However, now in an­other very real sense, the new Christian must per­sonally be involved in the practical outworking of his own sanctification. He has been forgiven, but he is a babe in Christ. He is immature and has much growing to do. There are battles to be fought and victories to be won. Consequently, his sanctification now is a progressive, ongoing process. His holiness must be perfected. Righteousness initially imputed in for­giveness must now be converted into practice (Romans 6). How we need to weed out of our lives all things that should not be there (things of the world, lack of spirituality, carnality, bad habits, etc.)! Many weights and sins are to be laid aside (Hebrews 12:1). Read again 2 Corinthians 6:14 through 7:1, which was written to people who had already been initially sanctified (1 Corinthians 1:2; 6:11). Now personally, in the face of grave sin problems in the church, they were instructed to be “perfecting [their] holiness [sanctification] in the fear of God.” Paul likewise asserts in 2 Timothy 2:21, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet [suited] for the master’s use…” His prayer for the Thessalonians was that God would “sanctify you wholly,” in view of the second coming of Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23). This sanctification was after the initial sanctification in conversion. We continually work on this from day to day.

Starting with 2 Corinthians 7:1, the following Scriptures are plain in showing that the total person is involved in perfecting holiness. As we aspire to accomplish God’s purpose in our lives, and daily press on, think upon these verses and all that is implied. It is not just an external thing.

•    “Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the God” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

•   “What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [Spirit] which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20).

•   “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. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:1,2).

• “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly: and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

The Nature and Scope of Sin

We need to understand the nature and scope of sin to appreciate these commands and admonitions to be sanctified and to be wholly holy. Sin is not isolated to one part of our body, or ones life, but it involves the whole person.

Repeatedly in the Bible the different parts of the body are spoken of as being involved in sin, even collectively in one act of sin. Read Proverbs 6:12-18 to illustrate. Here the mouth, the eyes, the feet, the fingers, and the heart are spoken of as taking part in sin. Jesus spoke of the heart, the eye, the hand and the foot being involved in adultery and doing wrong (Matthew 5:28-30; Mark 9:43-47). In the epistle to the Romans in his blistering indictment of mankind, notice how the apostle Paul refers to different parts of the body to get his point across, before he pronounces his conclusion, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (3:23). Notice: “Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood…There is no fear of God before their eyes” (3:13-18). When a person sins, his whole person sins (not just a single part of him). Therefore, perfecting holiness must take into consideration the whole person.

Conversion Involves the Whole Person

All of this being true, conversion of the whole person is necessary in responding to the grace and mercy of the Lord, in receiving the imputed righteousness in forgiveness, and in our being declared justified before God. Philip told the Ethiopian eunuch he could be baptized, “If thou believest with all thine heart” (Acts 8:37). Discipleship involves forsaking all to follow Christ (Luke 14:33; 9:23). In repentance, a change of mind, sin is put to death in our bodies. When we are baptized, fittingly the whole body goes under the water (as the whole body and person has been involved in committing sin). We put “off the body of the sins of the flesh” in baptism (Colossians 2:11,12; Acts 22:16). We arise to walk in newness of life. Read the whole 6^th chapter of Romans (a great chapter). In Romans 6:19, Paul continues, “As ye have yielded your members [parts of your body] servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.” This inclusive thought is narrowed in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 when Paul says, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one  of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour…For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.”

III. “PERFECTING HOLINESS IN THE FEAR OF GOD”

      We now come to the last point in this article with the emphasis being placed on the last part of 2 Corinthians 7:1, “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Someone has said that fear “goes hand in hand with love: love is the positive side, fear the negative; love prompts one to do what pleases God, fear prompts one to refrain from what displeases God. Neither can dispense with the other; neither functions alone.” Perhaps, in the first part of this verse, there is an appeal made to the positive side, as Paul addresses them, “Having therefore these promises [6:16-18], dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit…” Then the more somber tone of “fear” enters the picture as he says, “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” The apostle Peter tells us, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation [all your conduct]; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear” (1 Peter 1:15-17). We are sinful creatures, having sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. A perfect and holy God’s intolerance of sin can’t help but produce a certain amount of apprehension and fear on our part in approaching Him. Only the grace of God modifies this fear (Hebrews 4:15, 16), but it is still there in a sense. In “perfecting holiness,” it must ever be “in the fear of God.”

“For I Am a Sinful Man, O Lord”

      When we draw near to God, we are made to realize just how far away from Him we really are. Personal encounters with God in the Bible have always produced fear in His presence. When Adam and Eve sinned, guilt ridden, they “hid themselves from the presence of the lord God amongst the trees of the garden.” God called out to the sinful pair, and Adam replied, “I was afraid…and I hid myself” (Genesis 3:8-10). When Jacob awakened from his sleep at Bethel and pondered the vision he had seen, it had an unsettling effect upon him. He had seen angels ascending and descending to heaven from God. He exclaimed, “Surely the lord is in this place…And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! This is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:10-17). The prophet Isaiah likewise went through such an experience when seeing a vision of God sitting upon a throne in the temple. Angelic beings were crying out, “Holy, holy, holy, is the lord of hosts…” Isaiah tells us of his response. “Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6). We also see the same reaction in Simon Peter. The omniscience of Christ made startlingly apparent in the catching of fish, prompted Peter to fall at his feet and cry out, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord” (Luke 5:4-8).

Concluding Remarks

      In conclusion, we challenge you to go back to 1 Corinthians 6:14-7:1, the section of Scripture where we entered into this study on holiness. Read this again. In the light of the great truths we have looked into, get serious about this matter. Do what is commanded here. Being holy may not be in style today (even in religious circles), and the world may think that we are really strange (1 Peter 4:2-5) (and even fellow Christians may think this), but God still says, “Be ye holy; for I am holy.” (Holiness is separation unto God). The Bible still says, “Follow [pursue] peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). The promise of God still stands, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” And the  words of the Lord Jesus are still in the Bible, “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). Cushioned by the grace of God (Hebrews 4:14-16), let us grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord, “perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” Amen.