True Meaning of Holiness
ALREADY HOLY IN CHRIST
Dealing with holiness, we must first emphasize the truth that we all are already holy in Christ.
At the incarnation, Christ identified Himself with our fallen human condition and became our Representative—the second Adam, the new Head of humanity. In our flesh, yet without ever committing sin, He perfectly overcame the law of sin and the three fundamental drives of the flesh. From birth until death, He lived a perfectly holy life.
Because Christ accomplished this in our human flesh, in our place and as the Representative of humanity, His holiness belongs to us. He “became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification (holiness) and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30), and we “are complete (perfect, holy) in Him” (Colossians 2:10).
However, holiness is a gift, and like every gift, it must be accepted before we can experience and benefit from it. We receive it through genuine faith, the evidence of which is the new birth and “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).
When we truly understand the cross—that while we were still sinners and enemies, God loved us and saved us in Christ (Romans 5:8–10)—we fall in love with God and His Son. Moved by love and gratitude, we give Him our whole hearts and surrender everything to Him.
This complete surrender to God is holiness!
And we have a good reason to surrender all to God:
“You are not your own… For you were bought at a price.” (1 Corinthians 6:19–20).
“That those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” (2 Corinthians 5:15).
TO BE HOLY MEANS TO BELONG TO GOD
Christians almost always understand holiness as living without sin. As a result, they often do their best to avoid sin, obey the commandments, and try to be good in order to become or be regarded as holy.
However, the biblical meaning of holiness goes deeper. Holiness begins not with what we do, but with whom we belong to. To be holy means first of all to be set apart for God, to belong completely to Him, and to be entirely surrendered to Him.
This is why God said: “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” (Leviticus 20:26, NKJV).
Notice the words: “that you should be Mine.” Therefore, holiness is not primarily our struggle to make ourselves good enough for God. True holiness begins when we cease belonging to ourselves and belong entirely to Christ. As Paul wrote. To be holy to God means to be His, it means that our heart is completely His.
God wants us to surrender everything and become completely His—to be holy—so that He may “strongly support” us with His indwelling presence, agape love, power and wisdom. Please notice that according to 2 Chronicles 16:9 He can strongly support us in this way only if our hearts are completely His:
“For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to strongly support those whose heart is completely His” — 2 Chronicles 16:9.
HOW TO BE HOLY BY BECOMING COMPLETELY GOD’S?
We know that we are called to surrender everything to God and give Him our whole hearts. But how can we do this when, even as Christians, we still find within ourselves the law of sin, selfishness, pride and death? In our own strength, we cannot surrender all. Yet every day we can come before the Lord and acknowledge that we are powerless and weak, that we have no confidence in the flesh, and that we are completely dependent upon Him for everything—including the power to overcome the law of sin that seeks to control our lives. Therefore, every day, especially in the morning, we should express our deep desire to surrender everything to God and declare our complete dependence upon Him. With heartfelt prayer and faith, we should praise Him for hearing and answering us, and for accepting our sincere desire to surrender—even before we see any positive results.
Ellen White beautifully explains that this surrender is not merely a one-time experience, but something that should be renewed every morning and every day:
“Consecrate yourself to God in the morning; make this your very first work. Let your prayer be, ‘Take me, O Lord, as wholly Thine. I lay all my plans at Thy feet. Use me today in Thy service. Abide with me, and let all my work be wrought in Thee.’ This is a daily matter. Each morning consecrate yourself to God for that day. Surrender all your plans to Him, to be carried out or given up as His providence shall indicate. Thus day by day you may be giving your life into the hands of God, and thus your life will be molded more and more after the life of Christ.” — Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ, p. 70.
This surrender then produces the fruit of holiness in our lives. We do not surrender to God because we have already made ourselves holy; rather, we become His, and because we are His, He works in us to produce a holy life.
BIBLE VERSES ABOUT HOLINESS
“And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.” — Leviticus 20:26.
“You shall be a special treasure to Me above all people… And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” — Exodus 19:5–6.
“Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God.” — Romans 12:1.
“A chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.” — 1 Peter 2:9.
“Pursue… holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.” — Hebrews 12:14.
QUOTES ABOUT HOLINESS
“What is holiness? Many people think we become holy by the eradication of something evil within. No, we become holy by being separated unto God.” — Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life, chapter “Separated Unto the Lord.”
“I give myself over wholly to Christ: that is holiness.” — Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life, chapter “Separated Unto the Lord.”
“Holiness next consists very largely in consecration.” — Charles H. Spurgeon, Holiness, the Law of God’s House.
“If we are to be holy: we must belong to Jehovah, we must be consecrated to him, and be used for his own purposes.” — Charles H. Spurgeon, Holiness, the Law of God’s House.
“God’s historical purpose is to call out a people for himself; that this people is a ‘holy’ people, set apart from the world to belong to him.” — John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount.
