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Pastor's Blog October 3, 2019
"Holiness From Love"
{Scroll over scripture reference to read the scripture or reference.
You've heard this text and these sentiments on holiness before: 1 Thessalonians 3:13 says, "And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints" (NRSV). When examined by itself, what is most obvious from this passage is the fact that God is the one who gives us holiness.
This verse nowhere suggests that we do something to make ourselves holy or somehow acquire holiness, except perhaps to stay with the one who can make us holy - God. And when we examine this passage in its immediate context, what is most obvious is that the "he" of this verse (i.e., "may he strengthen your hearts in holiness") is unclear; given the repeated emphasis on "our God and Father himself" and "the Lord Jesus" in verses 11 and 13, Paul purposefully refuses to clarify who is doing the strengthening in order to stress how intimately the Father and Jesus work together to make us holy. What is not so obvious, however, is that holiness follows from love.
First Thessalonians 3:13 actually continues the thought from the preceding verse; especially in how Paul laid it out in Greek, the apostle prays that "the Lord" may cause the love of the Thessalonians to increase and abound and overflow for each other and everyone else continually (v. 12), for the purpose of strengthening our hearts in holiness so that we will be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus (v. 13).
Paul is basically saying that Christian love leads to Christian holiness - that God making us holy comes from God increasing our love for one another. How much do you love, friend? It can be a daunting question to answer, because there is so little love in the world today and the love we have tends to be so paltry and small. But God loves you - and he also loves the people that, perhaps, you don't love very much or very well. As we worship God today, let us allow this God of love to change our hearts so that, strengthened to love, he may likewise strengthen them in holiness.
God Bless.
Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
