Holiness Through the Holy Spirit

The question may be asked, “How can we live holy lives? How can we be separated unto God to grow in the likeness of Christ? Can we obtain holiness by reading the scriptures daily and make our best efforts to understand their meaning? Is holiness simply a matter of making our best efforts to do what the scriptures tell us that we should do? In this article I want to establish that holiness is impossible if we rely on our own selves. Holiness is the state of believers predetermined by God who calls them by His grace to walk in newness of life. Holiness is the result of the ministry of the Holy Spirit.

The word holy means to be separated unto God. I took the oath of enlistment into the army on August 23, 1967. Immediately, at the conclusion of the oath I was separated from civilian life into military life. In the same way, when we believe in Jesus Christ as savior and Lord, we no longer belong to the world. We become citizens in the kingdom of God. Holiness is the process in which believers partake of God’s holiness that is carried on in the hearts of believers by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. When I first became a soldier, I knew nothing about military life. I had to go through several steps or processes to become an effective soldier. Likewise, when we enter into the kingdom of God by faith, we too must take steps to grow into Christ likeness.

Before we accepted Christ Jesus into our lives we were dead in trespasses and sins. In Romans 6, Paul tells us that believers have been baptized and buried with Christ in His death. “Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (v. 4, NASB). We were slaves to our sinful nature, and we were obedient to sins. “But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness” (vv. 17-18, NASB). The first step is to change our allegiance to our life of sin to a new allegiance; to the righteousness of Christ. Once we are committed to Christ, the Holy Spirit begins His ministry in our lives.

The Holy Spirit transforms our character into the likeness of Christ. J. Oswald Sanders states: “We need to see in this transformation our responsibility and the Holy Spirit’s ministry. The change into the likeness of Christ is not automatic. It involves moral endeavor and activity. We are not only to ‘let go and let God,’ we are also to put off and put on’ certain things, and this involves definite activity of the renewed will” (Spiritual Maturity, [Chicago: Moody Press, 1994], 139). Once our character is changed, our behaviors; and our way of life is changed.

We may ask, “Why is the ministry of the Holy Spirit necessary for me to live a life of holiness? When we try to live holy lives without the Spirit, we are trying to live according to the flesh. Paul tells us that this is impossible. “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh, is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it is not subject to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8:5-8, NASB).

The call to holiness is a call to exercise love. When the Pharisee, a lawyer, asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment, “Jesus replied, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (Matt. 22:37, NIV). In saying this Jesus is repeating what Moses said to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 6:5. So, holiness is a call for a holistic change in our personhood. A soldier becomes an effective soldier when he or she has a change of heart, a change of soul, and a change of mind. Becoming like Christ requires change in our desires, our way of life, and our mental perspectives that transforms our way of life as well as how we feel about our lives.

In the New Testament there are several Greek words that are translated to the English words mind, heart, soul, flesh, and body. These words have similar meaning, but together they are talking about the whole person. “The Scripture view a person as a composite whole, fully relating to God and not divided in anyway” James Strong, “Nephesh” in Strong’s Complete Word Study Concordance, ed. Warren Baker, [Chattanooga, TN: AMG Publishers, 2004], 1922). The process of becoming like Christ is not an orderly step of one, two, and three. The Spirit coupled with our moral efforts trains the heart, soul, and mind as the need arise based on our experiences in life.

The word heart refers to the desires-the will of a person. The Holy Spirit works to change a person’s desire to live by the desires of the flesh to the desire to live according to the Spirit. In Romans 7 Paul describes the two natures that are in him that oppose each other. The old sinful nature wants to hold him captive while at the same time the Spirit wants to set him free from sin and death.

The word mind refers to the thoughts, imaginations, and emotions of a person. In our sinful nature our thoughts are centered on the things that make us compatible with the world. Philippines 4:4-8 tells us what to think about so that we can have a well adjusted and peaceful life in Christ. Without the Spirit our way of thinking is according to the wisdom of the world. In 1 Corinthians chapters 1-4 Paul explains that walking in the newness of life requires us to live according to the wisdom of God. The Book of Proverbs gives many examples of the foolishness of the person who does not fear God and the wisdom of the one who fears God. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Prov. 9:10, NASB).

Christians are to live a life of holiness. Christians must live by the Spirit. Their character must be changed by the Spirit so that they are empowered and enabled to live differently from the life lived in the flesh. We cannot be holy except we open ourselves up to the ministry of the Holy Spirit.