Because of the degradation of our society and moral values, the word holiness sounds archaic, even puritanical, to our ears. The world is naturally directed toward destruction, and those following its path are racing headlong toward spiritual death. Uninformed, unaware, and deceived, they hurry through life on a road going nowhere, to an end they don’t believe exists. That is the condition Jesus delivered us from, and now, through Christ, God has declared us holy.
The New Testament word for “holy” is hagios, which means “set apart.” A set-apart believer no longer blends in with the crowd they once ran with.
You might protest, “Holy? Me? I still feel sin’s tug in my life!” I do, too. But make no mistake, all those who enter heaven will be perfectly holy and sinless. In heaven, the sinful nature that plagues us today is forever banished. Think of it. Not only will the desire to sin not enter our hearts and minds, but the blood of the Lamb will have erased even the possibility of it.
Though our arrival in heaven is yet future, we must do what God has called us to today—live holy lives by living according to His Word. Will you agree that our conduct, more than our words, is the best testimony of our new life in Christ? If so, let’s walk with Him, separated and holy, glorifying Him now and forever.
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If you think God is concerned with His holiness in the Old Testament, consider the fact that holy is mentioned 431 times, not counting the word holiness. The Hebrew word for holy is “qodesh” which means “apartness, sacredness,” or “separateness” showing that God is altogether holy, sacred, set apart or separate from His creation. The idea is that God is totally different from us as He is spirit (John 4:24) and desires those who worship Him do so in spirit and in truth (John 4:23).
The Greek word used for holy or holiness is “hagios” and means much the same thing that the Old Testament word “godesh” means, which is “pure, morally blameless” or “set apart” as in set apart for holy use, which is what the saints of God have been called to. The word “holy” is found in the New Testament 180 times and if you used holiness, then it’s almost 200 times that holy or holiness is used. It is obvious from the Scriptures that holiness is important to God and that we should regard Him as holy. So how is holy used in context? It is used in much the same way in the Old Testament as it is in the New Testament.
The Bible teaches us, from both the Old Testament and the New, to be holy, just as God is holy, but how can we do that? Part of that growth toward holiness is not being conformed to this world (Rom 12:1-2) and is an ongoing lifetime process called sanctification or to be set apart for holy use.
