Clergy/Leaders’ Mail-list No. 0-025

Rowland Croucher

HOLINESS HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH PURITY

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the exiles… who have been chosen and destined by God our Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with his blood. 1 Peter 1:1,2.

At the beginning of his letter Peter says we – the Christian church – ‘were made a holy people by (God’s) Spirit, to… be purified by his blood’.

Holiness is associated in Peter’s words with a couple of things, one of which is purity. Purity simply means being ‘uncontaminated’ in a polluted world, an impure environment. This is the real meaning of holiness, too. It means to be ‘separate’, to have a special purpose (and therefore be ‘special people’), in contrast to the surrounding spiritual environment.

This idea of ‘separateness’ is implied even in non-Christian uses of the word ‘holy’. At the shrine of remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, there are engraved in stone these words: ‘Let all men know that this is holy ground. This shrine established in the hearts of men as on the solid earth it commemorates a people’s fortitude and sacrifice. Ye therefore that come after, give remembrance.’

So help me, Lord, to be separate, holy. For your glory. Amen.

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher <>