Tag: holiness

Why the Bible?

There are all kinds of religious works penned by sages and prophets in various countries: what’s so particular about the Bible that makes it stand out above all the rest as the world’s best-seller? What makes it so unique?

First of all, its note of divine authority. By its often used expression, “Thus says the Lord”, it communicates that the almighty Creator himself is speaking to mankind. About 2,000 times in the Old Testament expressions occur such as, “Hear the word of the Lord”, “The Lord spoke to … saying…”, “God said”, “The Word of the Lord came to …”, “the Lord commanded” etc. This means that 2,000 times the Bible claims to bring the actual words of God himself. This is either true or constitutes 2,000 lies about the Almighty.

Secondly, the high call to holiness that is expressed throughout the Bible. Nowhere else can one find such a high and holy mandate for human behaviour. All sin is fully condemned and all kinds of virtues are required. The moral teaching of Jesus, and in particular his Sermon on the Mount, are acknowledged to be of such purity and so demanding as would convince an honest seeker that this must come from the high and holy Creator of humankind.

A third element in the Bible, attested in the Pensées of Blaise Pascal, is the phenomenon of prophecy whose fulfilment has been confirmed. God alone can know the future, and the Bible contains a number of clear predictions that were subsequently fulfilled. The most striking is the 53rd chapter of the book of the prophet Isaiah which depicts the sufferings and death of the Christ. Jesus himself predicted his own resurrection from the dead. He foretold the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles which occurred seven weeks after he had left this earth and gave birth to the Christian church. 

Another element of this is the promises that God gave – for example to Abraham that he would have a son and innumerable descendants, when he was old and his wife was barren. The existence of the Jewish people attests to the fact that God makes and keeps promises, for they are the fruit of God’s “impossible” prediction.

The profundity of biblical thought is another indication of the Bible’s divine origin. The eternal plan of the Creator is progressively revealed in its pages – a plan that no human mind could have invented, for it included the divine incarnation, death and resurrection in history of Jesus, the Son of God.

Together with that, the Bible unfolds a true and realistic account of who we are, both in our intrinsic value as persons made in God’s image, and in our grievous lack of real goodness; it informs us of why we exist, how we should live, and where we go after death.

The most convincing of all is that the Bible promises not only to forgive the sinner, but to radically change his or her whole life; and this promise can be put to the test by anyone who reads the Bible and takes it as true. By believing in the Jesus who is revealed in the Bible, by following his instructions to repent and obey, anyone – you included – can discover for themselves that this book comes from a God who stands by his word and fulfills his promises: the profound change in the life of those who put their trust in the Saviour is testable personal proof. Millions have found this to be true in their experience, and this proof is open to anyone who, like the immoral philosopher become great theologian, St Augustine, heeds the call to “take up read” this extraordinary book, the Bible.

Clive Every-Clayton

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What does salvation mean?

The Bible makes clear that everyone needs salvation, and it is wonderful to know that “By grace you have been saved, through faith” as the apostle Paul writes to believers in Ephesians 2.8. The Bible word “salvation” summarises a number of spiritual blessings that every believer receives from the moment he is touched by God’s saving grace. 

Notice three things of importance in that quote from Ephesians. First, you “have been saved”; salvation has happened to you if you have repented and believed in Christ. It is no longer something you have to seek after or try to obtain. The verb is in the past tense: you have been saved, or as Jesus put it, you have “passed from death to life” (John 5.24). Secondly – the reason for that is that God has blessed you “by grace”. That means without you having to deserve it. God is so kind, he grants salvation freely by pure grace to those who could never deserve or merit it. Paul adds in Ephesians 2.9, “it is not because of works, lest anyone should boast”. So, thirdly, salvation is by faith, the faith that receives Christ as Saviour and Lord. Saving faith is not merely believing some facts; it is entrusting your life and your eternity into the hands of the Lord Jesus, beginning a new life in relationship with him. It is called “saving faith” because by that commitment or conversion a sinner is saved from sin and its consequences.

What does salvation mean, then? It means the believer, counting on Jesus’ promise, may know that he has become a child of God, that he has eternal life; he is saved from being eternally lost at the judgment. He is now reconciled to God, in good relationship with God. Salvation sums up all that and more: specifically the forgiveness of our sins is an important part of salvation.

When we are saved we receive the full forgiveness of all our sins. God wipes them all away. Furthermore, the Lord declares the believer in Christ to be acceptable to him in the day of final judgment. We are saved from the eternal negative consequences of our sins – we are free from condemnation. We have been saved from hell. 

The technical word for this is “justification”: “Since we have been justified by faith,” Paul writes in Romans 5.1, “we have peace with God”. We do not have to fear final rejection at the judgment day; we are accepted in Christ. We live our Christian lives therefore not in order to be saved from that judgment, but because, by God’s grace, we are already assured by his word that we are saved, justified, accepted as righteous, and free from ultimate divine condemnation. This is no small blessing!

Justification abolishes our guilt before God. Forgiveness clears our conscience from all that might accuse us. It’s all gone; our salvation is assured, so Paul uses the past tense when he writes to his colleague, “God saved us and called us to a holy calling” (2 Timothy 1.9). And note, he calls us to a holy life.

You might be thinking, “If my final salvation is assured, I could commit any sins I want, because I’m already justified”. Interestingly, Paul saw that response coming: “Shall we continue in sin, so that grace may abound?” His answer is categorical: “By no means!” (Romans 6.1, 2). For as God saves, forgives, and justifies us, he also calls us to holiness, giving us the Holy Spirit to transform us into saints! My next post will explain that more fully.

Clive Every-Clayton

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The character of God

A man of God once wrote that what enters into a person’s mind when they think of God is the most important thing about them. What comes to your mind when you think of God? What kind of character do you think he has?

I’ve written about his goodness and his kindness and his love, but maybe when you think of God, you would not normally think of those attributes; perhaps you think God is all about condemning people – a God of judgment. We really need wisdom and balance here. Twice the Bible says, “God is love”. But twice it also says, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord”.

An aspect of God’s goodness is his holiness: his very nature upholds truth, purity, justice, as well as kindness and absolute goodness. His will, expressed in his precepts, defines what holiness is for us, his creatures.

One of the most mind-bogglingly profound pieces of writing ever penned, in my opinion, is the 17th chapter of John’s Gospel, where we have God the Son speaking in prayer to God the Father. I ask myself, who could ever have invented such a conversation? What mere mortal mind could conceive the deep concepts that are shared within the Godhead? John and the disciples eavesdropped on this astounding conversation where Jesus prays for the fulfilment of his mission to the world. Read it and ponder!

Jesus declared that he knows the Father (John 8.54-55). In that prayer, Jesus uses two striking adjectives in addressing his Father: “Holy Father” (v11) and “Righteous Father” (v25). Jesus knows, and teaches, the holiness and righteousness – or justice – of God. Elsewhere he teaches God’s goodness and love, of course, but these two attributes are also essential to God’s perfect nature. Together they guarantee that all that is done in God’s creation will ultimately demonstrate the justice and perfection of God’s will.

We don’t often think of holiness. I have just sent to the publishers a book on the subject, because I believe it is not only a fundamentally important aspect of God’s nature, but we human beings are supposed to be holy, as image-bearers of God. My book is in French, but the title translates as “The holier you are, the happier you are” – and I really believe that is true, because that is what the Bible teaches. To be holy is in our best interests!

God wants his moral creatures to share his passion for holiness. It is thus that we will be most like him, as creatures made originally in his image. And it is thus that we will find the greatest fulfilment. 

I have said that fulfilment comes from a harmonious, loving relationship with God. For that to come about, we need to be on the same wavelength as God, on this issue of holiness. Our human problem – what hinders our true fulfilment – is that we are not holy; we are sinful.

Now “sin” is another word that deserves clearer thinking, because, unlike the more general term “evil”, sin is defined in relation to God and his will enshrined in the Bible’s commandments: “Through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Romans 3.20). Indeed, “sin is lawlessness” or, “the transgression of God’s law” (1 John 3.4). 

The glory of the Christian gospel is that it brings an answer to our human sin problem – a remedy not merely in theory but in our personal experience.  I’m eager to share that with you.

Clive Every-Clayton

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