Perfecting Holiness? Part 1
Addressing the elephant in the room. Does "no conditions but faith" for the new covenant mean our attitudes and behaviors don't matter?
(All scripture quotations are from the BSB unless otherwise noted.)
Even though this is “free”, I still apologize for the delay in publishing. My life outside of writing has exploded and left little room for writing, including a 5 week stay in a hospital and rehab unit recovering from an aortic dissection and follow-on heart attack and the necessary procedures to fix those conditions. Needless to say my physical life has changed forever. Combine that with my previous busy-ness and it has truly been awhile since I have published. I am finally back home for my final few weeks of recovery so it is a good time to finish up some things I have been working on, though it will be slow going due to some healing nerve damage and it's impact on my fine motor skills like typing.
I don't want to ignore the multiple miracles reflected in the fact I am still here on this earth. I think despite its small reach, the truth I write about on this platform is important, and this has been an interesting reset to help me see what is truly important. As I fully recover it will be enlightening to see where this ends up. In the meantime, I have a truly great truth to try and share in this set of articles. Thankfully it was mostly written before all of this went down, so I hopefully can just edit.
I believe this is my most important and exciting set of articles yet! They go places I have never gone in regard to the gospel message flowing from and reflecting God's nature. You would think it would be obvious, but I have never used this specific frame of reference of how God's unchangeable nature literally forces the Gospel to be what it is given God's loving objective of relationship with humanity. Again, should be obvious, but the frame of reference matters. That the Gospel is a reflection of God's nature matters. That holiness is also a reflection of God's nature matters. That all of God’s new covenant promises flow directly from His nature matters.
In my 45+ years in church, I don't remember hearing or reading anything quite like this either. If you specifically search the Internet for “God's nature and the Gospel” you can find a bit, but in general this direct association seems to be limited. Of course, the message of the Gospel is tied to the Greek word “Logos” which means “The Word” and is directly tied to Jesus Christ as the "Living Word”; thus, it makes perfect sense that this message would come from and reflect God's character!
I contend it is the only message that fully does — including other messages in Scripture — but I digress for now. It is certainly the main lens for reading Scripture; thus, it is highly important that we focus on the Gospel message portrayed through the Apostolic New Covenant and truly grasp it without its various common corruptions. As I have often written, the main mindset to avoid Gospel corruption is to recognize that everything from God is a gift for us. If we are not directly receiving everything spiritually from God as a gift; then it is not of God. Period.
The Gospel is the only way to obtain holiness; thus, holiness is always only a gift from God. This includes “holy behavior”.
I started investigating this article with the subject of “holy behavior”; but, I am excited about what it morphed into. True “holiness” is an exciting concept! It is nothing like the stodgy idea many preachers and teachers make it out to be where we drudgingly go through life trying to achieve holiness by acting “holy” through following lists of “holy” activities and avoiding lists of “unholy” activities. Holiness is the true root of life that Christ came to give us! It is something that should make us excited, not burdened down. If you are not excited at the concept of “holiness”; then, frankly, you don't understand it. It is everything you ever wanted and neededbut probably don't realize it.
Without recognizing the “Holiness Gift”, genuinely holy activities can never happen. Even believers can continue in the “dead works” that the author of Hebrews 6 warns about. Dead works may look “holy” on the outside; but, they are far from being truly holy, quite the opposite. Only activities directly powered by a holy God can be truly God type holy. The very mindset that you are inching closer to God or gaining holiness by “doing good and avoiding evil” is the original sin and the most unholy mindset there is! Most church goers have been tricked into this unholy mindset and are utterly convinced that they are improving their “holiness” through it.
The actual passage that prompted these articles is 2 Corinthians 7:1 where, in most translations, it has Paul making a couple of very interesting statements. These are often interpreted in a way that waters down the true Gospel message. Paul seems to say, as believers, we need to “purify ourselves” and thus make our holiness “perfect”. At face value, these translations seem to conflict with the legitimate gospel truth that purity and holiness are gifts from God through the finished work of Christ. When you dig deeper, it does not conflict at all. It is only because most use a “works holiness” lens when translating, interpreting, or reading the passage that leads to this view.
This misinterpretation gives rise to all sorts of false “works righteousness” ideas! Yet, when you dig into the Greek, that is not what Paul means at all. Paul’s true meaning is quite a practical application of how we can live out the Gospel. He never dis-roots this lifestyle from the truth that all of God's gospel promises are gifts. He also never encourages “self-effort” or “good works” to achieve or maintain purity and holiness. Those are anathema to the Gospel — everything from God, including our good works, are a free gift.
However, if you want my full take on this passage, you will need to wait for a later article! In the pursuit of the meaning of holiness, I will be laying a broad foundation in a few articles leading up to my explanation of this verse. I feel these are important truths to understand in preparation for studying this divisive passage. So, let's discuss holiness. It is an amazing topic!
Only 100% perfect God type holiness gives us 100% perfect peace with a perfectly holy God.
In the Sermon on the Mount (“SOTM”), Christ makes a demand that was utterly impossible for His audience at the time (for them, that was His point). In Matthew 5:48, Christ says: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Such a simple statement; yet, an impossible demand! This statement, along with much of the SOTM, continues to trip up scholars and believers to this day. They see this as a law type command for believers to try and achieve over time by “good works”. This is the one area of disagreement that a good friend and I continue in. I don't blame him, as the mass of opinions in the “Christian world” agree with him. However, alignment on an idea by the majority is no guarantee of it's truth.
First, as usual, this translation does not do justice to the passage. For the words translated “be” and “is”, the root Greek word is an existential word (eimi). It's actual meaning is “I Exist”. When Christ refers to Himself as “I AM” it is this word. What Christ is actually saying is: “Your existence should be perfect like your heavenly Father's existence is perfect.” The translation “be perfect” makes it sound like some action or actions we are able to take to become perfect. Yet, Christ is saying something far more profound. Only God can transform the default existentially imperfect spiritual human condition into an existentially perfect one. That happens for God's children. It a core Gospel truth.
His audience would have clearly understood the impossibility of His statement! He was literally saying that you need to exist in the same exact perfect state that God exists in! The problem is that if you are already imperfect in even the most minuscule way, then a perfect existence is over for you! Done — too late! A perfect existence is always perfect or never perfect. Christ was saying something that needs a miracle from God to accomplish. He was eliminating human ability from the formula to fix the human condition. It was the ultimate nail in the coffin of “works holiness”. Only God can take something existentially imperfect and make it perfect as if it was never imperfect! For His children, that is what He has done!
Christ certainly wasn't commanding a works-based righteousness or perfection — quite the opposite! It was his audience, especially the religious leaders, who thought they could earn God's Kingdom and please God by their works or Law keeping. Much of the SOTM is Christ showing them the true standard required to “earn” the kingdom of God by Law keeping. A standard neither them nor any human could ever keep! Every human has already blown it just by being born! But as long as they believed they could keep it and were required to “earn” the Kingdom by good works, then they would never accept the truth of God's Gospel gift of Christ. And every human since must also give up on works — both for salvation and sanctification.
The modern abuse of the SOTM. How Christ was revealing the true human problem and His audience's hopelessness to resolve it — NOT giving believers even more commands to try and keep.
It is a travesty to use these statements and beat believers — already God's children by faith — over the head. Christ was not trying to get believers to reform their behavior. He was trying to get unbelievers to understand that reforming their behavior was never going to be enough to fix the main issue preventing them from entering the Kingdom of God. Their only hope was to transfer their faith from their Law keeping or good works to Him. Christ was convincing them He was THE ONLY WAY! Yet, the traditional explanations of these statements are a travesty as they lead to the opposite reaction from Christ's intent.
Christ was revealing His mission in this statement! His mission was to fix the existential human problem of imperfection! This is the mission of the gospel message — to take imperfect and unholy humans and make them perfect and holy! This happens when we gain the life of Christ. Giving this type of life was His self proclaimed reason for His holy mission. (John 10:10) He is the only Way for this to happen. There is no other, and certainly “behavior improvement” cannot do it for you. Yet, for believers, it is also a travesty to spin your wheels trying to accomplish by works that which Christ has already done! You are already clean, close, forgiven, and made perfect. Now, you get to live as this amazing person, re-created by Christ, but your works do nothing to improve what Christ has done.
Scripture never presents the human problem as “bad behavior”. That is only a symptom of the main problem. It is the flesh that overly emphasizes bad behavior because it is a way for us to judge and compare each other. The human problem is “everyone is existentially bad”, no matter their behavior. Scripture calls this “dead in sin”. It is spiritual death — we are born existentially imperfect. We are rotten and dead at the core of our being — and helpless to fix this problem. Rotten trying to fix rotten only equals more rot. Trying to use dead works to enliven yourself will never work.
And here is the clincher for believers — doing dead works to try and get closer to God, please God, become more holy or righteous, or to clean your conscience, also never works. The only Way is Christ and He continues to be the Way. He is the Way to gain His life and He is the Way to continue to live by it. Only faith pleases God. (Hebrews 11:6) We come to Him by grace through faith and we should walk the same way.
Colossians 2:6 - “Therefore, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in Him…”
The Most Common Belief System
Yet, many, if not most, humans think they can fix or maintain their condition and/or relationship with God by good works. The most prominent belief system outside the Gospel is based in the idea that we can fix ourselves by doing good and avoiding bad. The formulas vary (religion), but the end goal is the same. Whether the “fix” is Scripture based — where we use the flesh to try and keep God's laws or obey God; or, whether it is based in societal rules or norms — where “self-help” becomes the god; the point is that the solution is self-based.
Even believers can still use the “self-help” method and trust in it to “please” or “obey” God rather than living by faith. Again, this is the original sin — eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Self-righteousness is the original sin; and it is so tempting because it just seems like the right thing to do. Yes, of course, helping the little old lady across the street is better than kicking her in the shin. But as an unbeliever, helping her doesn't help your condition. And as a believer, helping doesn't get you “closer” to God and kicking doesn't take Him further away. You are “one spirit with the Lord”. (1 Cor. 6:17)
Many in Christ's SOTM audience believed that they could keep the Law well enough to fix their existential problem. Yet, in this statement, and many others in the SOTM, Christ destroys this false idea. His point is: no matter what good works they do or bad works they avoid, an existentially imperfect person can never transform themselves into the perfect identity required to be at peace with God, enter His Kingdom, and become His child. This is a hard reality that reveals the hopelessness of the human condition without Christ. This is not God being mean; nor, God being unfair. It is simply God addressing a reality for humanity that even He cannot change willy nilly! Yet, He can and does provide the solution in Christ because He loves us. The Gospel explains this solution; the solution is the “good news”.
Thus, it is truly a travesty to take these words by Christ and turn them into commands for believers to try and accomplish by doing good works or any other human effort. The same truth exists for all humans, believers or not. You are either existentially perfect at the core of your being or you are not. Your behavior plays no role in establishing or maintaining this. Christ’s mission was to make a way for God to make us perfect existentially. It is God's work, not ours! Truth and God’s reality dictate this paradigm. Jesus is the only Way to make this happen. He is Truth and Life. This is not unfair, it is hard spiritual fact.
Quick Diversion - The Two Lenses We can use for Scripture
These two different belief systems — earning favor from God or accepting it as a gift — are the two main lenses that are used to read and interpret Scripture. And based on which lens, the results are vastly different. Here is an example of a common verse describing how a believer should operate daily.
Romans 12:1 - “Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
The earning lens will read this verse and think that we must do something to make ourselves holy and pleasing to God, that the “sacrifice” is this process of doing whatever it takes to make yourself better by improving your behavior. The gift lens, which I consider the true Gospel lens, will read this and recognize that Christ has already made us holy and pleasing to God and this is now the basis of our offering ourselves to Him. We are already acceptable; now, our daily activity is simply offering ourselves and allowing Christ in us to work His way out. Trusting God to both bring opportunities to reflect His character within us to others and that He has already enabled us to be able to do so.
Note a few things about this verse:
It is God's mercy that allows this to happen. He was merciful to us in our sad condition and fixed it. Now we are fixed so we are able to offer ourselves daily to reflect His character embedded within us — the “Fruit of the Spirit”.
Our action is to “offer” or “present” ourselves to God to allow Him to work from our spiritual connection to Him and let that power infuse our daily activities.
Paul doesn't say do this to “make” yourself holy and pleasing to God. He implies you are already holy and pleasing to God so now — offer.
Notice that true service is not restricted to certain locations or activities. This is how we “serve God” by our daily offering of ourselves to reflect our connection to God's nature outwardly. No matter where we are or what we are doing, it can always be powered by “Christ in us”.
Romans was written not only to actual Romans but also Hebrews displaced into Rome. However, both cultures had a history of a formal sacrificial system used to appease God or the gods. Paul is deliberately undermining these systems and showing that as God's children, we serve Him by trusting His work within us and letting Him work through us. For the Hebrew contingent, he deliberately uses the word “latreian” from the Greek as this is also used to describe the Levitical service under the Law.
Thus, another subtle jab at the Mosaic Law as he shows that under the New Covenant, we are all equals in service to God and this true service is not simply following the Law. True service to God is letting Him service us first and then trusting His service to us and reflecting that service to others. Service to God is not trying to do specific activities from a list. It only comes when we know and trust our share in the divine nature as God's ultimate service to us.
As Andrew Farley likes to say “Don't try and follow rules, just let Christ rule from your new heart!” This true service will take many forms, some matching a list and other not so much. But it will always flow naturally from a legitimate Godly motivation, and never guilt, shame, or obligation. And it is never done to gain something from God — only from gratitude and the power of what we already have from Him. Even the gratitude comes from Him! We now have a grateful heart whether our minds always go along with it or not.
Even Scripture cannot fix or maintain our condition; it can lead us to the Fix, but it is not the fix in and of itself.
Some might read this next section and think I am undermining Scripture. I am not, I am establishing and upholding it for its true purpose. Even the “words of life” from Scripture, that Peter said Christ was the source of, are meaningless unless you use them to actually obtain life from Christ. Scripture is either the best Gospel tool to help us come to Christ or it is the worst enemy weapon to keep us mired in self-righteousness and far from a true Gospel path. Again, the Gospel path leads to life; but we must stay in the same path mentally even once we have it as an active willful choice to live from within. Scripture can either help or hurt this endeavor.
It is always helpful to remind readers of my theme from John 5:39-40. Christ was speaking to the same audience of Scripture seeking Law keepers as he was in the SOTM:
39-You pore over the Scriptures because you presume that by them you possess eternal life. These are the very words that testify about Me, 40-yet you refuse to come to Me to have life.
There is no substitute for the living Christ indwelling us, even Scripture. Do not elevate even the words about Christ as high as your connection to Him. But especially do not esteem non-Gospel messages from Scripture the same as the Gospel Words of Life about Christ. This is the Logos. The Logos goes far beyond words on a page — the words on the page should lead you to the experience of the living Christ within.
This passage hit me so hard that I used it as a ministry theme because I saw ignorance of Christ's warning so directly in my own life and in most teaching throughout my dozens of years of church experience. And in all those years, I had never heard anyone dig into this passage, probably because it opposed their style of teaching. This is one of the most subtle errors we must contend with. It almost seems that many treat the Bible as a member of the Godhead or a substitute for Christ! As Christ warned, this is a deadly mistake!
Though we should be grateful for Scripture and use it as a God gifted tool to help us learn and grow, we don't worship words on a page — we worship the living Christ! This is a distinction with quite a difference. Not to ever diminish Scripture in and of itself; but, truth from Scripture is only as good as the interpreter’s, teacher’s, and reader’s understanding. We must humbly recognize the flaws within any human filter and be willing to change our mind about any beliefs we hold. This is true repentance from Scripture — a change of mind from error to truth. Even if, or especially if, the error comes from an interpretation of Scripture.
It is easy to understand why people hold this view of Scripture. Reading, studying, and interpreting words on a page, even Scripture, is an earthly, fleshly activity — we use our fallen human senses and brains to do it. It is a tangible activity (among others on our “lists”). It is easy to use Scripture to support our own beliefs and to wield as an emotional weapon. Like all earthly activities, believers can read Scripture using flesh power or Spirit power. It is also easy to trust in and depend on our activity(s) vs. Christ's activity within. One is tangible and the other often feels intangibly mysterious. That is why walking by the Spirit requires faith.
The other reason this can be tempting is, as history has so vividly portrayed, there is power (and often wealth) in using your interpretation of the Bible to influence people. Scripture is legitimately of God; and thus, for anyone seeking God there is a legitimate respect for it. This can so often be abused by those with nefarious or ignorant ideas of controlling people and their behavior. This often takes the fleshly forms of shame, guilt, and obligation. Whether with good or bad intentions, using Scripture to shame anyone into “good behavior” is not the Gospel. Yes, the Gospel leads to better behavior as we reflect God's character from within; but, if the main focus of our teaching is behavior improvement then it will lead to dead works.
These ideas are often mixed with a few Gospel themes to the point where most think this mixture is the Gospel or Christianity — yet nothing could be further from the truth. Sadly this mixture is prevalent because it comes from God's “book”. Of course Christ’s warning about this very thing is ignored — along with other clear Gospel truths that contradict these messages of obligation and duty! Thus, the Gospel message gets watered down and essentially replaced, either intentionally or unintentionally.
Don't Ignore Christ’s Warning — Yes, Don’t…Ignore Christ's Warning! Please, don't ignore…Christ’s Warning!
Christ's warning is vivid: you can know and revere the “book” that describes Christ and His Gospel message without actually knowing Him and possessing His life. I am not diminishing the importance of Scripture any more than Christ was. Without Scripture, we would struggle to even have a starting point with God. Scripture is a valuable tool, but it is only a tool. It is a guide to help us recognize that which is of Christ, but it does not replace Him. Certain beliefs are necessary to come to Christ for life; but belief itself is not Christ. We don't worship our beliefs.
The flaw does not lie with Scripture, but with us. When we treat written words, and especially our interpretation of those words, with the same value as the living Word — Jesus Christ — then we are in danger. This is a critical warning of Christ to heed; whether as a believer or unbeliever. Scripture helps to lead us to Christ and learn about Him and the Gospel promises. That is extremely valuable! But it should not and cannot replace our connection to Christ and His nature. Thus, even reading and studying it should only be done within the premise of growing in our trust of Christ and His work.
Once you have Christ, His power within you is real and effective! We must learn to trust this truth.
Scripture’s main purpose is to help us gain Christ’s free gift of life and then learn to trust and depend on it more and more. However, we must realize that the illiterate believer, or one stranded on an island without Scripture, can still live a “proper” Christian life purely from the power of Christ within and their share in the divine nature. This is an amazing and enlightening truth! Don't diminish the power of the living Christ within! It only requires faith!
On the other side of this coin, someone could have vast quantities of the Bible memorized and study it daily; yet, substitute their Bible based activities for the living Christ. They may have great renown as a spiritual leader with many followers. They may be able to go on a debate stage and crush their opponents with their memorization of scripture and ability to recall. Yet, recall of the words — if they are interpreted or applied incorrectly — is useless. And, again, as Christ warned, if you think life comes from Scripture, whether in reading or recalling it, then you have it all wrong. Memory recall is a fleshly activity and varies from person to person. Measuring spirituality based on memory recall is harmful.
This mindset could prevent anyone from gaining Christ's life OR from depending on it after they have it. Both of these outcomes are truly sad and deplorable. And it all comes when we don't heed this direct warning from Christ. Never let spiritual activities of any kind replace the actual Spirit. Always let them flow from our new nature within. Don't fall for a substitute life that is dependent on your own abilities like searching Scripture.
Scripture is “Profitable or Useful”
In 2 Timothy 3:16, Paul gives the purpose of Scripture in a passage that parallels Christ's warning. Since this verse is so familiar I am going to give my “translation” to save space. Feel free, as always to check the Greek and see if I am twisting anything. In this chapter, Paul is fighting false teaching that expresses itself as “a form of godliness that denies it's power”. In verse 15, he directly echoes Christ's words by saying the “Holy Scriptures … are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus”. This is the same as Christ saying they point you to Him for life. Then Paul goes on to further define the purpose of Scripture.
“All Scripture is from God and is useful (profitable, beneficial, helpful) for: general instruction, persuasion, error correction, and education in righteousness.” (NVV)
Again, remember the context leading up to this verse. Paul is defending against false teachers who have a “form of godliness without the power”. If you don't have the “power”, then you are not saved or a believer. These are folks who teach things that seem “godly” or “holy” but ultimately they are undermining the true Gospel. Paul then guides Timothy to Scripture as a “useful” tool to combat this “form of godliness without power.”
The Purpose of Scripture
Note that, like Christ, he directly gives the purpose of God’s Scripture: it is a tool that can “make you (any person) wise for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.” So, the next verse is in context of “being wise for salvation” or the Gospel. Now, does this apply to Timothy or any other believer in the sense that they need to “get saved”? Of course not. Does this apply to the false teachers (unbelievers) referenced earlier in context? Absolutely. Can you see where I am going here?
Who is the primary recipient of the “instruction, persuasion, error correction, and education in righteousness”? I said primary because obviously believers continue to learn and grow in Gospel truth and Scripture is the main tool that also helps with that. That is why I study Scripture and write about my Gospel findings. However, that is not Paul's main context here. A secondary one perhaps, but not the main one. He is writing Timothy to help him with combating these false teachers and yes, even convincing them to put faith in Christ.
Thus, the “Holy Scriptures”, which Timothy has known from a child, can be used in this endeavor! Paul is famous for this. Taking Old Testament passages and using them to convince others about Christ. That was the only Scripture they had. Perhaps Timothy was suspicious of the Scripture they had because the Judaizers were using it to push righteousness by Law keeping, etc. But Paul was encouraging him that even the Old Testament can be used to demolish arguments against the New Covenant Gospel and faith in Christ.
Final Thoughts on Scripture
Yet another seeming rabbit trail, but Christ's warning is important. And it is important we don't diminish that warning by using other passages that gave been misinterpreted. One more thing to note: when Paul talks about “education or training in righteousness” he does not say “in acting righteously”. Many with a works righteousness or Law based mindset would think that is what he is saying.
However, remember the context: salvation. And the audience Timothy will be using Scripture for: unbelieving false teachers. The education in righteousness that they need is not a list of how to behave well! They are already trying to behave well in their own power. It is highly likely these are Judaizers who are tempting people with a Law based righteousness. They are trying to follow the ultimate list of rules! Given by God! This is why using the Old Testament with them would have been particularly effective.
Timothy needs to use Scripture to correct their error along with instructing and persuading them that salvation is only by faith in Christ. The result of this will be an education that “righteousness is a gift of God through Christ” — not works of the Law. Is this an education that believers also need to remember? Absolutely. Yet, in this case, Paul is clearly showing that the purpose of Scripture is the same as what Christ said. Anyone using this verse to push Scripture as a list of rules to help us act righteously has it completely backwards. This is all about using Scripture to point us to Christ in faith so that we can receive AND live from the free gift of righteousness.
This truth and the overall subject of this set of articles are what distinguish Christianity from just another “religion”; even the old covenant Mosaic Law. Ignoring this truth causes us to treat Scripture as if it is just another set of beliefs, commands, and principles to try your best to follow, same as any religion. Yet, having a share in Christ's divine nature, connected and empowered by Him, is vastly different from any other world view or religion. Don't reduce the Gospel to the level of just another religion. That is a tragedy. But, let's get back to holiness and perfection.
The main controversy is not whether we need to be perfect like God — it is how that happens. Is it something we must work to achieve or simply a gift to receive?
And here is the tie-in to my Scripture discussion. The statement Christ makes in the SOTM is absolutely true and applies to every human. In order to have peace with God and be part of His kingdom or family, you must be perfect like God! To truly be God's child, you must be as perfect as Him. This is a core gospel truth and explains why we need Christ. God cannot accept or join with imperfection. The question is: what is your response to this truth? How did the false teachers we were just discussing respond?
Does this inspire you to pull up your boot straps and start trying to become perfect by good behavior? Or, does it cause you to throw up your hands in despair, knowing that it is impossible? We were born spiritually dead and imperfect; thus, it is too late for behavior reform or Law keeping to make us perfect. It always was, even back when the Law was given. Only by accepting God's gift of Christ and His life, willingly offered, can you be transformed into a perfectly holy child of God. This is existential, not behavioral. You must be reborn! And as a believer, you have been.
The core of Christ's meaning and this discussion is not whether we must be perfect like God; but, how is this accomplished? Again, the Gospel says that through the finished work of Christ and being spiritually reborn as a child of God, He makes you perfectly holy for all time. This is not of our works, only His — a basic core truth of the Gospel. Yet, the one who thinks they can eventually become perfect by works will never fully accept this truth. Only the one who has given up on doing the impossible will gladly accept this truth! It will be a relief, not a burden! It will cause joy, not guilt and shame!
True, 100% Peace with God?
Of course, for the above truth to have an impact, you must believe the core Gospel truth that as believers we have 100% “peace with God”. Romans 5:1 makes this directly clear: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Thus, if you believe Romans 5:1, then you must wrestle with how this can be true if you have not been “made perfect” already? Can God be at peace with the unholy? The follow-on question is — does our ongoing stumbles make us unholy and thus disconnected from God? Is the Christian life a YoYo existence of connection to God until we sin? The Gospel forces these questions unless we accept living with cognitive dissonance.
What must also be fully recognized is that this “peace” is not just God compromising His own holiness, throwing up His hands, and saying “Well, these humans are unholy and imperfect, but I accept them anyway since they asked properly and are doing their best to behave.” That is not the Gospel; though, it is what many believe. The Gospel goes much further than that. The Gospel says that at our core God makes us holy! We are at peace because the finished work of Christ makes us holy and perfectly compatible with God! God is not faking Himself out by pretending we are holy when we are not. He did the work and transformed us by the new birth into a new holy creation. Now, we should celebrate His work, not denigrate it! That work is the core of our existence as believers.
Further, again, God cannot go against His own nature and join with the unholy. Thus, because He loves us and wants connection with us, He made a way to establish this holy connection without compromising His nature. This is a profound truth! Take a deep breath and consider it carefully. The greatest Being in existence, the ultimate God and creator of everything, has made a way to enable connection with us. This is a profound and humbling truth. Christianity is this connection to God; this connection to God is Christianity. Everything else is just a distraction and we certainly spend a lot of time emphasizing the distractions.
True holiness can only be a gift of God. He is the only arbiter of holiness. No one else can give it and it cannot be achieved. This truth has been and still is the stumbling block for all humanity.
Holiness is the core of the life Christ came to give us as a free gift, no strings attached. No human can achieve God type holiness; we can only reflect what is gifted by God. And even our current reflection is imperfect! The core of the good news or Gospel is that we are gifted perfect holiness despite our external behaviors! We had to be, since we could never achieve it or maintain it. And we need to be 100% holy in order to be at peace with a perfectly holy God. So, if we are at full peace with God, as God says we are, then that means we must already be holy and perfect. Otherwise, we are not at peace.
Thankfully, God directly says from Scripture that we are already perfect and holy, which we will get to in a bit.
Where a major disconnect comes is the faith struggle that because we are in this fallen earth suit, we are not perfectly behaved. Some people think that if we are truly holy in identity, it would lead to perfect performance. Paul details this struggle in Romans 6. Yet, the struggle never discounts the truth of our holy identity or core state of being. Again, any holy activities we can achieve here on earth using our fallen bodies must be led and empowered by our gifted holy identity! This is why Paul says the following in Romans 8:9-11. A favorite of mine!
9-You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10-But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11-And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.
This is a brilliant passage and fully demonstrates my Gospel paradigm. First, Paul affirms that we now have a new power working within us to move and motivate: the Spirit of Christ. He then aligns “Christ in you” with the indwelling Spirit that has given us life — thus our spirit is ALIVE! He further comments on the state of our earth suits or bodies — “dead because of sin”; hence, we have a “fallen” body. Then, a brilliant statement: because of “Christ in you”, because our human spirit is now alive, connected to Christ, even our “mortal” bodies can experience and reflect His life! Wow!
The key word is “mortal”. Paul is not talking about the future when we have “resurrection” bodies. This is now, here on earth, we don't have to wait. Of course, our resurrection bodies will be amazing. Paul addresses that elsewhere. But here, he is reiterating what he said in Romans 6 and making it practical. Because we are a “slave of righteousness”, it means that Christ's life, the divine nature that we share, is not just an “inner” thing. That very life can be experienced through our “mortal bodies”. That is why Paul says later in Romans 12:1 to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices” — this is a daily mindset of dependence on “Christ in you”, recognizing He will motivate and inspire. It is not passive, we still live our lives. It is simply a renewing mindset that we must maintain. But you must know and believe this truth in order to rely upon it every day.
Let Your Good Nature do it's Thing
These descriptions of our gospel experience as children of God are all describing the same thing: letting what God is working within come out. As Paul continues in Romans 12:1, this only comes by the “renewing of the mind”. And that only comes by believing God by faith, especially about what He says about YOU. If you truly believe Christ has made you perfectly holy via your share in His holy nature, then holy attitudes and actions will not be far behind. That is a guarantee. That is not a form of godliness without power — that is powerful true holiness.
I can testify it does happen. There are attitudes and actions I just naturally act within now that even sometimes still take me by surprise. When I respond to anger or frustration with a softer approach. When I sacrifice my comfort in ways I would have resisted before in order to love and help others. Do I do this perfectly? NO. Far from it. But it is very clear to me it is a natural response from my new Godly nature, not an affectation so I can check a box. And it only started happening once I stopped trying to check the boxes and learned about my true nature gifted by God.
Once I recognized I had that power and holiness within, that God promised all of this to me because I am His child, then learning to trust and depend on it became much easier. It is still a work in progress, my mind still has a lot of renewing to do. I still have a lot of trust transference from my own works to Christ's work within. But sadly, until relatively recently, compared to my total time in church, I had little to no inkling of this core Gospel truth. How could I focus my faith on something I was ignorant of? The short answer is I could not and I did not. Honestly, I probably would have been better off as one of those illiterate believers just trusting Christ! Again, Scripture is only as good as how it is used. Poor beliefs are worse than no beliefs at all.
Yet, Christ was faithful and the Spirit kept leading me through my times of ignorance. And now I write so that others may gain this clarity more quickly than I did. It has made all the difference! This is a wholly different way of life. Yes, it requires faith, but faith is far more than just a belief system. It is not faith itself, it is where you point it, that matters. Many have deep faith in all the wrong things. Only Gospel based faith in Christ and His work existentially matters.
Christ's single perfect offering is what makes us perfectly holy at once and for all time. And when Christ makes us holy and perfect, He does a perfect job. We don't obtain holiness by good works and we can't lose it by bad works. That is the whole point. Our holiness does not depend on us, only Him.
OK, so if you don't want to take my word for what I am writing (I don't blame you), then let's see what God has to say. The truth of our holy identity is why the author of Hebrews compares what Christ did to the ineffective Mosaic Law in Hebrews 10:1-2;10;14:
“1-For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the realities themselves. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2-If it could, would not the offerings have ceased? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt the guilt of their sins. (Emphasis mine)
10-And by that will, we have been sanctified through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (BSB - emphasis mine)
14-For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy.” (NET - emphasis mine)
This cannot be more clear or more directly stated. Don't get hung up on any translations of verse 14 that get the past tense wrong. The author is clearly stating that, by our accepting the gift Christ offers through His once for all time “offering” of Himself by His death and resurrection, we have been made holy and perfect. He states this as a fact. And this is not the only place. This fact is the linchpin that holds the Gospel message and our reality as children of God together. Without it, we have nothing but words on a page and some “good” doctrines that are essentially meaningless.
Again, we must have the same 100% perfect holiness that God does. And it is the ultimate arrogance to think we can achieve it, no matter what we do or don't do. HOWEVER…the converse is true! Once God has gifted us His 100% perfect holiness, then we have it in full and we don't lose it, no matter what we do or don't do. We did not do anything to receive it; thus, there is nothing we can do to lose it. We often don't use it, but we can never lose it. We received it by faith and we use it by faith; but, faith is not the same as “works of the law” or “good works”. Paul calls this out in Galatians 3:12b among other places: “However, the Law is not of faith;…”
Boom. Mic drop. Legalists — read it and weep. The Law, the “Torah” is not of faith. And faith is what pleases God, not law keeping. (Hebrews 11:6) Please recognize the worthlessness of your efforts to “please” God. Rest in His pleasure through Christ and live based on that rest.
God's nature (identity) is key to understanding our new own new nature and identity.
That which is God’s nature defines Him. Holiness is that definition; holiness is “perfected completeness”. You cannot add or remove anything from God's nature and have it still represent God. By definition, God is perfectly complete. He is Wholeness and He is Holiness. He is the definition of perfection. God's nature simply “is what it is”. There are fancy scholarly terms for this but “God is” describes it perfectly. God’s nature, His being, and His identity are synonyms for “God is”.
When Moses asked God, speaking from the burning bush, how to describe Him or give a name to the people of Israel, God said to say “I AM WHO I AM” or just “I AM”. This is no simple children's story; this is a profound and existential statement of identity. Who “GOD IS” describes holiness and perfection. It is not something that can be mimicked into existence by trying to act like God acts. It is a core identity that must be gifted by God Himself as the Owner of that identity. And He created us to require this connection to Him in order to experience true life.
In the scriptural definition of the divine, God's nature is the only thing that is truly holy; thus, only that which is of His nature or designated by Him can be “holy”. We cannot achieve this no matter what we do. God’s type of “holiness” is tied to His nature and is only His to share. This sharing or gift of God's nature is the core of the Gospel message. We can only receive holiness; we can never achieve it. It is this concept that divides heresy from truth in every religious world view.
Any message that portrays or implies that we can gain, maintain, or improve our holiness by good works is a false message. Period. Let me repeat that. Any message that portrays or implies that we can gain, maintain, or improve our holiness by good works is a false message. It is this idea that must be the key to opening any scriptural interpretation of the New Covenant Gospel — God's final human revelation of His truth. If any interpretation of any scripture passage makes it seem like we can earn or maintain our holiness by good works, then the interpretation is wrong. It is a sign we need to dig deeper.
The Important Root of and Intrinsic Motivations in Holiness
Again, in scripture, God's nature is the root of holiness. This is why He had to make a way for us to share in His nature! (2 Peter 1:4) The gospel is the good news that God has gifted us a share in His nature through Christ! I have written about this many times; but, I never fully tied it it to the word “holiness”. It is enlightening. It cuts through much of the religious fog surrounding this word and helps us see the real reason we have the power and motivation to behave in certain ways.
I want to point out the vast divide between motivation and obligation. Obligation is the enemy of faith. A gift comes with no obligations; yet, this gift of holiness is full of motivations! These two words again separate every belief system. If your belief system for relationship with God includes even a hint of obligation, duty, guilt, or shame; then, it is not Gospel based. At best, it is a corrupt mixture. (Galatians 5:9) Yet, God's New Covenant Gospel promises include all sorts of motivations for making good choices and living well! It is built-in to our share in God's nature. This is what every Epistolic “behavior” passage is shouting from the rooftops!
Is an apple tree obligated to bear apples? No, it bears apples because it has the identity of an apple tree. If it bears oranges, it's not an apple tree. As a true believer — a child of God — we will bear the fruit of our share in God’s nature. That is our identity. It is an identity we cannot fully shake no matter how foolish our mindsets. If we can fully “shake it off”, so to speak, by anything we do or don't do; then, we never had it. We are just a well-behaved religious fake — we have a “form of godliness” with no power.
I hope this has given you some food for thought at a minimum. There is a long way to go in exploring this concept of the believer’s share in God's nature. In the next article, I will dive into 1 Peter 1 where this concept is directly stated. As usual, there is some translation wonkiness going on.
But, until next time, continue to meditate on this gift of God Himself as a share in His nature. That is the true Gospel message Christ is speaking to us — “I gave myself for you so that I can give myself to you forever.” It is the ultimate insult to Christ when we think we must earn what He has freely offered. May we continue to grow in the gift mindset so we shed the works and earning mindsets that so easily distract us from our dependence on our new nature and heart shared with Christ.