Blameless Holiness

Paul asks God to establish our hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father. Now, what does blameless mean? Does that mean never doing anything wrong? Does that mean that I am really living perfectly? That I have attained a perfect state of sinlessness? Thank God that that is not what he means, or we would all be in trouble—because the Bible tells us that in this life, we can not do it. John says in 1 John 1:1–10 that if you think you are without sin, you are just deceiving yourself, and calling God a liar. You will never, in this life, be without sin. That is one of the reasons that we are excited about the life to come. Paul says, I am not yet perfect—one of his later lessons. Boy, I have a lot of work to do. So he is not talking about perfection. What he is saying is sincere conformity to what we profess and believe. Interestingly, he used the same word—blamelessness—back in chapter 2, verse 10, when he was talking about his ministry, and Silas and Timothy: We were blameless in our conduct. We were righteous and holy and blameless. He was not saying, We never did anything wrong, or I never had to say I’m sorry. I am sure Paul was kind of a gruff person. We get the impression he probably sinned. But he says, You could see in me a pattern of godliness that was sincere and real. I was not there to rip you off, to take advantage of you. That is what must be seen in us.

And then holiness pertains to our inward character, our purity before the Lord. Christians have been made holy. When you were born again, there was a definitive change. You were set apart to God, and now that is to be experienced and worked out increasingly, experientially, in our lives. That is why Paul, in many of his letters, writes to the saints in Corinth—and then he talks about their sins. I thought saints didn’t have sins? That is because you have the wrong view of sainthood. Sainthood means a holy one, a Christian—one set apart by God. We are objectively that. We are now to become subjectively that. That is what is going on in our lives. What does Peter say? He who called you is holy, so you also should be holy in all your conduct, for it is written, Be holy, for I am holy (1 Peter 1:15–16; Leviticus 11:44). Now, remember what Paul is emphasizing. Paul is not saying, Hey, start making yourselves holy. He says, I am sharing my prayer request with you. I am asking that God would make you holy—because only God can do it. But praise God, he can do it.

Do you believe that? You and I are living in a church culture where many evangelicals are being told, Don’t worry about it. Don’t try to fight sin— because you can’t beat it. It is a denial of the present reign and lordship of the living Jesus Christ, who sends the Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God, my friends, is not a matter of talk. It is a matter of power. We are never going to be perfect. But it is not only that we must not sin—it is that we need not. You will not appeal to the Lord Jesus in vain when you seek power to fight sin and to be different. I love how Paul puts it in Philippians 2:15–16. He says, Be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation—does that sound relevant to anybody?—among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud I did not run in vain and labour in vain.

My friends, that is what our generation needs—not evangelicals and Reformed Christians who believe that Christian liberty is the ability to be as worldly as we can get away with. My friends, Christian liberty, biblically, is to draw near to God in the beauty of holiness—to be changed from one degree of glory to another. By what? Through the Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit. It is God who does it. Paul says in that same passage, Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. He is not teaching salvation by works. He is teaching sanctification—an active sanctification—for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. If you are a Christian, God is working in you. You are here in church,  hearing the Word. People are praying for you. You are praying. You are worshiping with the people of God. God is working. Now, work out what he is working in. You are aware of where the Lord is challenging you, positively and negatively. Apply yourself to it by the means of grace. It matters. Keep in step with the Spirit. Paul says, let us pursue the holiness that God is working towards in us.¹

Richard D. Phillips