Holiness is not catching; uncleanliness is contagious

Holiness is not catching; uncleanness however, is contagious. You might say that it is a weird way to see it, but you have to explain it in a way that makes sense to the people you're talking to. If he was talking to you, Haggai might say, Listen, if you have a whole bunch of rotten apples and you drop a good, healthy apple into them, will it make those rotten apples good? No, you'd say. Holiness is not catching. Purity is not necessarily contagious at all, unfortunately. If you cover a bunch of good apples, the rottenness will surely pervade. The rottenness will be pervasive, the uncleanness will spread. Uncleanness is contagious. Notice how Haggai applies that little catechism question. He says, this is what the Lord says: (Haggai 2:14): That is how these people are, how this nation is. That's how all the work of their hands is. What they offer in their worship, even in what they do in worship, is unclean. The Lord says, I want you to consider how my worship has been polluted. He is saying that the condition of the people, in their uncleanness, in a sense oozes over and infects everything they do, even their most holy acts. You see, he is saying to them, apparently, that just because you are rebuilding a temple, a holy place, that doesn't make you become. If you have contact with holy people or places or things, that doesn't make you holy. Standing in a garage doesn't make you a mechanic. Being a Presbyterian/ doesn't make you a Christian. It is not necessarily so. Holiness is not catching, but your uncleanness infects everything you do, even your worship. And the Lord is saying, I want you to remember, how even your worship has been unclean.¹

Dale Ralph Davis