Being made holy
Today's reading Hebrews 10:1-18
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Today’s blog
“For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Hebrews 10:14)
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Are you a holy person? If you’re a Christian, the answer is yes. “We have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus once for all” (10). To be holy is to be free from sin, so it’s not surprising that we hesitate to say that of ourselves. Yet that’s how God sees us, not because of any goodness of our own, but because “Jesus suffered... to make the people holy through his blood” (13:12). Because of Jesus, we have become God’s holy people, “holy brothers and sisters in the family of God” (2:11; 3:1).
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Nevertheless, holiness remains a work in progress in us. We see both aspects side by side in v14. By his one sacrifice we have been made holy but we are also “being made holy”. To be holy is to be set apart for God’s special use (e.g. the Holy Place, 9:2-3) and therefore committed to avoiding moral imperfection. Jesus himself is a high priest who is “holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners” (7:26) and committed to doing God’s will (10:7).
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So those who are made holy by him now share the same calling to holy obedience (5:8-9). That’s very practical and requires a commitment to “make every effort to be holy” (12:14; cf. 4:11). But that can never be done in our own strength – it’s God who is making us holy. “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness” (12:10). The Holy Spirit uses all our struggles to produce “a harvest of righteousness in our lives” (12:11; Gal.5:22-23).
(To dig a bit deeper into Hebrews 10:1-18 click here for some commentary notes.)