Holiness/Justice Study (Week 3)

Holiness in the New Testament

Mark 7:5–9 ESV

And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition Godliness

In pagan literature, godliness (Gk. eusebeia, eulabeia and related terms) meant showing proper caution, fear or reverence towards the gods. Such piety involved the offering of sacrifices and other cultic activities. It also meant honouring the gods by respecting elders, masters, rulers, and all the orders of life thought to be under the protection of the gods.

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition Godliness

When this terminology was used in the Bible, a different notion of fear or respect was intended. The one true God, as creator and redeemer, requires an active obedience to his revealed will and a personal devotion that surpasses lip-service, mere trepidation, or bare admiration (e.g. Pr. 1:7; Is. 11:2; 33:6; Lk. 2:25; Acts 10:2; 22:12). Pre-eminently, Jesus is the godly One, whose prayers were heard because of his ‘godly fear’ or ‘reverent submission’ to the Father (Heb. 5:7). His death and heavenly exaltation makes it possible for others to offer to God, through him, acceptable worship or service, ‘with reverence and awe’ (Heb. 12:28).

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition Godliness

Ungodliness (Gk. asebeia) brings the wrath of God, because it involves suppressing the truth about God, worshipping created things rather than the Creator, and pursuing unrighteous relationships and behaviour (Rom. 1:18–25; 1 Tim. 1:9–11). It is a condition from which we can only be rescued by trusting ‘him who justifies the ungodly’ (Rom. 4:5; cf. 5:6; Tit. 2:11–14). Godliness is most frequently mentioned in the Pastoral Epistles, where Paul uses the terminology to counter its misapplication by false teachers (1 Tim. 6:3–10; 2 Tim. 3:4–5). Positively, it is a God-honouring manner of life, issuing from a true knowledge of God and his grace in Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 3:16; 4:7–10; 2 Tim. 3:10–12; Tit. 1:1; 2:11–12). A genuine devotion to God transforms relationships and behaviour in every context.

Matthew 6:9 ESV

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Revelation 4:8 ESV

And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Isaiah 6:13 ESV

And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

Luke 1:49 ESV

for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

Luke 1:35 ESV

And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.

Luke 4:34 ESV

“Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”

Acts 3:14 ESV

But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

Acts 4:27 ESV

for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,

Acts 4:30 ESV

while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

Hebrews 7:26 ESV

For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

Revelation 3:7 ESV

“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

John 3:5–8 ESV

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

John 14:16–17 ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

John 14:26 ESV

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Ephesians 5:26 ESV

that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

1 Peter 3:18 ESV

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

1 Corinthians 6:11 ESV

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

1 Peter 2:9 ESV

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.

Saints = Holy Ones

1 Corinthians 1:2 ESV

To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

Romans 8:29 ESV

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

Ephesians 1:4 ESV

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love

1 Thessalonians 4:7 ESV

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

2 Timothy 1:9 ESV

who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,

The greatest enemy to human souls is the self-righteous spirit which makes men look to themselves for salvation.

Isaiah 35:8 ESV

And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.

1 Corinthians 3:17 ESV

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Hebrews 3:1 ESV

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,

Romans 6:19 ESV

I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Hebrews 12:14 ESV

Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

Ephesians 4:24 ESV

and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

2 Peter 1:4 ESV

by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

“Stale godliness is ungodliness. Let our religion be as warm, and constant, and natural as the flow of the blood in our veins. A living God must be served in a living way.” ― Charles H. Spurgeon