This is an amazingly poignant question, which is being asked by countless seekers of truth today. The trouble is, most people who ask this question have the false notion that God doesn’t love us unless we do what He says. This opinion is promoted by those who either don’t know the Bible, or don’t understand how to interpret it. We don’t have to be holy in order to earn God’s love, we already have it…we couldn’t be holy if our lives depended on it! (this was part of the point of the whole Old Testament). Rather, God loves us; and we pursue holiness because we want to love Him back.
In some scriptures, God is portrayed as a Heavenly Father; whose love for us is higher & deeper than anything we can imagine. In other places, we see Him as a Righteous Judge; dividing the good from the bad – the holy from the unholy – revealing His opinion about how we should be living. In truth, God is both; and seeks to relate to mankind, and each one of us, as both. He is the source and embodiment of both mercy and justice in their pure form. However, we humans are not very good at understanding or living-out that kind of balance in relationships & society. We tend to gravitate to the extremes.
Many of us are either highly ordered & exacting in our expectations of ourselves & others, to the point of coming-across self-righteous & judgmental……or we’re super accepting & permissive of all viewpoints, to the point of being spineless jellyfish who have a hard time taking a stand for anything. God isn’t in the extremes, He deals with each of us with exactly the perfect blend of nurture and chastening. Also, His dealings with mankind, as well as individuals, has changed dramatically over the course of time.
All the way back in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden (if you believe in that stuff….I do), God hung-out with man & woman. Their relationship was, as of yet, unmarred by the terror of separation, which resulted from the sin of our ancestors. This created a chasm between the holy & perfect God, and the corrupted & imperfect Adam & Eve….and set in motion God’s monumental plan. THE PLAN. To re-engineer a way for us to live with Him again in the same type of relationship we were created for.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH “HOLINESS” VIDEO – It’ll knock your socks off
5 replies on “Tough Question 4: Why does the Bible teach about being holy…can’t God just love us how we are?”
Thx for pointing out God's "bi-polarness," only kidding of course!!
I checked out the video. I didn't have my socks on but it did knock 'my' holiness off! The comparison of coming in contact with a disease and contracting it versus God's contacting 'we diseased ones,' through Jesus, with quite the opposite happening.
A passage in Scripture that explains our being made righteous and has helped change my incorrect thinking is in Paul's second letter to the Corinthians. In chapter 5, verses 16-21 it reads, "So FROM NOW ON we regard no one after the flesh. Though we ONCE regarded Christ after the flesh we do so NO LONGER. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION: that God was reconciling the world to Himself, NOT COUNTING MEN'S SINS AGAINST THEM (YAHOO-'mine'). And He has committed to us the MESSAGE OF RECONCILIATION. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf; be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to become sin for us, so that IN HIM WE MIGHT BECOME THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD."
What a plan!!
right on!
I haven't looked it up yet but am I correct in saying the word, 'holy', means to be separated from something unto something else? In other words, as believers, we are separated from the 'world system' unto God and into His 'kingdom world system.' The result of that lived out then is resisting satan, fleeing the youthful lusts of the flesh, and loving our neighbor as we learn to love ourselves biblically. I think most christians, 'religious people,' and people of the world system view holiness as a look such as, walking very slow and stately, not laughing or smiling much, always talking in a gentle voice, wearing religious garb etc. Some folks may have those characteristics naturally, in their genes, but it doesn't make them holy. A dirty beggar on the street, who claims no righteousness except that of the the blood of Jesus, could be holier (set apart unto God) more than all of us put together.
gearsdad
When we see the word "holy" or "sanctified" in the NT it comes from the Greek word "Hagios," which means "different / other than / set apart." There's not a connotation of separation though. I think that idea is found in the OT, when God wanted the Jews to separate themselves from all other people groups….even to the point of not allowing them to intermarry. This sense of separation was part of the Old Testament period (or "old promise") because it was God's plan to demonstrate His love, justice, and miraculous nature in the midst of that one people group for all others to see from the outside. Then in Christ, who ushered in the New Testament period (or "new promise") that separation was discarded. Great error happens when we Jesus followers put onto our shoulders elements of that old promise….they don't fit and they don't work, and they don't please God anymore. Following Jesus is not about separating from the world, but about engaging it and transforming it….like a city on a hill that shines light for all to see (Mt.5).
Thanks brother, that is really good! I developed most of my incorrect thinking on this from teachings while growing up in a 'church system' that was basically a, 'no school dances' and only 'parties with Christian friends but 'don't have too much fun' upbringing. Unfortunately, it was very legalistic and produced a rules based faith resulting in a lot of guilt, shame and a frustrated effort to please God and gain His acceptance or approval. Now, that helps me understand the key passage that was misrepresentative of this whole separation thing for today's Church, that which is His Body. II Corinthians 4:17 reads, "Therefore, come out from among their midst and be ye separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean and I will welcome you."
What a freeing thing it is to experience the joy and fellowship of Holy Spirit by learning and relearning God's truth!!
Thx Shawn