Holiness Is Not Legalism

[kaylagrl]

I would not call that a middle ground, I would call lets get all people to repent, and let God teach the his ways. The problem is one group wants to enforce and focus on rules. the other group wants to rebel against the "religion" of the one group, and live free, and both are missing out on what is important..

The peace of God, The Love of God, The Mercy of God, and the leading hand of God (which will never lead you astray)

Both groups need to get their focus off self (How well I perform, or how dare they tell me what I can and can't do, I am my own person) and get their focus on God.

Its seems the more the thread goes along the better the posts get. Thanks for this post. Well put. Ive seen both sides. One side lives however they wish and thing God is ok with that. On the other side Ive been in churches that if you didn't wear a hat to church as a woman,you were a sinner. Your last statement balances everything perfectly.

 

[eternally-gratefull]

Its seems the more the thread goes along the better the posts get. Thanks for this post. Well put. Ive seen both sides. One side lives however they wish and thing God is ok with that. On the other side Ive been in churches that if you didn't wear a hat to church as a woman,you were a sinner. Your last statement balances everything perfectly.

I have seen people that think they can do whatever they want,, And they usually do not last long in church (discipline and discipleship tends to push them away)

I also have been to a church that says electric guitars are the tool of satan.

So yes, I agree sis, Seen both sides of the field so to speak.

 

[kaylagrl]

If your saying this is how a person grows in Christ, and matures (vs staying a babe in Christ and never growing) it is holiness

If your saying a persons salvation is based on how well he/she obeys this, Legalism

We can not get your intent by what you posted. You have to give more information. Just posted a few verses does not help a reader understand what your trying to say, When it can be taken a few ways.

I actually was asking others what difference,or do they see a difference in these verses. To me we dont just say the sinners prayer and then live however we wish. I think these verses point that out. We are to walk in the Spirit and when we do we dont live like the world. Old things are passed away. As my father has always preached when you get saved "Jesus changes your want to". You'll live differently,not because of laws,but because of your change of heart. Things you use to do,you dont do them anymore. An old song Bill Gaither wrote makes it quite clear what Im saying...

Thanks to Calvary

Today, I went down to the place where I used to go
Today, I saw the same old crowd I knew before
And when they asked me what had happened, I tried to tell them,
Thanks to Calvary, I don't come here anymore.

Thanks to Calvary I am not the man (dad) I used to be
Thanks to Calvary things are different than before.
And as the tears ran down my face I tried to tell them
Thanks to Calvary, I don't come (live) here anymore.

Then we went down to the house where we used to live,
My little boy (girl) ran behind the door, like so many times before;
And I said "Son you don't need to be afraid, you've got a new Daddy now,
Thanks to Calvary we don't live here anymore.

Thanks to Calvary I am not the man I used to be
Thanks to Calvary things are different than before.
And as the tears ran down my face I tried to tell them
Thanks to Calvary, I don't come (live) here anymore.

 

[kaylagrl]

I have seen people that think they can do whatever they want,, And they usually do not last long in church (discipline and discipleship tends to push them away)

I also have been to a church that says electric guitars are the tool of satan.

So yes, I agree sis, Seen both sides of the field so to speak.

Yes! I attend a church now where the former pastor would not allow music in the church. The people voted him out. Now they have a piano and and organ! lol As always there are two sides to the coin. But walking in the Spirit never leads us astray.

 

[Grace777x70]

Yes! I attend a church now where the former pastor would not allow music in the church. The people voted him out. Now they have a piano and and organ! lol As always there are two sides to the coin. But walking in the Spirit never leads us astray.

What you now have a "worldly piano and an organ"?..*gasp*...don't you know that "friendship with the world is an enemy to God?"...

I can just see your old pastor telling the "faithful that are defending the faith" how this is for sure the last days as the apostasy has come to the church just like Paul said it would.....

 

[eph610]

I will attempt to make this a short post, but the story is just awesome and has direct relevance to this discussion

A friend of mine has a church in a rural area. He was at a ministerial alliance/christian businessmen breakfast and the pastor of the largest church in the area and that everyone went to shared the below story very smugly and pridefully. I am paraphrasing...

Well, last Sunday we had a Jezebel harlot walk in. She had high blonde hair, far too much make up on, high heels, a mini skirt, a low cut blouse showing her clevage, and smelled like she went to town on Saturday night, you know smelled like the honky tonk and never had slept. She smelled of booze and cigarettes, and sweat. Her eyes were bloodshot and her eye makeup was all messed up.

Can you believe it brothers!?!?! Many amen's and agreements Then she walks up and sits down in sister oh so spirituals seat on the front row...sister oh so spiritual paid for that seat with her tithes, anyway my associate pastor here, told her to move...so she gets up and moves to the center row next to all the kids.....well we aint gonna have no jezzie sittin next to the kiddos[Guffaw, guffaw]my ushers showed her a perfect seat....the one in the back of the church house....Many fellow pastors and businessmen laughing and saying amen...By the time I got up to preach she had left...LOL...servers her right...thankfully our people know we will protect them from people like that so all is well...

My friend left the breakfast and told me, that they had a woman enter into their church that fit that description, she sat on the front row and the couple that that usually sat there sat next to her. They spoke to her and welcomed her warmly, their kids went and got her a cup of water, which she appreciated and drank. People came into the church and welcomed her..My friend said she stayed for worship and just about the time he began preaching she got up and walked out....he preached on for about a minute until the front door closed...he raced out to stop her and she was gone, like vanished gone...

Later that day after service, his wife found a bulletin under the seat the woman was sitting and picked it up and it was too heavy for a bulletin...she saw it was folded closed and when she opened it there was several thousand dollars in it. My friend said that money saved his church and provided for outreach.

I said wow, that is crazy!!!! Praise God!!!.....he said nope...what was crazy is that his service started 15 minutes later than the big fancy church and was 25 miles across the county and town from his church and it was the same woman....3 months later the larger church closed it's doors and for good. They ran out of money...

I asked my friend who he thought the woman was and he said, oh dude, no question, it was Jesus!

 

[p_rehbein]

Why on earth would ANYONE think Holiness is Legalism? That's just dumb.

 

[Stephen63]

So, because you disagree with him on some subjects that makes what he says invalidated? I hardly think so but I do understand the need to malign him though....I know how this game is played....

You sure do..... you quote a proven heretic, we tell you he's a heretic, then you call us heretic hunters. But that's not true..... We don't have to hunt them 'cuz you bring them right to our feet like a birddog,LOL!

 

[disciplemike]

Isn't it interesting that the people who say we are not under law but under grace,
but let the topic of homosexual marriage come up, all of a sudden they are law experts!

 

[Grace777x70]

You sure do..... you quote a proven heretic, we tell you he's a heretic, then you call us heretic hunters. But that's not true..... We don't have to hunt them 'cuz you bring them right to our feet like a birddog,LOL!

Ahhh....Yes...the proverbial self-proclaimed heretic hunters...

There are lot's of self-proclaimed heretic hunters on the internet. To them everyone is a heretic.

There are websites dedicated to the heretic Billy Graham. Billy Sunday, Charles Spurgeon, Charles Stanley, D.L. Moody, C.S. Lewis, John McArthur, Paul Washer, Joseph Prince, Bill Johnson, Martin Luther, John Calvin....Andrew Wommack...etc..basically anyone who is known has a website dedicated to their "heresies".

There are even websites dedicated to the heretic apostle Paul because his epistles "conflict" with some of Jesus' words.

Basically these self-proclaimed heretic hunters have a beef about some thing with what someone else believes and so they are now "heretics".

Their motto is: "If people don't believe some scriptures in the way that "they" do - they are heretics and they try to prove it with "their" version of what the scriptures say.." This is not what we were taught in "my" church or in our whole church tradition.

It's the nature of the beast. Martin Luther was a heretic to the catholic church at the time because for 1100 years prior to Luther they had always "believed" the same way.

Where these types cross the line is when they turn a disagreement that they have with someone doctrinally on a secondary issue and turn it into "So and so is a false teacher and a heretic/satanist/controlled by a demon" type stuff.

 

[Grandpa]

Isn't it interesting that the people who say we are not under law but under grace,
but let the topic of homosexual marriage come up, all of a sudden they are law experts!

There is a big difference between being lawless, and not being under the law because of the Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ.

You'll understand some day, I have high hopes for you.

 

[Grandpa]

Why on earth would ANYONE think Holiness is Legalism? That's just dumb.

We can turn almost anything into legalism.

We are pretty dumb. Not purposely. We just lack the Wisdom and Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ sometimes...

 

[PinkDiamond]

Hebrews 4:12 - For the word of God [is] quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and [is] a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

HOLINESS IS
NOT LEGALISM.

A sermon by
John Wesley

Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Nothing under heaven can be more sure than this; "for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." And "though heaven and earth pass away, yet His word shall not pass away." As well therefore might God fall from heaven, as His Word fall to the ground. (Heb. 12:14; Mic. 4:4; Matt. 5:18).
No one who is not saved from sin here can be saved from hell hereafter. No one can see the kingdom of God above, unless the kingdom of God be in him below. Whoever will reign with Christ in heaven, must have Christ reigning in him on earth. And yet as sure as this is, and as clearly as it is taught in every part of the Holy Scripture, among all the truths of God, there is probably none which is less received by men.



Yes, professing Christians invariably invent one way or another to get to heaven without holiness. In the place of holiness, some have substituted penance, pilgrimages, and praying to saints and angels. Thousand of professing Christians have no doubt but that, by a diligent use of these things—without any holiness at all—they shall see the Lord in glory.
However, Protestants will not be satisfied in that manner. They are convinced that whoever leans on such things leans on the staff of a broken reed. Yet, thousands of such Protestants also think that they too will see God without holiness. How? Why, by doing no harm, generally doing good, going to church, and receiving the sacraments. And many thousands are content with this, believing they are on the high road to heaven. Yet, that is not much better than the hopes of the first group.



However, other Protestants recognize that such nominal Christianity is not sufficient. They correctly say that such a religion does not stand on the right foundation. However, they go on to say that Christ has already accomplished and suffered everything for us. They say that His righteousness is imputed to us; therefore, we need none of our own. Since there is so much righteousness and holiness in Him, there needs to be none in us. In fact, they claim, that to think we have any holiness, or to desire to seek any holiness, is to renounce Christ. That from the beginning to the end of salvation, all is in Christ, nothing is in man. And that those who teach otherwise are preachers of legalism, and know nothing of the gospel.



What evasion! What has Satan done? He has persuaded the very men who receive it to "turn the grace of God into licentiousness" (Jude 4). This is indeed a blow at the root, the root of all holiness, all true religion. The whole design of Christ's death was "to destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8). But now this is overthrown in one stroke.
THE FRUITS OF CHEAP GRACE
For wherever this doctrine of easy grace is received, it leaves no place for holiness. It forbids all such exhortations as might excite a desire for holiness. Nay, it makes men afraid of personal holiness, afraid of cherishing any thought of it. For they fear that any step toward holiness might be a denial of the faith, and a rejection of Christ and His righteousness. So that, instead of being "zealous for good works," good works are a stench to their nostrils. In short, they are infinitely more afraid of the works of God, that the works of the devil.



Here is Satan's masterpiece! We are to believe that men are holy, without a grain of holiness in them! Holy in Christ, however unholy in themselves. They are supposedly in Christ, although they have not one jot of the mind that was in Christ. They are "complete in Him," although they are as proud, as vain, as covetous, and as lustful as ever. They think they can continue in unrighteousness because Christ has "fulfilled all righteousness."
O ye simple one, do not be deceived. For as surely as the Lord lives, "neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God." "Such" indeed "were some of you. But you are washed, but you are sanctified," as well as "justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6:9-11). You are really changed! You are not only accounted as righteous, you are made righteous.



The inward power of the Spirit has made you free—really, actually free—from the law or power "of sin and death" (Rom. 8:2). This is liberty, true gospel liberty, experienced by every true believer. This is not freedom from the law of God, or the works of God, but from the law of sin and the works of the devil. See that you stand fast in this real, not imaginary, liberty. Take heed that you "be not entangled again," by means of these vain boasters, "in the yoke of" that vile "bondage of sin," from which you have cleanly escaped. (Gal. 5:1).
I testify unto you, that if you still continue in sin, Christ shall profit you nothing. That Christ is no Savior to you, unless He saves you from your sins. And that unless it purifies your heart, faith shall profit you nothing. Oh, when will you understand, that to oppose either inward or outward holiness, under color of exalting Christ, is directly to act the part of Judas, to "betray the Son of man with a kiss?"



What? Make Christ destroy His own kingdom? Set Christ against holiness? Talk of Christ as saving His people in their sins? It is no better than to say, He saves them from the guilt, but not from the power, of sin. Will you make the righteousness of Christ a cover for the unrighteousness of man? So that by this means, "the unrighteous" of every kind "shall inherit the kingdom of God!" Stop! Consider! What are you doing? Who has corrupted you from the simplicity of Christ, from the purity of the gospel?
You did know, "He that believeth is born of God: And whosoever is born of God sinneth not" (1 John 3:9). O come back to the true, the pure, the old gospel! That which you received in the beginning. Come back to Christ, who died to make you a holy people, "zealous for good works" (Tit. 2:14). "Remember from whence you are fallen, and repent, and do the first works" (Rev. 2:5). For "wilt thou know, O vain," O empty "man, that faith without works is dead" (Jas. 2:17)?
Do not stupidly and senselessly call holiness legalism—a silly, meaningless word. Be not afraid of being under the law of God. Rather, fear being under "the law of sin" (Rom. 7:23). Love the strictest preaching best. That which most searches the heart, and shows you wherein you are unlike Christ. That which presses you most to love Him with all your heart, and serve Him with all your strength.



Permit me to warn you of another silly, meaningless phrase: Do not say: "I can do nothing." If so, then you know nothing of Christ. Then you have no faith. For if you have faith, if you believe, then you "can do all things through Christ who strengthens you" (Phil. 4:13). You can love Him and keep His commandments; and to you His "commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:3). Grievous to them that believe? Far from it! They are the joy of your heart.
Show then your love for Christ by keeping His commandments, by blamelessly walking in all His ordinances. Honor Christ by obeying Him with all your might, by serving Him with all your strength. Glorify Christ by imitating Christ in all things, by walking as He walked. Trust in Christ to live and reign in your heart. Have confidence in Christ that He will fulfill in you all his great and precious promises. That He will work in you all the good pleasure of His goodness, and all the work of faith with power. Cleave to Christ, until His blood has cleansed you from all pride, all anger, all evil desire. Let Christ do all. Let Him who has done all for you, do all in you.



Exalt Christ as a Prince to give repentance. A Savior both to give remission of sins, and to create in you a new heart, to renew a right spirit within you. This is the gospel, the pure, genuine gospel; glad tidings of great salvation. Not the new, but the old—the everlasting gospel.
***************
John Wesley
England
18th century

http://endtimepilgrim.org/holiness.htm

Thank you for posting this sermon. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

 

[UnderGrace]

THE FRUITS OF CHEAP GRACE
For wherever this doctrine of easy grace is received, it leaves no place for holiness. It forbids all such exhortations as might excite a desire for holiness. Nay, it makes men afraid of personal holiness, afraid of cherishing any thought of it. For they fear that any step toward holiness might be a denial of the faith, and a rejection of Christ and His righteousness. So that, instead of being "zealous for good works," good works are a stench to their nostrils. In short, they are infinitely more afraid of the works of God, that the works of the devil.

To place the adjective "cheap" in front of "grace" is just disgraceful to me.

Grace belongs and comes from Jesus, we do not work to earn grace, good works are a product of grace, if holiness is

missing it is not because grace has been cheapened but because grace has not been sought out and received.

Pursue holiness aside from grace and you are bound to fail, you have grace you have holiness. We are called to partake freely from the grace of God.

This is the most twisted view of grace I have ever read!!!

 

[Cee]

Holiness is being like God. And God is love. Holiness is loving each other. The "works of sin" are devoid of love. The issue with preaching "be holy" is not that holiness is the problem, but "be holy" becomes anything the teacher wants to label as holy. But SCRIPTURE says being holy is being like Christ. And Christ is the image of God's love for the world. The better lesson is YOU ARE HOLY. So be who you are in Christ.

 

[Stephen63]

Holiness is being like God. And God is love. Holiness is loving each other. The "works of sin" are devoid of love. The issue with preaching "be holy" is not that holiness is the problem, but "be holy" becomes anything the teacher wants to label as holy. But SCRIPTURE says being holy is being like Christ. And Christ is the image of God's love for the world. The better lesson is YOU ARE HOLY. So be who you are in Christ.

Holiness

In the highest sense belongs to God (Isa 6:3; Rev 15:4), and to Christians as consecrated to God's service, and in so far as they are conformed in all things to the will of God (Rom 6:19, 22; Eph 1:4; Tit 1:8; 1Pe 1:15). Personal holiness is a work of gradual development. It is carried on under many hindrances, hence the frequent admonitions to watchfulness, prayer, and perseverance (1Co 1:30; 2Co 7:1; Eph 4:23, 24). (See SANCTIFICATION.)
Illustrated Bible Dictionary: And Treasury of Biblical History, Biography, Geography, Doctrine, and Literature.

I. The Meaning of Sanctification

Two thoughts are prominent in this definition: separation from evil, and dedication unto God and His service.
1. Separation From Evil

2 Chron. 29:5, 15-18—"Sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God . . . . and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy places. . . . And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord, to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness. . . .Then they went in to Hezekiah the king, and said, We have cleansed all the house of the Lord." 1 Thess. 4:3—"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." See also Heb. 9:3; Exod. 19:20-22; Lev. 11:44.
It is evident from these scriptures that sanctification has to do with the turning away from all that is sinful and that is defiling to both soul and body.
2. Separation or Dedication Unto God

In this sense whatever is set apart from a profane to a sacred use, whatever is devoted exclusively to the service of God, is sanctified. So it follows that a man may "sanctify his house to be holy unto the Lord," or he may "sanctify unto the Lord some part of a field of his possession" (Lev. 27:14, 16). So also the first-born of all the children were sanctified unto the Lord (Num. 8:17). Even the Son of God Himself, in so far as He was set apart by the Father and sent into the world to do God's will, was sanctified (John 10:36). Whenever a thing or person is separated from the common relations of life in order to be devoted to the sacred, such is said to be sanctified.
The Great Doctrines of the Bible.

(2) Ethical Holiness
But, in the next place, holiness of character in the distinct ethical sense is ascribed to God. The injunction, "Be ye holy; for I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44; Leviticus 19:2), plainly implies an ethical conception. Men cannot resemble God in His incommunicable attributes. They can reflect His likeness only along the lines of those moral qualities of righteousness and love in which true holiness consists. In the Psalmists and Prophets the Divine holiness becomes, above all, an ethical reality convicting men of sin (Isaiah 6:3, 1) and demanding of those who would stand in His presence clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24:3f).
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

4. Applied to Christians:
But it is especially in its application to Christians that the idea of holiness meets us in the New Testament in a sense that is characteristic and distinctive. Christ's people are regularly called "saints" or holy persons, and holiness in the high ethical and spiritual meaning of the word is used to denote the appropriate quality of their life and conduct.
(1) As Separate from the World
No doubt, as applied to believers, "saints" conveys in the first place the notion of a separation from the world and a consecration to God. Just as Israel under the old covenant was a chosen race, so the Christian church in succeeding to Israel's privileges becomes a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9), and the Christian individual, as one of the elect people, becomes a holy man or woman (Col. 3:12). In Paul's usage all baptized persons are "saints," however far they may still be from the saintly character (compare 1 Cor. 1:2, 14 with 5:1ff).
(2) As Bound to the Pursuit of an Ethical Ideal
But though the use of the name does not imply high ethical character as a realized fact, it always assumes it as an ideal and an obligation. It is taken for granted that the Holy Spirit has taken up His abode in the heart of every regenerate person, and that a work of positive sanctification is going on there. The New Testament leaves no room for the thought of a holiness divorced from those moral qualities which the holy God demands of those whom He has called to be His people.
» See: SANCTIFICATION
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.

Holiness in Man. We may note: (1) In many cases the holiness ascribed to men in the Scriptures is simply ceremonial and formal. They are persons “separated,” “set apart,” or dedicated to holy services. They were expected or required along with this outward dedication, however, to lead holy lives and to be inwardly dedicated, a requirement frequently overlooked. Thus the priests and the Levites are spoken of in the OT as “holy.” (2) The holiness predicated or required of men, upon which the Scriptures everywhere lay almost exclusive stress, is that of character and conduct. (3) Man appears before us in the Scriptures as a fallen being, by nature unholy and sinful. Created in the image of God, he has lost one of the most essential features of that image—holiness. (4) Holiness, so far as it appears in man, is an outcome of God’s gracious work in salvation and yet not without the proper exertion of one’s own free will and the putting forth of strenuous effort (Ephes. 4:22-24). (5) Exalted attainments in holiness are possible for men and often realized in this life (Luke 1:75; 2 Cor. 7:1; 1 Thes. 3:13). (6) The whole tone of Scripture accords with the weighty exhortation “Pursue peace with all men and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). (6) The NT teaches that the believer was sanctified positionally when he was saved by virtue of his being presented “in Christ” (1 Cor. 1:2, 30), that he is being sanctified experientially as he reckons upon his position in Christ (Romans 6:11), and that he will be ultimately sanctified in the sense of full conformity to Christ in glorification (Romans 8:30).
The New Unger's Bible Dictionary.

Since much of this is found on the internet, WHY do we have so many personal ideas that don't even come close to true?

BTW, holiness requires commitment, & commitment requires works.

 

[Angela53510]

To place the adjective "cheap" in front of "grace" is just disgraceful to me.

Grace belongs and comes from Jesus, we do not work to earn grace, good works are a product of grace, if holiness is

missing it is not because grace has been cheapened but because grace has not been sought out and received.

Pursue holiness aside from grace and you are bound to fail, you have grace you have holiness. We are called to partake freely from the grace of God.

This is the most twisted view of grace I have ever read!!!

So you disagree with Dietrich Bonhoeffer then? He actually coined the term in his book "The Cost of Discipleship" which was published in the 1930's, I believe, as Hitler was coming to power in the same Germany.

You know, the Bonhoeffer who stood against the Nazis, defied Hitler, was in the underground and tried to unsucessfully assasinate Hitler, and finally was smuggled out of the country to England, but insisted upon returning to Germany to be with his "people." The Bonhoeffer whom Hitler had executed 2 weeks before the Allies would have reached his prison and freed him? You know, that Bonhoeffer??

You know, the pastor who believed that discipleship was something that every page of the Bible speaks too, and anything else, is just "cheap" grace! I'm pretty sure he believed in holiness, seeing it is ALL over the Bible, along with words like "obedience."

Not of works that any one should boast!

Twisted grace coupled with twisted understanding of holiness is crippling a major part of the church today! Holiness is not, never have been or will be "works!" So sad!

PS. Do read "the Cost of Discipleship!" It is foundational reading!

 

[Cee]

We are holy, because He is holy, we strive for holiness because we press forward to who we are in Christ. But we are not unholy trying to be holy, we are holy living out of who we are in Christ.

Scripture gives the identity. Then it gives the exhortation to what it looks like to live out of that identity. If we miss the identity before we give the exhortation, we put people into a command without the power to perform it. If we give identity without the exhortation, we miss maturing correction which aligns people to who they are in Christ.

Please remember we are babes in Christ when we first come to the Lord. When believers did things that were NOT holy then the writers of Scripture corrected their identity and then their behavior. Both are needed.

Here are a few Scriptures to show this pattern...

He is holy, thus we are holy:
1 Peter 1:14-16 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

Promise of holiness:
Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.

This is the same idea, bring holiness to completion:
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

We are a chosen holy nation:
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

God has not called us (not calling us):
For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

Chosen ones, we are holy and beloved, this is what holiness looks like:
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.

 

[kaylagrl]

So you disagree with Dietrich Bonhoeffer then? He actually coined the term in his book "The Cost of Discipleship" which was published in the 1930's, I believe, as Hitler was coming to power in the same Germany.

You know, the Bonhoeffer who stood against the Nazis, defied Hitler, was in the underground and tried to unsucessfully assasinate Hitler, and finally was smuggled out of the country to England, but insisted upon returning to Germany to be with his "people." The Bonhoeffer whom Hitler had executed 2 weeks before the Allies would have reached his prison and freed him? You know, that Bonhoeffer??

You know, the pastor who believed that discipleship was something that every page of the Bible speaks too, and anything else, is just "cheap" grace! I'm pretty sure he believed in holiness, seeing it is ALL over the Bible, along with words like "obedience."

Not of works that any one should boast!

Twisted grace coupled with twisted understanding of holiness is crippling a major part of the church today! Holiness is not, never have been or will be "works!" So sad!

PS. Do read "the Cost of Discipleship!" It is foundational reading!

Excellent post Sister ! Thank you for sharing the truth in such a profound way.

 

[PennEd]

To place the adjective "cheap" in front of "grace" is just disgraceful to me.

Grace belongs and comes from Jesus, we do not work to earn grace, good works are a product of grace, if holiness is

missing it is not because grace has been cheapened but because grace has not been sought out and received.

Pursue holiness aside from grace and you are bound to fail, you have grace you have holiness. We are called to partake freely from the grace of God.

This is the most twisted view of grace I have ever read!!!

Excellent post sister! I think the missing ingredient from our brothers and sisters who don't see this issue this way is love. I find that telling.