THE TRUE HOLINESS OF CHRIST

Holiness is predicated of God, and thus of Christ, a divine attribute of heavenly origin unrelated to the natural sphere of earth.  Further, as God is Spirit, it follows that holiness is a spiritual quality, not a moral one.

Christ was holy at His birth because holy prior to it, a unique form of manhood, God incarnate.  His humanity was both intrinsically holy andundefiled, Heb. 7:26.  “The Greek word hagios (holy) expresses something more than free from defilement” (W.E. Vine).

Holiness then is a divine, spiritual attribute.  That being the case we might ask how  there were holy things in Judaism – vessels, garments, etc.  The answer to this apparent anomaly is that they were holy only insofar as they represented spiritual realities, Heb. 8:5;  they were not intrinsically holy.

Notwithstanding, it is commonly assumed that Christ’s holiness was His unique moral perfection.  That this was not the case we have shown from Heb. 7;  He was holy and morally perfect – two distinct glories.

So holiness correlates to the divine nature, morality to human nature; in the case of Christ, flawless human nature.  Heaven is the sphere of spiritual and holy, earth the sphere of natural and moral.  Holiness originated in heaven and relates to that which is heavenly and thus spiritual.

Accordingly, the spiritual attribute of holiness was manifested in Christ in spiritual ways as He pursued the divine will in His ministry among God’s earthly people. The holy life is a spiritually engaged life, not a morally upright life, even a perfect one.