More postmodern drivel...

Holiness is, in my opinion anyway, one of the most misunderstood terms in scripture. Technically speaking, I believe it simply means "set apart." But it has meant so much more through time.

Sometimes it is a term reserved for God alone. In actuality, God is the only one that deserves to be called holy. Sometimes it is something that we are called to be and to do. Sometimes it is simply the refrain of a song sung into eternity in youth groups across the country.

Whatever we think of it as, I believe that with Jesus and his message the meaning of holiness we were meant to understand changed. Before a person could be considered "holy" if they prescribed to a set of rules, beginning with circumcision (sorry ladies you are already out...) and following all the steps that it takes to be a good Jew. Essentially, every step along the way eliminated part of the population, so that in the end, only the very few were left. I believe there was a purpose for this back in the day, it showed everyone the truly impossible standards God had. Or rather, the impossible standards God himself lived and lives by.

But I don't think that was ever intended to be the long term fix. It was much like the way you treat roommates. If you are smart, when you get a new roommate, you set a list of elaborate rules. So and so mows the yard on such and such weeks, so and so does this, do the dishes after you use them, only eat food you purchase or explicitly ask for, etc. Then, after having lived with a roommate for a long enough time, the rules can become unspoken. This is a way to avoid conflict and to be good neighbors and friends. God set up "roommate rules" for those of us sharing the earth. We were and are not so good at following them.

In Christ, God changed the rules. No longer was holiness about following a list of rules, it was about clinging to a specific person. No longer was it about following the speed limit, it was about not scaring your passenger, if you will. Instead of "do not commit adultery" in Christ it becomes "love Christ in such a way that you love all women in such a way that you want to honor them." Instead of "do not kill" it became "do not disrespect the image of God such that you prematurely end its life."

This will, obviously, get me slammed as a postmodern, pluralist, liberal etc etc. But none of that makes it wrong. God in Christ does not lessen the difficulty of holiness, he makes it relational. I think, the entire holiness code was the effort of God to communicate to humanity his expectation for relational holiness. It didn't take. Not because God failed, but because we failed. So God explained it in a different way. God showed in Christ what true holiness is and was. Don't work on Sabbath? Work on Sabbath if it saves life. Don't touch unclean things? God is the one who determines what is clean.

So, instead of continually whittling down who can be holy, it opens it up completely to everyone. All it takes is a relationship with the truly holy. Instead of being "set apart" it is now "set apart to Christ." Instead of being about rules, holiness now becomes about a relationship.

Just some thoughts. I could be incredibly wrong though.