The Way to Holiness

To understand the message of holiness we must first understand what holiness is. Holiness is holy living through Jesus Christ. It is through the cross that we can become Holy and be presented Holy before God. Holiness is an attribute of God that He wants to work in His people. He tells us this in I Peter 1:16, “Be ye holy for I am Holy”.

There are two requirements of holiness. One requirement is the choosing to be holy. In the end, we always have a choice and we will be judged according to what choices we made and what God required of us. The second requirement is that Holiness must be tested. We were not born holy; so as we grow and mature in Christ, we must also grow on the attributes of Christ. We can only know how far we are when we are tested.

A good example is the life of Simon Peter in John 21. He thought that his love (phileo) was greater and holier than the other apostles. What he thought was in fact greater than what he really was. God, in His sovereign love (agape), showed Simon that he was looking through his own eyes. It is only through the cross that we can become holy and be presented Holy before God. To be holy means to be separated from the world, flesh, and the devil. It doesn't stop there, but goes on to be separated unto God the Father.

Paul liked to write letters to all the churches. He had a love for the people and cared for them and their relationships with Christ. He writes this letter to the church in Colosse because there were five issues that needed to be addressed.

The first issue was on ceremonialism, circumcision, and traditions (Col. 1:16). The people believed that through the circumcision, abstaining from eating pork, and not drinking blood they were holy. The people were stuck in the patterns of traditions and thereby limiting God in what He could do. Their knowledge of Christ was limited through their own stubbornness of not breaking traditions.

The second issue was of asceticism (Col. 2:21-23). By the renunciation of worldly pleasures it is possible to achieve a high spiritual or intellectual state. They focused too much on the outward cleanliness. I believe Paul brought this issue up because he wanted them to realize that God is not one who looks on the outside. He wanted the church to come to the realization that nothing we do on the outside will help us gain anything eternal.

Third issue was on angel worship (Col. 2:18). Paul was warning them not to get caught up in angel worship; their primary function is to be a ministering spirit and not a god. One third of heavens angels fell with Lucifer and so we must not put them at the same level as God the Father.

Fourth issue was on the minimizing of Christ (Col 1:15-21; 2:2-3). The Colossians thought of Christ as just a good man. Paul is explaining that He is more than a “good man” or a mighty prophet. Paul portrays Christ, “Magnificent One”, as this: He is before all things, by Him all things consist, and he is more than a good man or a mighty prophet. Jesus does not say that He was God the Father, but He tells us that He is the express image of the Father. If you know the Son, then you shall know the Father. This is not the characteristic of a mighty prophet or some “good man”, but of the Son of God (Jn. 14:8-9).

The last issue Paul writes to the church is on the issue of Gnosticism (Col. 1:9). Some were pursuing “secret” knowledge and would see themselves above others. Many of the people were over spiritualized things. Paul was warning the people of over spiritualizing things and limiting God with their own laws and terms. God desires for His people to grow on knowledge and wisdom, but under His law and under His terms not our own.

The message Paul is speaking to the Colossians is significant to our day because we still are faced with those same issues. We see in our day and age people who try and over spiritualize themselves and put them above other people. They do not eat meat and they stick to all of the traditions of the later church, but God dwells not in their heart.

Reading about their issue of Gnosticism, we look at the life of Joseph Smith. He was a man who desired so strongly to discover something new and spectacular. He opened himself up to much and when something false came to him, he was easily deceived. This is something that new teachers and even new pastors should really heed. One who wants to always have something new and amazing to say in every message or teaching need to be careful. If he isn't rooted deep in the truth, then he can easily be deceived when he gets a visitation. Be content with what God speaks to you and don’t seek to try and find something new all the time. Our knowledge comes from the Lord and we must trust that in His time and season, He will open up the new and hidden truths.

If we limit God and only allow Him to do things in our way and on our terms, then we will be easily deceived in the last days. Satan will tempt those kinds of people and say that there is an easier way, but in reality there is only one way and that is through Jesus Christ, our Savior. A good example would be Eve in the Garden of Eden. The serpent talked with her and began with the truth, and then over time he twisted it; as she continued to listen to the truth as it was being twisted, her mind began to believe it. She believed that there was another way and she fell into the temptation.

All true wisdom and all true knowledge originate from God (Col. 2:3; Prov. 4:7). We must be rooted and grounded in the truth so that we may be able to stand in the last days. In the last days man will not endure good sound doctrine because it was not in their heart and they will seek teaching that will be easy to receive (2 Tim. 4:3). They won’t want to change, but we need to listen to what God speaks through Paul to the Church in Colosse. We are not to harden hearts, but we should ask God to change us. We want to make sure that we seek true wisdom and true knowledge from the Lord.