Posts Tagged ‘Holiness’
A Living Faith Evidenced in Godly Affections: Part 3 (James 4:1-12)
Click here for previous posts on James 4: part 1 and part 2. James has addressed the manifest problem of quarreling and fighting. Then he pinpointed the source of such a problem. Finally, he reveals the solution to that problem. But before the solution, he discusses the need to be convicted of the problem, driving…
Read MoreHoliness Living
We hear a lot about grace living but not as much about holiness living. God is love and God is holy. This is God’s truth from which we cannot escape. I wrote an article called “we need to live by God’s promises and not his explanations.” The main point I wanted to convey was that…
Read MoreDress for Success
There was a time when there were different clothes for different occasions. I say there ‘was a time’ because today casual is accepted as the norm almost anywhere you go. I’ve been in restaurants where the waiter was dressed very formally, but most patrons were quite informal. We live in a casual culture. But even…
Read MoreThe Fundamentals of Sanctification and Cultural Fundamentalism
Previously, I posted a piece called, “The Fundamentals of Sanctification.” The basic proposition of that article is that the Bible gives us a fundamental understanding of sanctification: sanctification means putting off the old man and putting on the new man, it means separating from the world and clinging to God, it means rejecting the old…
Read MoreDifferentiating Holiness from Legalism
One of the most emotionally divisive issues between Christian brothers and sisters is something hotly labeled legalism. But ask nearly anyone to define what legalism actually is, and the explanation quickly gets vague. The old joke is that legalism is anything to the right of me! Worldliness is anything to my left. Unfortunately, in real…
Read MoreSacrilege and Blasphemy
What makes a thing “sacrilegious and blasphemous”? We’ve seen the terms connected to recent events. Much of the ensuing discussion expresses dismay at the actions of some and ridicule of this dismay on the part of others. I don’t want to get into the specifics of the incident here, we hope the controversy brought about…
Read MorePositive Holiness
I was raised in what is called a ‘holiness’ denomination (of the Pentecostal variety) which meant that our church took seriously the Bible’s commands to live distinctive lives (Leviticus 19:2; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Peter 1:16). While I am genuinely thankful for this emphasis and the character-shaping effect it had on me, unfortunately the form…
Read MoreOpenness & Holiness: Friends or Enemies?
Maybe it’s just me, but have you ever noticed that Christians who heavily emphasize holiness often lack openness and honesty? Have you ever noticed that Christians who heavily emphasize openness and honesty often lack holiness? One church seems to be filled with people who seem to have it all together, but who never bear the…
Read MoreThe Name of God and the Movies
Kristopher Schaal Even secular culture cannot help but make moral judgments. Sometimes Christians can affirm the world’s ethic and sometimes we must challenge it. Sometimes the culture gets it right and sometimes it is wrong. One of the ways in which our society has failed drastically is in its assessment of the rightness or wrongness…
Read MoreThe Local Church, the Believer, and the Temple of God
Who is “The Temple of God” in 1 Corinthians 3:16–17? For those of us who grew up in Fundamentalism, hearing a sermon about a Christian’s body being the temple of the Holy Ghost was a normal experience. Preachers have often preached 1 Corinthians 6:19, warning Christians to avoid destructive habits such as smoking, drugs, and…
Read More