“Adonai said to Moshe, “Speak to the entire community of Israel; tell them, ‘You people are to be holy because I, Adonai your God, am holy.“-Leviticus 19:1-2
If there is any one Bible phrase that is paid big-time lip service in modern Christianity, it’s got to be the phrase “You shall be HOLY, for I YHWH, am HOLY”.
I’m referring to the notion the church holds that personal holy behavior has been set aside due to the supposed danger of “works” and “legalism”.
Where does this twisted logic come from?
It comes from the erroneous belief that Yeshua did away with the TORAH.
The problem is once you do away with the TORAH, you do away with any tangible definition of what holiness is and how holiness is to be manifested in the life of believers.
When God says we are to be HOLY as He is HOLY, it means our behavior is to conform to the image of God, whose very nature IS holiness.
HOLINESS is expressed in our moral integrity, which must then be expressed through our outward behavior and actions.
HOLINESS is not just our inner intentions or our subjective feelings.
Recall that in my post yesterday I explained that the very reason God gave us a human will was for the purpose of making moral decisions.
If that’s the case, what source are we to go to in order to determine what is moral versus what is not?
The secular world says that the source of our morality should be the human heart and intellect.
The Christian church says we must go to the denominational articles of faith and their religious doctrines.
However, what does God say in His Word?
According to YHVH, we are to go to His Laws and Commands as revealed in His TORAH.
HOLINESS, in order to produce any practical value in our lives, is an inner condition that must be expressed outwardly.
Our God isn’t a HOLY God who behaves in an unholy manner.
I said this before and I’ll say it again: To claim to be HOLY because we have accepted Yeshua as our Lord and Savior while at the same time acting as though our decisions and actions are separate from that inner HOLINESS is total hypocrisy.
When we are born again, we are given a new spirit that should transform our behavior into a kind that imitates and is in harmony with our Creator.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“What does it profit, my brethren,
if someone says he has faith
but does not have works?
Can faith save him?
If a brother or sister is naked
and destitute of daily food,
and one of you says to them,
“Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,”
but you do not give them the things
which are needed for the body,
what does it profit?
Thus also faith by itself,
if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say,
“You have faith, and I have works.”
Show me your faith without your works,
and I will show you my faith by my works.
You believe that there is one God.
You do well.
Even the demons believe—and tremble!
But do you want to know,
O foolish man, that faith
without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works
when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
Do you see that faith was working together with his works,
and by works faith was made perfect?
And the Scripture was fulfilled which says,
“Abraham believed God,
and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
And he was called the friend of God.
You see then that a man is justified by works,
and not by faith only.
Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot
also justified by works when she
received the messengers and
sent them out another way?
For as the body without the spirit is dead,
so faith without works is dead also.”
-James 2:14-26
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