Holiness

Wayne Grudem: “God’s Holiness means that he is separated from sin and devoted to seeking his own honor.” It is this idea of being separated or set apart that we need to understand, but we also need to understand what God is set apart. He is separated or set apart from sin. In Him is no sin. He knows no sin. What does all this mean to us? There are several important lessons. First, God cannot have anything to do with sin, but we are sinners. Second, if we are sinners and God is separate from sin then we are separated from God. Third, it shows how necessary Christ’s perfect, holy work is to man. Without it we can have nothing to do with God. There is another lesson for us though, and it is concerning what sin is. We often misunderstand our sin and the problem of it. What is sin? It is really the opposite of God and holiness. For God to be perfectly holy, that means that everything he does brings glory to himself, nothing he does falls short of the glory of God. And in Christ we see this played out. Everything Christ did, brought Glory to God. There was nothing neutral in Christ, everything brought glory to God. If he would have failed to glorify God in any, even the smallest area of his life or action then he would have sinned. Many times we thing of sin only has terrible acts, but many good acts can be sin if they fail to bring glory to God. This is where God’s holiness, exposes he depths of man’s sin and his desperate need of Christ. There are things I do every day that fall short of the glory of God! That is sin, and that separates us from God. But in Christ I can do all things. I can do all things to the glory of God. May we seek God's honor.