Dr. John Hartmann

Holiness in Relation to God and His House

The church in our present time seems to have no real concern for the concept of holiness as it relates to the people purchased by Jesus to be the dwelling-place of God. The holiness of God requires that the people He has redeemed, who have been called into covenant with Him, and who ultimately are being built together to become a holy temple in the Lord, be holy even as He Himself is holy (Lev 19:1-2; cf 1 Pet 1:15-16).

Regaining Respect for what is Sacred

In Lev 26 Moses is about to lay out the blessings and curses of the covenant. In vv 1-2, however, he reminds them of two basic “God commandments”: 1) to shun idolatry and all image worship; 2) keep Sabbaths and Reverence God’s Sanctuary. Our teacher places special emphasis on the this latter idea: that we have a certain respect for the church, the New Temple, the house of God, lest we become profane, with no respect for that which is sacred, and continually defile God’s house with our sinful attitudes and behaviors.

Cleansing Ourselves From Defilement

• To fulfill our calling as the New Temple (2 Cor 6:14-18), we must deliberately and aggressively pursue God’s command to cleanse ourselves of all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (7:1). The sins of the flesh are at the very least the uncleanness and defilement that come from sexual immorality (2 Chron 5:1; Heb 13:4; 1 Cor 5). The sins of the spirit are at the very least the root of bitterness, which, if it springs up among us, will defile many (Hebrews 12:15; Deut 29:14-21)

• We must remember that the Temple of God is a collective Temple, and hold His house to be holy! (1 Cor 3:9-17) God warns of destruction that will come upon those who defile His Temple with division, jealousy, immorality, bitterness, rebellion, etc.

Application: let us obey 2 Cor 7:1, seeking to cleanse ourselves from every form of defilement through deliberate repentance and cleansing of the Blood of Jesus (1 John 1:5-2:2).

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