Now may our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you, 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, 13 so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
1 Thessalonians 3:11-13
Ask any Christian what holiness means, and you may get various answers. If you ask a conservative Presbyterian (like a PCA or Orthodox Presbyterian), you will get one answer. Ask a liberal or progressive Presbyterian, like Presbyterian USA, and you will get a quite different Presbyterian answer. Ask an Assembly of God (AoG) member, and you will probably get a quite different answer. Ask a Nazarene, and you will probably get an answer much like the AoG Christian (because their roots come from the same holiness movement). If you ask a few Southern Baptists, you will probably get the full range of answers since the Southern Baptists aren’t quite as homogenous as the other denominations. So, that leaves us with a question with no singular answer.
Since I am a classical evangelical, which, among other things, means I believe in the inerrancy of Scripture and that it is the very word of God in its original manuscripts. It is, therefore, my authoritative source of truth. It is the foundation from which I do my best to approach all subjects. So what counts is what the scriptures have to say about the meaning of holiness.
- Holiness is an attribute of God.
- God commands his people to be holy as well.
- “Time, space, objects, and people—all can become holy if they belong to God.” 1
- Christian conduct is characterized by holiness or separation from ungodly behavior. 2 Corinthians 6:17 “Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,”
The difficulty comes with the fourth item above. Some Christians have defined the separation so broadly that almost anything that isn’t an activity of the local church is considered sinful and unholy. Again, it is required that we get our marching orders from Scripture and not from someone’s idea of what is or is not acceptable behavior.
So, holiness is an attribute of God, is required of Christians, can be attributed to anything that God owns, and includes how Christians behave that is a result of their separation from this world.
Since we are commanded to be holy as God is holy, how do we grow in holiness?
According to our text, holiness is the end result of love for one another and for all. Paul’s request is that the love of the believers in Thessalonica would increase and abound for one another. Notice this is not a legalistic set of rules for holy living. It is an exhortation to grow in love. Biblical love fulfills the law of God. Jesus clarified that to love God and to love our neighbor is the essence of fulfilling the law; it is the first and great commandment.
When we live in love, our hearts are established blameless in regard to holiness. That doesn’t mean we have arrived at a state of sinless perfection. In spite of the Wesleyan doctrine of holiness and complete sanctification, I don’t believe that is promised by God in this life, and so don’t expect anyone to live that kind of a life of perfection. With that said, there is a life that can be lived from the heart, blameless in holiness. I take this to mean, at least in part, that one can live with a heart that is dominated by the love of God and love for God to the extent that we are blameless before God when he comes with all his saints. It is no accident that believers are referred to as saints in this context. Saints simply means holy ones. When Christ comes again, he will come with all of his Holy Ones.
Seek holiness by seeking to walk in love toward everyone. Holiness is God’s purpose for our walking in love. Love has an objective purpose; holiness.
