Holiness

1) Definition
A) “I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.” (Lv. 11:44a)
“Holy”=qadash—“The essential nature of that which belongs to the sphere of the sacred and which is thus distinct form the common or profane”
B) “For it is written: Be Holy, because I am Holy” (I Peter 1:16)
“Holy”=agion—“…the proper sphere of the holy in the New Testament is not the cultus but the prophetic. The sacred no longer belongs to things, places or rites, but to the manifestations of life produced by the Spirit….I Peter is particularly significant in the further development of the concept….Thus the dynamic of the outpouring of the Spirit is here restated in terms of the holy functions of the priesthood.”
C) “Holiness means the ability to do what needs to be done when it needs to be done. It means being ‘response-able,’ able to respond appropriately to the demands of life”
D) Holiness is responding to the world as God would/does.
E) Holiness means set apart.

2) Holiness is not/is
A) Rules and regulations/sustained attention to the heart
B) otherworldliness/world-affirming
C) Consuming asceticism/bodily spirituality
D) Works-righteousness/striving to enter in- effort not works
E) Perfectionism/progress in purity and sanctity
F) Absorption into God/loving unity with God

3) Foster gives four ways we are fed by The Holiness Tradition
A) Personal transformation
B) Emphasis on purity of heart
C) Assurance of progress in character formation
D) Fosters growth in grace

4) Three Perils/distortions of The Holiness Tradition
A) Legalism—External action is derivative, not primary.
Legalism is countered with Love
B) Pelagianism—attempt to attain righteousness by means of our works
Pelagianism is countered with grace
C) Perfectionism—derivative result of failing to address the first two perils
Perfectionism is countered with growth

5) Foster recommends three things for those who desire to practice Holiness
A) Train—“We undertake activities of body, mind, and spirit that in time will build spiritual resources within us to act appropriately when the situation demands it.”
B) Invite others to travel the journey with us. They help us see when we are overachieving or being slothful. They five us a word of encouragement.
C) Get up and start again when you stumble or fall—Confession/Restitution

6) Three historical figures for insight on the Holiness Tradition
A) Phoebe Palmer—Phoebe longed for entire sanctification and developed her “altar theology” that Christ is the holy altar upon which we rest our all in sacrifice. Hence we are holy and sanctified as we continually give ourselves as a living sacrifice to Christ, our altar
B) James the just—James was the half-brother of Jesus and an early leader of the church in Jerusalem
C) Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1) Bonhoeffer tool Jesus seriously
2) Bonhoeffer took Jesus’ call to discipline seriously—costly grace
3) Bonhoeffer took spiritual discipline seriously
4) Bonhoeffer took free, responsible, obedient action seriously
5) Bonhoeffer took the purity of the Church seriously
6) Bonhoeffer too the world seriously.