Holiness of Heart

Every Christian should care, deeply, about holiness. Hebrews 12:14 says that, without holiness, no one will see the Lord. In 2 Timothy 2:19, Paul writes, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” Our whole Christian lives should be marked by progress in sanctification, though that progress may be painfully slow and nearly imperceptible at times. The Christian life is an ongoing conflict against the world, the flesh and the devil, and, in this life, we will continue to struggle with sin. The process of sanctification won’t be completed till we are in glory with Jesus. However, to have a complete and careless disregard for obedience to God and growth in practical Christian living is to invalidate one’s profession to true faith in Christ.

Two things are vitally important if we are to pursue real Christian growth: 1. A right view of what holiness really is – what it is we’re striving toward 2. A sound, biblical strategy for making progress. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul addresses both. Of course, Paul and other biblical writers address these things in other New Testament books as well. One thing that is interesting about the context of Colossians, though, is the particular false teaching that is engaged and refuted by Paul. These false teachers were offering the Colossians an alternative model of “holiness” – what it looks like and how it’s achieved. The message of these false teachers centered on keeping man-made rules by a system of strict self-denial along with seeking some sort of higher, extra-biblical experiences. We could sum up the error as a combination of ritualism, mysticism and asceticism. The false teachers would have the Colossians be consumed with keeping Old Testament Jewish ceremonial laws like feast days and dietary restrictions (Col. 2:16), special visionary experiences and insights (Col. 2:18) and disciplining the body by self-denial (Col. 2:21, 23). They were peddling a vision of the Christian life that said, “If you do all these things, then that will make you holy, like us.”

If this religious paradigm sounds familiar from somewhere, perhaps it’s because it is so similar to the practice of the Pharisees and teachers of the law in Jesus’ day. For them the whole idea of holiness revolved around a fairly elaborate system of law-keeping, much of which had no basis in Scripture. In fact, Jesus said that they disregarded and voided the word of God for the sake of their own, man-made traditions. He also accused the Pharisees of practicing a “holiness” that was only skin-deep. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matt. 23:25-28 ESV) In other words, righteousness must go deeper than merely outward conformity to a human standard of “righteousness.”

Paul had a similar corrective to the error circulating around Colossae. The problem with this false teaching was two-fold. First, it was focused on externals to the exclusion of real heart change. It revolved around earthly elements that had no real eternal or spiritual significance anymore. The Jewish ceremonial law was of use, before the coming of Christ, only inasmuch as these Mosaic laws pointed to Christ. As Paul says, in 2:17, “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” With the coming of Christ, these ceremonial laws regarding thing like foods and festivals ceased to have any meaningful role in the life of God’s people. The regulations being promoted by the false teachers dealt only with material things that had no inherent value to make one holy. In fact, according to Paul, these man-made restrictions not only were of no real use, they had a negative net effect. They ultimately would only serve to foster the sin-nature by encouraging pride and self-righteousness! (cf. 2:23)

Secondly, this false teaching was detached from Christ and the fullness of salvation found in Him. The false teachers undermined, at every point, the sufficiency of Christ for salvation. Their system suggested that, although the Colossian Christians had Christ and were united to Him by faith, that was not enough to make them truly righteous or holy. There must be something more. They must add these religious rules and practices to Christ in order to have real “fullness.” So, with regard to the false teachers, they had the wrong view of what holiness is. They mistakenly identified holiness with outward conformity to man-made rules. They also had a misguided strategy for holiness, namely, adding human works and outward efforts to the sufficiency of Christ, alone.

In contrast to this false teaching, Paul’s prescription for the Colossians’ growth in holiness begins and ends with Christ. It begins with a rich reminder of the fullness of salvation already achieved by Christ and given, freely, by God’s grace. Paul’s strategy for holiness and growth starts with recognizing the fullness or completeness of the salvation that Christians have in Christ. He reminds the Colossians that they have died, with Christ, to sin and the old self. They have been raised up into new life with Christ. They have a new identity, in union with Christ, and their true life is now found in heaven, where it is hidden away with Christ in God. Because of their glorious, covenantal union with Christ, they are already fully forgiven, counted as righteous and accepted in Christ. Paul reminds the Colossians of who they are, in Christ. Then he exhorts them to set their minds and hearts in the heavenly sphere, where Christ is.

Progress in holiness, then, is merely the practical outworking of that new identity. In other words, Paul is saying, “Act consistently with what is already true of you in Christ.” Parallel to his teaching in Ephesians 4, Paul calls on the Colossians to “put off the old” and to “put on the new.” Live according to this new identity in Christ. In doing so, Paul is not merely calling for adherence to “rules.” The holiness Paul commends is one that works from the inside out. It begins with a new outlook – a “renewing of your mind” (Rom. 12:2). It requires that Christians adopt a new, heavenly perspective and a new set of values and priorities. It calls for getting rid of, not only sexual immorality, but also “passion, evil desire, and covetousness.” It calls for getting rid of attitudes like anger, wrath and malice along with putting on virtues like compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, etc. In other words, true holiness starts inwardly. It changes our attitudes, thoughts and desires, not just our actions. The problem with the false teaching in Colossae, with all its stringent rules and regulations, was not that it was too radical and went too far. Rather, it didn’t go nearly far enough! It didn’t begin to touch the heart and work inward change. This kind of radical, inside-out change is only possible by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. This power is the current possession of Christians because of Christ and our union with Him.

Christians, today, are still offered alternative paths to holiness. Some of the characteristics of the false teaching in Colossae are echoed, today, in these misguided paradigms of sanctification. The path of “mysticism” is advocated by some who urge Christians to seek special spiritual experiences, above and beyond mere faith in Christ. For them, the idea of holiness is bound up with having this experience – a second work of grace. For others, holiness seems to be defined by adherence to extra-biblical rules and regulations. Christians may be told to avoid a whole litany of “worldly” things, from alcoholic beverages to playing cards. Like the Colossian errorists who forbade certain foods and drinks and said, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not even touch,” these folks advocate rules and self-denial, beyond what Scripture commands. Holiness is reduced to a matter of avoiding certain things and certain places.

In contrast to every alternative, true, biblical holiness is found in Christ. Growth in practical Christian living is not achieved by adding rules or mystical experiences to Christ. It is, rather, a progressive outworking and realization, by faith, of the fullness of salvation Christians already possess in Christ. It is attained by the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit, through faith in the risen Christ. True holiness of life goes further and deeper than merely following a man-made, external standard. It begins inwardly, with a renewed mind and heart. If we are united to Christ, we have died, with Him, to our old sinful way of life. We have been raised into new life and a new identity with Him. Growing in true holiness is about living, increasingly, in a way that’s consistent with that new life. We are called to set our desires and thoughts upon Christ, our all-sufficient Savior and Lord.

Merely avoiding things or practicing strict adherence to external, man-made rules won’t make us holy. Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit, makes us holy. When we truly set our minds and hearts heavenward, on the risen Christ and the life that is ours in Him, then we will desire to live with virtues like self-discipline, self-sacrificing love, sexual purity, etc., not because we have a list of rules, but because we treasure Christ and His glory more than we love sin. The more we are, thus, “heavenly-minded,” the more we will be able to live in the present world and use the things in the world wisely, to the glory of God.