Good Or God? With John BevereSample

Who We Are & What We Do

Misunderstanding holiness will lead us to one of two things: lawlessness or legalism. If we think holiness isn’t relevant to us, we’ll live like our actions don’t matter. If we approach holiness as a set of rules to follow in our own strength, we’ll become either frustrated or self-righteous. True holiness doesn’t involve either of these things.

We can settle much of the confusion about holiness by understanding that it has two aspects. One deals with our position in Christ. The other deals with the behavior that results from it.

The holiness Ephesians 1:4 speaks of is positional. It is solely due to what Jesus did for us when He gave His life on our behalf, and it speaks of our place in Christ. We never could have earned this position by our behavior. It’s God’s gift to us. Something similar happens in marriage. When Lisa became my wife, it wasn’t something she earned but rather a position she received because I gave my heart to her.

The second aspect of holiness is the behavior that results from holding a position. To reference marriage again, once Lisa became my wife, her conduct reflected her loyalty to me. She no longer flirted or sought relationships with other men. Her actions corresponded to her unwavering relationship as my wife. And of course, my actions changed in the same way.

Behavioral holiness is what Peter writes about in 1 Peter 1. It’s clear from his language Peter is talking to God’s children, not unbelievers. He tells us God will judge or reward us according to what we do—our actions, not our position in Christ. This is not about earning our salvation. It’s about the eternal reward we will one day receive based on how we lived. (For more about this, see 2 Corinthians 5:9–10.)

Here’s the important distinction. Neither our position in Christ nor our behavior results from anything we earn by our own merits. Both are products of what God has freely given us. However, we have to cooperate with our new way of life in Christ so we can produce the good behavior that should result from it. Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how God has empowered us to do that.

Did today’s reading change your understanding of holiness? If so, how will your new perspective affect the way you live?