For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.I've been reading somethings recently about holiness, including today's E&E lesson, so this verse caught my attention. Most of my reading has been about God's holiness, but that makes the contrast here all the more interesting.
God is by definition holy, and the standard of holiness. However, this leaves a question: how can holiness be a descriptor for anything else, since nothing in this world is holy or perfect due to the fall? It's been interesting reading about holiness, because though I can't say I struggle with the concept, it is something that I have trouble accepting.
The basic answer is that God can give the ability for something/someone to be made holy, though a method He provides. In the Israelites' case, it was through the sacrificial system. Today, it is by our acceptance of Christ's blood. By this process, our unholiness is covered, so that God chooses not to see it, and it is therefore not held against us. Only by this designated process can anything be considered holy, not through any other method.
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