Many people in the church world cringe at the word Holiness,and anytime Holiness is mentioned they cry legalism ? Holiness is a commanded lifestyle for believers In Christ,yet legalism is a preversion of Grace and something believers must avoid.
Legalism is man trying to earn salvation,by his own efforts,while holiness is a result of grace.
Why do you suppose people often confuse Holiness as Legalism ?
because they might have not genuinely been born again or they or walking in the flesh and cannot or our not discerning by the spirit of God.
In my background,Many people who called themselves Holiness taught extrabiblical things,as the commandments of God,certainly Holiness is a biblical principle,but well meaning people sometimes taught the commandments of men,as the commandments of God,so personally I feel that alot of confusion over Holiness and Legalism has come from alot of well intentionted believers.
I believe that holiness is a gift we receive from God that manifests itself in an outward manner. "BE holy as I AM holy" is much more about the "essence" of one's inward disposition and status than outward demonstration. God IS holy, and therefore, acts a certain way. Holiness is not obtained in the actions that one does or does not do, but rather, comes from being partakers of the divine nature. It is a gift of God's grace.
Unless holiness is understood from these principles, one will easily be lead into legalism. I am "holy" because of what God has done for me. He has set me apart. I am simply to walk in a lifestyle that agrees with what God has already done for me. Holiness is not found in adhering to an ethical code. Holiness is a state of being.
Holiness is not found in adhering to an ethical code. Holiness is a state of being.
Amen.
A lot of times you will find legalism being promoted by someone trying to work their way into salvation...or perhaps keep it.
You will find holiness in the life of someone who is truly saved. Someone who as come to the end of self and realizes they have nothing to give. It is then they begin to truly give all of themselves in complete obedience to the Word. It is a joy to obey. Not a chore. Holiness by grace.
Holiness is not obtained in the actions that one does or does not do, but rather, comes from being partakers of the divine nature. It is a gift of God's grace.Unless holiness is understood from these principles, one will easily be lead into legalism. I am "holy" because of what God has done for me. He has set me apart. I am simply to walk in a lifestyle that agrees with what God has already done for me. Holiness is not found in adhering to an ethical code. Holiness is a state of being.
Amen. Our holiness is God's gift, bought with the precious blood of Christ, not the deeds of men. But when we are truly Christ's, then we will choose to walk in the path of his righteousness.
[i]Heb 10:12-14 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, because [b]by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy
The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” Then he adds: “[b]Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more
You will find holiness in the life of someone who is truly saved. Someone who as come to the end of self and realizes they have nothing to give. It is then they begin to truly give all of themselves in complete obedience to the Word. It is a joy to obey. Not a chore. Holiness by grace.
Amen. Absolutely true. Sadly, few "holiness" preachers ever get this. They may hint at getting it from time to time, but usually just fall back into the old "rules and regulations" preaching.
Just to add my two cents into this matter, because I think this is something often misinterpreted by almost everybody, but Christ's statement in the sermon on the mount, to "BE perfect" as our heavenly Father is, must be understood in this exact same manner as "being" holy. It's not something we strive for, rather, it is something we are to walk in, as we have been made perfect by the blood of Jesus Christ.
*edited*
I am one of them.Many people in the church world cringe at the word Holiness,and anytime Holiness is mentioned they cry legalism ?
There is something you have to understand. A lot of us grew up in denominations that taught holiness, but it was laced with legalism, a lot of it. So holiness to our understanding was legalism. God was so strict that while I was a sinner He died for me, but now that I am saved it was like condemnation being poured out. Why was I saved for? only to be condemned for every action that I do? Everything you did was scrutinized. I remember one woman who asked the Pastor if she could cut an inch off her long hair to get rid of the split ends. He said, "I don't believe a woman should cut her hair". So she cut the split ends, wound the hair up and stuck a hat on her head so no one could see that she cut it.
The more "holiness" that was practiced in the Church the more sin raged in behind closed doors. It was unbelievable the happenings that were going on. The more I seen what was going on the more I hated legalism and the holiness that went with it.
There is a true holiness and the only thing that I can come up with is that the more you grow closer to God the more holier you become. I don't think it has anything to do with stop touching this or that, that will fall away with the using as Paul said. Preachers are such control freaks. Leave people alone, let the Holy Ghost make people holy, our business is to continually point to Jesus Christ, not putting everyone into some legalistic mold and stamp holiness on it.
Forgive me, this is a painful and touchy subject. I've seen people destroyed by legalism. I hate it with a passion. And if Holiness is Legalism, then I hate them both, but I thank God that it's not.
Amen DeepThinker.
I know one senior saint in my church, who is about 70 years old and has grown up in the holiness tradition. She testified that when she came into the church from the world, she was very confused with all the rules and regulations that many others tried to impose on her as to what was right and what was wrong in everyday matters of dress, makeup, hair, food, etc.
She has said on many occasions that she simply turned to the Lord and said, "Lord, I'll dress however it is you want me to dress." And the best she has known how, she has only dressed as she believes the Lord has allowed her to dress all these years. That didn't often go over very well with others in the church. But, that is how she presented herself before the Lord, and in doing so, she has fought the good fight and kept the faith all these years.
She is one of the greatest Christians I have ever personally known.
Legalism is when you teach the commandments of men as if they were the commandments of God.
Holiness is when you keep the commandments of God because you love God.
Holiness is when you keep the commandments of God because you love God.
This sounds good on the surface, and many might be tempted to agree with it. But in actuality, this statement is 100% false. Holiness is not found in keeping the commandments of God. One keeps the commandments of God because one "is" holy, as God "is" holy. There is a big difference here.
HogwashHoliness is when you keep the commandments of God because you love God.
To be "holy" is to be "morally blameless". If you break the commandments of the Lord, you are not morally blameless and are therefore not holy.
If you keep the commandments of the Lord, you are blameless and are consequently holy.
You don't keep the commandments because you are holy, you are holy because you keep the commandments. That is because you cannot be "morally blameless" unless you are FIRST keeping the commandments.
- To be holy is to be morally blameless
- A man is morally blameless if he keeps the commandments
- Therefore, a man is holy if he keeps the commandments.
To further elaborate on my last post. If one defines "holiness" as keeping the commandments of God, one shows they seriously misunderstand what holiness is. Why? Because such a definition does not start with God. If holiness is to be understood, it must be understood in relation to how God "is" holy. Is God holy because God obeys Himself and loves Himself? Obviously not.
The issue of holiness is the issue of "otherness." God is "entirely other" as Art Katz was fond of saying. And it is the essence of this "otherness" that makes God holy. It's something God is in and of Himself. We are speaking something about his "ontological" being. Holiness is the issue of God's very nature. It's "what" He is. And as a result of God being "holy," God acts out that holiness. A. W. Tozer was right to pin-point holiness as the chief characteristic of God out of which all other characteristics flowed.
And it is from this that we must understand personal holiness. Unless we understand personal holiness from who God is, then we are bound to enter into false notions that holiness is about keeping God's commandments. A performance based understanding of holiness is not in keeping with Scripture. We are called to "be holy as I am holy." Thus, since God by nature is holy other, we too are likewise called to be by nature, holy other. And we can only receive such when we have undergone this inward change of nature, whereby God makes us holy by means of the grace given to us through the new birth. In this, we "become" holy and other.
You see, when we were justified by God, we were sanctified and "set apart" from the rest of the sinful race of Adam. Instead of being men who were dead, we were set apart as men who were made alive. Instead of being enslaved to this fallen demonic world, we were raised up with Jesus Christ and made to sit in heavenly places with Him through the spiritual union we have in Him. These acts of God towards us have "made" us holy.
As a result of being made holy by the Lord, we act as the Lord acts. The Lord is holy, therefore, everything He does is in keeping with who He is by nature. Likewise, we have been made holy, therefore, everything we are to do ought to likewise be in keeping with who we have been made by nature. We are not holy because of what we do, rather, we are holy because of who we are. And that holiness of character will ultimately manifest itself in our very conduct, as we joyfully love God, and keep His commandments. We are not doing these things to become holy, rather we do these things because we are holy.
God is morally blameless because He always does what He knows is right. The Divine Will always obeys the Divine Conscience. God said, "man has become as one of us, to know good and evil" so God must have a conscience, He knows what is right and what is wrong. The Lord is good and perfect in all His ways, which means there must be some standard of goodness God obeys, which is His own conscience - He is a law unto Himself. "Will not the judge of all the earth do right?" presupposes that there is a standard of rightness for God to keep. That standarded is His own Divine Mind or Divine Conscience.
If we obey the law of God, as revealed to us through our conscience, then we are "holy, as God is holy". We cannot be holy in the same degree that God is holy, because He has more knowledge than we do. But we can be holy in the same way that God is holy, we can always do what we know is right.
Holiness is the opposite of sin. Sin is the free choice to do what you know is wrong. Therefore holiness is the free choice to do what you know is right.
...which means there must be some standard of goodness God obeys...
The standard God keeps is simply walking out his character and doing what comes naturally to Him. He has no "standard of goodness" that he "obeys."
Jesse, please repent of such heresy.
Moral character is determined by confirmity or disformity to moral law. If there is no moral law for God to obey, then God cannot have moral character. But there is no moral law outside of God, since nothing is coeternal with God. Therefore the moral law that God obeys must be a part of Himself. It is His Divine Mind. The moral aspect of His intelligence would be known as His Divine Conscience. From all of eternity, the Will of God has obeyed the Intelligence of God. Proverbs tells us that Wisdom was with Him in the beginning.
Moral law is not some artbitrary invention of His. The moral law is a part of His very NATURE. Just as Gentiles do by NATURE the things contained in the law, their conscience.... So part of God's nature is His conscience. The nature of our personality is intelligence, emotions, and free will. Part of intelligence is conscience. Part of God's nature is conscience. Therefore moral law is part of God's nature, not some creation of His. Your nature is your constitution, your make up.
Moral character is determined by confirmity or disformity to moral law. If there is no moral law for God to obey, then God cannot have moral character.
God "gave" law, law was not "given" to God. The law God created and gave issues out of who God is. God is not subjected to any law. He simply does what God does out of who He is by NATURE.
For example, in Hebrews we read about how God "took an oath" in order to provide us assurance that what He said would indeed come to pass. And we have assurance, because it is "impossible" for God to lie. Why? Because lying is not in keeping with who God is by nature. God is not a liar, therefore, God does not lie. Therefore, if God takes an oath and promises to do something, we can be absolutely sure God will do it. Why? Because God is going to obey some sort of law? Nonsense. God is going to do it because God IS faithful, and will do what He says He will do. Not out of some sense of "moral obligation." God is not obliged to do anything other than be Himself.
God did not create moral law, God revealed moral law. God revealed to us part of His own nature, that is, his conscience, knowledge, and wisdom.
If moral law was created, how can you explain how there was sin before the law came, since sin is transgression of the law?
“(For until the law sin was in the world . . .”
The Law of Moses did not originate right and wrong. Rather, it declared right and wrong, since sin existed before the law was given. The law reveals what sin is, to point it out.
“Was then that which is good [the law] made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working [spiritual] death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.” Rom. 7:13
“I had not known sin, but by the law . . .” Rom. 7:7
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