Weird Ideas: Holy ChurchSample

The Corinthian church was God’s problem child. Any idealistic notion we have of a pure and holy way of life in the first century church is dashed the moment you read this letter. Besides seeming to mess up everything Paul had taught them, they were marked by infighting, factions, and ways of life Paul says are worse than the pagans!

Yet look at how Paul addresses them: “To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people” (1 Cor 1:2).

Here’s something you might not catch in translation. When Paul calls the Corinthians “sanctified,” he’s using the same root word as “holy.” This is also true when he calls the church “saints” in 2 Cor 1:1. It’s the same root word. “Saint” is a translation from “holy one.” “Saints,” “sanctified,” “sanctification” – it all means the same thing, holy.

What is he saying? He’s saying that the Corinthians are saints. He’s saying that they are sanctified. He’s saying that these sinful, unruly people are holy. This should key us into something. Holiness is a status God puts upon us.

Holiness is not so much something to achieve as it is a status to embrace. God declares us holy because Jesus is holy. If we are in Jesus, his holiness counts towards us. The church is not holy because it is good in its own right. It is holy because of Jesus’s identity placed upon us.