One of the early surprises I received when I first stepped into the world of the Internet was that not all people who identified themselves as Christians believed what I believed. Oh, I knew there were differences, one denomination to another. I knew there were liberals and there were conservatives. But I thought people who believed the Bible would have a shared understanding, more or less.
I suppose that’s true. The Bible does seem to be a line of demarcation. But apparently so is holiness.
As I’ve shared here at A Christian Worldview of Fiction in a previous discussion about holiness, before I started blogging, I joined a writing discussion board. At one point I brought up the topic of holiness, with the intent of discussing how a writer can show the holiness side of edgy. Instead I got an inordinate amount of discussion about legalism. Legalism!
Color me still surprised. Legalism has as much to do with holiness as prostitution does.
How is it that a Christian can mistake a works theology for holiness?
Judaism is based on works. Keep the law, observe the holy days, offer the sacrifices. Do, do, do.
Hinduism is based on works. Everything is geared toward doing better in order to move up the reincarnation chain into a better life.
Islam is based on works. Much like Judaism, Islamic law is the guide for daily living, and failure has consequences here and in the after life.
Buddhism is based on works. Walking the path of ethical conduct, wisdom, and discipline is the way to freedom from suffering — nirvana.
Christianity on the other hand declares rather boldly, all our works get us nothing. We can’t do enough or be enough. We can’t be the kind of person we should, we can’t think pure enough thoughts or purge our desires of self. In short, we aren‘t holy and we can’t be holy by our human efforts.
Legalism, then, is antithetical to Christianity.
And yet 1 Peter 1:15-16 says,
Like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behavior because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
A couple things stand out to me. In the same way that God is love, He is holy. How have we lost sight of that, I wonder. So often we hear pastors giving as the rationale for a person to love the unlovely, the fact that God is love and we are to be like Him. But where do we hear the sermons about not lying to our kids or not stealing from our employer.
Enough, we say. That borders on works and we are all about grace.
Salvation is by grace, certainly. Except we are to grow up in respect to salvation (see 1 Peter 2:1-5).
Life in Christ is life — starting with a new birth but not ending with a new birth. We are then to grow by feeding on the word of God.
Ironically, there are some people who believe holiness is conferred instantaneously upon a Christian and that the sure sign a person is in the family of God is that he no longer sins. I say “ironically” because this belief seems to bring us right back to legalism.
A person can proudly congratulate himself that he has not sinned for years and years, missing the fact that his prideful attitude is in fact a sin.
Such a “holiness” doctrine seems to stifle all chance for growth as completely as someone who thinks all holiness is tantamount to legalism.
The bottom line is that we are commanded to be holy. That’s the second thing that stands out to me in the passage from 1 Peter 1. It’s not just an Old Testament thing that Christians can ignore.
At the same time, reality and Scripture tell us we cannot be holy. Only Christ lived a holy life. So what we who have newness of life are to do is to be imitators of Him, submit to God’s work of remolding us into the image of His Son, feed on the pure milk of the Word. And grow.
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A Christian Worldview of Fiction 
Salvation is most definitely not based on works. However, works do relate to the rewards we get in heaven. And as you point out, they provide evidence for our faith. Faith without deeds is dead. In other words, how can one say they have faith without works? Faith brings salvation, and salvation brings a new self, which brings good works – naturally. (James 2:14-25)
Verse 24 of James 2 reads “You see that a person is considered righteous by what they do and not by faith alone.”
Grace is freely given, but works follow this grace. Otherwise, we never received the grace and are only deceiving ourselves into thinking so. Faith (by which we receive grace) without works is dead.
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I am not saved by my works, but my works, or actions and words should tell others that I am saved. Legalism annoys me, but so does that attitude that I can sin and it will be okay because God forgives me.
There are several things I try to keep in mind. One is that the sin that God is working to correct in me is not what He is correcting in everyone else. Two, my struggles are mine, not yours and yours are different from mine, just because I’ve got it all together in an area that you struggle with doesn’t make me better, just different and likely there is an area where you blow me away with how you act and react.
Good blog! Thank you for posting this during this Holy time of year.
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Holiness, repentance, and good works cannot be achieved by force. Our deliberate actions to obtain them (legalism) just make them more elusive. The change wrought by God upon our nature is the only way that can experience them, naturally.
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