What is Holiness?

Before we embark on this journey towards holiness, it is essential that we first define what we actually mean by holiness. My previous post dealt briefly with this question. I hope to expand concisely, in practical terms, what holiness is and holiness is not.

First, let us explore what holiness is not.

One of the most common misconceptions on holiness, I believe, is that it means to be perfect, in the sense of being without faults or mistakes. This is something I thought for many years. I even wondered, some years ago, if Jesus was perfect in everything. I questioned, for example, if Jesus ever made a mistake when he was working as a craftsman. Did He make a mistake when He measured a line? Did he ever cut a piece of wood slightly too short? Worse, if Jesus, as both God and human was holy, does that mean that He didn’t have to learn His craft from others?

These questions now sound absurd to me! I believe that Jesus had to struggle, like all of us, to practice and master a craft. And yes, that means that Jesus committed many mistakes. Think about it. He probably struggled as a toddler when learning how to walk. He inevitably fell a few times as He was taking His first steps. He learned how to speak from His parents and made some mistakes along the way.

Jesus is holiness. And yet He had to learn how to do life, being born as a vulnerable and helpless child. It is easy to see, then, that our supreme example of holiness, Jesus Christ, made some mistakes in His life on this earth. Can we still define holiness as “perfection,” as it is colloquially defined?

We can be hardly blamed for this misconception of holiness, however. After all, Jesus Himself commands us that we are “to be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5: 48b NASB) What’s the deal then? If holiness is not perfection, then why in the world would Jesus command us to be perfect?

A lot can get lost in translation. In the original Greek of Matthew 5: 48, the word used for “perfect” is teleios. Teleios can be succinctly defined as “perfect,” but this translation leaves a lot of subtleties out, especially when we consider our common perceptions of perfection as “without mistakes or fault.” Teleios can also be translated as “brought to its end, finished” or something complete. When Teleios is referring to humans, it means “full-grown, adult, of full age, mature” (See Strong’s Greek Lexicon G5046 entry for Teleios.)

Being holy and perfect, then, does not entail making no mistakes, or even being unable to sin. If holiness is not perfection, as it is commonly conceived, then what is, practically speaking, holiness?

William Law to the Rescue!
Enter William Law, the Anglican clergyman who in the 18th century published the influential book A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. In this book, I found a practical definition of holiness that I thought helpful for our inquiry.

He writes:

    “We cannot offer to God the service of Angels; we cannot obey Him as man in a state of perfection could; but fallen men can do their best, and this is the perfection that is required of us; it is only the perfection of our best endeavors a careful labor to be as perfect as we can.”

In another part, Law writes:

    “For the question is not whether Gospel perfection can be fully attained, but whether you come as near it as a sincere intention and careful diligence can carry you; whether you are not in a much lower state than you might be if you sincerely intended and carefully labored to advance yourself in all Christian virtues.”

What matter most when it comes to holiness, Law contends, is not whether it is possible to be perfectly holy, but whether we have full intention of leading a holy life. God is merciful to forgive our human frailties. God’s justice, however, requires that “we stand chargeable with negligence" if we merely lack this intention.

It does not mean that in our intention to lead a holy life God’s grace plays no part:

“This doctrine does not suppose that we have no need of Divine grace, or that it is in our own power to make ourselves perfect. It only supposes that through the want of a sincere intention of pleasing God in all our actions, we fall into such irregularities of life as by the ordinary means of grace we should have power to avoid.”

To try and fail is one thing. To never try and thus fail is an entirely matter altogether. What is required is that we seek the Kingdom of God and its righteousness. Whenever we stop seeking, then we are guilty before God of undue negligence.