"I passionately long to be more like Christ," Naomi declared. Then she added, with a kind of serious resolve, "I think my biggest challenge is be more holy in my daily walk."
"That is a challenge for me too," I confessed. "I want both my thoughts and my behavior to be Christ-like."
"Do you think it is possible, in this life, to truly reflect the character of God in our live?" asked Naomi, looking prayerfully upwards.
"Well, we know," I begin....
God acts only in keeping with His character, the character of holylove. And Scripture is replete with examples of God's intention to create a people who also act only within the intention of holy love.
From the very beginning of human existence as recorded in Scripture, however, we discover that holylove for God requires trust in His sovereign wisdom. Trust that God is all-wise and that His intentions toward us are gracious requires, and at least partially enables, obedience. Adam and Eve were deceived into thinking that they could trust neither God's word nor His wisdom.
The first lie that Eve contemplated came from Satan: "You will not die" (i.e. sin bears no consequences). That lie is still with us! The second was that humankind needed to know evil as well as good (Gen 3:4-5). It was not sufficient, according to Satan, for God alone to grasp the implications of evil. Adam and Eve were deceived into thinking that they, too, needed to be acquainted with evil.
All sin is distrust in the sufficiency of God. Disbelieving God's Word and wisdom, humankind lost its original innocence—an innocence that was to be exemplified by obedience to God.
Adam and Eve's act of disobedience unleashed a tidal wave of corruption in subsequent generation, which God temporarily terminated by destroying all of humankind except Noah and his family.
A new chapter in the history of redemption began as God entered into covenant with Abraham. Abraham is characterized in the book of Hebrews as a man whom God tested by asking him to sacrifice his only son. Because Abraham obeyed (trusted) God, God could trust Abraham with a special covenant.
This covenant would be confirmed at Mt. Sinai, as Abraham's descendents received the ethical code delivered by God through Moses. At the heart of this covenant was a specific way to live, based on the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are sweeping in their import, affecting the totality of life, both socially and religiously. Much of the Pentateuch is given to explicating the details, showing God's people how to live in holiness before both God and their neighbors.
Each time the holiness command is repeated, "Be holy, because I am holy" (Lev 11:44; 19:2; 20:26), extensive directions follow concerning how the Hebrews are to conduct themselves. "Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly. Do not go about spreading slander among your people" (Lev 19:15-16). Such commands present both the possibilities and challenges of holy living.
The Hebrews were offered the opportunity of ethical superiority over the surrounding nations. Unfortunately, they were not provided the means of living up to the holiness code. The ceremonial sacrificial system, as it pointed to Christ, was efficacious to the points of cleansing and forgiveness, but not empowerment.
A second, new covenant was needed. God would reverse the plan of redemption. Instead of humankind sacrificing to God, God offered the supreme sacrifice: the gift of Himself in the person of Christ.
This ultimate sacrifice not only offered forgiveness for sins committed, but also enablement for holy living. A sin or addiction could now be overcome through the power of Christ's atonement. Humanity could be free from sin and alive to God. No one Scripture passage expresses this more succinctly than Hebrews 9:13-14: "The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonial unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so we may serve the living God!"
The empowerment of the Holy Spirit poured out at Pentecost completes the gift of enablement. "God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us" (Romans 5:5). The kingdom living Jesus described in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5—7) is no longer merely an ideal way to live. The ideal can now become a reality in our lives! Lust, hatred, alienation and hypocrisy can be replaced by a holy love enabled by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit offers the possibility of conformity to Christ, which is the essence of holy living. To live as Christ lived in relationship to His Father and His neighbors is God's plan for every Christian. According to God's new covenant (the NT), the Christian can move beyond prescriptions for particular circumstances and enter into the fullness of holylove. Mere acts of obedience or outward adherence to the law of God are insufficient to please God. God's pleasure derives from having children who are rightly intentioned toward Him.
"[God] has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires" (2 Peter 1:4). Holy living is not only responsibility, but also a possibility for every follower of Christ. Christ died, was resurrected, sent the Holy Spirit, and intercedes for the believer, all to that end. Holy living enables the possibility of not sinning, the most gracious liberty that humanity can experience in this life. "Be holy, because I am holy" is the emancipation proclamation of a gracious God.
