| Holiness George Poulo 3/10/06 And declared to be the Son of God with power, According to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection From the dead: Rom1:4 Holiness is the state of the spirit of Jesus. Not having a sin nature Jesus did not have to have his spirit circumcised as we do. He simply kept his face toward God as a servant yielding his will (soul) and his body (flesh) to the will of the Father. Because of his spirit of holiness he was raised from the dead. "Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see God" (Heb12:14) His holiness allowed God to raise him from the dead and come once again into the presence of the Father. Man alternatively is not holy like Jesus was. We can not save ourselves. Sin keeps us from our appointment with God. Jesus not only had the capacity within himself to rise from the dead, he has the power through his blood to make us holy as well. We need him. Due to original sin, our spirit is corrupt. It is contaminated with a sin nature. It is not free to enjoy the presence of God as Jesus was. We need to be born again. "...let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." The filthiness of the spirit is our sin nature. That nature has contaminated our soul and our flesh. Once our sin nature is removed we must perfect holiness. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies Of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, Holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable Service. And be not conformed to this world: but be Ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye May prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect Will of God. Rom12:1-2 For Jesus, his soul and body were not blemished by a corrupt spirit. He grew in grace and truth without the impediment of sin. For us we must 'present our bodies a living sacrifice" and �renew our mind' to be transformed into the very image of Christ. Our holiness, like Christ�s, resides in the spirit. The Corinthian church, though filled with the Holy Spirit, was a carnal church. They had not 'perfected holiness in the fear of God.� We can be born again and Spirit filled and not be holy. Holiness occurs as we are transformed by the word of God and the obedience of faith. We become holy when our soul, the way we think, what we desire, and how we feel, lines up with the word of God and we begin to act in our bodies according to the will of God. "We put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Ephes4:24) As we confess with our mouth and believe in our heart we are saved. (Rom10:9-10) Salvation is an act of graceChrist dying... on the cross to take our sin so that we might partake of his righteousness. It is accomplished through faith, calling that which is not into existence by confession. Once that miracle transpires, our job is to perfect holiness. Our job is to get our lives in line with his word. As we do this the Holy Spirit becomes more and more efficacious in our lives and our soul and body obey our spirit which gets its direction from the Holy Spirit. When Jesus received the Holy Spirit after his baptism, he was already holy. When we receive the Holy Spirit, our spirit becomes clean but our soul and body, our entire man, is not holy. That requires the obedience of faith. That requires the confession of his word and obedience. Holiness is that state of perfection whereby once our spirit is saved we bring our soul and body into the obedience of the word of God. 'The word is spirit."(John6:63) Our spirit is informed by the Holy Spirit and our soul and body cooperate with our spirit to do the will of God. Initially �the flesh lusts against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh' (Gal5:17), but as we grow in grace the soul and body yield to the spirit and they lose the stranglehold of sin. Jesus did not have to deal with this battle. His was a battle with Satan. At Gethsemane his body felt the rebellion of the cross as his body sweats blood. His soul wished to have the cup pass. But his spirit made his soul and his flesh experience crucifixion�the ultimate obedience to the will of the Father. The cross of Jesus was experienced every day as he made his soul and body yield to the spirit (the denial of self). It ultimately led to the final cross which was his final battle in this life. For us, once we have dealt with sin (being born again), we can begin to experience the denial of self (taking up the cross) and grow in holiness. It is a fasting from the flesh and a silencing of the soul which leads to a dominance of the spirit influenced by the Holy Spirit and holiness is attained and maintained. It is a life of faith and a lining up of the life with God's word. To be holy our spirit must be informed by the Holy Spirit through hearing the word of God. As this happens we sacrifice our body and transform ourselves by the renewing of the mind and begin to accomplish the perfect will of God. A holy person is one in spirit, soul, and body (1Thes5:23) and filled with God who acts through his spirit according to the words of scripture. God says, BE HOLY! Amen |
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