What is holiness?

What does it mean to be holy?  Does it equate with salvation or dressing a certain way?  One of the first references of being holy is when God rested on the seventh day of creation, blessed the day and made it holy. (Genesis 2:3)  After the great flood, Noah left the ark and built an altar to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings on it. (Genesis 8:20)  Later, you find God referencing the ground that Moses was standing on before him as being holy ground.  (Exodus 3:5)  There are numerous examples of things in the Old Testament being considered holy before the Lord, be it sacred anointing oil, priestly garments, the Levitical tithes, animal sacrifices and so on. (Exodus 28:2-4; 30:22-29; Leviticus 14:12-13; 27:30)  The Lord also instructed the Israelites, through Moses, to be holy – “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.” (Leviticus 20:26 NIV)

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul explains to the Romans how believers are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices since we are no longer under the Old Testament Law, but rather under God’s mercy.  Basically, holiness is the process of submitting our will over to the Holy Spirit as we conform to God’s purpose for our lives.  Thus, we offer our personal lives as living testimonies of God’s work in our lives.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.  Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:1-2 NIV)

In Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he breaks down holiness into two simple parts – separating our lifestyle apart from the sinful nature of the world and replacing it with the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

“You, my brothers, were called to be free.  But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather serve one another in love….So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.  The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like.  I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Galatians 5:13, 16 – 21 NIV)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.  Since we live by the Sprit, let us keep step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." (Galatians 5:22-26 NIV)

Overall, holiness is when believers separate their lifestyles apart from the sinful nature of the world as they conform to God’s plan for their lives.  As believers submit their will over to the Holy Spirit, they allow God to work through their lives.  As believers offer themselves as living sacrifices to God, the work of the Holy Spirit becomes evident in their lives by the nine unique attributes of the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.