And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “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

The idea of “holiness” essentially involves being separated from what is “common”, or what is everywhere to be found, in order to be devoted to what is not common. God is not common. Indeed, God is One, One-in-Three, and eternal. You don’t find that everywhere. God is not part of His creation. He is not contained in time or space. He is eternal in His being, attributes, purposes, and power. The heavens and the earth cannot contain Him, and He does not dwell in temples or shrines made with human hands. He is altogether unto Himself, altogether unique in His eternal being and attributes. He is completely separate from everything else that exists. He is holy. What does it mean to be holy? It means to be like God.

The people of God are redeemed unto holiness. Yet, because they are creatures of space, time, and substance, they must work out the requirements of holiness within their own ontological reality. God is holy wholly unto Himself. His people are to be holy in space and time, thus reflecting through their lives the existence, and manifesting the purposes of, the eternally holy God.

We should expect that the worldview promulgated by a holy God would be unto holiness, especially since God has declared that He intends His people to be holy. In His holiness God is full of glory, as the people of Israel saw when He descended on the mountain, filled the Tabernacle, and appeared in their midst as a pillar of cloud and fire. The holy God is glorious in His holiness, bringing a presence of great spiritual power and substance into the experience of human beings, a power which only represents the larger eternal reality of the holy God.

The holiness and glory which God intends for His people is sketched in His holy and righteous and good Law (Rom. 7.12). However, that holiness is only fulfilled by His incarnate Word (Matt. 5.17-19) and is brought to fruition in the lives of His people through His Holy Word and Spirit (Jn. 6.63). Only the holy God can make people holy, and holiness is what He requires of those who bear His Covenant name upon them, because He Himself is holy.

The command to be holy continues to the people of God to this day, as T. M. explained in an issue of Crosfigell, the daily spiritual newsletter of The Fellowship ( http://www.ailbe.org/columns/crosfigell/item/1087-pressing-on-to-holiness).