Here is my attempt to try to describe what holiness truly is in the New Testament. We will be starting with Paul’s letters. Since we are removed by 2000 years of time and culture, we have to understand what holiness was then to be able to apply holiness now. In both the OT and the NT, holiness was to separate one’s self from paganism and the immorality of paganism. Thus holiness starts with the 1st of the ten commandments: “You shall have no other gods before me.” Exodus 20:3. When one chases after other “created” gods, God hands them over to sin. Paul describes these acts of paganism in 1:18-32. There results of which will brings God’s wrath upon people such as this.
So, how can we bring immoral things that pagans did in the 1st century to the present as an example of what NOT to do? How do we separate 1st century culture from today’s culture? These are the two questions we seek to answer in a series of studies on holiness.
Unless noted otherwise, all passages are presented from the NIV11 text. There are a few times when my translation will be used for clarity.
Analysis
The Greek words used in Romans in which we will be studying are as follows. All definitions are taken from BDAG* and Kittle**.
ἅγιος: 1. as adjective pertaining to being dedicated or consecrated to the service of God
- in the cultic sense dedicated to God, holy, sacred, i.e. reserved for God and God’s service:
ἁγιασμός: personal dedication to the interests of the deity, holiness, consecration, sanctification. Kittle: sanctifying, i.e. a process.
ἁγιωσύνη: Holiness. Kittle: “This rare word, formed from the adjective ἅγιος by extension of the o to ω after a short syllable as an abstract term of quality, in the same way as δικαιοσύνη is formed from δίκαιος, is not found in pre-biblical Greek. It means ‘sanctification’ or ‘holiness’ rather than ‘sanctifying’, but as a quality rather than a state.”
ἁγιάζω: 1. set aside something or make it suitable for ritual purposes, consecrate, dedicate of things. 2. include a person in the inner circle of what is holy, in both cultic and moral associations of the word, consecrate, dedicate, sanctify. 3. to treat as holy, reverence. 4. to eliminate that which is incompatible with holiness, purify
Passages where Paul calls the body of Christ “holy ones”.
Romans 1:7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people ἁγίοις: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 8:27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people ἁγίων in accordance with the will of God.
Romans 12:13 Share with the Lord’s people ἁγίων who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 15:25 Now, however, I am on my way to Jerusalem in the service of the Lord’s people ἁγίοις there. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the Lord’s people ἁγίων in Jerusalem.
Romans 15:31 Pray that I may be kept safe from the unbelievers in Judea and that the contribution I take to Jerusalem may be favorably received by the Lord’s people ἁγίοις there,
Romans 16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon, of the church in Cenchreae (Κεγχρεαί). 2 I ask you to receive her in the Lord in a way worthy of his people ἁγίων and to give her any help she may need from you, for she has been the benefactor of many people, including me.
Romans 16:15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas and all the Lord’s people ἁγίους who are with them.
Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy ἁγίῳ kiss. All the churches of Christ send greetings.
Passages on the Holy Spirit:
Romans 5:5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy ἁγίου Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 9:1 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,a my conscience confirms it through the Holy ἁγίῳ Spirit—
Romans 14:17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy ἁγίῳ Spirit,
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy ἁγίου Spirit.
Holiness Passages:
Romans 1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God— 2 the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy ἁγίαις Scriptures 3 regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life κατὰ σάρκα was a descendant of David, 4 and who through the Spirit of holiness κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord. 5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his name’s sake. 6 And you also are among those Gentiles who are called to belong to Jesus Christ. 7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be his holy people ἁγίοις: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Scriptures are Holy (OT) because they are God’s very words: See Romans 3:2b: “First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.”
The reason that Paul’s calls the Roman church “holy ones” is because they are no longer “slaves to sin”: Jews were “slaves to sin” because of their sinful nature and how they couldn’t keep the Jewish law. Gentiles were “slaves to sin” because of their past paganism in which Paul goes into detail about in 1:18 - 2:16. Starting in 2:17 and continuing to 3:20, Paul shows how the Jews also are like pagans in their sin as they can’t keep the Jewish law. In the OT, “to be holy as God is holy” was to not be like Israel’s pagan neighbors. But, as seen in the OT, Israel couldn’t keep the Law.
“Through the Spirit of Holiness” (κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης) is in contrast to “his earthly life” (κατὰ σάρκα/according to the flesh) It is used here to show Christ’s deity, the element that as a quality is Holy. It is essential to understand here that Paul is referring to the “quality” of the holiness and not to the process of holiness. It is this quality that only God has.
Romans 6:19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness ἁγιασμόν. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness ἁγιασμόν, and the result is eternal life.
In the previous chapters, Paul has been writing how “faith in Jesus” is superior to the “Jewish law”. The promise to the Romans came through Abraham before the law came. They are children of the promise through Abraham. Because Abraham believed God, “it was credited to him as righteousness”. Paul goes on to say that Abraham was not the only one who received righteousness, but the Romans also who believe in Jesus.
In Chapter 5, Paul says that the Romans have been justified through their faith in Jesus and through that faith, they have access to God’s grace. He goes on to say that at one time, these Roman Christians were “powerless” to sin as they lived in both paganism and Judaism. But Jesus died for sinners while they were still in sin which was very, very uncommon for a man to do. Most people wouldn’t dare die for another righteous person, let alone for an unrighteous person, but Jesus did. Therefore, the Romans have been justified by Jesus’ blood and thus will be saved from God’s wrath.
Sin came through one man, Adam, but life also came through one man; Jesus!
The Romans should not go back to paganism as they have died to that sin. Paul uses baptism as an example of how the Romans emulated Jesus in his death and will partake in the new creation. The Romans had been crucified and died to sin because once one has died, he/she is set free from sin. As Jesus was raised from the dead and can’t die again, so are the Romans. Therefore, the Romans have the power to not sin.
Paul sets an example of how slaves must obey their master who owns them. Since the Romans have become God’s slaves, they must obey him. By obeying him, they are slaves to righteousness. By obeying, the process of holiness will refine them.
This leads us back to Chapter 1 where “The Spirit of Holiness”, where holiness is a quality of the Spirit is now present in the Romans as they have been given the Holy Spirit (Romans: 5:5). When the Romans obey God, their process of holiness refines them more and more to eventually become the “quality” that is in them. This leads to eternal life where as to continue to sin leads to death.
Romans 7:12 So then, the law is holy ἅγιος, and the commandment is holy ἁγία, righteous and good.
Paul has gone to great lengths to describe how people in their sinful nature who try to obey the Jewish law can’t keep the law at all. Paul states that this sinful nature made people want to do more sin once they knew about the law. Therefore, because of sinful nature, the law could never save anyone. But, just because man’s sinful nature perverted how man saw the law, the law is still Holy as it is God’s words and the commandments found in the law are Holy as they are God’s words.
Paul then goes into his famous passage about himself and his Jewish people (7:14-25). Paul says that the Law is spiritual, but he was not. Paul couldn’t keep the law because of his sinful nature. He desired to keep the Law, but because of his sinful nature, he couldn’t keep it. He says that his inner being delighted in God’s law, but the law of his sinful nature worked in him and waged war against the law of his mind and made him a prisoner of the law of sin.
In Romans 8, Paul sets in contrast the Jewish law and the law of sin with life in the Spirit. Jesus was sent to fulfill the Jewish law by being the only one who could keep it and then offer himself for the sake of others who could not keep it. By doing so, he condemned sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in the Romans.
Paul has set up that human sinful nature perverted the Law to the extent that the Jews were sinning as the pagans were. Therefore, Paul’s words are two-fold: 1. The ones who lived under the Jewish Law, have been set free from fleshly sin and 2. the ones who lived under paganism have also been set free from fleshly sin. Therefore, Paul says that the Romans are now obligated to live their lives in the Spirit which will refine them in the process of holiness.
Romans 11:16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy ἁγία, then the whole batch is holy ἁγία; if the root is holy ἁγία, so are the branches.
and
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy ἁγίαν and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.
These two go together and are the main passages that need to be explored in Romans. The reason that Paul urges the Romans to live a holy life was just explained in verses 11:20-21. Paul describes how Israel’s fall brought salvation to the Gentiles to make Israel envious. Since most of Israel did not believe in Jesus, those branches were broke off of the root or trunk and the Gentiles were grafted in. Paul would be an example of a branch that was not broken off. But, if the Gentiles go back to their former life, they too will broken off the root.
The big take away from the 1st passage is that it is the Holy Spirit that makes one holy. The Holy Spirit is the “nourishing sap from the olive root” which is God. The Holy Spirit has the quality of holiness needed to refine one in the process of making one holy. When the normal things come in contact with the supernatural, the normal become supernatural. For more background on this read 11:16-22.
In 2nd passage, Paul starts to show how holy people should act through out Chapter 12. The Greek word οὖν (therefore) ties verses 1-2 with the Chapter 11 passages. In other words, Paul starts explaining what the Romans need to do in order to “stay in God’s kindness”. In verse 3, Paul uses the explanatory word γὰρ (for) to tie his explanation of what he means in verses 1-2. In other words, Chapter 12 is what one does in order to be a living scarfice. Of course, the biggest fulfillment of being a living sacrifice is found in one exercising their callings and gifts. For a greater background on this subject, see 1 Corinthians 12-14 and Ephesians 4.
The rest of Chapter 12 is general Christian living examples.
Romans 15:15 Yet I have written you quite boldly on some points to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles. He gave me the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified ἡγιασμένη by the Holy ἁγίῳ Spirit.
Paul states that ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit who “makes one Holy”. This is consistent with Paul’s very first letter.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 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. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
To become holy, one must let the Holy Spirit work. The Christian must follow after righteousness which leads to holiness. Righteousness is to conduct one’s self by the moral laws and commandments which are actually found in the OT law. Remember, the Law was giving for Israel to live apart from paganism. In the same way, we, as children of God, must also live apart from paganism with its immoral acts. Whatever makes one live as pagans do, is against the moral laws of God.
* (BDAG) A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd Edition - Walter Bauer (Author), Frederick William Danker (Editor)
** (Kittel) Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (VOLUMES 1-10) - Gerhard Kittel (Editor), Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Translator)
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