The idea of us living holy lives doesn’t mean we are holy like God is holy or that we will ever be or ever could be. What it does mean is that in regeneration we are changed and that in view of God’s holiness we strive to live a life of holiness in honor of and in service of him.
God calls us to be holy for the sake of his holiness. Living a life of personal holiness doesn’t mean we are earning salvation. Salvation is an unearned gift from God. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Our life of holiness is lived in response to the free gift of salvation God has given us in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
There are some that teach a heretical teaching that since we were made in God’s image that we are little gods. I have heard false teachers say that everything in nature reproduces after its own kind, so when God said let us make man in our own image this means that we are reproduced after the God kind, this is completely wrong.
But God is eternal, matchless, omnipresent, omniscient and so many other things that we are not and will never be. God did create us in his image and likeness but, that is not the same thing as an animal or a human reproducing after its own kind, it is more like Someone far superior making something or building something. No matter how amazing the creation is, it is a mere creation of something far superior.
In the case of God it is far superior because God didn’t merely make something out of materials that were laying around, he created something living out of nothing and he created a universe out of nothing. Although humankind is an amazing creation of God we are not in the same category as God and to say otherwise is utterly heretical and wicked.
The reason I bring this heresy up in relation to personal holiness is because I want to make sure that as I explain the biblical call to personal holiness you understand I am not saying sinless perfection is possible.
People often take this to a few different extremes; some say we shouldn’t worry about sin at all because since we are like God and once, we are born again that we shouldn’t expect to sin. If your faith is strong and your mind is right, you will be able to live in sinless perfection or some version of it.
Another branch on that same tree is the idea that we must work really hard not to sin, to try hard to be accepted by God and although most don’t come out and say it, to them it really comes down to doing more good than bad, which is what the Judaizers in the New Testament taught or what Roman Catholicism teaches. On the complete opposite side of the spectrum there are people that believe that grace means it doesn’t matter if we sin at all. God’s grace is preached as this card or pass we receive and that allows us to live anyway we want. Any sort of expectation or call to personal holiness is called legalism or working towards your salvation.
Here is what I believe the Bible teaches. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Salvation is completely an unearned gift from God. No character trait, no good deeds, no redeemable personal qualities, nothing in ourselves or of ourselves made us worthy of or in any way earned our salvation.
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:8-10 (ESV)
So, we were not saved by our works in any way, shape, form or fashion. We were saved simply because God chose to save us. But we were saved and reborn in Christ for the purpose of doing good works, which the scripture says that God prepared beforehand for us to do.
I don’t want any confusion from anyone reading this: our works and deeds, or even striving to live a holy life has nothing to do with how God saved us or why God saved us, but in the life of a truly regenerate person there will be good works and there should be a life of holiness. Our works and our life of holiness doesn’t save us, but I believe the Bible teaches that after conversion it is evidence that we are truly saved. That doesn’t mean that we don’t ever sin or even fall, but it does mean we love God and have a new nature in Christ and that when we sin and fall, we hate it and we are convicted by the Holy Spirit of God living in us. A conviction that leads us to repentance.
So, because we belong to and represent a holy God, we are called to be holy and set apart for his use and to bring him glory in the earth.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 1 Peter 1:14-18 (ESV)
In Christ,
Pastor Joshua
Joshua West is a pastor, evangelist, and author. He is also director of the World Challenge Pastors Network.