In his book, Devoted to God: Blueprints for Sanctification, Sinclair Ferguson suggests that holiness ultimately refers to devotion. To say that God is “holy,” the Holy Son, the Holy Spirit, is to say that each of the members of the Godhead are devoted to each other – an “absolute, permanent, exclusive, pure, irrevocable, and fully expressed devotion” (2). But, he also suggests that this devotion is personal. “In a sense ‘holiness’ is a way of describing love. To say that ‘God is love’ and that ‘God is holy’ ultimately is to point to the same reality. Holiness is the intensity of the love that flows within the very being of God.”
With that in mind, consider the commands of God for us to be “holy.” “Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:15-16). Christians are called to be holy “in all [our] behavior because God is holy. For the same reason, Israel was called to be holy, according to Leviticus 19:2, the passage quoted by Peter here.
When God calls us to be holy, He calls us to be devoted to Him and to love Him with all of our being (cf the greatest commandment; Matt 22:37-39). As we grow in our holiness, then, we are also growing in our love, our heart-felt dedication and commitment to God Himself and all that relates to Him: His word, His church, His values, His ethical standards. Holiness is growing in love while “love is growing in holiness” (18).
Ferguson then writes that this effort to be holy and loving has a two-fold impact on people around us. First, it draws some people to this beautiful, holy, loving life because we are showing to the world around us the beautiful holiness of the God of heaven. Christianity is life as God meant (means) it to be lived.
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On the other side of the coin, this holy lifestyle will offend others. Jesus told His own brothers: “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil” (John 7:7). There are people, indeed the majority, who desire to live in open rebellion against the God of heaven and are repelled by His holiness and, consequently, they are offended by our efforts to live holy lives.
What all that means is that the more holy we become, the more we will love like God loves. Then, we will draw more people to God as we, concurrently, offend more people. That is the nature of sanctification.
Paul Holland
