The Freedom Of Holiness by Matt O’Reilly

Words like “holy” and “holiness” are off-putting to many. One reason people resist the language of holiness is because they sometimes associate it with legalism. Sadly, some of the denominations and traditions that talk a lot about holiness have perpetuated this problem. They make the rules; you keep the rules. It’s a way to define what makes a “good Christian”. It’s a strategy for control. No surprise people distance themselves from those folks. I’ve encountered more than a few people who have difficulty embracing the language of holiness precisely because they’ve been exposed to this distortion.

This is deeply unfortunate because scripture consistently frames God’s good purposes for his people in terms of holiness, and this is true in both Old and New Testaments. God wants a holy people. This much is clear. But people resist holiness because of how others have weaponized it against them. Falsely framing holiness as legalism easily results in people missing out on God’s best purposes for their lives. The task before us then is to recover a biblical vision of holiness. When we do, we’ll find that holiness is about freedom and flourishing, not legalism and control. 

What is holiness exactly?

Definitions matter. And if we’re going to have a biblical vision of holiness, then we need a biblical definition of holiness. What is holiness? Holiness entails human beings embodying the character of God. Here’s how I get there. In Leviticus 19:1–2, God speaks to Moses and instructs him to tell the Israelites this, “Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy” (NIV). From this we discover that holiness is an attribute of God that he desires to share with his people. God is holy. The Israelites are to become holy. Why? Because there’s something that is true of God that should also be true of his people. That something is called “holiness.” 

Ok. God is holy. His people should be holy. Holiness is something to do with God’s life that he wants to share with his people. That still leaves a very important question. What does a holy life look like? The answer to that question is filled in as Leviticus 19 proceeds. What’s especially interesting is that Moses does not get an extended lecture on the nature of God’s divine life. Instead, he gets several instances that describe how the Israelites should treat other people. Consider a few examples.

What does it mean to be holy? “Don’t hold back the wages of a hired worker overnight” (19:13 NIV). So, holiness means pay your employees on time. 

What does it mean to be holy? “Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind” (19:14 NIV). So, holiness means you don’t talk bad about people who can’t hear. And holiness means you don’t trip blind people. 

What does it mean to be holy? “Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner” (19:10 NIV). So, holiness means leaving some of what God has provided for you to care for others in your midst.

Notice how each of these examples involves one person who is disadvantaged in some way. The hired worker doesn’t have much recourse. The blind will struggle to avoid a person who wants to trip them. In each of these instances, holiness means doing right by people who are, in some way, in a position of powerlessness compared to you. Holiness means looking out for what’s best for the other, especially those who can’t look out for themselves.

There are other examples, too. Honor parents (19:3). Don’t get revenge or hold a grudge (19:17). Don’t worship idols. 

Do right by others. Do right by God. Don’t let your heart be divided. Why? Because this is what God is like. He looks out for the needs of the disadvantaged. He honors people, not for what they can offer him, but because they have inherent dignity. 

These verses in Leviticus 19 offer a portrait of the character of God – his holiness. And they offer a portrait of the character God wants his people to have – their holiness. So, if you want to know what holiness is, holiness happens when human beings embody the character of God. 

How do we become holy?

We don’t come into the world as holy people. God commanded the Israelites to be holy because that was not their default position. They had to learn what holiness is. They had to learn how to embody it. They had to become holy people. The same is true for all of us. So, how do we it? How do we become holy?

The prophet Ezekiel can help us. Ezekiel addressed the Hebrew people at a time when it was abundantly clear just how unholy they were. They had gone into exile in shame because of the depth of their sin against God. But Ezekiel came to reassure them that God still planned to make his holiness known to the nations through them (36:23). How would God do that? First, he will gather them and cleanse them, not from most of their idolatry uncleanness but from all of it (36:25). Then, he will take out their old hard hearts and give them new malleable hearts. He will give them his own Spirit. And God’s purpose in doing all of this for his people is to enable them to honor them with the whole of their lives.

The thing we all need if we’re going to become holy is the presence of God’s Spirit. The Holy Spirit produces holiness in us. We can’t conjure it up. We can’t strive hard enough. We can’t make ourselves holy. We need to trust God to do it for us. Only he can make us holy.

Reframing sin and freedom

Once we recognize that holiness emerges from the life of God’s Spirit in us and not from someone imposing some set of legalistic rules on us, then we are ready to also see that holiness is about freedom and flourishing. We come into the world slaves to sin (Romans 6:20). We can’t help but sin. Our hearts are curved in on us, not filled with love for God and neighbor. We do things that bring guilt and shame and sorrow and grief. And we can’t help but do those things. 

Now if sin is a matter of slavery, then holiness is a matter of freedom. Once the Spirit of God joins us to Christ, we can successfully resist the temptation to do those things that bring guilt and shame and sorrow and grief. We can offer ourselves in love to God and neighbor. As we walk in the Spirit, we embody the character of God. 

In the end, sin is a dehumanizing power. Sin degrades human life. In contrast, though, holiness is about becoming more authentically a human being made in the image of God. It’s about being free and fully human. It’s about flourishing as creatures made in the image of God. Holiness is about being fully alive and deeply related to God through Christ and the Spirit. It’s not legalism; it’s freedom.

World Methodist Evangelism will be hosting a book study on Free To Be Holy. This will be a live event with the author on June 18th at 9 AM United States Central Time / 10 AM United States Eastern Time. Join us on Zoom by clicking here. You can purchase the book here.