What is Holiness?
...he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” --Ephesians 1:4
The New Testament speaks about the holiness of the believer in more than one sense, and confusion can result when passages addressing only one aspect of holiness are forced to carry the entire doctrine. But biblical truths have to be taken as a whole not in pieces. The process of growing in holiness is called sanctification.
Regarding holiness, sin and the Christian:
Scripture speaks of Christians as already holy and commands those same Christians to pursue holiness, warns them that the works of the flesh are incompatible with the kingdom of God, and acknowledges that those same Christians still sin, while also promising that one day they will be completely conformed to Christ. Christians are holy but have to pursue holiness. Holy but still have to be warned against sin and its deceitfulness, destruction and death. This may seem contradicting, but follow along and it will become clear.
Do you struggle with sin? You are not alone.For example David was the apple of God’s eye although he was also an adulterous murderer. Peter exemplified faith in Christ which is what would build the Lord’s Church, but was later rebuked along with all his companions for being a hypocrite in the letter to the Galatians and while people may be contradictions, God is not.
Holiness, or sanctification is part God's saving acts. God purposed in Christ before creation the believer should be holy. In Christ, God has made the believer holy. God is presently producing holiness in the believer, and He will finally accomplish complete holiness in the believer when Christ returns.
The story about holiness didn’t begin with our behavior. It didn’t even begin with our conversion. The Bible puts it back before creation itself.
Ephesians 1:4 says:
“According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.”
Notice the order. God chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, and the purpose of that choice was that we should be holy and without blame before Him. Holiness belonged to God’s purpose in Christ before the world existed.
Listen to 2 Timothy 1:9
2 Timothy 1:9:
[God] “saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.”
This passage contains the calling, the purpose, the grace in Christ – all placed before our works and rooted in God's calling and purpose before the ages began.
God did not examine our works, discover sufficient holiness, and then call us saints. The holy calling precedes our works. Its foundation is God's purpose and grace in Christ Jesus. Romans 8:29–30 carries that purpose through history:
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son... Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.”
He wants us “conformed to the image of his Son.”
In His own will, He determined to call us. His calling moves to justification. Justification reaches glorification. The entire movement is toward complete conformity to Christ.
That’s why the Scriptures say the Corinthian church of God is sanctified even before the reasons for writing were addressed. God wants everyone to know that first of all the Corinthians are sanctified in Christ although their behavior is not very holy at all. They are the recipients of this corrective letter, but still saints.
1 Corinthians 1:2:
“Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints...”
The Greek is especially important:
ἡγιασμένοις ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ, κλητοῖς ἁγίοις
The Corinthians are ἡγιασμένοις – sanctified, and this sanctification is explicitly ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ – in Christ Jesus.
Then Paul calls them κλητοῖς ἁγίοις. – called saints.
That phrase should not be turned into, “called to eventually become saints if they mature sufficiently.” The adjective κλητός means called, and ἅγιος means holy one or saint. They are called saints, saints by divine calling. Paul is reminding these people who they are because God's call has laid claim to them in Christ although they were very confused and sin-filled.
These Corinthians were divided. They were immature. They were tolerating sexual immorality. They were suing one another. They were abusing Christian liberty. They were mishandling the Lord's Supper. They were confused about spiritual gifts and even the resurrection.
Yet Paul does not begin:
“To those who might someday become saints if they straighten themselves out.”
He begins with their identity in Christ:
sanctified in Christ Jesus, called saints.
That is positional holiness.
In Christ = holiness. That is being covered by the blood. That is being safe until the storms of life pass by, because I know my redeemer liveth and one day I shall see him in the flesh, kind of holiness.
But just because I am in Christ, it doesn’t mean that God is done with me. God is not done with me yet.
But “positional” must not be understood as though it were imaginary holiness or a legal fiction. Our relationship to God has genuinely changed because we belong to Christ. The Corinthians have actually been set apart to God in Him. We are a new creation in Christ and set apart.
The Scripture says:
“And ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”—1 Corinthians 6:11
Notice again that Paul can say “ye are sanctified” to believers who still require extensive correction concerning how they live. Hebrews 10:10 puts it the same way – sanctification is something presently accomplished through Christ:
“By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”—Hebrews 10:10
And:
“For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.”—Hebrews 10:14
Therefore Scripture plainly permits this statement:
The believer is holy in Christ.
But Scripture does not stop there.
The person who has been sanctified in Christ is also called to live increasingly according to what God has made him in Christ.
That is why 1 Thessalonians 4:3 can say to Christians:
“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification...”
—1 Thessalonians 4:3
“For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.”—1 Thessalonians 4:7
There is no contradiction between Corinthians saying, “you have been sanctified,” and Thessalonians saying, “this is God's will, your sanctification.” One concerns the believer's established identity and consecration in Christ. The other concerns the actual working out of holiness in the believer's conduct and thinking and the whole of life.
The same distinction appears in Hebrews 12:14:
“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” —Hebrews 12:14
The Lord calls His own people to practice holiness, grow in it and apply the Scriptures to our lived lives.
If holiness were only something to be pursued until we finally earned a holy status before God, that would conflict with the passages declaring believers already sanctified through Christ's sacrifice. But if those who have been made holy in Christ are being brought into a practical conformity with the Holy One to whom they belong, the passages fit naturally together.
Paul describes that transformation in 2 Corinthians 3:18:
“We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” —2 Corinthians 3:18
There is the movement… Faces unveiled... we know Christ
And are being transformed…into the same image
We already belong to Christ, Yet we are being changed into His image.
This is precisely why the presence of remaining sin in Christians does not destroy the doctrine of sanctification. But reveals that God does work and sanctify his children, desiring all be conformed to the image of Christ Jesus.
And yet:
“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”—1 John 1:8
John does not say, “If an unbeliever says he has no sin.” He includes himself:
[“If WE say...”]
Then:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins...”—1 John 1:9
And:
“If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar...”—1 John 1:10
Therefore Christian holiness cannot mean that genuine Christians have reached a state in this present life in which sin no longer exists.
John explicitly rules that out.
But the opposite error must also be rejected. Remaining sin does not mean that one's life may be characterized by rebellion against God. That’s not what the Gospel does. Galatians 5 lists the works of the flesh:
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest...”—Galatians 5:19
He names sexual immorality, idolatry, hatred, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, envy, drunkenness, revelries, and similar things. Then he says:
“they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”—Galatians 5:21
The Greek expression is:
οἱ τὰ τοιαῦτα πράσσοντες
Those doing or practicing such things.
He is contrasting two ways of life. Before Christ and after.
The flesh and the Spirit.
Immediately before the list Paul says:
“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”—Galatians 5:16
And immediately after the works of the flesh he says:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance...”—Galatians 5:22–23
And then in Galatians 6.1 tells us how to behave with a brother caught in sin…
So Galatians 5 is not contradicting 1 John 1 and Galatians 6 agrees.
John says the Christian still sins. Paul says a life governed and characterized by the flesh is incompatible with the kingdom of God.
Those are entirely different claims. And both are true!
John keeps us from saying:
“A Christian no longer sins.”
Paul prevents us from saying:
“It doesn’t matter if I sin…”
Jesus makes essentially the same point using the imagery of fruit.
In Matthew 7:16 He says:
“Ye shall know them by their fruits.”
The Greek is plural:
ἀπὸ τῶν καρπῶν αὐτῶν
“From their fruits you will know them.”
Again in Matthew 7:20:
“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
Jesus' emphasis is on the evidence. The nature of the tree becomes visible through what it produces. A tree is not made into a particular kind of tree by gluing fruit onto its branches. The fruit reveals the life already operating within the tree.
Paul takes the same imagery in Galatians 5 but makes an interesting grammatical choice:
ὁ δὲ καρπὸς τοῦ πνεύματος
“But the fruit of the Spirit...”
Jesus speaks of fruits in the plural as observable products by which a person is known.
Paul speaks of the fruit of the Spirit in the singular and then describes the character that proceeds from the Spirit's work: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
They are the product of His presence.
Fruit is evidence of life, not the cause of life.
Jesus said in John 15:
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself... no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”—John 15:4
And:
“He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit...”—John 15:5
The branch does not produce life and then attach itself to the vine.
The branch bears fruit because its life comes from the vine.
The theological order is crucial: union first, fruit afterward.
DON’T FALL FOR THESE EXTREME LIES
The first extreme says:
“I sinned, therefore I cannot possibly belong to Christ.”
First John rejects that conclusion. Believers still have sin and still require confession and cleansing.
The second extreme says:
“I once got saved one day, so I can just do whatever I want. I got fire insurance.”
The rest of the Bible along with John, Paul, Peter and Jesus rejects living in sin, wallowing in sin, ignoring the call of God which is holiness. But the Lord who created us is not ignorant of who we are.
Fruit matters because living things produce according to the life within them.
A Christian is holy because he belongs to the Holy One.
He is sanctified in Christ Jesus.
That holiness originates not in his achievement but in God's gracious purpose.
God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
God's saving purpose and grace were given in Christ before the ages.
Those whom He predestined He calls. Those whom He calls He justifies. Those joined to Christ are called saints – holy ones – and are sanctified in Him.
But God's purpose was never merely to assign us a title while leaving us unchanged.
Romans 8:29 tells us what God determined from the beginning:
“to be conformed to the image of his Son.”
Therefore the person who is holy in Christ is progressively being made holy in life.
That growth is real but incomplete.
The believer still struggles with the flesh.
The believer still sins.
The believer still confesses.
The believer still requires correction.
The believer still must put sin to death.
The believer must still pursue holiness.
Yet none of those commands means that the believer is trying to earn the designation “saint.” He pursues holiness because God has already called him to Himself as one of His holy people.
The imperative to holiness follows identity in Christ.
God wants us become in conduct what God has made us in Christ.
Look at this reasoning in Colossians 3.
[First he establishes identity:]
“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”—Colossians 3:3
[Then comes the future:]
“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.”—Colossians 3:4
[Then the command follows:]
“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth...”—Colossians 3:5
The therefore matters. Paul does not say:
“Mortify your sin so that perhaps your life can someday become hidden with Christ in God.”
He says, in effect:
Your life is hidden with Christ in God; therefore put to death what contradicts that reality.
The Christian ethic and morality flows out of Christian identity.
And the story does not end with progressive sanctification.
God will finish what He began.
First Corinthians 15:50–53 says:
“Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption... we shall all be changed... For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” —First Corinthians 15:50–53
Corruption does not inherit incorruption so the decisive words are:
“we shall all be changed.”
What is presently incomplete will be complete forever one day.
First John 3:2 states the promise even more directly:
“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
Notice John's entire chronology in one verse.
“Now are we...”
Present identity.
“It doth not yet appear what we shall be...”
God is not done with us yet.
“When he shall appear, we shall be like him.”
Future, complete, holiness.
Philippians 3:20–21 says Christ:
“shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.”
Ephesians 5:27 says Christ will present the church to Himself:
“a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.”
Jude ends with the same certainty:
24 "Now to Him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of His glory, blameless and with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen."
That brings us back to where Ephesians began.
Ephesians 1:4: chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world “that we should be holy and without blame before him.”
Ephesians 5:27: Christ ultimately presents His church “holy and without blemish.”
What God purposed before creation, Christ will complete in glory.
The whole biblical movement therefore looks like this:
Before creation:God chose in Christ with holiness as the intended end – Ephesians 1:4.
Before the ages:His saving purpose, grace, and holy calling were given in Christ, not according to our works – 2 Timothy 1:9.
In salvation:God calls those whom He purposed to save – Romans 8:30.
In union with Christ:
The called are saints and are sanctified in Christ Jesus – 1 Corinthians 1:2; 6:11.
In the present Christian life:Those already belonging to Christ are progressively transformed into His image – 2 Corinthians 3:18 – and God's will for them is their sanctification – 1 Thessalonians 4:3.
In this present life:Sin still remains – 1 John 1:8–10 – so Christianity cannot be defined as present sinless perfection.
Nevertheless:The Spirit produces fruit – Galatians 5:22–23 – in those who are His and Jesus says false prophets are known by their fruits – Matthew 7:16–20. Therefore the direction and product of a life matter as evidence of the life within.
At Christ's appearing:The believer will finally be changed, glorified, and made completely like Christ – 1 Corinthians 15:51–53; Romans 8:29–30; Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2.
So Scripture does not present holiness as one isolated event.
Neither does it present holiness as a human ladder climbed until God finally accepts us.
It begins with God.
It is grounded in Christ.
It is brought about by the Spirit.
It produces a changed life.
And it concludes in glory.
The Christian can therefore say all three statements without contradiction:
I am holy in Christ. -grace
I am being made holy in my life. -growing in Christ
I will one day be completely holy when Christ returns. -hope
The first statement honors God’s grace. The second honors the process God uses with his children though the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. The third protects the believer’s hope—the hope of the resurrection. Scripture gives us all three.
Called as a saint. Sanctified in Christ. Being transformed into Christ's image. One day made completely like Him.
That is the full biblical movement of holiness.
In Conclusion:
If God has called us as saints, sanctified us in Christ, is presently conforming us to the image of His Son, and has promised that one day we will be completely like Him, then the obvious question is: How then shall we conduct ourselves?
Peter asks essentially that question in 2 Peter 3:11:
“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness.”
The answer is: because you belong to the Holy One, conduct yourself accordingly.
Paul repeatedly reasons this way. In Ephesians 4:1 he urges believers to “walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” —Ephesians 4:1
So how should we conduct ourselves?
We should live as people who belong to Christ.
We should refuse to make peace with what contradicts His character.
We should confess sin rather than conceal it.
We should put to death what belongs to the flesh.
We should cultivate what the Spirit produces.
We should love because He loves.
We should forgive because we have been forgiven.
We should pursue purity because we belong to the Holy One.
We should seek peace because we have been reconciled to God.
We should practice self-control because the Spirit of God dwells within us.
We should walk humbly because everything we possess spiritually was given by grace.
And when we fail, we do not conclude that holiness was an illusion. We return again to Christ, confessing our sin, trusting His finished work, and continuing in the sanctifying work God has already begun.
Present holiness produces the pursuit of holiness.
Not fear-driven holiness.
Not holiness in order to earn sonship.
Not holiness in order to persuade God to accept us.
Rather, holiness flowing from identity, calling, hope, and union with Christ.
Paul states it beautifully:
“I therefore... beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.”—Ephesians 4:1
That is how the Christian conducts himself.
NOW, if you do not know Jesus seek him while he may be found. Confess Him while He calls you. Your eternal destiny can be eternity with Jesus Christ. He said I come to call sinners. I come to set the captives free. I come to give life and life more abundantly.
He came to pay your debt. Accept this free gift from God and be born again, filled with His Spirit, and transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ until He returns or calls you home to Heaven. Glorify Him with your life. Place all your weight on Him–and be holy!