Doctrine and Holiness

By Douglas Wilson

Those that look to be happy must first look to be holy. - Richard Sibbes 

Christ comes with a blessing in each hand; forgiveness in one, holiness in the other. - Arthur W. Pink 

The life of sanctification is the life of obedience. - J.A.Motyer 

What health is to the heart, that holiness is to the soul. - John Flavel 

Heaven must be in thee before thou canst be in heaven. - George Swinnock 

God useth many a moving persuasion to draw us to holiness, not a hint to encourage us to sin. - Thomas Manton

An old Puritan tells us that a “blurred finger is unfit to wipe away a blot.” This is something we need to hear; we live in a generation that has blurred virtually everything. When this blurring happens, everything about true religion suffers, but nothing suffers more than the concept of the holy. That which is holy is distinct, clear, separate, and other—it is in no way blurred.

Christians must recover the doctrine of holiness. Theology is, of course, the study of God. But unless men are grossly impertinent, they do not study God in the way a geologist studies the earth, or an astronomer studies the stars. Between man and God is a gulf across which thoughtful men adore; He is the God we worship, not the subject we analyze. But the sin of man makes it perilously easy to drift away from this understanding. One of the central duties of the church’s teaching and preaching ministry is, therefore, to keep the blinding holiness of God constantly in front of those who have “heard it all” before. We must teach and emphasize the doctrine of God’s holiness.

It is quite true that we may mouth the correct words concerning God’s holiness, and yet have our hearts far away from the ramifications of such words. John Newton once commented, “Self-righteousness can feed upon doctrines, as well as upon works; and a man may have the heart of a Pharisee, while his head is stored with orthodox notions of the unworthiness of the creature and the riches of free grace.” Glorious hymns on the holiness of God can be sung as if they were dirges commissioned for the funeral of a very nice person indeed. The common reaction to this hypocrisy too easily proclaims that the solution to a lifeless and dry orthodoxy is to mouth incorrect words about the holiness of God. But the solution to dead orthodoxy is not to be found in dead heresy. The grace of God must enable us to speak of God’s holiness in a way that is anointed and applied by Him. The holy God is the living God.

When the early disciples were threatened with harm if they did not cease their preaching, they turned to the Lord in prayer. But instead of rushing to present their problems to God, as we might do in such a circumstance, they began reminding themselves of the identity of their Auditor. “So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: ‘O Lord, it is Thou who didst make the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them’“ (Acts 4:24). We are taught by Christ that a mundane request for daily bread, or money for the electric bill, should regularly be prefaced with a reminder that we are speaking to the Father, whose Name is hallowed above all.

In our creeds, in our sermons, in our Psalms and hymns, in our conversations with our children and one another, we must constantly remind ourselves of who God is. When my children were young, the first song we taught them was Holy, Holy, Holy. I still remember plainly how it can be sung by children hardly able to talk: oly-oly-oly. The duty of the nursing infant is to praise the Holy One of Israel, and our duty on our deathbeds is to be the same (Ps. 8:1–2; Acts 7:55–56).

But Christians must not stop with the doctrine of holiness; we must proceed to the importance of holiness of doctrine. A glimpse of the glory and holiness of God is an experience that some men have been given. In previous periods of revival, some have found it such an ineffable experience that they have been tempted to base everything in their religion upon it. Beginning with a real experience, religion becomes experience-centered. Drifting from a proper emphasis on God’s self-revelation in Scripture, the Christian is tempted to embrace any and every religious experience. It may take generations for this leaven to work through the church, but it always will. This error was embraced at the beginning of the last century in our churches, and the tragic consequences of this approach to piety are all around us today. It is not too much to say that this approach to piety is ravaging the church. The church is so disoriented that, in many cases, the continued spread of such destruction is called revival.

We must be meticulous in our study of the Word. For some, this conjures up images of Pharisees squabbling over whether it is permissible to brush one’s teeth on the Sabbath. But of course the problem they had was not that they were meticulous in their study of the Word, but rather that they were not. Christ’s complaint against them was that they had entirely missed the weightier matters of the law. What would we make of a student of the Civil War who knew the color of the guns at Gettysburg, but who did not know the identity of Robert E. Lee? Whatever the charge, we certainly would not accuse him of studying too much.

We must seek doctrinal balance because a careful study of the Word reveals that God requires it, and not because the latitudinarian spirit of the times would have it so. We must seek doctrinal precision and rigor in the great things of our religion because God is holy. If God is holy, then it is our duty to fear Him. This means we must tremble at His Word. Our doctrine and our teaching must be holy. It must conform to the Scriptures and be submissive to the Scriptures. If we fear God, we should speak to one another about Him (Mal. 3:16), and our conversation should be accurate. Great folly is exhibited by those who think it is appropriate to speak about such things randomly. Thomas Watson once commented that too many people speak the way a child scribbles. When we are speaking of God, or of His Word, may it never be so.

But the doctrine of holiness and holiness of doctrine are still not enough. A third requirement is that Christians must hold their doctrine in holiness. Paul tells Timothy to watch his life and doctrine closely. “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teachings. Persevere in these things; for as you do you will insure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you” (1 Tim. 4:16). In Scripture, the two—obedience to teaching and teaching obedience—always go together. How we live and what we teach are not to be divorced from one another.

One of the best ways to get people to reject sound doctrine is through unsound living. We are to “adorn the doctrine” we profess (Titus 2:10). The way we adorn the doctrines of holiness is through personal practical obedience—personal holiness. If we abhor holiness whenever it gets anywhere near our own lives, we will never successfully convince anyone that we know and serve a holy God. Of course the standards of holiness must come from the Word, and not from private scruples or denominational traditions.

A true response to a vision of God’s holiness will be, like Isaiah, grief over our own remaining sinfulness. Such genuine grief never wallows in sin, but turns from it. All forms of hypocrisy are to be abhorred, especially the hypocrisy of exalting the holiness of God while covering up and nurturing an unholiness in heart and life. This is difficult for us because the more we understand God’s holiness the more unholy we know ourselves to be. But God is good. While the vision of God’s holiness unravels the prophet Isaiah, the coals from the altar restore him.

In conclusion, we must come to know, truly know, the doctrine of God’s holiness. As Stephen Charnock states it, “He is essentially and necessarily holy. It is the essential glory of His nature.” We must come to know the relationship between confessing the holiness of God and taking His Word into our hands with fear and trembling. And finally, we must live as though we really loved holiness when it comes near.

Author

Douglas Wilson is pastor of Community Evangelical Fellowship, Moscow, Idaho, and is editor of Credenda Agenda. He has contributed to previous issues of Reformation & Revival Journal.