Holy Spirit, Holy Living

Toward A Practical Theology of Holiness for Twenty-First Century Churches

Harris

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781621898047
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

The language of holiness seems outdated. It is a word that comes to us thwarted by a negative history, associated with undesirable restrictions and oppressive legalisms. What do you do with a term that has been negatively socialized, even among churches, when the God of the Bible clearly states that He wants His people to be holy? Holy Spirit, Holy Living aims to dust off the discarded idiom and rediscover the depth and splendor of holiness. What are some practical implications for theological and spiritual practice? Two broad categories express the particularity of the Church in the world. As such the Church must maintain peculiarity to the world. First, holiness properly understood speaks to being and acting in a way that reflects both a regenerated life in Christ and the ongoing renewal in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Secondly, holiness as a lifestyle must include at least three principles: rest, being, and doing. These three standards undergird a life of conviction of faith and practice, worship for God, and service to others. A holy life follows Christ and is Spirit-filled. It is unbent by society, which is numb to what God wants.

Part One

Understanding Holiness

1

Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water

A God-sent revival must ever be related to holiness.

—Duncan Campbell

The Subject of Holiness: Nothing New

When I was growing up, the “sanctified churches,” also called “holy rollers,” placed epochal emphasis on holiness.1 They proposed simple and often simplistic interpretations about what it means to live holy. The rules often varied from one pentecostal denomination to the next or even from church to church. One thing was for sure—the sanctified churches took seriously the biblical call to live holy.

Although their interests were biblical, some of the requirements for holiness seemed far-reaching, even superfluous at times. For example, some sanctified churches taught against drinking coffee and alcohol, smoking, going to amusement parks and Broadway (or Off-Broadway) shows, and playing sports. Even more of them emphasized what C. S. Lewis calls “social rules of modesty.” Women were not allowed to wear makeup, trousers, jewelry, nor open-toed shoes. The men were only allowed to wear long sleeves (even in the summer and on the beach), long pants, and shirts buttoned to the neck. I know the rules of modesty were not the “be-all” of doctrinal teachings on holiness, but it seemed so, at times—especially when new clothing styles came out. Women, in particular, were not able to wear them because they were considered “immodest” or because the outfits often included jewelry or trousers. Some sanctified preachers would spend significant time Bible bashing contemporary styles of dress. They also condemned other Christians who enjoyed these fashions, creating a wall between their own congregations and others that did not focus on dress.

Additionally, sanctified churches prohibited the usage of alcohol and tobacco. Many of them also discouraged social activities such as watching television, going to movies and theme parks, playing sports (except at home), attending high school games, and dancing in any other manner than the holy dance. They taught that “saints” should not listen to the blues, jazz, rock, country music, R & B, and hip-hop—only to Christian music.2 We spent considerable amounts of time with people from the church, going to worship several times a week, praying, studying, and playing music. We did not feel like we were missing much; we were convinced that our peculiar practices reflected what it meant to live holy.

With the Church of God in Christ as our heritage, our church emphasized holiness and the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues. While I was born into a Christian home, our church taught that the first birth was insufficient for salvation. It was necessary to be born again. To be born again meant to be saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Ghost. Receiving Christ into our hearts with the public confession of baptism was important but it was not considered the fullness of the rebirth. As in the Wesleyan tradition, salvation was the first step or initial blessing, holiness or sanctification was the second step or blessing, and the baptism of the Spirit was the third blessing.

We did not have a membership process. Cultured in the COGIC tradition, we practiced the belief that “You can’t join in; you must be born in.” Being members of our church meant that you must accept Jesus as Savior, receive the teachings on holiness, and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost (Spirit).

More than anything, our church emphasized living holy as part of what it meant to be a member of the church. The baptism of the Spirit was a matter of personal relationship with God. For years, I knew that I belonged to the sanctified church before I understood what it meant to be pentecostal. When I was fifteen years old, I received the baptism of the Spirit, expecting that experience would help me grow in Christ with greater passion for holiness, as I understood it.

These understandings separated young holiness-pentecostal Christians from members of the Baptist or Methodist Churches in our small town.3 Most strands within the holiness-pentecostal tradition, in some way, associated holiness with “church sanctioned ethical, behavioral, and dress standards, which they saw as separating Holy Spirit-centered believers from other Christians.”4

Historically, holiness-pentecostal churches have stood out because of their emphasis on the gifts of the Spirit and their unapologetic willingness to live out their faith with recognizable distinction. The sanctified preachers were often criticized for their Bible-thumping, strict preaching, and long church services. Families, coworkers, and former friends often ridiculed and criticized the saints for essentially abandoning them for the sanctified churches.

But, the more people talked about the saints, the more we praised the Lord. Oftentimes, the congregations grew stronger as a result of criticism because our communities found our identity in Christ rather than in the world. The more criticism from the world, the closer to God we felt.

For example, although I went to a parochial school, the homecoming queen at Manchester High School asked me to escort her to the prom. Since I had a crush on her, I was flattered. She was gorgeous. To have received that invitation was any high school boy’s dream. However, as a son of the sanctified church, I mustered up the strength to decline the offer. That decision became my testimony for that weekend’s testimony service at church. I turned down the most gorgeous girl of all time for Jesus. As a zealous, sanctified teenage preacher, that was something to shout about!

During the worship services, our songs reflected the church’s vision of Christian peculiarity. The choir sang out of the African American church tradition,5 “This old world is not my home. I’m just a passing through. With each step, we’re moving on. And from here we are going home.” Or, we would sing the Albertina Walker and the Caravan’s song, “I’m just a stranger here, traveling through this barren land. Lord, I know there’s a building somewhere, a building not made by hand.”

These songs expressed our theology about the end times. But more importantly, they highlighted our theology of holiness. The world in which we live is not our home. That was our eschatological hope. We wanted to be “in that number when the saints go marching in.”6 The commitment to living out holiness on earth directly connected with our awareness that the saints’ ultimate citizenship is in heaven. So what on earth would we not be willing to give up to be in right standing with the Lord on Judgment Day?

Yet, living holy had immediate implications as well. The saints believed that it is important to live holy so that our prayers would not be hindered. Even people in the community believed that the saints could get a prayer through. Frequently, when families, friends, and coworkers had a need or were suffering with sickness or some other calamity, they would call on the sanctified church to pray.

Communal holiness was as critical as personal piety. Members of the community held each other accountable. In churches where there were peers of the same age group, it was easier for young people to obey the rules of holiness. It was harder for people who did not have a peer group with whom to share accountability and support. In my experience, various teachings on holiness established the foundation for what it meant to be a Christian. It is from this trajectory that I approach the subject of biblical holiness. The twenty-first century offers many opportunities and challenges for Christians and the church as a community of believers. The Church of Jesus Christ at large must ground its faith in sound teachings on biblical holiness.

Holiness through the Wesleyan Tradition

Strict religious guidelines seem a bit strange, looking through contemporary lenses. However, the connection between holiness and holy practices is not new. While the foundation for a message of holiness is biblical, twentieth-century pentecostal churches emerged from John Wesley’s teachings on practicing holiness and the Wesleyan tradition. In the eighteenth century, Wesley had a list of General Rules for his Methodist Societies that were ultimately connected to monastic rules. The tenets for the monastic way of living were grounded in early Christian teachings. They sought to apply a practical appropriation of Scripture that they lifted from literal readings of certain passages.

As I reflect on the rule lists that were common among the sanctified churches, I have the same mixed emotions that I have when I reflect on monastic interpretations of Scripture. On the one hand, a focus on visible evidence of holiness with a list of “dos and don’ts” or “cans and cants” may seem frivolous. Given the times in which we live, they seem extreme. As Lewis contends, “I do not think that a very strict or fussy standard of propriety is any proof of chastity [or holiness, for our purposes] or any help to it.”7 On the other hand, as the serious Christian observes the church today, a spirit of lawlessness or antinomianism often replaces legalism. Immodest clothing becomes a distraction to others in worship. Provocative outfits are designed to entice, outshine, or draw flattery from others and distract from Christ as the center of worship.

Moreover, just as churches with fussy, visible standards do not prove holiness, churches with no standard of holiness or that bend to society’s lustful sensuality do not prove spiritual liberty. Neither strict rules nor avoidance of practical standards of holiness reflect biblical principles of holiness. Rather, holiness begins as a condition of the heart. We need to balance a commitment to standards with the freedom to live out our faith from the heart. When it is not rooted in the heart, artificial human rules replace true holiness. As a result, we satisfy the flesh in odd ways rather than live out divine holiness from the heart.

Holiness: More than a Notion

Recently, a friend who pastors a Hispanic pentecostal congregation shared the situation of an unmarried couple that had recently joined his church. They were from a strict Oneness pentecostal background. The classical pentecostal denomination emphasizes baptism in Jesus’ name and focuses especially on physical manifestations of holiness, largely through dress and appearance. Women within the denomination are not allowed to wear trousers or excessive amounts of jewelry or cut their hair. Also, traditionally the men are discouraged to grow f...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Preface
• Part 1: Understanding Holiness
• Chapter 1: Don’t Throw the Baby Out with the Bath Water
• Chapter 2: In the World but Not of the World
• Chapter 3: Biblical Holiness: A Theological Reflection on Selected Passages
• Chapter 4: Holiness: Understanding Its Complexity
• Part 2: Practicing Holiness
• Chapter 5: Central Tenets of Holiness: The Four Ds
• Chapter 6: Hindrances to Holiness: The Four Cs
• Chapter 7: Let the Church Cry, “Holy!”: The Four Rs
• Chapter 8: Toward Practical Steps to Holiness: Four Moves
• Epilogue
• Bibliography