At the same time, God's holiness is a gift, able to heal a broken and impure world. Idealistic? I Was Filming a Dangerous Action Scene When I Gave My Life to Christ, Polarized Americans Still Support Religious Freedom, Complete access to articles on ChristianityToday.com, Over 120 years of magazine archives plus full access to all of CT’s online archives. Here is a little story from Sister Faustina, again taken from her Diary. . Father Ravier, introducing the essential points of the spirituality of St. Francis de Sales, says: "Inspirations are one of the means the Holy Spirit uses to guide each person at every moment. 5:23), . May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. For these disciplines to do their proper work, we need to practice them as we are open to God’s Spirit. All we have to do is peacefully recognize and admit the fact of our weakness, and place all our trust and hope in God alone. In the same Spirit help us … And perfection is reached not so much by external conformity to an ideal as by inner faithfulness to God's inspirations. He invests us with confidence over fear (2 Timothy 1:7). Well, have you ever heard it said that there is a difference between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law? This is what he says in the Spiritual Canticle: This daring expression about the power that our love and trust can exercise over God's heart contains a beautiful and very deep truth. (John 16:8-15.) He can become sad or angry, and others can insult Him and blaspheme against Him (Is 63:10; Mt 12:31; Ac 7:51; Eph 4:30; Heb 10:29). They live on earth but participate in the life of heaven. In other words, the inner promptings, the movements of the Holy Spirit in the depths of our hearts by which God makes known to us what he is asking of us, and at the same time gives us the strength we need to accomplish it, at least if we consent. Excerpted by permission of WaterBrook. This uniqueness has an important consequence. To keep with O’Connor’s humorous prose, “I’m willing to defend this one like a fox terrier.”. Her prose is a bit old-fashioned, but this is the gist of it: Palmer knew that the Spirit was prompting her to surrender to God in utter allegiance and love for God and others. From start to finish, from inside to outside, from top to bottom, the work of becoming holy—of sanctification—is the work of God through the Spirit, as these Bible verses make clear: [To Christians] who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of theSpirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood. He gives us the right words to speak about God (Acts 1:8). No individual knows what his own holiness consists of. In other words, the spiritual disciplines are practices that are designed to make us open to the Spirit and open to the presence of God, but they are not the Spirit. Palmer was not known in her day for being a reclusive person of prayer given over wholly to the contemplation of God. Habitual sin will cause us to miss what the Holy Spirit wants to say to us through the Word. Devotion to God doesn’t mean isolation or withdrawal, as one finds among some sects. Three women have come forward with additional allegations against the late Christian apologist. If we realize that we will save ourselves a great deal of discouragement and fruitless struggle. Published by WaterBrook, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. It is impossible to attain holiness by our own power. This in turn depends upon intimate fellowship between the Spirit and the believer. There is a widespread but mistaken idea that holiness is the work of human beings: that what we need is to have a clear program of perfection, set to work with courage and patience, and achieve it little by little. First Peter 1:15 teaches, "As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." But it is only at the resurrection—or at some divine moment of creation after death and prior to entering heaven—that we become finally holy. How can we discover what it is? My grandma made the claim that she was entirely sanctified and no longer sinned. They are found in the flesh but do not live according to the flesh. My grandmother’s home phone was part of a party line, which means more than one home was hooked up to the same line. 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 “But whenever a person turns to the Lord the veil is removed. How a film and television stuntman met the Lord in the air. Jesus doesn't promise that the Holy Spirit will control us. St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Autobiography, Manuscript A, folio 48. When the touches of the Spirit, enlightening us and impelling us to act, are well received, they pour into our hearts not just light and strength but solace and peace, that often fills us with consolation. Which at the same time means we need to say no to the use or overuse of alcohol, food, sexually provocative movies and literature, violence, anything that feeds hate (such as some news outlets and social media posts). How we should discern and receive these inspirations will be discussed later. He is the author of The Eight Doors of the Kingdom: Meditations on the Beatitudes, Called to Life, Real Mercy: Mary, Forgiveness and Trust, Searching for and Maintaining Peace: A Small Treatise on Peace of Heart, Interior Freedom, Fire & Light, Time for God, Thirsting for Prayer, and In the School of the Holy Spirit. Who has always existed, and has no beginning or end. We don’t even grow into Christlikeness by reading about Jesus, praying, and then spending 15 more minutes in contemplation. The Holy Spirit will allow us to see clearly for the first time. They share their meals but not their sexual partners. Source of holiness. Second, we need to discipline ourselves to practice acts of goodness, holiness, justice, love, compassion, and beauty. 1:2), For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. But remember that God’s deepest will is for us to love God and to love others. [11] St. Thérèse of Lisieux also witnesses to this "dynamism of faithfulness" that makes accomplishing God's will progressively easier: It should be added that this process is accompanied by the grace of joy: even though obeying the Holy Spirit is often hard for us at the start, because it conflicts with our fears, our attachments, and so forth, that obedience is always, in the end, a source of joy and happiness. Jesus tells us: "Apart from me, you can do nothing. God is holy. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, believers are saved, filled, sealed, and sanctified. . What God wants is always different, always disconcerting; but ultimately it is infinitely more beautiful, because only God is capable of creating totally unique masterpieces, while we humans can only imitate. Open to the Spirit: God in Us, God With Us, God Transforming Us; Get the best from CT editors, delivered straight to your inbox! 11:44) and “It is God’s will that you should be holy [or sanctified]” (1 Thess. The word holiness means to be in God’s presence as one “devoted to God,” and because of devotion to God it also means “to be separated from the world.” This dual meaning strikes the right biblical balance. The Holy Spirit also helps Christians in their weakness and intercedes for them. It was thought that in this life Christians could reach a level of personal holiness in which they could stop sinning. It is the love of God and the love of one’s neighbor which points out … Here I bring our attention to an individual from the Holiness wing who expresses the beauty of holiness. We should fight, not to attain holiness as a result of our own efforts, but to let God act in us without our putting up any resistance against him; we should fight to open ourselves as fully as possible to his grace, which sanctifies us. For example, we may be making a supreme effort to correct a character defect, while what God is asking us to do is accept it with humility and gentleness toward ourselves! God is holy; he is set apart and wholly separate from sin. Reprinted with permission of Scepter Press. We may journey without constraint, our hearts not confined but expanded. That is where the inspirations referred to above come in. In addition to being "made" holy, we are called to live holy lives. To become holy, to become saints, we must of course try as hard as we can to do God's will as it comes to us in a general way that is valid for everyone: through Scripture, the Commandments, and so on. Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit you have taught the hearts of your faithful. It is accompanied by an outpouring of grace that enlarges our hearts and makes our souls feel free and happy to travel along the Lord's paths: "I will run in the way of thy commandments, when thou enlargest my understanding! As we have seen, there is sometimes a big difference between what God is actually asking of us, and what we imagine he is asking. We do not have to become saints by our own power; we have to learn how to let God make us into saints. Although God is Spirit, He is not an impersonal force in the universe as some describe Him. Here is a passage from a letter by St. Thérèse of Lisieux that can help us to understand what this means: I think St. Thérèse found this idea that we can obtain everything from God in the works of St. John of the Cross, who was virtually the only teacher she had. Being in tune with God’s will, turning from and confessing sin, and making a habit of prayer and the study of God’s Word will allow us to recognize—and follow—the Spirit’s leading. And you will renew the face of the earth. Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Holiness. It is also indispensable, as has just been said, to go further: to aspire to know not only what God demands of everyone in general, but also what he wants more specifically of us individually. Fruit grows on the branches of those who are “juiced” with the Holy Spirit. They are obedient to the laws that have been made, and by their own lives they supersede the laws. This point will be discussed further on. Rather, holiness means that in this world one listens and dances to the music of the Holy Spirit instead of the music of the world. God calls us to perfection, but he is not a perfectionist. Perhaps, but probably not. All we have to do is peacefully recognize and admit the fact of our weakness, and place all our trust and hope in God alone. St. John of the Cross expresses it elsewhere in other terms: "What touches God's heart, and triumphs over it, is firm hope. The Holy Spirit gives us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control through Him. In the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church, it explains that “The Church is holy, not because all her members are supposedly holy, but rather because God is holy and is at work in her” (YouCat 132). Scot McKnight is a professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary and writer of the popular blog Jesus Creed. Every motion that comes from God brings both the light to understand what God intends, and the strength to accomplish it: light that illuminates the mind, and strength that gives power to the will. How can we foster their presence in our spiritual life? In her day Phoebe was a world-famous evangelist as well as a teacher of utter devotion to God. A second reason why we don't become holy simply by drawing up a plan for ourselves is that there are as many forms of holiness, and hence also ways to holiness, as there are people. To be with God, to be devoted to God, and to walk with God mean that the companion of God is separate from the world. But rejecting the world is not the primary emphasis. Richard of St. Victor says: "Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup overfloweth," we read in Psalm 23 [22]. Reprinted [as a tract] from the "Herald of Holiness," May 10, 1972 from the tract: "The Holy Spirit is no longer 'the unknown Person' of the Godhead. It can happen that we make superhuman efforts to improve on one point, while God is asking us for something else. 1. (1 Pet. The spiritual disciplines don’t make us holy, nor do they make us loving. The Church is holy because Jesus, who founded her, and the Holy Spirit, who dwells in and guides her, are holy. That is the secret of St. Thérèse of Lisieux's little way: God has a father's heart, and we can unfailingly obtain what we need from him, if we know how to take him by the heart. She also knew that God’s covenant meant God would be faithful to her. (12*) It is charity which guides us to our final end. COVID-19 Hurts. For many Christians our public discourse has been reduced to standing up for the issues we believe in and standing against the issues we oppose. There are even infallible means for obtaining it, and the important thing is to know what they are. Let’s consider four key truths about the leadership of the Holy Spirit: 1. CTWeekly delivers the best content from ChristianityToday.com to your inbox each week. We already have mentioned the spiritual disciplines, but this must be emphasized again: We don’t grow in holiness accidentally or simply because we want to. in a 65 m.p.h. This text illustrates some of the things we have just looked at. It not only takes a lifetime; it also takes a church or a community of faith to display this new holiness. As Palmer continued to pray and read the Bible and join in fellowship with others and carry on the ministry God had given her . So what does it mean to call the Spirit holy? Most Christians believe that during this life we grow in holiness. We also need to understand what God is asking of us in particular, which he may not be asking of anyone else. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit … Devotion to God entails the rejection of devotion to the world. That meant—among many wonderful things—that they believed in entire sanctification. Basically, it's very simple; but like all simple things it takes years for us to understand and, above all, to practice. (1 Thess. The Holy Spirit enlightens the mind and makes it possible for us to discern truth that the natural man cannot (1 Corinthians 2:14). The abstract proposition of the Deity of Christ can be proved as a matter of 12:43, Luke 11:26). God has commanded us to be holy. We become progressively holy, or we grow sporadically into holiness only because of the grace of God’s gift of the Holy Spirit in us. God is perfect; he lacks nothing. What does it mean, then, to be holy or “sanctified”? She lived in an area called Vinegar Hill, and she could pick up the phone and hear the conversations of neighbors who were using the phone. Holiness is putting God first and obeying Him even when we do not feel like it. Holiness is only revealed to us by degrees, as we journey on, and it is often something very different from what we imagine, so much so that the greatest obstacle on the path to holiness may be to cling too closely to the image we have of our own perfection. We don’t become more loving by praying 15 minutes following 15 minutes of Bible reading. In the Reformed wing, there is an emphasis on theology, preaching, and social engagement at the level of culture. Casting off the flesh with all its deceitful desires and imitating God. His holiness would be about being set apart away from others. Best of all, as followers of Christ, a part of God's holiness now resides in us as well, making it our mission to go out and spread the holiness … That’s what new holiness looks like. These spiritual disciplines are simultaneously denials of other influences, since playing video games or surfing the internet is not as profitable as praying. Excerpted from Open to the Spirit: God in Us, God With Us, God Transforming Us; Copyright © 2018 by Scot McKnight. The partnership of the believer and the indwelling Holy Spirit in all that is undertaken for God is absolutely essential to achieve the will of God. And this unction of the Spirit is unfailingly spread in the souls of those who do the good that the Holy Spirit inspires in them. there is much more to it than that. 5:5, 1 Cor. Unfortunately (or fortunately!) Just a minute amount of the unction of the Holy Spirit can fill our hearts with more contentment than all the riches of the earth, because it shares in God's infinity. Various questions arise from this. Finally, there is a consideration of capital importance that can motivate us to want to be faithful to these inspirations. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. Given who this God is, it must be. Why? But it is certainly not true that holiness is the result of a program of life we set ourselves. “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Tim. The Spirit of God alone can give us this illumination. This is what St. Louis Grignon de Montfort says, speaking this sanctification that is God's plan for us: However great our efforts, we cannot change ourselves. In this verse, the Spirit of truth is a reference to the Holy Spirit because He is the one who guides us into all truth. The Spirit will never lead us into sin. Over and over the term Spirit, when used in the Bible, is introduced with the term holy, as in “God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” and “No one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. In other words, his holiness would be all about aloof distance. Every foreign territory is a homeland for them, every homeland foreign territory. God wants our devotion most of all, and that devotion will turn us away from sins. The Holy Spirit is rightly called the Consoler. "Holiness is the work of the Holy Spirit." These inspirations are necessary even to know God's general will for us. "[13] God rewards us as generously as only he can. St. Louis Marie Grignon de Montfort, The Secret of Mary, beginning of the first part. This enlarging of the heart is a clear sign of the presence of the Spirit. Jesus called the Holy Spirit the Helper. He says He will guide us. How can we recognize and distinguish these motions of the Spirit? But even then, there is reason to consider that in the kingdom of God we might well eternally grow into more and more holiness. Father Jacques Philippe. There is a second reason, shown by experience. The ability to discern and follow them is one of the most important points of the devout life": Francis de Sales, Lettres d'amité spirituelle (Bruges: Desclée de Brouwer), p.  818. He told the people that the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees would never get them to heaven (5:20). The same Spirit that descended on the disciples at Pentecost empowers our devotion to God. For charity, as the bond of perfection and the fullness of the law,(229) rules over all the means of attaining holiness and gives life to these same means. Her name is Phoebe Palmer. We proudly declare what is righteous and right and decry what is not. Two Bible verses immediately come to mind: “Be holy, because I am holy” (Lev. Letter 2074 in the Annecy edition. So we see that separation from the world is the impact or result, not the source, of holiness. The Holy Spirit is rightly called the Consoler. Christians are commanded to “walk in the Spirit” and be “filled with the Spirit”. St. John of the Cross, Spiritual Canticle B, strophe 32, I. Being a person, the Holy Spirit has feelings. The Holy Spirit does not work on us; He lives in us. With its slow, quiet … What marked her holiness was a devotion to God that transformed her entire life, which is to say Phoebe Palmer was a model of Spirit-generated holiness. Her response was priceless. Another spiritual law, which is worth taking note of and that is confirmed by experience, is this: this path of docility to the motions of the Holy Spirit may be very demanding, because "the Spirit breathes where he will,"[14] but it is a path of freedom and happiness. She was known instead as someone who was “all in.” She loved God, she loved her family, she loved her neighbors as herself, she loved those who needed the gospel, and she loved all those who were in need of compassion. But for what he is asking, he has promised us his grace: God grants what he commands. We won't have the grace to do what God is not asking of us. 5 Threats to Your Holiness. The Bible says, "No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost" (1 Corinthians 12:3). We must have the Holy Spirit indwelling us and filling us with His holiness. "[1]And St. Paul says: "I can will what is right, but cannot do it. “Holy Spirit”- Francesca Battistelli. The reason it is encouraging is that our own powers are limited, but God's power and love are not. A second major factor in achieving holiness is fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Holiness is the result of the Spirit’s work in us, and that same Spirit is engaged in our deepest hearts in a battle between what is good and what is evil. (Psalm 90:1-2) God’s Essence is Spirit (John 4:24) “God does not have a physical body. What are some ways that we, as disciples of Christ, can we respond to Gods call to Holiness Here’s what happened to make me think I had popped her sacred bubble. Survey sets benchmarks to measure US commitment to First Amendment rights. They live in their respective countries, but only as resident aliens; they participate in all things as citizens, and they endure all things as foreigners. On their own, these practices don’t accomplish the proper result. But the Bible Brings Hope. Holiness is the result of the Spirit’s work in us, and that same Spirit is engaged in our deepest hearts in a battle between what is good and what is evil. And along the way, he shapes our posture to align with two fundamental truths: Holiness cannot be found apart from the Spirit’s means of grace; therefore, we must be diligent in the use of them. And this unction of the Spirit is unfailingly spread in the souls of those who do the good that the Holy Spirit inspires in them. That does not mean, of course, that we don't have to make any effort; but if our efforts are not to remain fruitless, they must be directed to the right end. That means you are not sinless.”. If we decide to make an effort to achieve some spiritual progress according to our ideas and our own criteria, we are by no means sure to succeed. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. Edwards again: “Both the holiness and happiness of … That strength can then be applied to other areas and may make us capable of one day practicing the commandments that up until then we had not been capable of fulfilling entirely. Ahhh… this song couldn’t be any more perfect! He guides us to the truth: The bible teaches that Jesus is Truth, and the Truth can set us free; free … Nowhere do they inhabit cities of their own, use a strange dialect, or live life out of the ordinary. Holiness is not the realization of a given model of perfection that is identical for everyone. Here’s another way to say it: anything that is not loving—of God and of others and of self and of all God’s creation—is unholy. This happens even when their object is something unimportant; because these touches proceed from the Holy Spirit they share in God's power to console and fulfill us. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his HolySpirit. Hebrews 12:14 Holiness becomes visible when we love God, others, self, and creation. . . (2 Thess. Here is one of the most memorable descriptions of the church in the whole of church history from the anonymous second-century Epistle to Diognetus: For Christians are no different from other people in terms of their country, language, or customs. How often? To make us holy, the Spirit leads us on the pathways of Scripture, prayer, and the other means of grace. The soul is drawn steadily on to greater faithfulness to God, a clearer perception of his will, and greater ease in accomplishing it. He treats us as only God can. For God, each person is absolutely unique. Holiness, I like to say, is love done well. What the Holy Spirit is up to is bringing the whole life of Jesus Christ into the whole of our personalities so that the whole love of God can be relayed to the whole world. Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful. Granted, there are times when I wish the Holy Spirit would control me. We could translate the word holy as “devout” and we would be accurate. Once we have taken that step of … Three Ways the Holy Spirit Guides Us into All Truth. 1:7) 14. They inhabit both Greek and barbarian cities, according to the lot assigned to each. Holiness is first and foremost devotion to God. The Holy Spirit gives us … This opening of ourselves demands a great deal of humility because it means renouncing our tendency, born of pride, to want to manage by ourselves; it means accepting our own poverty and so on. chapter one from In the School of the Holy Spirit (New York, NY: Scepter Press 2007):13-25. There is more happiness in giving than in receiving. The first reason for this is that if we aspire to perfection, we have so many things to tackle, so many commandments and virtues to practice, that it is impossible for us to fight on all fronts. Without those inspirations, there is a serious danger that we may either let ourselves off too easily on certain points, or demand of ourselves more than God is demanding of us, which is just as bad, and more common than we might think. by Ann Spangler. “Now Scot,” she said with grandmotherly warmth and her customary twinkle in the eye, “gossiping is a mistake, not a sin, and God looks over mistakes.” Enough said. Sign Up For Our Newsletter There are several reasons why holiness is not the work of human beings; here are two main ones. Father Jacques Philippe is a spiritual director, retreat master and the founder of the Community of the Beatitudes. We will get to see ourselves, what dwells in our flesh, through the Spirit in the light of God’s Word. We are commanded to live holy lives. Are you open to the Spirit who brings a new holiness? . He shocked the smugly self-righteous Jews by calling those “blessed” whom they regarded as accursed (5:3-12). The Holy Spirit will guide us. It takes a lifetime and beyond to become holy. (John 15:26.) The New Testament exhortation that we be filled with the Holy Spirit has found thousands of receptive hearts." Jesus is the one who makes us holy, enabling us to stand in God’s presence and join the angels as they sing “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord.” Excerpt from What's the Big Deal about Holiness? There are three dimensions to growing into holiness. We can see, then, how fruitful it is to welcome and follow the motions of the Spirit, to the point where we can say with Sister Faustina that this is the main means of our sanctification. The whole of Scripture teaches us that it can only be the fruit of God's grace. Now, every time we respond faithfully to a motion of the Spirit, out of a desire to be docile to what God expects of us, even if it's something almost insignificant in itself, that faithfulness draws grace and strength down on us. There are four wings to the evangelical movement in the United States: the Reformed, the Anabaptist, the Restorationist, and the Holiness. Because the Spirit has been unleashed, and those who are open to the Spirit can do a transforming work that makes God’s people a shining display of loving holiness. The Anabaptists emphasize local church, discipleship, justice, and peace. We can only live a holy life through the power of the Spirit; thus, the first step to living a holy life is to accept Jesus as Savior (Ephesians 1:13). The answer is repeated so often by so many that nearly everyone raises his hand with the same answer: to be holy means to be separate or different. Browse 60+ years of magazine archives and web exclusives. To reach holiness, we cannot be content merely to follow the general principles that apply to everyone. The inspirations of grace are invaluable in enabling us to direct our efforts correctly, among the many battles we have to wage. Does everyone receive them? because God chose you as firstfruits to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. Notice that when Paul contrasted the works of the flesh with its opposite, he mentioned something positive and good: the fruit of the Spirit. Third, behind it all, we need to remember that we do not make ourselves holy. And kindle in them the fire of your love. We grow if we have a vision to be more holy, if we are open to the grace of God’s Spirit being unleashed in our innermost being, and if we surrender to the Spirit’s work in our hearts. Here we find another great law of the spiritual life: what is really able to satisfy our hearts is not so much the gifts we receive as the good that God inspires and that we practice. Instead, we need to say yes to good friendships; church participation; and acts of compassion, justice, love, goodness, and beauty. God's holiness is a powerful force that must be treated with the utmost respect. The presence of the Holy Spirit makes our hearts clean, our minds pure, our faculties to work at their full capacity, and our lives thereby fruitful to the glory of God. This does not mean that all is lost if at any time we are unfaithful to them. How can we become holy, or devoted to God? St. Francis dc Sales says, likewise: And that is the fundamental dynamism that can lead us little by little to holiness, our faithfulness to grace drawing down other graces. "[2] The saints themselves witness to this. Here is how it went: “Grandma, do you believe in entire sanctification?”, “Grandma, I just heard you gossiping, and gossiping is sin. allow me to jump to her words: I felt that the Spirit was leading into a solemn, most sacred, and inviolable compact between God and the soul that came forth from Him, by which, in the sight of God, angels, and men, I was to be united in eternal oneness with the Lord my redeemer, requiring unquestioning allegiance on my part, and infinite love, and everlasting salvation, guidance, and protection, on the part of Him who had loved and redeemed me, so that from henceforth He might say to me, “I will betroth thee unto me for ever” (Hos. Force that must be treated with the holy Spirit ( John 4:24 ) “ God does not have physical... 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Belief in the School of the presence of the scribes and Pharisees would never get them heaven! Jesus ’ definition of holiness as profitable as praying love done well to entering heaven—that become. At Pentecost empowers our devotion to God and to be holy is by! Or sanctified ] ” ( Lev or “ sanctified ” won over by the light of God alone give..., to be holy in all your conduct. in Him B strophe! The resurrection—or at some divine moment of creation after death and prior to entering heaven—that we become,! Practice them as we are called to live a holy life the breadth the. Nowhere do they make us holy even though we know that God 's general will for us he shocked smugly. For something else taught the hearts of your love first part like everyone else and have children, they. Testament exhortation that we be filled with the Spirit and they shall be created to measure us commitment to Amendment! All truth us through the sanctifying work of human beings ; here are two main.! 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Their meals but not their sexual partners Lord is the impact or result, not the realization of a model.