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Holiness and purity?
- Thread starter UCDavis
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Holiness essentially speaks of purity. The true "born again" believer in Christ has a holy standing before God, and then hopefully will maintain a holy state of soul. This means like perfection as made a "child of God", but needing to walk and live in holiness or purity. The first step in this is to be "born again" (John 3) by receiving the Lord Jesus into your heart by devotion to Him, and then maintaining communion with Him always. You may write me at my profile by Conversation if you wish to discuss this.
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Purity is mentioned a few places in the NT as an attribute of Christians, but it’s not a major theme. It’s also not something Jesus himself taught, and it appears only a couple of times in the undisputed letters of Paul.
Jesus taught obedience. The difference, to my mind, is that purity is something about us. People think of it as a status that they earn, and they think if they do something wrong they’re no longer “pure.” But Jesus taught that if servants obey, they’re just doing what they’re supposed to. They don’t become holy or pure. And people who disobey can be reconciled by repentance. They haven’t lost some kind of purity. Indeed no one could possibly be pure.
As for holiness. Again, the the NT doesn’t normally call people holy. It’s applied to Jesus, John (once), the prophets, the Holy Spirit, and holy temple, etc., but rarely to normal people. (I Thes 4:4 ff is the main exception) And when it is, it normally has the OT meaning of set apart for God. Again, it’s not something we earn. It’s something we are, because of being Jesus’ followers. Col 1:22
Of course we're called on to obey Christ because we've been given a new self by Christ, righteous and holy. Eph 4:22-24
Jesus taught obedience. The difference, to my mind, is that purity is something about us. People think of it as a status that they earn, and they think if they do something wrong they’re no longer “pure.” But Jesus taught that if servants obey, they’re just doing what they’re supposed to. They don’t become holy or pure. And people who disobey can be reconciled by repentance. They haven’t lost some kind of purity. Indeed no one could possibly be pure.
As for holiness. Again, the the NT doesn’t normally call people holy. It’s applied to Jesus, John (once), the prophets, the Holy Spirit, and holy temple, etc., but rarely to normal people. (I Thes 4:4 ff is the main exception) And when it is, it normally has the OT meaning of set apart for God. Again, it’s not something we earn. It’s something we are, because of being Jesus’ followers. Col 1:22
Of course we're called on to obey Christ because we've been given a new self by Christ, righteous and holy. Eph 4:22-24
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Dear UCDavis. Holiness and purity? To Love the Lord and follow Him. Matthew 22: 35-40: Jesus tells us: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our minds. The second is like it: love our neighbour as we love ourselves: treat them as we would love to be treated. Matthew 7: 7-10: " ask and you shall receive, then thank God and share all Love and Joy with our neighbour. ( our neighbour is all we know and all we meet, friends and not friends) We keep asking and receiving, then thank God and share all love and joy with our neighbour. God sees our loving efforts, and God will bless us. To love, be friendly and care, proves our Love to God and Jesus.
The Bible tells us to " Repent and be Born Again," change from being selfish and unloving to be loving and caring and always kind and friendly. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us, and Jesus our Saviour will lead us all the way:
JESUS IS THE WAY. Love is very catching, and a Christian`s weapon is Love and Joy. We keep asking, thanking and
and caring, and God will keep Blessing us. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us,
and carry on Loving and Caring, being holy and pure. I say this with love, Davis. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ. P.S. God is Love, and God wants loving men and women.
The Bible tells us to " Repent and be Born Again," change from being selfish and unloving to be loving and caring and always kind and friendly. The Holy Spirit will help and guide us, and Jesus our Saviour will lead us all the way:
JESUS IS THE WAY. Love is very catching, and a Christian`s weapon is Love and Joy. We keep asking, thanking and
and caring, and God will keep Blessing us. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we ask God to forgive us,
and carry on Loving and Caring, being holy and pure. I say this with love, Davis. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ. P.S. God is Love, and God wants loving men and women.
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When a believer is born again, and recognizes their need for Jesus to wash their sins clean and give them a fresh slate with Father God, they are completely justified in Father's sight, as it is Jesus' holiness which He recognizes as we devote ourselves to prayer.
As we grow and mature, our character and personality are supernaturally transformed. It's not really something you would readily recognize in yourself as it is incremental.
Consider this analogy. A person goes to a gym to get into shape. They spend months devoting themselves to the disciplines. In their mind, they haven't made much progress, because the progress is incremental, but when they run into that old friend the friend immediately exclaims, "You look great!"
If you walk out your faith according to Biblical standards, this change will automatically happen. It's supernatural in nature, as it is God's work in us, and nothing we could muster on our own. When a child is raised by a parent, the child is like the parent. Father God does the same thing with His children, and it's all possible because of Jesus' work of the cross.
As we grow and mature, our character and personality are supernaturally transformed. It's not really something you would readily recognize in yourself as it is incremental.
Consider this analogy. A person goes to a gym to get into shape. They spend months devoting themselves to the disciplines. In their mind, they haven't made much progress, because the progress is incremental, but when they run into that old friend the friend immediately exclaims, "You look great!"
If you walk out your faith according to Biblical standards, this change will automatically happen. It's supernatural in nature, as it is God's work in us, and nothing we could muster on our own. When a child is raised by a parent, the child is like the parent. Father God does the same thing with His children, and it's all possible because of Jesus' work of the cross.
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Holiness is having Jesus Christ in our hearts, by the Holy Spirit.
You see, because we have the divine nature in our heart, by the Holy Spirit, that divine nature, which is the new creation, is 100 % holy and wants to do God's will all the time. It also does not sin. But, the sinful nature lives in our body, and tries daily to tempt us to sin. So our soul is between the two, choosing which one to obey.
God the Father sees us 100% holy, blameless and righteous, because of what Jesus has done for us, through his death and resurrection. But we still must try and put an effort, to obey the commandments of God, as much as we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit in us. It does not mean that we will not sin again, but it does mean, that if we sin because of weakness, we can repent, and continue trying to do the commandments of God again. God is interested in us making the effort and trying to be perfect 100%, and not necessarily in us being 100% perfect, all the time, because, He knows that it is impossible for us to be 100% perfect, all the time, because all have sinned and have fallen short, from the glory of God, and because the Bible says that there is no one who does righteousness, and never sins. Only Jesus lived on earth without a sin, nobody else ever did, or will do.
You see, because we have the divine nature in our heart, by the Holy Spirit, that divine nature, which is the new creation, is 100 % holy and wants to do God's will all the time. It also does not sin. But, the sinful nature lives in our body, and tries daily to tempt us to sin. So our soul is between the two, choosing which one to obey.
God the Father sees us 100% holy, blameless and righteous, because of what Jesus has done for us, through his death and resurrection. But we still must try and put an effort, to obey the commandments of God, as much as we can, with the help of the Holy Spirit in us. It does not mean that we will not sin again, but it does mean, that if we sin because of weakness, we can repent, and continue trying to do the commandments of God again. God is interested in us making the effort and trying to be perfect 100%, and not necessarily in us being 100% perfect, all the time, because, He knows that it is impossible for us to be 100% perfect, all the time, because all have sinned and have fallen short, from the glory of God, and because the Bible says that there is no one who does righteousness, and never sins. Only Jesus lived on earth without a sin, nobody else ever did, or will do.
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You gain holiness and purity when you receive Jesus Christ.
What happens? Your sins are imputed to Jesus Christ and Jesus' righteousness is imputed to you.
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One of the things about holiness and purity we are not to do something that may cause someone else to sin.
For instance, if a woman wears something really revealing, that might cause men to think about sex and/or having sex or any type of intimacy with them.
I'm sure I'll get killed for saying that, but thats the first example that came to my mind.
Also, Jesus asks us to be a light in a dark world. We do this by doing what we believe and saying what we do. If others do not see a change in us, than why would they believe that Christ changes His own.
For instance, if a woman wears something really revealing, that might cause men to think about sex and/or having sex or any type of intimacy with them.
I'm sure I'll get killed for saying that, but thats the first example that came to my mind.
Also, Jesus asks us to be a light in a dark world. We do this by doing what we believe and saying what we do. If others do not see a change in us, than why would they believe that Christ changes His own.
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Yes, ToBe, that is so, and I would add that we are not to do anything that will dishonor God. As I said before, I want to emphasize too that Scripture makes it clear that there is a difference between standing and state. A real "born again" believer has a holy standing in Christ forever and before the Father, but by carnal ways may forget about his/her standing and get into a carnal and self-indulgent state; thus God tells His saints to "be ye holy", which speaks of their walk, testimony, and actions, etc. A saint surely should not want to dishonor God!
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