane. “Holiness: Sin’s Anticipated Cure,” in The Holiness Manifesto,( ed. Kevin W. Mannoia and Don Thorsen. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 2008) 110-126 Clarke, Adam. Commentary on the Holy Bible, vol. 1 (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1977) 36 Wiley, H. Orton. Christian Theology, vol. 2 (Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press) 406-407 Zodhiates, Spiros. The Complete Word Study New Testament (Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 1971) 70
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