Let us take some time from our “relentless” journey through the “communicable attributes of God.” I want to take time on “holiness.” My reason is that 2 Cor. 7:1 came up in my Bible reading today. It was impressed upon me by the Spirit.
The title of this post is from an old hymn
that I know was one of my dad’s favorites.
For you who always want to “compartmentalize” everyone by theology, my
dad was not a holiness preacher, not that being a holiness preacher is a
problem. I have known men from that line
of Christianity who are wonderful men of God.
They do have a view of 2 Cor. 7:1 that is different than mine. So maybe that’s why I memorized that verse
years ago but don’t meditate on it much.
Whatever the reason, it’s a sad thing to ignore a part of Scripture just
because it’s a favorite with my theological “enemies.”
So I took some time and here’s what I saw
today. “Perfected” is an “end” word
(epiteleo, with “teleo” being the term for finishing or ending something). It’s used 11X in the NT. The first two (Lk. 13:32 and Rom. 15:28) give
a great sense of the meaning, where Jesus and Paul said they were going to
finish doing some things in a particular location and they would move on. It’s used 3X in 2 Cor. (7:1; 8:6,11). The two from chapter 8 have to do with the
Corinthian believers “finishing” the offering that they had started, so it would
be ready when Paul arrived to take it to Jerusalem. It’s also used 2X in Hebrews (8:5; 9:6) where
it speaks of ministry in the tabernacle being accomplished and of Moses
when he was about to complete the tabernacle.
These easy-to-see uses help us understand 1
Pt. 5:9 where Peter urges us to resist Satan, knowing that the temptations we have
are experienced by our brethren everywhere in the world. They have been “fully experienced.”
This leaves us with three passages. In 2 Cor. 7:1 we come to
completion or maturity in holiness through regular cleansing of the filthiness
of the flesh (the remnants of the old man or nature) and spirit. In the case of Corinth, Paul had dealt with
issues of fornication (the flesh) and idolatry (the spirit). In Gal. 3:3 Paul asks, having
begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Walking in the Spirit and being filled with
the Spirit is how we mature in holiness.
And in Phil. 1:6 we have Paul’s great reminder that holiness is
the work of God that He will complete: He who has begun a good work in you
will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. That sounds to me like this “completion” is
experienced throughout the life of the believer. He brings about significant milestones along
the way, but the work is never done until the day of Christ.
There is more to be said on this, which we
will, Lord willing, in the next post.
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