Holiness

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by talking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

Perhaps the interpretation of this in which I am about to share is thoroughly off base, but I have it to be a profound benefit to myself and therefore wish to share it. I came to this view of it recently at a Bible study. As the verses were being read my mind focused on “did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped.” What does this mean? How would one grasp equality with God?

I literally just looked up the word equality in a thesaurus. One of the synonyms available was “likeness.” So, let’s try it with that word. Jesus “did not count likeness with God a thing to be grasped.” Alright, now were are getting somewhere. In scripture, or christianese, what do we think of when we think “like God” or “God like”? We think of words such as, “Godliness.” And Godliness is typically synonymous with Holiness. So, Jesus did not consider holiness a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, or humbled himself. This, I believe, is key to the gospel and how we as Christians are called to live.

If we follow the life of Christ, it is interesting the way he interacted with particular individuals. With the religious he was almost belligerent, or at least aggressive. But with those who were in no way religious (prostitutes, thieves and the like) he was incredibly gracious. Why was this? I think the key is the way each party views themselves. The religious people were seeking, or reaching to grasp, holiness. They were trying to become God Like, or Godly or like God. But in this pursuit they became arrogant. This is entirely contrary to the way Jesus approached holiness. But let’s not explore that just yet. What about the way the nonreligious carried themselves? They were convinced that they were already helpless, and that they would never be Godlike. Now, they were not by any means humble, but they were most assuredly not arrogant. Jesus identified with those who were broken, but neither is this holiness.

The way we typically approach holiness is to try and make ourselves “good people.” We develop a moral standard and then strive to achieve it. If we fail, we chalk it up to being human. Anyone who falls short of our standard we look done on, as if we are better than them. This is the way we approach holiness now, and the way the Pharisees approached it then. They used their holiness to oppress and not to liberate.

Jesus was Holy. He was God. But he was also humble. These two are not mutually exclusive. It was because of his holiness that he was able to be humble; it was an identity issue. He was secure enough in himself so as not to feel the need to better than others. He did not see equality with God as a race. So see who can get there first and be the best, the winner. No, that is contrary to the holiness of Christ. The holiness of Christ was security in identity and therefore humility. He was holy, and because he knew that, he was humble. He didn’t need to chase after holiness, he already was. He didn’t need to feel better than others, and therefore was humble.

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ…” How is it ours? Christ was already holy. His death and redemption of us was also his giving holiness. Now that we are redeemed, at our core we are holy. Our identity is holy. Therefore, this mind of humility and unity is ours. It has been given to us. Christ was able to live a life of humility because he was already secure in his identity, and now that we have been bought, so can we. Holiness is not works dependent, as the Pharisees thought. It is identity, as Christ lived.

Christianity has never, and should never, back off of the commands that Christ gave. Never should Christians fail to let people know how costly the call of grace is. But, far too often we fail to exemplify the grace and love of Jesus Christ. We walk around, seeking to be holy only to put people down. But holiness has never been about being better than anyone. Have this mind among you, be humble, being a servant even to the point of death. This is a costly call to put to death all preconceived ideas of us being holy because of our works. We cannot become holy, and therefore should not expect others to be holy on their own. Do you see how this works? The more we begin to understand holiness as an identity issue, the more we are able to love people despite their sin. Even more so, the more we will be able to love each other as Christians.

Empty yourself, as Christ has emptied himself for us.