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God calls us to relationship with Him.

Call to Holiness

During the summers of my junior high years in Springfield, Oregon, my father would take my brothers and me to the University of Oregon Hayward Field where “all-comers” track meets were held. Anyone could purchase a ticket, or number of tickets, to compete in various track events. Participants competed in their appropriate age-group division. It was an amateur Olympics open to the public. It was always fun to watch the youngest competitors who had only recently mastered the skill of walking. . . . . Years later a professor of mine drew upon the image of those events, and had the class imagine four and five-year-olds racing in the 100-yard dash. Mothers would be at the starting line helping their preschoolers line up and start when the signal is given. Fathers would be lined up at the finish line coxing their little ones to stay in their lane and race to daddy. While most of the competitors at that age dallied along the way, swerved over into other lanes, waved at people in the stands, and giggled with fellow competitors, one little girl focused on her father, strained to stay ahead of the others, and eagerly reached for her father as she crossed the finish line first. However, instead of a loving hug, the father scolded the girl and beat her for failing to complete the 100 yards in the time he had demanded.

Our professor lamented that too often we view God as that kind of father: setting an impossible standard and then exacting harsh punishment when it is not reached. He asked us, "why would God ask his creatures to do something if they are not capable of doing it?"

As Christians, we often struggle with God's call to holiness, especially in light of the fallen state of humanity and its contrast to the perfect all-powerful character of God. An over-emphasis on the sinful condition of humanity implies that God has asked the impossible in calling for holiness. Is God ignorant of the human condition in asking for righteous living? Underlying this dilemma is the question of whether human freedom (free will) is as much a reality as is depravity. Is a person really capable of consistently choosing holiness over wickedness? God's call to holiness presumes that such is indeed possible. The call of the Creator imploring humans to live holy lives suggests that humanity is indeed intended to be righteous. The word from the Lord here does not allow room for compromise, for the standard held before Israel is the Lord God himself: Lev 19:2 reads, "You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy" (NRSV). We are familiar also with Jesus’ rendition of this statement as recorded in Matt 5:48, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (NRSV).

We must acknowledge that the human capacity for holiness is severely impeded by the global milieu of brokenness and alienation due to the proliferation of sin. As Paul wrote in Romans, " . . . death spread to all people because all sinned" (5:17; NET). It is important to recognize that this is a statement of "performance," not "ability" (or lack thereof). Nevertheless, in light of our broken world, humanity must find empowerment in the divine provisions of sanctification and the gift of God's Holy Spirit. An under-emphasis on the sinful condition in our world suggests that we might be our own savior. Fulfilling God's call to holiness cannot be done in isolation, as if a person can be his or her own God. God does not call persons to become God, but rather to become holy as God is holy. By definition, holiness begins in relationship to God; set apart from all which defiles, but not independent from God.

The key to understanding holiness and righteousness is relationship. Baruch Levine suggests that the call to holiness is a call to close relationship with God by means of emulating God (1989, 125). How do we imitate God when it can be so difficult to fully understand the character of God and its interpretations, especially in the Old Testament? The answer lies in God's ultimate revelation in the person of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:1-2 expresses it well: "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God"; and more explicitly in Colossians 1:19, "For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell" (NRSV). Christ summed up all of God's revelation through "the law and the prophets" by means of the two greatest commandments to "love God and love neighbor" (Matt 22:34-40; see Mark 12:28-31). The ultimate aim of the covenant with Israel was to model right relationship with God and others, as part of God's overarching plan to reconcile the world to God.

Leviticus 19 describes holiness in terms of ethical and ritual exhortations. John Hartley observes that the laws of this chapter cluster around three topics: faithfulness in worship (vv. 3-8, 21-22, 27-28, 30-31), love and respect in interpersonal relationships (vv. 11, 13-14, 17-18, 19-20, 29, 32-34), and justice in business and at court (vv. 15-16, 35-36). "All these laws reveal God's desire that Israel bring every area of her life into conformity with his holy character" (Hartley 1992, 308). Leviticus 19 expands the concept of holiness beyond just a quality or power of God, and defines it in relational and experiential terms. Holiness is enacted and actualized through the life of the community.

Frank Gorman states "Holiness is manifest in relationships characterized by integrity, honesty, faithfulness, and love" (1997, 111-12). For the sake of contemporary application Walter Kaiser suggests, "in Leviticus, if you want to be holy, don't pass out a tract; love your neighbor, show hospitality to the stranger, and be a person of justice" (1994, 1136). Kaiser concludes that, while the formal expression of some of its principles has changed, the "spirit" of the law remains unchanged. The call to holiness encounters us in the field, at home, in business, with friends, with foreigners, in worship, and in family (1994, 1136).

J. H. Hertz summarizes Holiness as expressed in Lev 19 with the following words:

Holiness is thus not so much an abstract or a mystic idea, as a regulative principle in the everyday lives of men and women. The words, 'ye shall be holy,' are the keynote of the whole chapter, and must be read in connection with its various precepts; reverence for parents, consideration for the needy, prompt wages for reasonable hours, honorable dealing, no talebearing or malice, love of one's neighbor and cordiality to the alien, equal justice to rich and poor, just measures and balances — together with abhorrence of everything unclean, irrational, or heathen. Holiness is thus attained not by flight from the world, nor by monk-like renunciation of human relationships of family or station, but by the spirit in which we fulfil the obligations of life in its simplest and commonest details: in this way — by doing justly, loving mercy, and walking humbly with our God — is everyday life transfigured. (1960, 497-98)

The following chapter, Lev 20, includes clear indication of the cooperative relationships which God desires with God's children. The people are explicitly called to act in order to cultivate holiness ("consecrate yourselves," v 7; "be holy," v 7; "keep my decrees and follow them," v 8; "keep all my decrees and laws and follow them," v 22; "you must not live according to the customs of the nations," v 23; "you must therefore make a distinction between clean and unclean," v 25; "do not defile yourselves," v 25). At the same time, God acts to secure Israel's holiness ("I am the LORD, who makes you holy," v 8; "I am the LORD your God, who has set you apart from the nations," v 24; "I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own," v 26). Sanctification, like salvation, is a participatory process involving relationship with the Divine. The point is not a competition between human and divine ability to save and sanctify. It is already clear that almighty God far exceeds any and all human power, and that without God there is absolutely no hope for the salvation or holiness of humanity. The point is that God has chosen to establish salvation and sanctification in relationship with humanity. So long as this is God's determination, then one cannot save without the participation of the other. Human attempts to achieve holiness without God fail according to the very first and greatest commandment which already demands that holiness begin in relationship to God (Exod 20:2-3; Deut 6:5; Matt 22:37-38). Likewise, any attempt by God to sanctify God's children without their participation compromises God's own expressed desire for free and genuine relationships of love. We need not fret about what we can or cannot do in our pursuit to obey God, because we never do it alone. In relationship with God, we are connected to all the power of the universe.

- Dr. Tom King serves as Director if the Bible and Theology Core Program at Nazarene Bible College.