The elect’s holiness is fully dependent upon the work of Jesus Christ by God’s will. Is this holiness that enables the elect to see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14) the same holiness they have in Christ? No, and we see this clearly in that passage that the elect must strive for it. Those in Christ possess both a holiness that they have in Christ before God, and a holiness after which they must strive. This salvation is a salvation unto holiness.
14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14 (NASB)
Are we to accept the profession of faith from everyone who claims to be a Christian? This is a hot button issue in our time. I know of several people who once fellowshipped here who no longer do because they are convinced that it is wrong to rebuke and contend with those who profess faith in Christ, but whose fruit show otherwise. What about this fruit? Is it an indication of the veracity of one’s faith? According to Hebrews 12:14 we see that only those who possess holiness will see the Lord. This is a way of saying that those who will see the Lord, those who are truly saved, will possess some degree of personal holiness.
6 For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. Isaiah 64:6 (NASB)
No one merits salvation. The best anyone can do is like filthy or polluted garments in the eyes of God. The righteous deeds of the unregenerate are stained and polluted by sin. Therefore, God provided one way only for sinful people to become righteous in God’s eyes. This is accomplished through the obedience and righteousness of Christ on behalf of the elect.
19 For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19 (NASB)
This is Christ’s active obedience in which his sinless life here on earth, His perfect obedience and absolute holiness, is credited to those who believe, repent, and trust in Him for their salvation.
18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 1 Peter 3:18 (NASB)
This is Christ’s passive obedience in which His death on the Cross fully paid the penalty for the elect’s sins and satisfied the wrath of God towards them.
5 Therefore, when He comes into the world, He says,
“Sacrifice and offering You have not desired,
But A body You have prepared for Me;
6 In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure.
7 “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come
(In the scroll of the book it is written of Me)
To do Your will, O God.’”
8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), 9 then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. 10 By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Hebrews 10:5-10 (NASB)
The elect’s holiness is fully dependent upon the work of Jesus Christ by God’s will. Is this holiness that enables the elect to see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14) the same holiness they have in Christ? No, and we see this clearly in that passage that the elect must strive for it. Those in Christ possess both a holiness that they have in Christ before God, and a holiness after which they must strive. This salvation is a salvation unto holiness.
