1.11. Holiness as Opposed to Sin
CHAPTER XI HOLINESS AS OPPOSED TO SIN So far, we have studied Holiness without any direct reference to sin. Indeed we have found the word holy predicated of not a few objects about which there can be no thought either of sin or the absence of sin, e.g. the gold of the Temple. But, when predicated of men, holiness, i.e. unreserved devotion to God, implies complete victory over all sin. For all sin, in thought, word, or deed, tends to hinder God s purposes. As soon as we resolve to live for God, devoting to His service all we have and are, and in proportion to the earnestness of our resolve, we become conscious of a force within us tending to thwart, and actually thwarting, our earnest purpose. This adverse influence brings moral bondage and moral defilement, i.e. a felt inability to refrain from what we know to be wrong and a sense of shame which prompts us to hide our conduct and inner life from the view of others. This bondage is in part a result of inherited tendencies to evil, and in part a consequence of our own indulgence in personal transgression. It is directly opposed to God. There can, therefore, be no complete devotion to God without complete victory over this inward force of evil.
We now ask, In what relation do the sanctified stand to this hostile and defiling power ? In Matthew 1:21, an angel directs, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus : for it is He who will save His people from their sins." Similarly, in John 1:29 the Baptist points to " the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." These conspicuous assertions imply that to save men from sin was a chief part of the work which Christ came to do. In 1 Corinthians 6:11, after a list of sins of which some of his readers had been guilty, Paul writes, " ye washed yourselves, ye were sanctified, ye were justified." In other words, at their baptism they had symbolically put away the defilement of sin, had been consecrated to the service of God, and had been received by the great Judge as righteous. In 2 Corinthians 7:1 he bids them realise in their inner and outer life this outward symbol : " let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, accomplishing holiness in fear of God." This outward and inward purification is here represented as their own act : for although wrought entirely by the power of God, salvation is conditional on our acceptance of that which God waits to give.
After completing, in Romans 3:21; Romans 5:21, his exposition of Justification through faith and through the death of Christ, and proving that through Christ we are saved from the consequences not only of our own past sins but of a fatal heritage received from the father of our race, Paul goes on to discuss, in ch. vi., the moral consequences of this deliverance. He asks a question implying that we can no longer continue in sin, because "we have died to sin ; " and justifies this last assumption by saying that at our baptism we were buried in the grave of Christ, and thus became sharers with Him in the consequences of His own death. Now by His death on the cross, and in the moment of His death, Christ escaped absolutely from that contact with sinful humanity which had caused His suffer ings and death. By death, He was set free. Paul bids his readers "reckon" that in this deliverance they are sharers, and are therefore, in Christ, " dead to sin." This expLamentations 5:6: "crucified with Him ... in order that we may no longer be slaves to sin." All this means that just as a dead man is absolutely separated from the world in which he lived, and just as Christ by His death escaped from all His foes, so they who put faith in Christ are saved from all enslaving and defiling contact with sin. We have thus, in v. ii, in few words, the negative and positive sides of holiness : " dead to sin but living for God, in Christ Jesus." That this deliverance from sin is due to the death of Christ is plainly asserted in Titus 2:14, "who gave Himself on our behalf, that He might ransom us from all lawlessness, and cleanse for Himself a people of His own, zealous for good works;" in Ephesians 2:7, " redemption through His blood;" in Hebrews 9:14, " how much more shall the blood of Christ cleanse your conscience from dead works, to serve the living God;" and in 1 John 1:7, "the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin." CompaRevelation 5:9 : li He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Here pardon and cleansing are placed in due sequence. That purification, like pardon, is obtained by faith is implied in Acts 15:9 : " having cleansed their hearts by faith." Similarly 1 Peter 1:5 : " who are guarded in the power of God, through faith." For sin is man s worst foe : and none are safely guarded unless they are saved from all sin. Also 1 John 5:4 : " this is the victory which has conquered the world, even our faith." The language quoted above does not necessarily imply annihilation of all in herited tendencies to evil or of the influence of formed habits of sin : for these do not defile us unless yielded to. Consequently, a felt tendency to evil, trampled under foot by the power of God, is not inconsistent with the purity described above. So Christ, though dead to sin, is ever from His throne carrying on war against it. These passages each plainly complete victory over every temptation to sin, a victory gained for us by the death of Christ. For we cannot be dead to sin while we are led astray and polluted by it. But if, as each temptation rises, it is overcome, even though we be. conscious of its presence as a conquered enemy ever ready to rebel and therefore an abiding danger, then are we, kept by the power of God, both cleansed from sin and dead to sin. This distinction is of utmost practical importance. For many who have ventured to accept the full salvation promised in the Gospel have been disappointed to find the old tendencies to evil, perhaps after a period of apparent quiescence, again asserting themselves and endeavouring to regain their lost power; and thus occasioning fresh conflict with a foe supposed to be dead. The disappointment is needless. If we abide in faith and thus abide in God, each temptation will be followed by victory. And each victory will weaken the power of our adversary; and will reveal the impregnability of the fortress in which we have taken refuge.
Sinful habits can be eradicated only as they have been formed, viz. by a course of action. God will both rescue us from, and destroy, formed habits of sin, in thought, word, or act, by giving us constant victory over them. The man who has been a slave to drink will probably not at once lose finally and altogether his appetite for it. But he will receive power to conquer it. And each victory will weaken it. But possibly it may recur as a danger needing to be guarded against with constant watchfulness.
Very instructive is Galatians 5:16-17: " Walk by the Spirit, and ye will not accomplish the desire of the flesh. For the flesh desires against the Spirit; and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are hostile, each to the other, in order that, whatever things ye wish, these ye may not do." Here is no word of blame ; but simply a statement of fact. We may therefore take it as describing the normal state of the adopted sons of God. Two mutually hostile influences seek to control their action, viz. the bodily life which they share with animals, and the Spirit of God. This suggests a continuance of inborn influences opposed to the Spirit of God. To these evil influences, we must offer stern resistance. God will enable us to trample them utterly under our feet.
That, as we have seen, salvation from sin is wrought in us by the Holy Spirit on the condition of faith, puts within our reach a degree of purity otherwise impossible. For to the power of the Spirit there are no limits : and we cannot doubt the promise of Christ. We therefore go each day into the conflict against sin, even against the accumulated power of our own past sins, and in spite of our own felt moral weakness, with a shout of victory. For we know that the conflict is carried on, not by our weakness, but by the infinite power of the Spirit of God dwelling in our hearts and keeping us from all evil. To thousands of the servants of Christ, the discovery that salvation from sin is a w r ork and gift of God in those who believe has been an era in their spiritual life. Probably each day, as they review it, they are ready to admit that through defective faith it has been marked by sinful imperfection. But they thankfully acknowledge that by the grace of God they have lived a life of victory over sin unknown to them until they ventured to trust the keeping of their wayward hearts to the great Shepherd. Their song is, " To God be thanks, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ:" 1 Corinthians 15:57. From the above we learn that, although from one point of view the new life is a march of triumph following a victory already gained for us by Christ, from another point of view it is a continued conflict needing constant watchfulness and strenuous effort. So Ephesians 6:12, "we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers : " and 1 Peter 5:8-9, u be watchful : your adversary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour." Each aspect must be kept in view. The solution of the apparent contradiction is that, although the conflict continues, it is altogether changed. The shout of battle has become a shout of victory. On the relation of Holiness to Sin, 1 Thessalonians 4:3 sheds light. The words " your sanctification " are in apposition with the words "will of God:" and the word " this " points forward to " that ye abstain from fornication, that each, etc." Paul says that "God s will" about us, i.e. His " sanctification " of us claiming our devotion, involves our abstinence from all that He forbids. In giving us the Gospel " call," He was sanctifying us for Himself. To this passage we have in Leviticus 11:43-44 an Old Testament parallel. In 1 John 3:6 we read, " everyone who abides in Him does no sin : everyone that sins has not seen Him, nor knows Him." Song of Solomon 5:9 : " everyone born from God does no sin ... and cannot sin." Probably the word " sin " refers here to actual transgression; as in James 1:15, where it is distinguished from " desire," which, " having conceived, brings forth sin." These words assert that the new life is altogether hostile to sin ; and that they who commit sin either (note the Greek perfect tense) have not seen the heavenly light, or have lost the effect of the vision. The victory over sin described above is a wonderful and decisive verification of the faith with which, while groaning under the power of sin, we ventured to accept the promise of deliverance. For our sins were essentially our own : and we found ourselves in the past utterly under their power. But now their power is broken : and this salvation reveals the presence in our hearts of a Helper mightier than the sins which formerly held us in bondage. Moreover, this Helper moves us to bow to Christ and to call God our Father. This proves that He is the Holy Spirit given by God in Christ to His adopted sons. In other words, we are directly conscious of an unseen Hand raising and guarding us : and we know that it is the hand of our Father in heaven. This inward experience of the presence and power of God becomes at once a ground of still firmer faith in God and an inspiration of still more joyous hope of final victory. At this point a caution is needed. Although frequently mentioned in close connection with deliverance from sin, holiness is never a synonym of purity. We never find the exact phrase, " sanctify from sin." Even in the comparison of Hebrews 9:13-14, the word sanctify is re placed in the second member by " cleanse." And the reason is not far to seek. Although without purity we cannot be subjectively holy, yet holiness is much more than purity. For purity is a mere negative excellence ; and might be conceived as existing without activity. Indeed a mere negative sinlessness has sometimes been the aim of mistaken spiritual effort. But holiness implies the most intense mental and bodily activity of which we are capable. For it is the employment of all our powers and opportunities to work out God s purposes : and this implies the use of our intelligence to learn how best to do His work, and the bodily effort which His work requires. In order to keep before us the essentially positive nature of holiness, the word holy is never used to denote simple salvation from sin.
Nevertheless, just as there cannot be holiness without purity, so practically there cannot be purity without holiness. We shall never be set free from sin until all our powers are devoted to God. For sin arises from the erection of Self into the supreme power within us. And self will reign till a Mightier One occupies the throne it has usurped. Our hearts are emptied of sin by being filled with the Holy Spirit.