REAL HOLINESS

 “Holiness is back in vogue, or it should be,” read a headline in the Jan. 29, 2022 Greenville News.

“Wow!” I thought. “I want to hear about that.”  

The article I saw, by Shayne Looper, pastor of Lockwood Community Church in Branch County, Michigan, talks about H.B. Warner, who was cast as Jesus in the 1927 silent film “King of Kings.” 

Director Cecil B DeMille required Warner to sign a contract that kept him from taking roles for five years that might undermine his “holy” image in “King of Kings.” DeMille did not want Warner getting publicity that might impact the film in a negative way.

Warner was not allowed to play cards, go to ballgames, swim, or ride in a convertible. During filming, DeMille had Warner transported in a car with blings drawn. While walking from the car to the set, Warner had to wear a black veil, and he could not eat with other cast members.

DeMille’s effort to make Warner appear holy was not successful. 

The pressure to "look" Christlike drove Warner “over the edge,” Looper says. “During the production, he relapsed into his addiction to alcohol. It was the only way he knew to deal with all the stress.”

Cecil B. DeMille seemed to think that holiness was defined by the things a person does not do, Looper says.

The word “holiness” has lapsed into disuse in today’s culture and has often been misunderstood by those who think themselves holy, Looper says.

“Real holiness involves a return to the world [not backsliding into “worldly ways,” but returning to the world to affect it positively for Christ],” he notes. “Rather than seeking to escape the world, the genuinely holy person is God’s agent of love in the world. Rather than distancing oneself from others, the holy person is welcoming. Rather than being proud, which is the chief mark of counterfeit holiness, the holy person is humble.”

Leviticus 19 reveals what real holiness looks like in the real world, Looper says. “It does this by illustrating what it means to be God’s people in everyday situations.”
   
GOD IS HOLY

“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy’” (Leviticus 19:1-2 ESV). 

“God’s holiness is a term used in the Bible to describe both his goodness and his power,” someone said. “Holiness radiates from God like an energy.”

“God is unlike any other, and his holiness is the essence of that ‘otherness,’” says a writer at gotquestions.org. ” 

“… I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst … ,” God says about himself (Hosea 11:9 ESV).
 
  HOW CAN WE BE HOLY?
 
  “If we have not placed our faith in God’s Son alone to save us from our sins, then our pursuit of holiness is in vain,” says gotquestions.org.

We must first make sure we are born-again (John 3:3 and 3:16). God makes us righteous (puts us in right-standing with him) when we accept Jesus who died for us. We can’t make ourselves righteous by our own efforts. 

All believers are saints (born-again people who are acknowledged by God as righteous) — not because we necessarily act like saints but because we ARE saints. Paul wrote, “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ … ” (1 Corinthians 1:2 ESV). 

We are saints because of faith in Jesus, not because of efforts to be like Jesus. 

Only God can make us righteous AND holy. There is both “positional holiness” and “practical holiness.” Our positional holiness before God has been paid for by Jesus. Our practical holiness is something we can pursue as an offering in response to God’s directive to “be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” 

As we follow the Lord, we can dedicate ourselves (set ourselves apart) to him and practice doing the things he wants us to do. “Holy” means “set apart.” For something to be “holy” simply means for it to be dedicated to God, sources say. People who are positionally holy before God are holy because of faith in Jesus, but they are holy in a practical sense to the extent that their lives are devoted to God and their actions reflect God’s character.  

“ … [I]t is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16 KJV).