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“Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.” Leviticus 19.2
That the pursuit of holiness provides the next level or ring of priorities and values is confirmed by our Lord’s repeating these words to His disciples (Matt. 5.48) and by their being confirmed by all the writing apostles, in one form or another (cf. 2 Cor. 7.1; Heb. 6.9-12; 12.11; Jms. 2.8-28; 2 Pet. 3.11-14; 1 Jn. 2.1-6; 3.2, 3). Holiness is both the shape which love for God and neighbor must take, and it is the goal toward which we strive by thus carrying out these two great priorities of the soul.
In the light of all that God has promised, the believer must strive to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God (2 Cor. 7.1). To fear and love God and to love our neighbors we must learn holiness. The Law of God is holy, as Paul reminds us (Rom.7.12). Thus, the Law itself teaches us to value the Law as the way to pursue holiness and express it in obedience to our mandate to love God and our neighbor.
It will thus be a high priority in the soul of each believer to study the Law of God, to learn, obey, and teach it to others, so that holiness may abound among the people of God (Ezra 7.10; Matt. 5.17-19). We must make the time for such study and engage in it regularly. We will not learn holiness apart from the Law, and we will not learn the Law if we do not make the time to do so. We must be willing to be instructed by those who are experienced in the Law, and we must listen for the Spirit to guide us day by day in its proper paths.
The Law, as we have argued again and again, is a kind of cornerstone of divine revelation. We cannot understand the rest of Scripture, or know the life God intends for us in His Word, unless we know and practice the Law of God. So we must strive to make this a high value and priority in our consciences, or we will not be able to bring holiness to completion in the fear of God.
For a practical guide to the role of God’s Law in the life of faith, get The Ground for Christian Ethics by going to www.ailbe.org and click on our Book Store.