All posts by Luella Campbell

JOHN’S GOSPEL…THE WORD WAS WITH GOD -2

Bible Study, ,

John 1:1-2 NIV
[1] “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He was with God in the beginning.”

If we don’t pause to think, for a minute, we will miss the significance of the little word “with”.

Why did John write, “The Word was with God”?

“With” can have the simple meaning of “in the presence or company of …” or it can mean something more than that.

To be “with” another person can mean that one person is “in full agreement and participation with” another. We have examples of this meaning in Scripture where God gave His full support, with favour and power, to His servants…

Genesis 39:2, 5 NIV
[2] “The Lord was with Joseph so that he prospered, and he lived in the house of his Egyptian master…
[5] From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the Lord blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the Lord was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field.”

God’s presence “with” Joseph had major consequences – favour and blessing on all his endeavours in Potiphar’s household. Likewise, while he languished in prison, Joseph was blessed and elevated to a position of authority because God was “with” him.

Genesis 39:20-22 NIV
[20] “Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. But while Joseph was there in the prison, [21] the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. [22] So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.”

David experienced the same favour because of God’s presence “with” him.

1 Samuel 17:37 NIV
[37] “The Lord who rescued me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with you.”

1 Samuel 18:14 NIV
[14] “In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him.”

2 Samuel 5:10 NIV
[10] “And he became more and more powerful, because the Lord God Almighty was with him.”

So, of Jesus, Peter could confidently proclaim…

Acts 10:37-38 NIV
[37] “You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— [38] how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.”

In the Godhead, the relationship between Father and Son is reciprocal. As the Father is “with the Son”, so the Son…the Word…is with the Father.

John 10:30 NIV
[30] “I and the Father are one.”

Says Google…

“Yes, the New Testament, particularly the Gospel of John, presents Jesus as being “one with the Father,” a statement understood by theologians to signify unity in essence, purpose, and power, and a core concept within Trinitarian theology. This declaration in John 10:30 led to accusations of blasphemy by the Jewish leaders of the time, who perceived Jesus as claiming equality with God.”

Jesus often claimed oneness with Father as a testimony to His opponents of His identity as the Son of God, challenging them to find anything that would refute this claim.

John 8:29, 42, 46 NIV
[29] The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”…
[42] Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me…
[46] Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?”

For the Word to be with God, as John proclaimed, meant a relationship far closer than mere casual acquaintance or association. This was a declaration of unity so deep that the Father and the Son, as the Word, the visible and spiritual expression of the Father, always acted together in perfect harmony.

Hebrews 1:1, 3 NIV
[1] “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
[3] The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

As the visible representation of the invisible God, Jesus was simultaneously in the presence of the Father and in the world, representing Him by word and action so that the people in the world would believe in Him and return to the Father through Him.

JOHN’S GOSPEL…IN THE BEGINNING – 1

Bible Study, ,

Of the four gospel records of Jesus Christ’s life and death on earth, John’s gospel was known, in the early church, as the “spiritual” gospel. Why the spiritual gospel?

John doesn’t only present the story of Jesus’ life on earth. He also weaves into the story his understanding that Jesus, the man, was far more than a man. He was God incarnate, clothed in a human body, fully God and fully man, with all the attributes of God and man, yet completely submitted and obedient to the Father as a son.

Each of the four gospels tells the story of Jesus from a different perspective and for a different purpose. Together, they present a comprehensive picture of Him as the king of Israel, (Matthew), the Servant of Yahweh, (Mark), the Son of Man, (Luke), and the Son of God, (John).

Each story begins with and at the point of its purpose. For Matthew, Jesus was born to be king of the Jews. For Mark, as a servant, Jesus’ origins and birth were not recorded. His story begins with His arrival on the public scene to carry out His servant role. For Luke, as the Son of Man, Jesus was fully human, the son of Mary, with all the attributes and characteristics of a human. Yet, He was more than human. He was the Son of Man, the Messianic figure of Daniel 7.

However, to John, Jesus was first and foremost, the Son of God, existing eternally with the Father before time. He was sent from the Father to live as an obedient Son, always connected and accountable to Him, doing the Father’s will, revealing the Father’s true nature to His people, and fulfilling His mission as sacrifice and redeemer.

So, John begins to write… “In the beginning…”

John 1:1-3 NLT
[1] “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] He existed in the beginning with God. [3] God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.”

In the beginning…the beginning of what? Echoing the first words of the Bible…

Genesis 1:1-2 NLT
[1] “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. [2] The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.”

John presents Jesus’ presence as the bridge between the Father and His creation. In a perfect expression of the unity between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Three persons function together to produce the universe in all its splendour and detail. Assuming that the triune God created everything, the story of Genesis begins, not with nothing but with an earth that was created, then corrupted. This planet needed intervention to prepare it for human habitation.

In the Genesis 1 account of this process of restoration, the writer slips in two Hebrew letters, “aleph” and “tov”, in the middle of the first verse which are both untranslatable and seem to make no sense. The same two mysterious letters reappear many times throughout the original text of the Old Testament. The ancient rabbis, despite years of study, could not find a solution to the puzzle… until John reveals its secret to his readers.

Google says…

“In some interpretations, particularly within Messianic Judaism, the Aleph Tav is seen as a divine signature or placeholder, indicating the presence and authority of God or Yeshua throughout Scripture. This is often linked to passages in Isaiah and Revelation where God declares Himself to be the First and the Last.”

In the book of Revelation, which of course, John also wrote and which presents all of history as the unfolding story of Jesus, Jesus identifies Himself, at the beginning and the end of the book, as the Alpha and the Omega.

Revelation 1:8 NLT
[8] “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”

Revelation 21:6 NLT
[6] “And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.”

Revelation 22:13 NLT
[13] “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

The writer to the Hebrews, likewise, presented Jesus as the initiator and completion of our faith, the Alpha and Omega…

Hebrews 12:2 NLT
[2] “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith…”

So, the secret of the “aleph” and “tov” is hidden in plain sight.

Jesus, the main character in the Bible story, was present and active in creation, directing the preparation of God’s people in history, and active in redeeming His people from the consequences of their rebellion. His signature, “Aleph Tov” puts Him in the centre of the book as the driver of the story.

Jesus was a Hebrew and would have spoken, in the main, in Hebrew. The Hebrew equivalent of “apha” and “omega”, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, are “aleph” and “tov”, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. John wrote in Greek, the common language of the Roman world. He would, therefore, have written aleph and tov as alpha and omega.

The implication is huge. Jesus’ signature, “Aleph Tov”, is repeatedly written into the pages of Scripture, reassuring God’s people throughout the ages that it He who is both author and subject of the book.

So, with confidence, John could begin his gospel record with the indesputable truth that the Jesus of history is, first, the God of creation. He was present and active with the Father and the Spirit, bringing forth the universe and shaping the earth to be the stage on which He played out the glorious plan of redemption.

The second person of the Trinity in eternity became the Son of God in history to put into action in history what the Trinity had planned in eternity.

WORSHIP THE LORD

Apologetics, ,

I sometimes wake in the morning with nothing on my mind, like turning the page of my life, waiting to record the day’s thoughts and activities. At other times, my clean page already has a heading…

“Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.”

My earliest memories of church are of people gathering in an old church building, probably built in the 1800’s, with long, uncomfortable wooden pews, and a choir stall in the front, opposite to the raised pulpit…all the trappings of a conventional “church”.

Across the front wall, above the platform, were emblazoned these words on an ornate cement scroll… “Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness”. Although I did not understand their meaning then, I woould gaze at the words throughout the long sermon, tracing each letter over and over with an invisible finger to occupy my mind until the church service was over.

This verse, taken from Psalm 96:9, was a silent reminder to the congregation of our solemn duty to worship the Lord whenever we gathered in that building on a Sunday…or was it?

Had we then, and do we still now, relegate worship to a once-a-week ceremony on a Sunday? We have, in the latest dispensation of doing church, come to view our gathering on a Sunday as a “worship service”.

These ideas are so deeply engraved into our thinking that we hardly ever stop to evaluate what we are doing? We are “holy” during that brief time in church but for the rest, we get on with living our ordinary lives. We relegate worship and the spiritual feelings we enjoy, to a Sunday, satisfied that we have been faithful to God’s requirements.

Am I being harsh in my thinking?

Jesus had a conversation with a woman outside a village in Samaria, an unlikely situation for a Jewish man. He was on His way to Galilee. She was fetching water in the middle of the day. They met at the well.

Jesus kicked off the conversation by asking the woman for a drink of water. She was startled by His words because Jewish men don’t talk to Samaritan women, but Jesus didn’t care. He broke protocol because He was thirsty and she was lost.

Carefully, Jesus unpacked her need in their conversation, guiding her to the point where He revealed God’s dream for all humanity. Worshippers! The Father wanted worshippers!

John 4:23-24 NIV
[23] “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks. [24] God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

True worshippers…in spirit and in truth? What does this mean? Did my verse, painted on the front wall of the church, somehow hold the secret to God’s dream?

Worship…what is worship? In its simplest meaning, to worship is to prostrate oneself before a superior person, not necessarily God. So, for example, Joseph’s brothers fell down before him after their father had been buried, when they thought that he would have his revenge.

Genesis 50:18 NLT
[18] “Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said.”

However, to worship the Lord means far more that prostrating ourselves before Him. In that action is enshrined an attitude, as Google explains…

“In the Bible, worship encompasses more than just religious rituals; it signifies a deep, reverent devotion and heartfelt response to God, encompassing both outward expressions and inward attitudes. It involves acknowledging God’s worth, submitting to His authority, and expressing love and adoration through various means.”

Can you see, then, how far short our modern concept of worship falls before this definition?

Our verse continues…

” …In the beauty of holiness.”

What constitutes beauty in this requirement?

Again, Google helps us…

“The phrase “beauty of holiness” refers to the intrinsic attractiveness and desirable quality of being set apart for God and living a life that reflects His holiness. It encompasses both an inward purity and an outward expression of that purity in actions, attitudes, and worship.”

We ascribe beauty to the Lord, not in any physical way because God is spirit, but in the comeliness of His attributes and actions. Just as a beautiful sunset calls forth feelings of pleasure and delight, so God’s beauty lies in His being and doing that delight us and draw from us expressions of satisfaction and pleasure.

So, God desires that we express, in our worship, that beauty, “attractiveness”, in our ways that brings Him pleasure and delight.

What is the holiness that must accompany our worship? What is the holiness God requires that allows us access to Him and qualifies us to “see” Him?

Again, we turn to Google for help.

“Holiness, in essence, is being set apart, consecrated, and morally pure, primarily associated with God and His divine nature. It signifies a state of being entirely devoted to God and separated from sin and the things of the world. For humans, holiness involves striving to reflect God’s character through obedience, righteous living, and a growing relationship with Him.”

2 Corinthians 7:1 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

The holiness of God’s people is not only beautiful to us…
It’s beautiful to Him, the lives of His people

So, the verse I stared at every Sunday sets out clearly the desire of God’s heart that we, His people, should approach Him with clean hands and a pure heart and worship Him in spirit and in truth.

Psalms 24:3-4 NIV
[3] “Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? [4] The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.”

Before I end this short meditation, why is it so important that we worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness? What difference does it make to us if we do or do not worship the Lord in this way?

God had a plan for people from the beginning. Like the intimacy between two people in a marriage relationship, their union produces new life. God uses the picture of marriage to illustrate the union within the Godhead that produces life…God’s life that continually perpetuates and sustains all life.

God has called us into partnership with Himself to fulfill His purpose to restore the life on earth that sin has destroyed. Through the intimacy of prayer and worship, He impregnates our spirits with His “seed”, His Word through which He carries out His will.

God has entrusted to us His promises, His declaration of intent, to which we agree and add our “AMEN!” which is far more than simple assent. Our “AMEN” implies our willing participation with the Father in the execution of His will on earth.

2 Corinthians 1:18-20, 22 NIV
[18] “But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not “Yes” and “No.” [19] For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us—by me and Silas and Timothy—was not “Yes” and “No,” but in him it has always been “Yes.” [20] For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. 0
[21] Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, [22] set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.”

Can you see, then, how God has graciously involved us, in participation with Him, in fulfilling His will in earth? He impregnates us with His Word and gives birth to His purposes through us…and all this through the intimacy of true worship. His purpose is not possible outside of true worship, our hearts and lives at one with Him.

Hence the profound simplicity of Jesus’ prayer…

Matthew 6:9-13 NIV
[9] “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, [10] your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. [11] Give us today our daily bread. [12] And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. [13] And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”

“Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness” in not a call to worship for a few moments on Sunday morning in a building we call “the church”. It is a rallying call to all God’s people to exalt and honour Him in every part of our everyday lives, giving glory to Him in the mundane as a witness to His Lordship over us as the supreme authority in our lives in everything.

THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD

Apologetics, ,

Why did God bother to write a book, preserve and protect it through centuries of human attempts to destroy it, have it published in almost as many languages as are spoken on earth, and make it freely available at no cost, on the World Wide Web, to the whole world? Is this book so important and so valuable to the world that He took the trouble to do all this for us?

The answer is “Yes,” and “Yes”! The Bible is the only source of information about God, us, and His world that makes sense, is true, and can change our lives and destiny forever.

The marvel of the Bible in our digital age is that it is freely available in a variety of translations and versions online and free of charge to anyone who owns a smart phone. This gives nearly the whole world access to the Word of God and its message.

Why is this so important?

The Bible is the story of John 3:16…

“[16] For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

The story of this book is the one and only thing that stands between heaven and hell, the eternal destiny of those who read it and believe it and those who don’t read it and don’t believe its message.

That’s one great reason the Bible is the greatest story ever told!

The Bible answers, in a simple story, the problem of evil. Evil is a reality in the world. Despite the insistence of those who punt evolution as the origin and process of the universe and our world, evolution cannot answer the issues of psyche, morality, and ethics. Their origins are a mystery apart from a Creator outside of time and space, who created humans in His likeness. How did evil happen on earth? God gave humans the power of choice. With free will came the responsibility to remain connected to the Creator and live functionally or to disconnect and enter the realm of chaos and dysfunctionality. What we have now is the result of the choice the first pair made.

The Bible tells the story of the nations…how they came from one pair, why we have nations who speak different languages, how the nations were divided and scattered across the globe, where the nation of Israel originated and why Israel is the cradle and environment of the story.

The Bible is the story of one man, told by many over several millennia, who came from heaven, entered earth as a human baby, and lived, died, and rise again, here. He came to rescue humankind from the plight humans created for themselves through their rebellion and disobedience. Despite the Creator’s patience and longsuffering, the story of God’s own nation continued into disaster, punishment, exile, and return. This was, all a preparation…of God’s nation and the nations on earth, to receive His man for the hour.

After the interlude of His life on earth, this man’s intervention resulted in the radical transformation of thousands of His followers. In fact, this global movement, as it came to be, was initially called “The Way”. Spearheaded by the few men who were His close associates and were witnesses to His resurrection, despite fierce opposition from the Gentile government ruling vassal nations and the fanatical religious Jews, the movement spread around the known world.

Over a period time, manuscripts recording the story across centuries, were collected and evaluated by godly and wise men as divinely inspired. They were gathered into two volumes, first the Tanach, the Jewish Scriptures, then the stories of Jesus, and interpretations of His life, death, and resurrection, in the form of letters, called the New Testament.

Finally, these two volumes were joined together to become one story and entitled “The Bible”. The entire process, involving the minds of many godly men applied to their sacred task, was God-inspired and God-directed. It was a partnership of God and man to prepare and preserve God’s story which presents the only way for humans doomed to eternal destruction to be reconciled to a holy God.

The marvels of this story are many…

Although written in human language using a variety of letters and words, this book has power to transform the lives of those who believe its message. Its power lies both in and beyond its words.

2 Timothy 3:16 NIV
[16] “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness…”

1 Peter 1:22-23 NIV
[22] “Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. [23] For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.”

Hebrews 4:12 NIV
[12] “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

No other book on earth has the power to transform, not reform, people from rebels to sons, and to guide and teach those who believe its message into peaceful and godly living.

No other book has garnered so many enemies and survived so many efforts to exterminate it from the earth. Why do people fear this book so much that they want to rid the earth of its presence? It had been burned and banned, and yet it lives on. It is both loved and hated by miliions.

Those who believe this book have deeper understanding of what is written than those who don’t. Its message makes no sense to unbelievers for one reason…

1 Corinthians 2:13-14 NIV
[13] “This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. [14] The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”

This is the only book that, through its story, brings God into human lives and human history. Without the Bible, we have nothing to tell us about Him and lead us to Him. Without the story of the Bible, we would be lost forever, and we would never know the reason.

There are many other marvels about this book but here is its conclusion.

God has entrusted this book to us, His people. Jesus’ blood brother, Jude, called it…

Jude 1:3 NIV
[3] “.. the faith that was once for all entrusted to God’s holy people.”

This book is a body of truth entrusted to God’s people. We have a sacred trust to…

  1. Guard it from contamination.

We are to guard “the faith” by keeping it intact.

This book has been contaminated by additions and subtractions that do not come from God. There are dire consequences for those who dare to tamper with its truth.

Deuteronomy 4:2 NIV
[2] “Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.”

Revelation 22:18-19 NIV
[18] “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. [19] And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.”

Peter warned of some unscrupulous people who twisted God’s Word out of shape.

2 Peter 3:15-16 NIV
[15] “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. [16] He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”

  1. We are to live by its truth.

3 John 1:3-4 NIV
[3]” It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. [4] I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.”

David’s prayer is our prayer.

Psalms 86:11 NLT
[11] “Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.”

Jesus prayed for His disciples…

John 17:17 NLT
[17] “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.”

  1. We are to pass on this deposit, intact, to the next generation.

2 Timothy 2:2 NLT
[2] “You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.”

Psalms 102:18-22 NLT
[18] “Let this be recorded for future generations, so that a people not yet born will praise the Lord. [19] Tell them the Lord looked down from his heavenly sanctuary. He looked down to earth from heaven [20] to hear the groans of the prisoners, to release those condemned to die. [21] And so the Lord’s fame will be celebrated in Zion, his praises in Jerusalem, [22] when multitudes gather together and kingdoms come to worship the Lord.”

Truly, this book can never be anything else but the greatest story ever told because of its author, its content, its power, and its outcome. This book is God speaking through men to tell the world of His love so that we need never perish but enjoy eternal life with Him. Its worth believing!

IS HELL REAL? – 3

Apologetics, ,

Yes, hell is real! Yes, hell is a place of eternal torment for those who reject God! Yes, unholy people will spend eternity in hell!

How, then, can unholy people be made holy, to live with God eternally and escape punishment in hell?

There is much confusion in the Christian world about holiness, what it is and how we, unholy sinners, can become holy. Unfortunately, even respected Christian preachers and writers have muddied the waters by presenting their own ideas rather than Biblical truth about the holiness God requires for us to spend eternity with Him.

For many, to be holy requires hard work… for example, we must scour and scrub our past clean by repenting of every sin we have ever committed. We must cut off all “soul ties” and renounce all “generational curses”. We must “plead the blood” over our family and friends. We must renounce our connection with our father’s involvement with Free Masonry, or any other form of witchcraft or Satanism…and so on.

Worst of all, in all their lengthy requirements, there is no Biblical evidence of any of these practices.

First, let’s look at this notion logically. In the Old Covenant between God and Israel, God required perfect obedience to His instructions for His people to be acceptable to Him. He gave them a sacrificial system to deal with their failures. It didn’t work! Israel as a nation failed miserably to live within the boundaries of His covenant.

To all humanity, God have the law of conscience. Everyone is born with God’s moral law written on their conscience. So, when Gentiles sin, they are equally guilty before God because they know the difference between right and wrong.

Romans 2:14-15 NIV
[14] “(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. [15] They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts sometimes accusing them and at other times even defending them”).

Despite Gentiles having the law of conscience or Jews the Mosaic law, all are guilty before God.

Romans 3:9-10, 18 NIV
[9] What shall we conclude then? Do we (Jews) have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. [10] As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;…
[18] “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

So, what did God do? He condemned them all to eternal punishment. Was this the end for Israel and all humanity? No!

Romans 11:32 NIV
[32] “For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”

God stepped in and paid the price for all human rebellion.

Romans 5:6-8 NIV
[6] “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. [7] Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. [8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Christ’s death for us means that God had wiped our slate clean because of His mercy. He has absolved us of all guilt and made us holy. Yes, He has made us holy! Jesus did away with the law as a way to be holy because it is impossible for sinful humans to obey the law perfectly. Instead, He presented His own blood as a sacrifice for sin so that all who believe in Him are made holy.

Hebrews 10:8-10 NIV
[8] “First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. [9] Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. [10] And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”

We can never make ourselves holy. We can never live up to God’s standards by our own efforts. No amount of cleaning up our past or disconnecting from the present can produce holiness. Jesus has made us holy through His own blood.

How can we, then, confirm God’s holiness in us?

To conclude our logical argument, would God who made us holy, leave it up to us to achieve holiness by our own efforts? That makes no sense.

Does He require us to go through the rigmarole some Christian writers propose for us to be holy? No!

Holiness is both a done deal and an ongoing process.

Hebrews 10:14 NIV
[14] “For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

God has provided three ways to help us to live holy lives, not to make us holy but to live out the holiness He has provided through the death of Jesus.

First, He has given us His Word.

Psalms 119:11 NIV
[11] “I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

David knew the value of God’s law in his life as a protection against sin.

Jesus confirmed the truth that we are being made holy by God’s Word. He prayed that His disciples would be sanctified through God’s Word.

John 17:17 NIV
[17] “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

Second, the Holy Spirit works in us through the Word to sanctify us.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 NIV
“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.

“These verses highlight the dual role of God’s Word (the truth) and the Holy Spirit in the process of sanctification.” (Google)

Third, God uses discipline, i.e., hardships and suffering, to work in us for our good.

Hebrews 12:9-11 NIV
[9] “Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! [10] They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. [11] No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”

God’s discipline, in the form of suffering, gets to the heart of our sinfulness…our flesh, our old sin nature.

1 Peter 4:1-2 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, (a more accurate translation is “in the flesh”), arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because whoever suffers in the body (in the flesh) is done with sin. [2] As a result, they do not live the rest of their earthly lives for evil human desires (“the flesh”), but rather for the will of God.”

God’s purpose is to restore the image of Jesus in us. He, therefore, works, in the” all things” for our good…

Romans 8:28-29 NIV
[28] “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

[29] For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.”

So, Paul urges us, not to try harder to make ourselves holy, but to stay away from the filthy things that spoil the holiness we already have in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 7:1 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

Our role is not to make ourselves clean but to keep ourselves clean by “walking in the light”.

1 John 1:6-7 NIV
[6] “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. [7] But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”