Gentle Reader,
What is holiness?
My theological tradition (Wesleyan) loves to think about this question. We love to debate whether the act of sanctification, or God’s work of freeing us from the power of sin (both cosmic and personal), takes places in an instant or across a lifetime. We love to discuss whether holiness is best expressed in an ever-increasing love of God and others or if it comes down to keeping within the boundaries defined by lists of do’s and don’ts. Books have been and are being written. Classes have been and are being taught. The discussion goes on in sermons, songs, podcasts, discussion forums, and most recently, the General Assembly of the Church of the Nazarene. (Think a homeowners association meeting on steroids that happens every four years. It’s great. I am completely sincere in saying that).
You see, Wesleyans fall on the optimistic end of the theological spectrum. (Funny that a natural pessimist like me is part of the group). We believe that’s God’s grace is genuinely transformative. The presence and power of the Holy Spirit within individual Christians and the Church as whole (local and global, and my apologies for all the parenthesis today) enables you and me and us together to live as God wants us to live. We are not powerless in the face of sin, forever doomed to make the same bad choices over and over again. God has and wants far more for us than that, and makes sure that we are able to get to that more.
As our forefather wrote,
Agreeable to this his one desire is the one design of his life, namely, ‘to do, not his own will, but the will of him that sent him.’ His one intention at all times and in all places is, not to please himself, but him who his soul loveth. He has a single eye. And because his ‘eye is single’ his ‘whole body is full of light.’ ‘The whole is light, as when the the bright shining of a candle doth enlighten the house.’ God reigns alone. All that is in the soul is ‘holiness to the Lord.’
– John Wesley, A Plan Account of Christian Perfection, p. 44 (2015 edition, edited by Randy Maddox and Paul W. Chilcote)
The person Wesley writes of is enveloped in God. Lost in God. Singularly and fully devoted to God. The whole of his life is given over to God.
Cool. But still, what is holiness?
Holiness is about more than being good and morally upstanding. … God’s holiness is (God’s) defining characteristic. It’s a term used in the Bible to describe both (God’s) goodness and (God’s) power. It is completely unique and utterly all-powerful, radiating from God like an energy. In fact, God’s holiness is so overwhelming that it can actually be dangerous to approach.
First, try as we might, our words are never quite enough to define or describe holiness. It’s something other, as God is Other. There’s a weight and mystery and an unearthly beauty to it. Yet it’s knowable, as God is knowable. Holiness is something we can have and be as a result of the redemptive work of Christ Jesus, even as our language fails to fully express what we experience. We can have holiness and be holy because we can have and be embraced by the God who is the essence of holiness.
(Isn’t that wild, to know that we can have God? We can never control God. We are never equal to or above God. But we can have God. God freely offers Godself to us).
We can be good, the real kind of good that is loving and faithful. The kind that hopes and helps and gets down in the dirt to work for justice and peace in our communities. That element inside our souls that became twisted and bent way back on the Genesis 3 day, God takes it and straightens it. Cleans it. And suddenly we are able to walk upright. Look others in the eye understanding that they are beloved of God, as we are, and are therefore not our enemies.
And now, second, “holiness is about more than being good and morally upstanding.” This is where we need to go in our thinking and conversing about what it means for us to be holy people. And by “we,” I don’t just mean my fellow Wesleyans, but all of us who confess Christ as Lord. Even if you think the perspective on grace shared above is too optimistic (which is fine; the Church is big), we both still have to wrestle with passages like this:
What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? … If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
– Romans 6:1-2, John 14:15 (NRSV)
Those lines are isolated from the surrounding text, which is not a good way to make a point. And I’m not making any point today. I just want to get us thinking together.
If holiness is about more than goodness and morality, then what is it? What does it look like for us to live holy lives?
Until next time.
GRACE AND PEACE ALONG THE WAY,
MARIE
Image Courtesy of Chris Curry
(Isn’t that wild, to know that we can have God? We can never control God. We are never equal to or above God. But we can have God. God freely offers Godself to us).
Yes, let’s get thinking together!
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