Why Live Holy?
11.10.09
The entire New Covenant speaks against trying to “live holy” in our own strength and be justified though our own efforts. God does not relate to us according to our own level of obedience anymore, but according to the perfect obedience of the One Man, Jesus Christ.
[Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law].
[Rom 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience (first Adam) many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience (Christ) many will be made righteous].
Yet we see many verses in the New Covenant that still advocate a holy lifestyle. What would be the purpose of this? Well if we look at the 2 verses above, it talks about our standing before God. In God’s eyes, once we put our faith in His Son Jesus, we will always be justified and righteous before Him because when the Father looks at us, He sees Christ. We are IN Christ and nothing can ever take us out of Christ. [1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him]. However, often we try and separate ourselves from Christ when we mess up and we feel that our actions are being scrutinized by God under a magnifying glass, but this is not the case. The Father sees the perfect obedience of Jesus on our behalf!
On the contrary, when it comes to PEOPLE, we are constantly stirred to “love one another”, “keep the bond of peace”, “forgive one another” etc. People are not as gracious as God and we need to maintain “good works” when it comes to relating to people, but NOT TO GOD. Note that we are not saying that people should live disobedient to God. But you will see that the context of most scriptures in the New Covenant that talks about holy living and good works, pertain to maintaining our relationships with other people. Let’s look at 3 examples:
[Eph 4:25 Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,” for we are members of one another]. If you keep lying to people you will get into trouble sooner or later.
[26“Be angry, and do not sin”. Do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27 nor give place to the devil]. When you stay angry with someone for an extended period of time, you give the devil a foothold in your relationship with that person.
[28 Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need]. When we steal from others, this is bound to have a detrimental effect on our relationship with them when they find out.
[29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers]. Once again it talks about PEOPLE, because it says our words should edify the hearers.
[Col 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11 where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. 12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do].
[Gal 6:8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life]. When you follow after the desires of your flesh (which means your unrenewed mind with its carnal desires), you are bound to run into trouble with people if you lie, defraud, cheat or trick them. You might even be prosecuted by the law if you steal or commit other crimes. This is the “corruption” that this verse talks about – the NIV says “destruction”.
There are many other examples, but I think we get the point: God doesn’t love us less when we mess up, but people do – unless they are mature Christians that understand Grace & know that nobody’s behavior is perfect.
Finally, a second reason for living holy is this: If we have died to sin (because our sinful nature was “cut” out of us through the circumcision of Christ (Col 2:11)), why would we want to live in it any longer? Why would we still want to run after the desires of our old sinful nature as though it wasn’t removed from us?
[Rom 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace].
And here is how we do it: The more we try to sin less, the more we will fail. Our victory over the lusts of the flesh is to have our minds renewed, to have our thoughts transformed to discern the truth of God’s Word and spend time in His presence, allowing Him romance and woo us. When we begin to see how deeply His love runs for us, we will not be able to resist flowing in the fruit of the Spirit inside us, showing love and compassion to a world that needs to see Jesus!
In Grace
Andre van der Merwe
Excellent bro!
Ok, so if i understand correctly there are 2 reasons for trying to live holy:
1. To show love, peace and care for PEOPLE.
2. Because we want to, as a kind of sacrifice of our lives to God. not because we want something in return, but because we love Him.
Blessings.
Hi Peter
Because all our sins (past present & future) were forgiven at the cross, and God swore never to be angry with us of ever rebuke us again (Isa 54:9-10), we do not have to try and live holy in order to try to please Him – He is already pleased with us through the perfect sacrifice of His Son Jesus.
Now because we have a new born again nature on the inside of us, it will actually be stupid if we still live according to the old sinful nature, because that is not who we are anymore, and those things cannot satisfy us any longer.
When it comes to relating to God, we have to make a shift from a “HAVE TO” mentality to a “WANT TO” mentality. And this only comes by understanding what really happened at the cross, and knowing how God really feels about us.
In Grace
Andre van der Merwe
Also, holiness is not the ability to not sin. Something is holy because it is set apart unto God. The thing that is set apart becomes holy. Since we have been set apart, we have become holy irrespective of our actions. The term shouldn’t really be holy living but rather living holy.
Also, everything is permissible but not everything is beneficial (1 Cor 10:23). Boundaries are not there to say we can’t cross, they are there to protect us from what lies on the other side. You put a fence around your pool to protect your child from falling in and drowning. God places fences around things that will cause destruction in our lives. When your child crosses the boundary fence and falls into the pool, your first instinct is to save them, not to be angry and to let them drown. When you jump in and save them, you don’t love them less, you almost love them more because they are safe again. Did you put the boundary fence around the pool because you are an angry vengeful father or because you love your children and don’t want them to get hurt? Same thing with God. He set boundaries to protect us. He doesn’t love us based on how well we keep away from boundaries, He loves us because we are His children.
A sacrifice is to give up something that can never be replaced. Living holy doesn’t really fit into that category either. You can’t give up a sin and call it a sacrifice because you weren’t supposed to be doing it in the first place.
Glory to Glory
Cornel Marais
Charisma Ministries
Geepers Cornel
What a wopper! Thanks for that, a few lights went on for me there as well! Revelation on revelation!
In Grace
Andre
I find it much easier to live out what and who I am in Christ rather than trying to attain to it. Here is the ‘consequence’ of being in Christ, although it is typically preached as something to strive after, no no no, a thousand times no, this is the consequence of us being “In Christ,” Ready? Eph.1:4, “According as God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should BE (not ‘do’) holy (as Cornel said separated unto God) without blame (without fault, spot or blemish) before Him (God) in love.” Col.1:22 “In the body of His flesh through death (here comes the consequence for us in Christ) to present you holy, unblameable and unreproveable (beyond accusation or fault) in His sight.” It is through the death of Jesus flesh that Christ presents us to the Father as He is, holy, unblameable and unreproveable in Gods sight. I want to live the way I already am as a consequence of being in Christ! Romans 8: 3 reveals why we are holy, without blame and unreproveable in Gods sight because all our sins have been condemned in Jesus flesh through death!!! There is nothing left for us to be condemned over! Amen, love you all!!!
Excellent……..
Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your FRUIT unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
Hi there. First let me say – excellent site. I don´t feel like an alien anymore, because this pure grace teaching is not that spread here in germany even in my church. This is like a plattform to meet others on this grace journey.
You talk about holy living towards people. The scriptures out of Ephesians you use are followed by that on verse that makes many people nervous” -DO NT GRIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT.
I´d like to hear an interpretation from a grace perspective on that. Often this is teached as “you disqualify or the holy spirit will no longer have fellowship with you if you don´ t repent….” and so on.
Thank you.
hi,
what about 1 thess 4:7,
7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
…which calls us to live a holy life? Here is sounds like a holy life is determined by a persons actions (being pure for example), and not in a gift, or something that we became when we believed.
Thanks
Hi Peter
Our life is not holy because of our actions – our entire life actually becomes holy because of who lives inside us. 2 Cor 4:7 talks about us being jars of clay carrying a great treasure on the inside.
We are holy if we are spirit filled, whether our actions reflect it or not. Any good works that we do are only a result of God having prepared them in advance for us to walk in according to Eph 2:10
Bless you brother.
I have been a born again Christian since 1992. Your teachings on grace have revolutionized my understanding of my relationship with God. I am reading your book “Grace – The Forbidden Gospel” and it turned on so many lightbulbs of understanding and joy in my spirit that at times I literally could not wipe the smile off my face. Glory to God!!!! And God bless you and your ministry.
I am humbled by and deeply grateful for your kind words Kim! Thank you so much, you gave me and my wife that warm fuzzy feeling when I shared it with her as well – you know, that feeling of being loved by close, caring family
Thank you for these wonderful truths.For the first time I do understand why a murderer on the cross was saved without living a “holy life”. Its all about Jesus and His finished work on the cross. This murderer was at the right place at the right time. When the flood-stream of Gods grace was poured out on planet earth this murderer was saved. When we approach Jesus on His merits the worst us us will be successful. When we approach Him based on our own merits(holy life) the best of us will fail.
I love this website.
hello brother andre, i am so glad that i found your website and because of grace preaching, sin has lost all its power over me.. But this is what i want to ask you: i have totally understood what is holy and how we christians are made holy but what about 1 Peter 1:15 where he says that we must be holy in all our conduct, i checked the greek word of ‘be’ in this verse and its meaning is ‘to become,’ we become holy when we put our faith in Christ, but why does Peter say that we be holy in all our CONDUCT? thanks
Hi Gabriel, yes that is a favorite verse among legalists. However if we turn New Testament commands into laws for us to obey, we are really just creating a new version of the law for ourselves.
Commands in the New Testament are to be seen as a picture of what it can look like when we allow the Spirit to manifest Himself through us, for Christ to live HIS live through our members. A moral, upright lifestyle is a result of intimacy with Jesus and not something we do to get His approval.
So to address the verse in question, I like the way that the Message translation states it:
1 Pet 1:15 As obedient children, let yourselves be pulled into a way of life shaped by God’s life, a life energetic and blazing with holiness.
Bless you brother!
If you are a Christian you are living holy…………………….