Tag-Archive for » holy «

Preparations

Friday, February 01st, 2013 | Author:

“And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”  John 17:19  ESV

Consecrate – “The language is equally appropriate to the preparation of a priest and the preparation of a sacrifice; it is therefore doubly appropriate to Christ.”[1]  Barrett’s comment about the Greek word hagiazo is now so commonplace that we hardly register any question about it.  Erickson nods approvingly when he notes that the verb hagiazo is “a term common in sacrificial contexts.”[2]  “His death was a sacrifice typified by the Old Testament sacrificial system.”[3]  We could quote many others.  Everyone seems to recognize that Yeshua speaks about His death in Old Testament sacrificial terms.  But then how is it possible to ignore that fact that His death does not meet the requirements of an Old Testament sacrifice?  Are we so intent on fitting the death of Yeshua into our Christian paradigm that we are willing to overlook its complete misfit with everything about a sacrifice that any Jew would have known?  The Christian theologians are right.  Yeshua’s death is described as an atoning sacrifice.  But it certainly doesn’t fit the Levitical system.  If it is a sacrifice, it must be a sacrifice of another order.

It’s worth noting that this verb (hagiazo) is used twice in Yeshua’s statement.  It is the same verb translated “may be sanctified.”  Yeshua consecrates himself in order that his disciples may be consecrated, or He sanctifies Himself so that they may be sanctified.  Recognizing that the action is the same for both parties helps us remove the idea that Yeshua does something radically different than what is expected of his disciples.  What He does is also something that they will do.

But this means that Yeshua cannot have the cross in mind because He is not expecting all His disciples to also be crucified as sacrifices for sin.  Hagiazo is about entering into a state of holiness (cf. Isaiah 5:16, Ezekiel 36:23, Exodus 19:10).  It is an act of dedication to God’s absolute standard of holiness.  The etymology of the word makes it clear that it is to be understood within the framework of religious practice and ritual.  In rabbinic Judaism, this word is used to describe those who keep Torah and who separate themselves from pagan practices.  Paul’s use of the term helps us see what Yeshua intends.  In Romans 12:1, Paul uses the noun form (hagios) to describe the believer as a “living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”  Yeshua must mean that His disciples are to be separated, set aside for God, living examples of perfect practice within the religious community.  They don’t need to die on the cross but they do need to die to self.

Here’s the point for our present inquiry:  the focus of Yeshua’s own remark and the use of the word in both the Tanakh and the apostolic writings is on death, not forgiveness.  The emphasis is on the violent separation from worldly ways, a process akin to dying.  The point is the death of the sacrifice.  We may recognize that Yeshua’s death had different effects and implications than the “consecration” of His disciples, but the point is that in this final hour of prayer, Yeshua doesn’t speak of dying for the forgiveness of the world’s sin.  He speaks of dying as a process that brings about holiness.  And since He clearly intends His disciples to go through this process, it hardly seems possible to read the text as if He expected everyone who followed Him to literally be nailed to a cross.  What Yeshua has in mind must be consistent with the ritual practice found in the Tanakh, perhaps deepened, perhaps extended, but certainly not incompatible, otherwise no Jew of His time would have understood how hagiazo could be connected to the cult (the religious practice).

What does this mean for us?  It means that Yeshua expects us to be hagios, holy.  But that word doesn’t stand on its own.  To be holy is to be in conformity with the holy God – and for the audiences of Yeshua, Paul, Peter and John, that means to reach the standard of the Tanakh, to be obedient to its teachings.  Yeshua consecrated Himself in order for us to be able to do the same.  He acted as priest.  He brought His followers into the presence of the Holy God, He interceded – with the intention that they might also become holy.

So, how’s that working out in your life?  Does hagiazo describe you?

Topical Index:  hagiazo, hagios, holy, consecrate, sanctify, John 17:19, Romans 12:1

[1] C. K. Barrett, The Gospel According to  St. John, 2nd Edition (Westminster, 1978), p. 571.

[2] Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (1st Edition), p. 807.

[3] Ibid., p. 808.

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Triple Play

Friday, January 18th, 2013 | Author:

But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.  James 3:17  NASB

Pure – James, Paul and John agree.  They each use this rather rare Greek word for the same thing – moral purity.  Paul uses it in 1 Timothy 5:22.  John uses it in 1 John 3:3 and James rounds out the triple play.  But it is more than we commonly think of when we consider moral purity.  In the case of each of these Jewish men, hagnos is related to the purity that is expected within the practice of the Way.  That’s why we find the same Greek term in the LXX (Proverbs 20:9 and 4 Maccabees 18:7-8).  In King James English, this would be translated “chastity.”

James strikes a discordant note for our generation.  He places moral purity at the head of the list with regard to wisdom from above.  It is first (proton) in the characteristics of godly competence and mastery.  James’ order isn’t accidental.  Hs provides the building blocks of a truly Spirit-sensitive existence and the very first building block is exact alignment with God’s view of morality.  In fact, James allows no deviation, no excuses, no exceptions.  If you and I want to experience the full range of God’s sweet presence in living, then we must conform our lives to His moral code.

When it comes to the big ticket items, most of us don’t see any real problems here.  We maintain a fairly high moral standard simply because we were brought up that way.  We know stealing is wrong.  We try not to lie.  We would never murder another person.  We do our best with honoring parents.  We keep our sexual desires under control.  But, of course, that isn’t’ quite what James has in mind, is it?  James isn’t talking simply about conformity with the law, and in this case, the law of the land, the government’s rules for proper social behavior.  He’s talking about our heart motivation.  He’s talking about how much we long for God’s ways no matter what the cost.  He’s looking for purity – that sense of absolute conformity with the character of God that comes from deep inside and that directs all of our actions so that we are transparently holy.  He’s talking about Leviticus 19:2 (just as his brother did in Matthew 5:48).

First, holiness!  Everything else follows from this.  And without it, nothing else matters.  Certainly there is no sense of God’s wisdom without Leviticus 19:2.  There is no possibility of fulfilling God’s purpose for His chosen ones without Leviticus 19:2.  One might even wonder if there is any real community without Leviticus 19:2.  Hagnos might be a rare word in the New Testament, but it is not a rare concept.    The entire plan of redemption drives to this one goal – holiness, purity, blamelessness.  And some great heroes of the faith knew precisely what it meant.  David, Samuel, Joseph, Hosea, Isaiah, Elijah.  Maybe even you.

Topical Index:  hagnos, pure, holy, James 3:17, Leviticus 19:2

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Theological Abuse

Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 | Author:

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Matthew 5:48 NASB

Perfect – It will come as no great shock to you that none of us can meet this standard.  No one is perfect.  In fact, it seems quite obvious that no human being is capable of being perfect.  Perhaps that’s one of the reasons we make theological exceptions for Yeshua.  He just isn’t ordinary.  All the rest of us have at one time or another acted less than perfectly.  But if this is so, why would Yeshua set the standard so high that none of us can reach it?  If He knew all human beings sin, why would He demand the impossibility of perfection?

Before you jump to the doctrine of depravity bequeathed to us by Augustine and Calvin, remember that no one in the audience on the day Yeshua gave this lesson had ever heard of those two men.  In fact, no one in that audience probably ever heard of Plato who started the whole depravity problem in the first place.  Remember also that Yeshua is thoroughly versed in the Tanakh.  His allusion in this statement is to Leviticus 19:2 where the proper key word is not “perfect” but rather “holy.”  We have looked at the differences between these two concepts in the past, but today let’s pay attention to the implications of this correction for our concept of Man.  Heschel sums it up nicely:

“The notion of human perfection, which made its way into the literature of Israel in the Middle Ages, is an alien growth in the Jewish vineyard, one that bears flowers but no fruit.”[1]  In a footnote, Gordon Tucker comments, “[Human perfection] is nice to contemplate but provides no useful moral guidance.”  Think about these statements for a moment.  Put aside the theological debate about depravity and sinful nature.  Just think about the impact that the idea of human perfection has had on us.

First, it drives us to despair.  How do you like living in a world where you can never be good enough?  Isn’t that reassuring?  It isn’t much consolation to be told that this is all a test of your faith.  Frankly, if God designed the planet so that we are intended to constantly fail in order to recognize our sinfulness, then I’m not sure I want to worship that kind of god.  That kind of god is much more like the pagan gods of the ancient Near East or the Greeks than the God of intimate, heartbroken compassion that I find in the Tanakh.

Second, a doctrine (for that is what it is) of human perfection, even as an ideal, reshapes the way we think of progress, politics and personality.  It supports the idea of social evolution (see devolving).  It suggests that human beings are capable of reaching utopia.  It views all defects as disease, capable of being overcome by the application of reason.  It classifies the biblical theme of the sinful heart as an outmoded myth.  Imagine how much psychological abuse has occurred as a result of believing that people should be perfect.  Then consider how differently you would view the world – and yourself – if you seriously took to heart the idea that human beings are supposed to progress toward holiness – toward being completely set aside for God’s purposes.  Now you might understand why the sages taught that we are to serve God with both the yetzer ha’tov and the yetzer ha’ra.  To eliminate the yetzer ha’ra is to erase God’s image in us!  The idea of human perfection (not human holiness) is blasphemy.  It amounts to saying that God’s image in human beings is not good.

Perfect?  No way!  But progressing toward godliness.  Yes, that’s the goal.  “Be holy, for I, YHWH am holy.”

Topical Index:  perfect, holy, teleios, Matthew 5:48, Leviticus 19:2, human perfection


[1] Abraham Heschel, Heavenly Torah, p. 505.

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Holy Perfection (2)

Friday, January 20th, 2012 | Author:

k’doshim tihiyu ki kadosh ani YHWH eloheychem  Wayyiqra 19:2  Tanakh

I am holy – The verse is Leviticus 19:2 in transliterated Hebrew.  You might recognize the word kadosh (it occurs twice).  tihiyu is the verb hayah (you shall be).  When Yeshua refers to this verse in His pronouncement in Matthew 5:48, He has Torah observance in mind.  But the sages teach us that Torah observance includes another crucial distinction; the distinction between “clean” and “unclean.”  By the way, this distinction is not only about food, as we shall see.

“The starting point of holiness is separateness,” says Neusner.[1]  “So ‘holy’ means not only ‘like God’ but designated for the service and use of God.  And ‘profane’ means available for humanity’s ordinary use. . . . What is ‘unclean’ is not to be permitted to contaminate what is ‘holy.’  In this context Scripture and the Mishnah define matters clearly.  The corpse is the most virulent source of uncleanness, so in this sense, ‘unclean’ stands for death; and ‘holy’ for life.  . .  uncleanness affects the conduct of three activities: eating, procreation, and attendance at the Temple.”[2]

Consider the implications of Neusner’s insight.  What is unclean is associated with death.  That means a lot more than food.  Disease, ritual impurity, sexual activity outside the boundary of Torah, anything that contributes to death is unclean.  What you do with your body and to your body can be either clean or unclean.  Eating shellfish has the same association as visiting a prostitute.  One defiles digestion.  The other defiles procreation.

To be holy, kadosh, is to be separated from those actions and elements that are connected not only with profane use in ordinary human living but also to be connected to what smells of death.  And what does that mean?  To die is ultimately to be separated from the Creator.  So the distinction between clean and unclean is a choice between what kind of separation will govern your life.  Moses summed it up.  “So choose life” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

What you eat is either clean or unclean.  It leads to either life or death.  What you do sexually is either clean or unclean.  It leads to either life or death.  How you worship is either clean or unclean.  It leads to either life or death.

But, of course, that isn’t the end of the matter, is it?  When we do not separate ourselves from the possible profane use of life, we move toward death.  Our stewardship of God’s gracious gifts (“our” assets), our relationships and community (our hesed obligations), our engagement in life’s trajectory (our purpose); all of these can be clean or unclean.  Life or death hangs in the balance.  It’s far more than a simple confession of faith, isn’t it?

Topical Index:  clean, unclean, holy, Leviticus 19:2, Deuteronomy 30:19


[1] Jacob Neusner, Judaism When Christianity Began, p. 46.

[2] Ibid, pp. 48-49.

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Holy Perfection (1)

Thursday, January 19th, 2012 | Author:

“Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Matthew 5:48  NASB

Perfect – Yeshua’s demand seems perfectly reasonable, right?  You and I can be perfect, can’t we?  God demands it.  We are accountable.  Therefore, we should do it.

When I was much younger, this verse scared me to death.  I knew that I wasn’t perfect.  I made lots of mistakes.  No matter how hard I tried, I always failed.  Yet it seems as if “Jesus” was demanding that I never falter.  This led me to serious spiritual depression.  Knowing that I couldn’t live up to His demand, I either excused my actions or wallowed in guilt.  It took a long time to realize that Yeshua wasn’t asking for faultlessness.  That is a Greek idea based in a culture that viewed perfection like a mathematical formula.  It took a long time to understand that perfection didn’t mean “100% correct.”  The Greek verb teleios carries the sense of direction toward completion.  That means this verse, in Greek, could be translated, “Be fully complete.”  And, of course, no one is fully complete instantly.  To be complete, to be fully grown, takes time.  It is direction that matters here, not destination, although, of course, the ultimate destination sets the direction.  Perhaps the Twelve Step people understand it better.  “Progress, not perfection.”

But Yeshua wasn’t speaking Greek.  He spoke Hebrew.  His implications and references come from the Tanakh, in particular, from Leviticus 19:2.  There we discover that the reference is to holiness, not our Greek ideal of perfection.  “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.”  This makes Yeshua’s statement even clearer.  Holiness is a matter of setting apart my life for His purposes.  Holiness is about submission, about domesticating the yetzer ha’ra, about putting an end to the rebellion.  That is also a process.  Each day God reveals another way that I can set apart some aspect of my life.  Each day I am challenged to be holy as He is holy.

It took a long time to understand this.  Then I read this:  “The Rabbinic exposition of Leviticus 19 underscores that to be like God, that is, to be holy, means to act in accord with the rules of morality and compassion.  One cannot overemphasize that fact, since people do not always correlate ‘holiness’ with morality and ethical conduct in the way in which the Torah insists they are to match.”[1]

I realized that holiness is not simply direction toward the divine.  Holiness is living according to the rules God establishes.  Holiness is keeping Torah.  In most Christian circles, holiness is a collection of good principles and noble actions.  But this is not holiness in the Bible.  Yeshua knew exactly what He was saying when He drew on Leviticus 19:2.  Holiness is living God’s way.  Period.  Any other way does not meet the biblical definition of holiness.  Any other way is my way, no matter how noble or upright it happens to be.  Good enough is not holy.

Topical Index:  holy, teleios, perfect, good, Torah, Matthew 5:48, Leviticus 19:2


[1] Jacob Neusner, Judaism When Christianity Began, p. 46.

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Pollution Control

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011 | Author:

And I, I shall set My face against that man, and shall cut him off from the midst of his people, because he has given of his offspring to Molek, so as to defile My sanctuary and to profane My holy Name. Leviticus 20:3 (my translation)

Holy – “Above all, the name of God is holy.”  To make God’s name holy means to live in such a way that “men must see and say that the God of Israel is the true God.”  This specifically means “obeying the will of God in keeping the commands of Torah and studying to achieve a blameless walk in the eyes of the world.”[1] In other words, hallowing God’s name, keeping it holy, is not determined by our own inner spiritual condition nor is it determined by God’s assessment of our faith.  The measure of keeping God’s name holy is the assessment of outsiders.  If our actions do not cause them to proclaim the God of Israel as the one true God, then we have profaned His name.

In this example in Leviticus, the practice of child sacrifice to the fertility god, Molek, profaned God’s holy name.  Why?  Because God is the God of life.  He determines who lives and who dies.  Attempts by human beings to appease fertility gods in order to insure their material success not only violate God’s ordinance concerning life but also deny that God is sovereign over the material world.  People who acted in this way caused the nations to doubt the character of God.  There are obvious contemporary parallels.

The rabbis interpreted the command to hallow God’s name as an explicit endorsement of Torah obedience.  How is it possible to act in ways that will cause the nations to recognize the God of Israel if the people who call themselves by His name do not follow His instructions?  Obviously, disobedience entails dishonor and the nations will recognize such hypocrisy.  We who are His possession are expected to behave in ways that will attract the attention of the world.  One might legitimately ask if the Christian theology that absolves believers from keeping Torah has any chance of accomplishing this objective.  Why would the nations pay any heed to those who live just like they do?  Distinctiveness demands explanation.  Conformity doesn’t.  It is a useful exercise to ask just how distinctive our lives really are.  Wherever we are out of alignment with Torah, we profane His name.  At least that is the lesson from the Tanakh and it seems to be the lesson from the lives of the disciples.  It would be difficult to imagine otherwise.

We have learned that holiness has two perspectives: one from God’s point of view and one from the world’s point of view.  You will notice that there is no subjective point of view here.  I am not the one who determines if I am holy or if I am keeping God’s name holy.  God’s point of view is about His ownership of me.  The world’s point of view is about whether that ownership is so visible that the nations see God operating in me.  Since this holiness (kodesh) is the essential background of the word hagios (saint), we can be sure that those called saints did not call themselves such.  The two points of view need to collide before we become what God calls.  No man is a saint who profanes God.

Topical Index:  holy, saint, kodesh, Leviticus 20:3, Molek, Molech, name

[1] Kuhn, TDNT, Vol. 1, pp. 98-99.

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You Must Be Kidding!

Monday, June 27th, 2011 | Author:

to the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus, saints by calling, with all who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours: 1 Corinthians 1:2  NASB

Saints – How is it possible, how is it even conceivable that Paul would call the motley crew of Corinth saints?  These people are a mess.  Incest, perversion, quarrels, illness, heresies, rancor – you name it, they exhibit it.  These people are about as far from being holy ones as we could imagine.  Paul must be crazy, right?

Perhaps we can make some headway by noticing that the words “sanctified” and “saints” are connected.  “Saints” is hagios.  “Sanctified” is from the verb hagiazo.  Both are part of the Alpha-Gamma family of Greek words, all connected to the idea of holiness.  Procksch makes the important point that “in the usage in the Bible we must everywhere recognize the Semitic background”[1] of these Greek terms, that is, the Hebrew word kodesh.  What does it mean to be “holy” in Hebrew?  Our usual Greek explanation is “set aside, separated.”  But the Hebrew idea is richer.  Kodesh is not merely about moral or ethical behavior.  It is about God taking possession of us.  It is about surrender, dedication and consecration.  In Heschel’s terms, it is about awe and wonder in the presence of God.  We are mistaken if we think that holiness is a synonym for morality.  It is not.  In fact, in Hebrew kodesh has no Hebrew synonyms.  It is a cultic term for total abandonment to God based on actions initiated by God for God.  Moral and ethical behaviors are by-products of kodesh, not the purpose of kodesh.  This is why it is possible to be a “good” person and still not be hagios-kodesh.  And this is why it is possible to be a mess and still be hagios-kodesh.

Now let’s look at the assembly in Corinth (the word “church” causes some problems too, but we will ignore them).  Were these people brought into the presence of the Holy God?  Yes.  Did God call them to Himself?  Yes.  Did God take possession (ownership) of them?  Yes.  Does “sanctified” mean that they are morally upright and pure now?  No.  Does it mean that this will be the natural by-product of God’s purposes?  Yes.  It is important to realize that kodesh is atypical Hebrew.  It is not about actions.  It is about a state of being.  In other words, Paul’s statement is proleptic.  He writes to the assembly of Corinth from the perspective of what they will eventually become behaviorally, not because they will work to achieve that end but because God will faithfully produce that end.  From this perspective, they are saints in progress.  Their task is consecration.  God will do all the rest.  But from God’s perspective, they are already His possession and therefore, they are right now kodesh.

Distinguishing the Hebraic senses of hagios-kodesh is crucial for interpretation of this text.  Without this background, we might wrongly conclude that behavior doesn’t matter when it comes to being called saints.  Obviously, it matters a great deal, but it is not a matter of earning sainthood but rather responding to the God who owns us.

As far as I can tell, Paul might as well have been writing to the assembly in Montverde, Dayton, Phoenix, Seattle, Taipei, Singapore, Melbourne or Kroonstad.  We who have been drawn out by the power of the Lord are experiencing kodesh, the presence of the One who calls.  We know awe, not because we have achieved it but because it has overwhelmed us.  We are nevertheless a mess.  But God only works with garbage.  Garbage in – hagios out.  It’s a miracle.

It seems rather pointless to proclaim that Paul excuses our mess simply because he sees us as we will become.  That ignores everything we know about obedience.  But God always starts what He finishes and in this case, He has started the finished work of you and me – and the motley crew in Corinth.

Topical Index:  saints, hagios, sanctified, hagiazo, holy, kodesh, 1 Corinthians 1:2

[1] TDNT, Vol. 1, p. 89.

 

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Alien Nation

Monday, December 28th, 2009 | Author:

“You must be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.” Leviticus 19:2


Must Be Holy – The Bible is the story of God’s confrontation with His created world.  You cannot expect to read the text without being challenged, convicted and concerned.  Yes, it contains words of comfort.  Yes, it contains promises of blessing.  Yes, it contains the outline of redemption.  But at the core, the Bible is a book about a Holy God confronting unholy men.  There is a good reason to fear this book.  There is also a good reason to be driven to embrace it.  Both reasons are about holiness.

Before we make the mistake of thinking that holiness is about personal purity, spiritual maturity and an apprehension of the beatific vision, let’s remove our thoughts from that Greek model of individual ascension to the divine and consider what holiness implies in Hebrew.  First, holiness is not really a commandment.  It is a description of those who are Kingdom-conscious citizens.  That’s why the Hebrew text uses the words qedshim tihyu.  You are holy, in the sense that you must be holy in order to be part of God’s Kingdom.  The crucial term qedshim is an adjective.  It describes the quality of those who are God’s children.  How did we obtain this quality?  Not by anything we did at all.  We were set apart by God for this purpose.  Holiness is granted to us, not achieved by us.

Does this allow us to do anything we want?  Absolutely not!  In fact, in Hebrew thought, holiness is manifest in actions.  That’s why if you continue to read Leviticus 19 you will find instructions about honoring parents, keeping Sabbath, agriculture, business practices, charity, wages and justice in society.  Each and every one of these instructions is about the manifestation of holiness.  In other words, holiness is not about my personal, inner spiritual state nor my attainment of glorious perfection.  It is about us in community.  There is no Hebrew concept of holiness apart from all of us together.  The “you” in this verse is plural!  The manifestation of holiness is always among others.

Christians often speak of being set apart.  That is the essential idea of holiness.  But we don’t take the next step.  Holiness is being set apart from the world according to God’s instructions for living.  In other words, holiness is living life together as God directs.  You cannot be holy by living apart according to your own definition.  That would be like entering the court of the king but refusing to follow his protocol.  That is the mark of an insurgent, not a citizen.  Yeshua endorsed this distinction by quoting Leviticus 19:2 in Matthew 5:48.  His followers are to embrace the same manifestations of holiness in community that are described in Leviticus.  If they do not, how can they claim to be “set apart” by God?

Difference is the essence of holiness. God doesn’t do things the way the world does things.  His people don’t do things the way the world does things.  Wherever we find those who claim to be followers but who are not different, we find confusion, ignorance or rebellion.  Powerlessness, despair, discouragement, anxiety and insufficiency accompany this sad state.  The adjective qedshim cannot be applied.

Are we different?  Are you (singular) a participant in a community (plural) of manifest difference?  Is holiness tangible action among us?  Do you think of holiness the way God thinks of holiness, or are you still trapped in your Greek individualism?

Topical Index:  holy, Leviticus 19:2, Matthew 5:48, qedshim tihyu

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On Puzzles and Perfection

Sunday, August 09th, 2009 | Author:

During family holidays we do jigsaw puzzles. I like the easy ones, the ones that have pictures that don’t take forever to figure out. But the trend is toward the complex. Have you ever tired to do one of those three-dimensional puzzles? Or a puzzle that is a picture of a big blob of coffee beans? Everything looks the same. You are almost forced to take every single piece one at a time and try to fit it in.

I remember one year when we worked on a very complicated puzzle. I think it had pictures on both sides, so you really couldn’t tell which side of the piece you had in your hand. We struggled for days before we realized that a whole bunch of pieces were missing. We could never have finished the puzzle. We are handicapped right from the start.

That experience reminds me of our usual view of the mysterious will of God. How we agonize over the plan that God has for our lives! It’s like trying to piece together a three dimensional, multi-patterned, both sides jigsaw puzzle where the design is impossibly confusing. After a few years of working on it, we suddenly realize that some of the pieces are probably missing. So we spend a few more years pleading with God to show us the missing pieces. All the while we are ready to throw up our hands and quit. Life shouldn’t be this hard.

The truth is that we have confused the Greek idea of jigsaw puzzle perfection with the Hebrew idea of relationship direction. That confusion is pretty deep in our culture. After all, we are really Greco-Roman, not Semitic Hebrew. Unfortunately, the confusion leads to all sorts of anxiety, decision paralysis, guilt and passive apathy. We start to wonder if God isn’t giving us a puzzle without all the pieces, laughing to Himself as we torment ourselves trying to put it together. It’s time to break this kind of thinking. God is not a puzzle maker. He is the solution, not the problem.

So, how did we get into this state of mind? It all started with the Greek idea of perfection.

What do you think about when someone asks you what “perfect” means? You probably use words like, “complete”, “no mistakes”, “ideal”, “correct” or “totally right”. The Greek idea of perfection is a concept that is based in mathematics. Perfect means absolutely correct, nothing missing. A perfect score is a score that equals the highest possible achievement. A perfect play is a play that corresponds with the ideal. A perfect plan is the plan that covers every conceivable possibility and accounts for them all. Perfection is a relationship where the actual matches the ideal. It’s a statement that the facts are in line with the ideal forms.

Jesus says something about perfection in Matthew 5:48. “Be perfect even as your heavenly Father is perfect”. Suddenly this is a daunting task. It seems to imply that I must be like the ideal, God. My life must correspond to the life of God. Never any sin. Never a mistake. Not one thing out of order. No miscues or insufficiencies. Perfect. A match between the real and the ideal.

And I know that I just can’t do it. Not in a million years. So, I write it off as something only Jesus could do. It can’t be for me.

While that uncomfortable thought is rolling around in my mind, I encounter another Greek myth embedded in Christian thinking. “God has a wonderful plan for your life.”

Before you rise up in protest, take a very close look at the thought here. God has a plan. God has the one, perfect plan for you. It is that one correspondence between His ideal will for your life and the reality that you live. It is the perfect will of the Father. And, of course, since it is the perfect plan, it can only be one way. After all, you can’t have more than one perfect plan. We are stuck in the Greek perception that perfection is the correspondence between the real and the ideal. The perfect plan. The perfect mate. The perfect career or place or ministry. The one of a kind destiny. It’s the “God broke the mold” concept that rules our thinking about who we are.

So what happens to that perfect plan when we screw it up? Why, it’s gone, of course. Perfection destroyed. Paradise lost. We are left with God’s almost perfect plan. Then we mess that one up and we get the third best, then the fourth best, and on and on. If God only has a wonderful plan, all of us are now living out the umpteenth revised version. We blew the perfect plan long ago. Now we have to put the puzzle together with some of the pieces missing.

Hebrew to the rescue! Put aside that Greek notion and look at the real meaning behind the English translation. Matthew 5:48 is a quotation from Leviticus 11:44. The Hebrew word is qadash (holy). “Be holy for I am holy.” Ah, such thoughts still seem to demand perfection, until we investigate a little about the word qadash.

Jesus did not teach in Greek. He taught in Hebrew. And when he quoted the Old Testament, you can be assured that he had the Hebrew thought pattern in mind. Even though the New Testament writers translated what Jesus actually said to Greek, they did not intend us to rethink the Hebrew concepts into Greek categories. We made that mistake on our own.

“Holy” (qadash) is a word that is used to describe what is set aside for God’s purposes. To be holy is to be sanctified, separated, sacred for God’s use. Anything could become holy by being designated for God. Hebrew never required that something first become perfect. In Hebrew, it is not correspondence to the facts that matters. It is dedication completely to God.

Look at the freedom that this brings. My work can be entirely dedicated to God. I can go to the job everyday with serving Him in mind. I don’t have to leave the marketplace and join a convent or become a minister. Dedication to God happens everywhere.

My human relationships can equally be set aside for Him. I am not trapped into the “one perfect mate” syndrome. There are many possible mates for me. The question is not “Which one is the right one, God?” The question is “Am I willing to set aside everything about this relationship to His purposes?”

The lifestyle I adopt is also captured under the banner of separation. Can I live the way I do now and dedicate it all to Him or do I need to make changes so that I honor Him in all that I do? Being holy is putting God first, ahead of everything and everyone, and living in constant submission to divine separation. God is not asking for flawless perfection. He is asking for unwavering devotion. [But unwavering devotion had this funny consequence: I strain toward obedient perfection because I want to please Him].

To see the power in breaking this Greek puzzle, we need to look at 1 Kings 2:3. David is about to die. He instructs Solomon in the most important thoughts about life. He says, “Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn.”

Did you catch that last phrase? “That you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn.” God is interested in the relationship of separation. He promises to bless you no matter what you do and no matter where you go as long as the relationship of separation is actively in place. There is no perfect plan! There is only holy separation. God doesn’t say, “Now work out the puzzle of life so that you do only what I want you to do and you go only where I want you to go. I have a hidden secret destiny and geography for you and it’s up to you to put the pieces together perfectly.” No! God says, “Do what you want to do. Go where you want to go. Be yourself. Let the way that I made you give you the design and the destination of life. Just be sure to set it all apart for Me.”

Now the fearful among us will rise up and shout, “Oh, no. This can’t be. Look at the risk that is involved in thinking like this. What about all those things that God wants you to do? What about His design for you? How can we just go off and do whatever we want and expect that God will bless it?” This is, of course, a real concern if you think that you can keep the charge of God, obey all His ordinances and decrees, live by His commandments and still do whatever you want to do. Remember that the concept of freedom is found within the confines of holiness. The reason that there is no risk about not fulfilling God’s desires for your life is simple: holiness separates us from any life except the character of life that glorifies Him. The reason that we throw up our hands in fear over such freedom is that we know all too well how easily we subvert true separation for God. The risk is not that God will not direct and use all that we do. The risk is that we will use this freedom as an excuse to do what is not separated for Him.

Holiness is incredibly powerful freedom to do what you desire because what you desire is to be separated to God’s service. Freedom is not license. It is the opportunity to choose whom you will serve. Separation to God creates the freedom to stop trying to find the perfect Greek alignment. Separation to God allows you to explore, invent, plan, design, create, discover and enjoy everything under His banner. This is the incredible secret of grace.

Holiness does not require the correct alignment of all the pieces or the complete match between some ideal and my real experience. Holiness requires that I deliberately set aside everything I am for Him. My thoughts, my decisions, my work, my home, my school, my driving, my career moves, my writing, my talking. God says, “Do what you want to do but dedicate it all to Me.” The plan is an open-ended adventure of living in His world with the freedom to explore it all as a fully dedicated servant of the King.

Suddenly I see a different image in the jigsaw puzzle of life. I see that the goal is not the perfectly completed puzzle but the wonder and joy and excitement of putting the pieces in place. It doesn’t matter if I start at the edges or in the middle or even a little bit of both. What matters is the thrill of discovery as one piece locks into another. What matters is the hunt for the next piece, the victory of finding its place and the empowerment to look again. It’s the adventure not the completion. Holiness is that piece-by-piece decision to honor Him each time I find a fit even if I can’t see the finished product. Life is not about perfection. It’s about perspective, progress and pursuit.

Under the specter of “perfect”, I am doomed to frustration and failure.

But under the banner of “holy”, I live free.

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Ultimate Evil

Thursday, August 06th, 2009 | Author:

Depart from evil, and do good. Psalm 34:15

Evil – What can we do about all these terrible things in the world? We live in the age of the worst genocides in history. We are exposed daily to man’s inhumanity. We see corruption all around us. We can hardly go through a single day without being touched by evil. Is there any answer? Is there any hope?

The world recognizes the problem of evil, but its solution is woefully inadequate. Why? Because the world’s solution is the attempt to lift moral consciousness, to make us better by appealing to our inner goodness. The world’s solution to evil is education in good thinking. It claims that all we really need is more training, more enlightenment, more sensitivity. This is not the biblical solution.

“Evil is not man’s ultimate problem. Man’s ultimate problem is his relation to God. . . . The Biblical answer to evil is not the good but the holy. It is not an attempt to raise man to a higher level of existence, where man is not alone when confronted with evil. Living in “the light of the face of God” bestows upon man a power of love that enables him to overcome the power of evil.”

As long as we act on the basis that evil is reduced through human solutions, we will make no substantial difference. Evil confronts holiness, not goodness. To combat evil we must do righteousness. Why? Because doing righteousness is redemptive. Every righteous act implants God’s character in the world. Every righteous act is the fulfillment of His will on earth. Every righteous act, not just the big deal charity choices. God invades this evil world in the smallest moments of righteousness.

Wait! Doesn’t this psalm tell us to do good? It most certainly does. But the difference is who decides what is good. Doing good is not doing what I think is good. Doing good is doing what God says is good. Only the goodness that God gives really counts. My versions of doing good mean nothing in the battle against evil because my versions are not aligned with His holiness, no matter how altruistic they might seem to be. What counts in the fight against evil is only what God counts.

So, what does that mean? How do I do righteousness? You don’t have to guess. God actually tells us how to do righteousness in the smallest details. It’s simple. Just do a mitzvah. What? Mitzvah is essentially an act of kindness. Does that mean that all acts of kindness are evil-combating righteousness. Yes, they are, but God has given us a special insight into His mitzvot (plural). He actually lists them in the Torah. Every time you and I follow one of His commandments, we perform a mitzvah and we bring His character to bear on the world. Every time! Not just when we offer the hungry food or the thirsty drink. Combating evil occurs when we honor the Sabbath, loan to the poor, guard our tongues or act as stewards of another’s property. In fact, God has given us 613 specific ways to bring holiness into this world.

Here’s the bottom line. It’s very easy to think that our definitions of human kindness are the critical weapons in fighting evil. So, we think that diet has nothing to do with combating evil. But the evil is not the opposite of good. God doesn’t see it that way. The opposite of evil is holiness and holiness is acting according to God’s character and instructions. So, if I decide not to eat clams, I bring holiness into the world. I might not understand how that happens, but I know what God asks and when I do it, He is glorified and evil is defeated. I participate in God’s victory over evil. God is the victor, not me. I’m just following His lead.

Today you and I can do mitzvah – one tiny act of obedience at a time. Each act is victory over evil, even if it’s as simple as saying a blessing after the meal (Deuteronomy 8:10). J

Topical Index: mitzvah, evil, good, holy, Psalm 34:15, ra

Abraham Heschel, Between Man and God, p. 195.

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