BE YE HOLY | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 3, 1904

"BE YE HOLY."

HOLINESS is essential to salvation, for without it no one can please the Lord. Heb. 10:14. To be holy is a command of God. Lev. 11:44; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:16. Holiness is attained only by faith in Christ and communion with His Spirit; for without Him we can do nothing. John 15:5. Those who please God, against whom there is no condemnation, have attained that position because, being in Christ, they "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:1.

Holiness is perfected by cleansing ourselves of all filthiness, or defilement, of the flesh and spirit, in the fear of God. 2 Cor. 7:1. Inspiration also makes this appeal: "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." Rom. 12:1. To this end we are specially enjoined to be holy in our conversation. 1 Peter 1:15; 2 Peter 3:11.

The standard of holiness is the character of God, and His character is expressed in His law, which is righteous (Deut. 4:8), which is perfect (Ps. 19:7), which is holy (Rom. 7:12). Therefore holiness is harmony with the law of God. To walk after the Spirit is to "delight in the law of God, after the inward man" (verse 22), for "the law is spiritual" (verse 14). "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night." Ps. 1:1, 2. This is holiness, a condition acceptable to God. Self-asserted goodness is not holiness; it is presumption.