Holiness - Chambers, Oswald
1. Imitated
. . . Leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps. (1 peter 2:21)
For one child to imitate another child only results in a more or less clever affectation; a child imitating his parents assists the expression of inherent tendencies, naturally and simply, because he is obeying a nascent instinct. It is to this form of imitation that peter alludes. When a saint imitates Jesus, he does it easily because he has the spirit of Jesus in him. Pharisaic holiness, both ancient and modern, is a matter of imitation, seeking by means of prayer and religious exercises to establish, seriously and arduously, but un-regeneratedly, a self-determined holiness. The only spiritually holy life is a god-determined life. Be ye holy; for i am holy. If our best obedience, our most spotless moral walking, our most earnest prayers, are offered to god in the very least measure as the ground of our acceptance by him, it is a fatal denial of the atonement.
2. Imputed .
. . Unto whom god imputeth righteousness without works. (Romans 4:6)
To impute means to attribute vicariously; it is a theological word. The revelation made by the apostle Paul, viz. , that god imputes righteousness to us, is the great truth at the basis of all our protestant theology; we are apt to forget this to-day. Righteousness means living and acting in accordance with right and justice, that is, it must express itself in a mans bodily life. Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous (1 john 3:7). Imputed righteousness must never be made to mean that god puts the robe of his righteousness over our moral wrong, like a snow-drift over a rubbish heap; that he pretends we are all right when we are not. The revelation is that Christ Jesus . . . Is made unto us . . . Righteousness; it is the distinct impar- tation of the very life of Jesus on the ground of the atonement, enabling me to walk in the light as god is in the light, and as long as i remain in the light god sees only the perfections of his son. We are accepted in the beloved.
3. Imparted
. . . Not having a righteousness of mine own, . . . But that which is through faith in Christ. (Philippians 3:9 RV)
the only holiness there is is the holiness derived through faith, and faith is the instrument the holy spirit uses to organise us into Christ. But do not let us be vague here. Holiness, like sin, is a disposition, not a series of acts. A man can act holy, but he has not a holy disposition. A saint has had imparted to him the disposition of holiness, therefore holiness must be the characteristic of the life here and now. Entire sanctification is the end of the disposition of sin, but only the beginning of the life of a saint, then comes growth in holiness. The process of sanctification begins at the moment of birth from above (rv mg) and is consummated on the unconditional surrender of my right to myself to Jesus Christ. The time that elapses between new birth and entire sanctification depends entirely on the individual. Many souls have had such a blessed vision of an entirely sanctified life during conventions, or in times of rare communion with god, that they imagine they have the reality, and it is at this stage that that subtle heresy, deeper death to self is apt to lead them astray. The vision is followed by a deep valley of humiliation, by a cross of death, before the unspeakable reality is realised. If we have reached the stage of entire sanctification and have presented our bodies to be a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to god, what are we doing with our holy selves? Jesus christ gives us the key to the life of the saint and for their sakes i sanctify myself ( john 17:19). We are sanctified for one purpose only, that we might sanctify our sanctification, i. E. , deliberately give it to god.
4. Habitual
Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Romans 12:2)
Practical holiness is the only holiness of any value in this world, and the only kind the spirit of god will endorse. If we consider what professor james 13 says in his scientific exposition of habit, it will be a great rebuke to our lazy neglect in finding out what we have to do to work out in actual life the holy disposition given us through the atonement:
A) in the acquisition of a new habit, or the leaving off of an old one, we must launch our- selves with as strong and decided initiative as possible.
(b) never suffer an exception to occur till the new habit is securely rooted in your life.
(c) seize the very first possible opportunity to act on every resolution you make, and on every emotional prompting you may experience in the direction of the habits you aspire to gain.
Romans 12:2 is the apostle pauls passionate entreaty that we should rouse ourselves out of that stagnation which must end in degeneration, in which we are ensnared by thinking because it is all of grace there is no need for gumption. Grace, grit, glory is the graduation course. Professor james says we must launch ourselves with as strong and decided initia- tive as possible: as saints have we not a strong and decided initiative? Born again of the spirit, cleansed from all sin, sanctified to do the will of god? Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, says Paul. It is because we have failed to realise that god requires intellectual vigour on the part of a saint that the devil gets his hold on the stagnant mental life of so many. To be transformed by the renewing of our mind means the courageous lifting of all our problems, individual, family, social and civic, into the spiritual domain, and habitually working out a life of practical holiness there. It is not an easy task, but a gloriously difficult one, requiring the mightiest effort of our human nature, a task which lifts us into thinking gods thoughts after him.
That ye may prove what is the good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of god. Gods will is only clearly under- stood by the development of spiritual character, consequently saints interpret the will of god differently at different times. It is not gods will that alters, but the saints development in character. Only by intense habitual holiness, by the continual renewing of our mind, and the maintenance of an unworldly spirit, can we be assured of gods will concerning us, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect (RV mg).