The "I" In My Holiness

There's a subtle and natural hiss in the conversation that surrounds the pursuit of holiness--that is, it becomes inevitably centered on the unholy-trinity of me, myself, and I.  The traditional rendition of the "pursuit for holiness" warrants my personal effort to behave righteously; and sanctification, therefore, has as its central quality a personal introspection and responsibility.

Naturally, even if one couches a holy life as inside-out, union with Christ, and the response to justification by faith alone, the discussion could still revolve around outside behavior, visible sin, and the keeping of the Law.  Therefore, regardless of a commitment to the close connection of justification and sanctification, these two are separated into a gift and an obligatory effort. Sanctification becomes an autonomous effort, motivated by appreciation to God and empowered by enabling grace, to progress from one stage of holiness to the next.

The issue with this discussion, at a fundamental level, is an assumption that there's consensus on the biblical understanding of the word "holiness." What does it mean to be holy as God is holy? Typically you'll find holiness defined by God's transcendence and his difference from creation. "He is separate, distinct, not ordinary or common." Therefore, somehow with his enablement we are to live as distinct, separate and uncommon people.

But what does this mean? And is this Biblical?

First, as fallen and self-consumed people we'll project the qualities we value onto God and make them grander and "perfect."  So, as we delight in our glory above anything else, God too must also be consumed with his glory.  As we are motivated to be the top dog, God's primary concern is to have his omnipotence and authority recognized by his creation through obedience to his Law and ascribing to him glory.   Holiness, consequently, is God valuing the glory and power of his Name above anything and we must join him in this godly introspection.  So while justification imparts to us forgiveness from our sins and the ability by the Spirit to become obedient once again, it is  our job to give the required effort in aligning ourselves to God's holiness, obeying the Law and ascribing glory to God.

To answer the second part of my question, this is not biblical!  While one could, of course, offer proof texts to prove the Aristotelian list of god’s attributes (elevation of power as God's primary attribute, God as a naval-gazer and glory consumer), the God of the Bible doesn't reveal himself as this at all. Such a "god" wouldn't have created the world nor humbled himself to redeem it. 

Furthermore,  just think of Philippians 2, Psalm 113, Isaiah 53, well, actually the whole Bible, we find a God who reveals himself as one who is outward-looking, self-giving, humble, and whose name is Emmanuel.  God describes his glory or the goodness of his character in Exodus 34:6-7:

The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin . . .

God is patient, merciful, loving, and seeks justice (a very loving thing to do). The rest of the Bible uses this passage as a primary source to define the character of God.  Such character finds its culmination in John 12; here Jesus reveals his Father and the character of the Triune God dead and naked on the cross. Why the cross you ask? So that the glory Jesus had with the Father before creation of the world would be given to us.  That is the glory of the Father loving the Son and the Son loving the Father by the Holy Spirit.  Christ in us and us in Him, just as He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (see John 17).

What is holiness?  It's the label for mutual indwelling of the Father and Son by the Spirit.  The Father humbly loving his Son above all, and the Son loving his Father above himself and his concerns.

So what does it mean to be holy as our Triune God is holy? To be separate and distinct from the unclean: selfish, glory-grabbing, power-hungry human beings.  Holiness is to be united to Christ by the Spirit given to us who pours God's love into our hearts.  To be holy is not to look at self, but to have the gaze of our hearts fixed on the loveliness of our Savior, our friend.  It is to call our Bridegroom's Father, Abba!

If you walk away reading anything on holiness and find yourself thinking about self rather than one who is holy, may I suggest that there might be a few missing letters in your h _ _ i _ _ ss.  Because sin is an all-consuming self-focus.  Any pursuit of holiness that returns us to gaze on self only makes us more like the Enemy than Christ.

Sanctification is the process of an ever growing and ever deepening love for Christ.  It's not the individual endeavor to fight off sin with the enablement given by the Spirit (like a tool we now get to use for ourselves).  Nor is it just looking back to the moment Christ saved us.  It's going from glory to ever increasing glory (in the Exodus 34, John 12 & 17, 2 Cor. 3 sense). As we cling to Christ by the Spirit with all that we have, and as our hearts warm by the fiery coals of his love, then we will freely, delightfully, and naturally be holy as He is holy.

Lovers of Love

Near the end of the Song of Solomon the bride speaks of love as an uncontrollable force that cannot be quenched or overpowered.

Set me as a seal upon your heart,

as a seal upon your arm

for love is strong as death,

jealousy is fierce as the grave.

Its flashes are flashes of fire,

the very flame of the LORD.

Many waters cannot quench love,

neither can floods drown it,

If a man offered for love

all the wealth of his house,

he would be utterly despised. (8:6-7)

The power of love is rarely acknowledged in our everyday lives as the indomitable force behind all that we think and do. In other words, we don't see the Bible describing a reality where we have a free will that chooses between two opposing opposites. Rather it assumes our minds and wills are mere instruments of our hearts.  The heart, as the motivational center, controls and dictates to the mind what to think and the will what to choose. Therefore, the object of our affections controls us.  With this in mind, I want to take a look of one particular danger about having a tameless tiger in our chest--that is, the danger of loving love.

As a pastor I became aware that many might be attracted to Christianity, not on account of Christ, but the love they received from those who love Christ.  Now you may think, isn't this the way it should work? As we love people won't they often eventually come to love Christ?  Yes we should evangelize by offering love to others!  But as we invite people to love Christ by loving on them, potentially they could come to love the love they receive and not Christ.

Given the reality of us being bound by the affections of our hearts, and our fallen hearts being completely bent on loving self, it shouldn't surprise us that someone might love being loved.  Let's face it, someone might function like this, "I love me and I love it when people love me."  Not that this is a conscious thought, but people who've experienced abuse or abandonment might easily fall in love with the love they've rarely received.

In some situations its obvious that one loves love: they begin to take advantage of others, they only show up when they've had a rough day and they need to be loved, or they just don't really seem to want to know why you've loved them.   But in others cases, the lover of love begins to play the part of a Christian. They begin to come to everything, they begin to read their Bibles, and maybe profess a belief in Christ. But when the person who has loved them goes away for a time the lover of love gradually, if not quickly, goes back to their old ways.

This reminds me of Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560).  He was a brilliant humanist scholar who fell in love with love.  As one of Martin Luther's most devoted followers, he was swept up by the wave of Luther's passion for Christ, zealous rejection of Scholastic Theology, and the need for reformation.  "All of Aristotle's works," according to Luther, "are the worst enemy of grace."  It was a tectonic shift for Melanchthon to agree with Luther’s "Aristotle was to theology as darkness is to light."  Prior to Melanchthon's encounter with Luther his main ambition was to compile a Greek edition of Aristotle's works that hadn't previously existed in the West.  Instead he wrote his 1521 Loci Communes, a book that summarized Luther's theology so well that Luther, with tongue firmly in his cheek, suggested it should have been canonized.

Yet this rejection of Scholastic Theology and his full devotion to Luther's theology didn't last.  In Luther's absence and under the pressure of other events, Melanchthon retreated back to Aristotle. The three latter editions of his Loci Communes completely abandoned the bondage of the free will, which according to Luther was the "hinge" at the center of his reformation.  Melanchthon had gotten caught up in the tidal wave of the man, but when the wave was gone Melanchthon made his way back to his first love, Aristotle.

Knowing the powerful dictator inside, we can't be subtle about the reasons for our loving others.  Being aware that people could fall in love with love or really just make the giver of love into a Christ-like figure, we must make it clear that we love because we are loved.  Love isn't the end or the goal; rather, pleasing Christ is our motivation, he is the end and he is the goal. We must be clear that it’s a love for Christ, who loved us and esteemed us first, that frees us to love. This won't stop fallen people from being lovers of love, but it makes Christ the source and reason for our love of others.  This isn't mechanical or fake, but as we love Christ, who has loved us first, we begin to love what Christ loves. Thankfully he loves all of us with a love that cannot be measured nor exhausted even when we get an eternity to explore it.

Fear of Freedom

One of the prevailing responses to the message of free-grace or the freedom found in Christ is fear. This fear has as its basic assumption that free-grace in Christ won't actually lead to good works, but leads to inactivity at best or licentiousness at worst. Instead, one must see the Law as God’s means to sanctify his people to enjoy communion with him. The differences between free-grace preaching and nomist-sanctification were one of the reasons for the eruption of three separate Antinomian (or Free-Grace) Controversies in England and New England from 1610-1640.

The initial controversy began in the 1610s & 20s when John Eaton preached against what he referred to as the re-emergence of the Galatian heresy. He believed he saw a new spiritual tradition emphasize the Law as a means to cause spiritual growth. Taking the advice of John Fox's preface to his translation of Martin Luther's Lectures on Galatians (1535), Eaton used Luther's work to confront what he thought was an unlawful use of the Law. Law, for him, was meant only to make one aware of sin and the need for Christ, not to bring about righteousness. Apart from the Law Eaton taught that justification and sanctification are "inseparable companions", that is "justification causes sanctification" and that "justification causes love."

"The ... main point of showing the majesty and utility of this benefit of justification, is, that the true joyful knowledge of justification is the only powerful means to regenerate, quicken, and sanctify us. It makes us truly to love, fear, and trust in God. Justification works in us the true Evangelical repentance. That is, sincerely hating sin, because it is sin, and in truly loving all holiness, and righteousness. And thus it is God’s holy fire that enflames his people with right thankful zeal of God’s glory, in careful and diligent walking in all God’s commandments, by willing, cheerful and readily practicing of all duties of love, both towards God and our neighbours." (Honey-Combe, 459)

Free-grace could never lead to sin, for Eaton, only using law to bring about righteous living could do that.

Fundamentally, Eaton linked justification to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who unites us to Christ and "inflames our hearts with true love, Gal. 5:6" (Honey-Combe, MMv2). To preach law to the believer and direct their hearts to focus on their sin would distract them from the beauty of Christ which enflames their hearts to please Christ. He trusted that to love God and focus on him would cause anyone to become like him--holy. This reality cannot come by the Law but only by true union with Christ.

"But, where this rich and loving husband, Christ, takes as a wife this poor and wicked harlot, redeeming her from all evils, laying all her sins upon his shoulders. Whereby they are swallowed up in him as darkness is swallowed up in the sunbeams (Isa. 44:22). For it behoves that all sin be swallowed up at the sight of Christ, clothing and enrobing her with his own righteousness, and garnishing her with his own jewels. Whose hearts, hearing these things, will not melt for very joy, and wax ravished for very love of Christ, having received so great consolation? Any Laws or works can never possibly attain this love at all." (465)

The fear that only inviting people to love Christ and to do what they want would lead to reckless and lawless living misses two things. First, that the person of the Spirit unites us to Christ, dwells in us, and continues to pour God's love into our hearts. As the Spirit is the love who unites Father and Son, he is the love who unites us to Christ.   From this union comes the fruit of faith, hope and love. And second, this fear ignores the compelling nature of love, which is the greatest and fulfils all the law.

In a similar vein to Eaton, a hundred years later, Jonathan Edwards in his Charity and Its Fruits and Treatise on Grace would affirm much of Eaton's Luther-Galatian-based-polemic.

"That love will dispose one to all proper acts of respect to both God and men. This is evident because true respect to either God or men consists in love. If a man sincerely loves God it will dispose him to give him all proper respect. Men need no other incitement to show all proper respect but love. Love to God will dispose a man to give honour to God. Love will dispose to worship and adore him, heartily to acknowledge his greatness and glory and dominion. So love will dispose a person to all acts of obedience to God." (Charity, 94)

So, how do we grow in Christ? Paul's answer in Galatians is to walk with Christ in the same manner that we first received him, in faith by the Spirit. Not by looking to the Law, that wouldn't be standing firm in our freedom in Christ but returning to the yoke of slavery. Does this freedom lead to sin? By no means! If anything our freedom will produce great works abounding in joy and delight in Christ with the motive to please Christ.

Fear of licentiousness that comes from preaching the gospel as free-grace usually doesn't engage the issues of true union with Christ by the Spirit or heart-centred human agency. This fear produces unnatural results, like introducing law as the basis of marital communion with Christ, but a law-based relationship would be disastrous. It is utterly alien to have marriage centred on anything other than your love for your spouse.

We've been set free from the Law and sin to live for and love Christ; we haven't been freed from the law for the law. There's nothing to fear, there is only freedom to enjoy.