Jesus as Holiness
1 Corinthians 1:30 mentions several things that the Lord Jesus Christ is to us. Here’s what it says: “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” Some versions use the word sanctification instead of holiness, but the key idea is being “set apart” - set apart for a purpose, set apart for God.
There are two aspects to holiness or sanctification. One is the process aspect and the other is the positional aspect. In an absolute sense the Lord Jesus Christ is holy. He was totally set apart from sin and set apart to God. This is our goal. We acknowledge that we’re “in process.” We’re becoming holy as we live ever more faithfully to the twin truths that we are set apart from sin and set apart to God. We are not there yet, but we are on the way.
However, we recognize that in the absolute sense we can never be holy as long as we live in the flesh. This is where we need Jesus to be our holiness. Because Christ is holy and we are “in Him,” God sees us as holy. It is already done. We are often so focussed on the process that we forget that when God looks at us in Christ, He sees us as already holy.
When I was in Grade 11, about thirty of us did poorly in Mathematics. Consequently, we were not going to graduate. The administration knew that if we got 50 in Grade 11 math, there was no hope for us in Grade 12. Because they didn’t want us around for another year just to pick up the Math credit, they did something special for us. They sanctified us; they set us apart.
They made a special Grade 12 Math class, taught by the department head. On the first day of class, he made the most glorious announcement I had ever heard in my life. He said, “You are all here because you don’t do well in Math, but you are all going to pass this course. You can consider yourselves already to have passed this course because I am going to make sure personally that every one of you gets your credit so you can get out of here.” We all clapped. He did a customized math class for us and sure enough, through his effort, we all passed.
God looks at us and says “You don’t do well in the subject of Life. You are failing, but my Son passed Life, so we are going to make sure you pass Life on the basis of what He has done. God sanctifies us by having His Son, Jesus become holiness to us. Surely we should all applaud!
Ron Hughes
© May 2007
