To the Apostle Paul, christianity was not a mere creed to learn and live, but rather a person to love and serve, and that person was Christ. The whole meaning of life to the Apostle was to know Christ in a most intimate way, for he states in Philippians 1: 21, “for to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Even death being ‘gain’ meant more of Christ and more of life to him. That was why he went on to say that he had “a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.”
In John 17: 3, Jesus gave to us the true meaning of eternal life when He prayed, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” When it came to knowing Him there was no question in Paul’s mind concerning his knowledge of Christ. In II Timothy 1:12 he testifies, “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.”
When Jesus came into the world and dwelt among us, He was a revelation of the Father. When Philip asked him to show us the Father and it will satisfy us, Jesus responded by saying, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” It was once stated that when Jesus came into the world he put a face on God. If you ever wondered what God was like all you need to do is to look at Christ.
As Jesus was the revelation of the Father, the Bible is a revelation of Christ. When one reads it the Holy Spirit will then take the things of Christ and show them unto us. The incarnate Christ not only enriched and clarified our understanding of the Father but He also deepened our concept of holiness. When the ideal became incarnate, not only was the Word made flesh and dwelt among us but holiness was made flesh. He brought holiness out of the realm of the abstract and by His life gave to us a living reality.
He also showed us what a life is like when one is fully possessed of the Holy Spirit. Jesus revealed to us that human affections, relationships, and emotions can remain holy without stress or strain. Nothing was ever forced nor was there anything phony about Him. He was the most balanced figure that ever walked through the pages of human history. He was not only infinite sanctity but infinite sanity.
John tells us in his first epistle, “Because as He is, so are we in this world.” What a wonderful pattern He left us to follow. Peter reminds us as obedient children, “as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation (living).” The pattern and motive of holiness is ‘as He is holy’. New Testament holiness is not ornamental, rather it is vocational. Christian holiness experienced in the heart must be reflected in our living by a recognizable pattern of christian behavior. This speaks to the christian’s mission to the world. While the christian is distinct and detached from the world, as Jesus prayed in John 17: 16, “they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world,” we are to be dedicated to the same purpose that our Savior was dedicated to, that of the salvation of the world. As it was with Jesus, we cannot win the world without being detached from it. One cannot lift another out of a ditch if he too is in the ditch. We cannot lift one higher than we are ourselves. The gospel is the ‘good news’ that one has come to lift us out of the mire of sin and set our feet on a firm foundation. Therefore the gospel needs to be proclaimed by christian interpreters skilled in the art of christian living, and that is the reason for the call to holiness.
Much of the world does not read the word of God but they watch and observe the life of the christian. Paul reminded the christians in II Corinthians 3:2, “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men.” The christian life is to be lived in such a way as to validate and authenticate that we serve a risen savior. This is the vocation of every believer to their generation. You are proof to every unbeliever that Jesus was crucified, and on the third day He arose from the dead, as He said He would.
You are further proof that He ascended and is now seated at the right hand of the Father on high. Jesus promised to the believer that when He was glorified (ascended back to the Father) that He would “send the comforter (Holy Spirit) from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.” This He did initially on the inaugural day of Pentecost. The dynamics of the upper room experience when those early believers were filled with the Holy Spirit is available for all believers today.
Joe Brice said, “Unless the Holy Spirit fills, the human spirit will fail.” Here we have the focal point of truth, we cannot possibly be, in our own power, what God wants us to be; we cannot show forth His handiwork, except it be through the power of His indwelling Spirit. We can never be living examples and epistles of Christ likeness without the Holy Spirit’s fullness. Pentecost is not an appendage attached to the christian’s life, it is the very life itself. The Holy Spirit is the inner dynamic that makes the ideal actual.
All claims to holiness stand or fall in its likeness to Christ. The Holy Spirit illuminates the mind (disposition) of Christ and Christ exemplifies the work of the Spirit. Even the gifts of the Spirit must be judged by their power to produce a more Christ like character in the life of the believer. Jesus is indeed the external pattern and the Holy Spirit is the internal presence to enable us to live a Christ-like life. This experience and life of holiness is, as Jesus prayed in His final prayer before going to the cross, “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
George Bowen wrote: “It is the vocation of every believer to afford in his own person the evidence that Christ has risen. This is thy vocation. Wilt thou roll back the stone upon the sepulcher and make the world believe that Christ is still there? This thou art actually doing if thou walk not in the Spirit.” Are you living a life that is evidence of His resurrection power to the world around you? Is your life, as Paul admonished us in Titus 2: 10, “adorning the doctrine of God our savior in all things?” If not seek His face until you become “a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” II Timothy 2:21.
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