Counterfeit Holiness by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 16, 1906

Counterfeit Holiness

By Editor

Editorial

We must never forget that this message is to be proclaimed to all the world in “this generation,” and that the time is already far spent. Our zeal in doing this work testifies to the intensity of our longing for the coming of our Saviour.

Character is being tested in these days. Many whose Christian experience has consisted in belonging to the church and in conforming to the mere outward forms of religion are being swept into open sin by the strong current of prevailing evil. In this time when Satan is working with such power to hold men in the bondage of sin there is need of a special revealing of divine grace in order to overcome temptation. “I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

The law of God is the great subject of controversy between Christ and Satan. The prince of this world demands that liberty which is license to disregard all restraint of law — the liberty to set up a rival kingdom; Jesus “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity,”—all transgression of the law,—and that he might enable us to walk at liberty by walking in the way of God’s commandments. “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Those who place contempt upon God's law, and urge that we are under no obligation to obey it, have taken Satan's side in the great controversy. It is our duty to make this matter clear so that those who are doing this ignorantly may be delivered from Satan's snare. “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.”

Counterfeit Holiness

When you find a man who professes holiness, and yet denies the obligation to keep the commandments of God, you may be sure that his holiness is not of the right kind. That holiness (wholeness) which is genuine is the perfection of the righteousness of Christ, received through faith, and it will be witnessed by that law which is “holy, and just, and good.” “Righteousness is holiness, likeness to God; and ‘God is love.’ It is conformity to the law of God; for ‘all thy commandments are righteousness;’ and ‘love is the fulfilling of the law.’ Righteousness is love, and love is the light and life of God. The righteousness of God is embodied in Christ. We receive righteousness by receiving him.” Provision has been made that we may attain to that holiness which is manifested in obedience to the commandments of God. “God’s ideal for his children is higher than the highest human thought can reach. ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.’ This command is a promise. The plan of redemption contemplates our complete recovery from the power of Satan. Christ always separates the contrite soul from sin. He came to destroy the works of the devil, and he has made provision that the Holy Spirit shall be imparted to every repentant soul, to keep him from sinning.” A counterfeit holiness is in some respects harder to deal with than open wickedness, because a sense of our own sinfulness and need is essential to receiving the righteousness of Christ, and because the counterfeit variety of holiness spurns the thought of obedience to the commandments of God. Those who rest their hope of salvation upon this profession of a counterfeit holiness are doomed to a terrible disappointment when they are judged “by the royal law of liberty.” The true holiness people in this last generation will be those who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”