Holiness is one of the essential elements of God's nature required of His people. Holiness may also be rendered "sanctification." The word holy denotes that which is "sanctified" or "set apart" for divine service. God's high expectations of His people flow out of His own holy nature.

Elisha was called a 'holy man of God.' - 2 Kin. 4:9 -

Herod feared John the Baptist, 'knowing that he was a just and holy man.' - Mark 6:20 -

The throne of mercy you must place on top of the ark inside the Holy of Holies. - Ex. 26:34 -

Who would not revere and praise your name, O Lord?
You alone are holy,
and all the pagans will come and adore you
for the many acts of justice you have shown. - Rev. 15:4 -


The first covenant also had its law governing worship, and its sanctuary, a sanctuary on this earth....... was called the Holy Place; then beyond the second veil, an innermost part which was called the Holy of Holies....... By this, the Holy Spirit is showing that no one has the right to go into the sanctuary as long as the outer tent remains standing; it is a symbol for this present time............ But now Christ has come, as the high priest of all the blessings which were to come. He has passed through the greater, the more perfect tent, which is better than the one made by men hands because it is not of this created order; and he has entered the sanctuary once and for all, taking with him not the blood of goats and bull calves, but his own blood, having won an eternal redemption for us. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of the heifer are sprinkled on those who have incurred defilement and they restore the holiness of their outward lives; how much more effectively the blood of Christ, who offered himself as the perfect sacrifice to God through the eternal Spirit, can purify our inner self from dead actions so that we do our service to the living God. - Heb. 9:1-14 -

The Lord Jesus Christ was the very personification of holiness, He reinforced God's demands for holiness by insisting that His disciples must have a higher quality of righteousness than that of the scribes and Pharisees. "For I tell you, if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven." - Matt. 5:20 -

The theme of "Holiness and Sanctification" or growing into God's likeness and being consecrated for His use, is prominent throughout the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.

Do not behave in the way that you liked to before you learnt the truth; make a habit of obedience: be holy in all you do, since it is the Holy One who has called you, and scripture says: Be holy, for I am holy. - 1 Peter. 1:14-16 -

Saint Paul prayer for the saints at Thessalonica is timeless in its application to the universal Church and individual believers. "May God our Father himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, make it easy for us to come to you. May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints. - 1 Thess. 3:11-13 -

The One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church is held, as a matter of faith and love, to be unfailingly holy. This is because Christ, the Son of God, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit is hailed as "alone holy" loved the One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church as His Bride, giving Himself up for her so as to sanctify her: He joined her to Himself as His body and endowed her with the gift of the Holy Spirit for the glory of God. The One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church, then is, "the holy People of God" and her faithful are called "saints." United with the Lord Jesus Christ, the One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church is sanctified by Him; through Him and with Him she or her [The One, Holy, Universal, Apostolic Church] becomes sanctifying. "All the activities of the One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church are directed, as toward their end, to the sanctification of men in the Lord Jesus Christ and the glorification of God. It is in the One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church that "by the grace of God we acquire holiness." - CCC 823,824 -

Give way to one another in obedience to Christ. Wives should regard their husbands as they regard the Lord, since as Christ is head of the Church and saves the whole body, so is a husband the head of his wife; and as the Church submits to Christ, so should wives to their husbands, in everything. Husbands should love their wives just as Christ loved the Church and sacrificed himself for her to make her holy. He made her clean by washing her in water with a form of words, so that when he took her to himself she would be glorious, with no speck or wrinkle or anything like that, but holy and faultless. In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies; for a man to love his wife is for him to love himself. A man never hates his own body, but he feeds it and looks after it; and that is the way Christ treats the Church because it is his body - and we are its living parts. - Eph. 5:21-30 -

Love is the soul of the holiness to which all are called: it "governs, shapes, and perfects all the means of sanctification." "Christ, 'holy, innocent and undefiled' knew nothing of sin but came only to expiate the sins of the people. The One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church, however, clasping sinners to her bosom, at once holy and always in need of purification, follows constantly the path of penance and renewal. All faithfuls of the One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church, including her ministers, must acknowledge that they are sinners. In everyone, the weeds of the sin will still be mixed with the good wheat of the Gospel until the end of time. Hence the One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church gathers sinners already caught up in Christ's salvation but still on the way to holiness. - CCC 826,827 -

In other words, God in Christ was reconciling the world to himself, not holding men's faults against them, and he has entrusted to us the news that they are reconciled. So we are ambassadors for Christ; it is as though God were appealing through us, and the appeal that we make in Christ's name is: be reconciled to God. For our sake God made the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God. - 2 Cor. 19-21 -

Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, he too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could take away all the power of the devil, who had power over death, and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. For it was not the angels that he took to himself; he took to himself descent from Abraham. It was essential that he should in this way become completely like his brothers so that he could be a compassionate and trustworthy high priest of God's religion, able to atone for human sins. That is, because he has himself been through temptation he is able to help others who are tempted. - Heb. 2:14-18 -

To suit us, the ideal high priest would have to be holy, innocent and uncontaminated, beyond the influence of sinners, and raised up above the heavens; one who would not need to offer sacrifices everyday, as the other high priests do for their own sins and then for those of the people because he has done this once and for all by offering himself. The Law appoints high priests who are men subject to weakness; but the promise on oath, which came after the Law, appointed the Son who is made perfect for ever. - Heb. 7:26-28 -

If we say we have no sin in us,
we are deceiving ourselves
and refusing to admit the truth;
but if we acknowledge our sins,
then God who is faithful and just
will forgive our sins and purify us
from everything that is wrong.
To say that we have never sinned
is to call God a liar
and to show that his word is not in us. - 1 John 1:8-10 -

Jesus put another parable before them, The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in the field. While everybody............ I shall say to the reapers: First collect the darnel and tie it in bundles to be burnt, then gather the wheat into my barn. - Matt. 13:24-30 -

Then, leaving the crowds, he went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, "Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us." Jesus said in reply, "The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the devil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end time. The Son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provokes offences and all who do evil, and throw them into blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears! - Matt. 13:36-43 -

Apostolic or pertaining to the twelve apostles, or the faith and love in the Lord Jesus Christ, teaching and practice of these apostles. While the word "Apostolic" does not appear in the New Testament, the period in early Church history when the Apostles were alive is commonly called the "Apostolic Age." Apostolic Age - that period of Church history when the apostles were alive, beginning with the Day of Pentecost [about A.D. 30] and ending near the conclusion of the first century [about A.D. 100] with the death of the apostle John. During the apostolic age, all the books [Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible] of the New Testament were written, including the four Gospels, the Book of Acts, the letters of apostle Paul, the general letters, and the Book of Revelation.

During A.D. 50 an "Apostolic Council" was established, that is, the assembly of apostles and elders of the New Testament Church in Jerusalem. This Apostolic Council considered the question of whether Gentiles had to be circumcised and keep certain other laws of the Jewish faith in order to be a faithful of the Church. - Acts 15 - this assembly decided that a Gentile does not first have to become a Jew in order to be a Christian.

Apostle is a special messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ; a person whom the Lord Jesus Christ delegated authority for certain tasks. The word apostle is used of those twelve disciples whom the Lord Jesus Christ sent out to preach, with power to cast out devils, and it was on that occasion, evidently, that they were first called "Apostles." - Mark 3:13-19 - "The apostles rejoined Jesus and told him all they had done and taught. Then he said to them, 'You must come away to some lonely place all by yourselves and rest for a while' for there were so many coming and going that the apostles had no time even to eat." - Mark 6:30-31 -

The word apostle has a wider meaning in the letter of the apostle Paul. It includes people who, like himself, were not included in the Twelve, but who saw risen Christ and were specially commissioned by the Lord Jesus Christ. - Rom. 1:1-2; 1 Cor. 1:1-2; 2 Cor. 1:1-2; Gal. 1;1-2; 1 Cor. 15:9-11 - Apparently, apostle Paul also counted James, the Lord's brother, as an apostle. - Gal. 1:19 - In fact, James was not a believer in Jesus Christ before the Crucifixion. - John 7:5 - It was the resurrected Lord Jesus who appeared to James and presumably commissioned him to preached the Good News. - 1 Cor. 15:6-8 - The authority committed to the apostles by the Lord Jesus Christ was unique. It could not be transmitted to others. The apostles could install elders or other leaders to the Church.

Now you together are Christ's body; but each of you is a different part of it. In the Church, God has given the first place to apostles, the second to prophets, the third to teachers; after them, miracles, and after them gift of healing; helpers, good leaders, those with many languages. - 1 Cor. 12:27-28 -

When it says, "Jesus ascended" what can it mean if not that he descended right down to the lower regions of the earth? The one who rose higher than all the heavens to fill all things is none other than the one who descended. And to some, his gift was that they should be apostles; to some, prophets; to some, evangelists; to some, pastors and teachers; so that the saints together make a unity in the work of service, building up the body of Christ.

In this way we are to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man, fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself. Then we shall not be children any longer, or tossed one way and another and carried along by every wind of doctrine, at the mercy of all the tricks men play and their cleverness in practicing deceit. If we live by the truth and in love, we shall grow in all ways into Christ, who is the head by whom the whole body is filled and joined together, every joint adding its own strength, for each separate part to work according to its function. So the body grows until it has built itself up, in love. - Eph. 4:9-16 -

The One, Holy, Universal Church is Apostolic too, because she is founded on the apostles, and because we are part of a building that has the apostle and prophets for its foundation, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord Jesus Christ; and we too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit. That is, the One, Holy, Universal, and Apostolic Church. Amen!

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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless.

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Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -