Have you ever heard someone accused of acting “holier than thou”? When you think of this phrase, what is usually the context?
Do the following statements of reasoning always seem to go along with it? “Who am I to say anything? After all, everybody sins.” “We are not supposed to act “holier than thou.””
In what situations have you heard this phrase? What is the connecting thread? Isn’t it brought up as a response to someone who has “criticized” another? I have way too often heard it used when there is known sin in the church, but no one wants to confront it.
Here is the original verse in the Bible. Isaiah 65:5 Who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am holier than you!” These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.
Before you add this phrase to your repertoire, and its perceived instruction into your life, let’s put it back in its context and see what it really means.
Isaiah 65:1-7 “I permitted Myself to be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I permitted Myself to be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, “Here am I, here am I,” to a nation which did not call on My name. I have spread out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in the way which is not good, following their own thoughts, a people who continually provoke Me to My face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on bricks; who sit among graves and spend the night in secret places; who eat swine’s flesh, and the broth of unclean meat is in their pots. Who say, “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am holier than you!” These are smoke in My nostrils, a fire that burns all the day. Behold, it is written before Me, I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will even repay into their bosom, both their own iniquities and the iniquities of their fathers together,” says the LORD. “Because they have burned incense on the mountains and scorned Me on the hills, therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.”
The nation of Israel was seeking after false gods and the ways of the nations. The people believed their ways were right—not God’s ways. In fact, they scorned God. They were defending themselves, exalting their false, vile man-made religion and rejecting the Truth! They were declaring that their idolatrous, rebellious actions made them holy! They were declaring they were better than those who followed the True God!
The reason these people were smoke in God’s nostrils was because of their claim to holiness in spite of their blatant disobedience—not because of their inability to be 100% perfect!
As far as the motto of church people nowadays to excuse themselves from obeying God to exhort, reprove, and rebuke other believers who are in sin—while we are not to act superior to others (because we are not)—we are to remain righteous. To say that we are not capable of refusing to sin, and therefore not able to approach a brother or sister who is in sin in order to help them, defies the gospel itself—it defies the work of Christ on the cross! We are commanded to be holy.
I wish it were not so, but it is clear that this lie, promulgated by Satan, and embraced by the dominant portion of the visible church, is simply in place so that people who claim the Name of Jesus will continue to sin, rather than repent of it, thereby robbing God of His Glory… People willfully choose to believe the lie rather than the Word of God, Himself…
Leviticus 11:44-45 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. And you shall not make yourselves unclean with any of the swarming things that swarm on the earth. For I am the Lord who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God; thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.
Leviticus 19:2 Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”
Leviticus 20:7-8 You shall consecrate yourselves therefore and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. You shall keep My statutes and practice them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you.
1 Peter 1:14-16 As obedient children,do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance,but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Why must believers be holy? Because we represent Who He is—and He is Holy. We must be holy because it is His Holy Son Who is living His life through us. We must be holy because of the sanctifying work of His Holy Spirit in us. We are to bring Him Glory by showing the world Who He is through who we are. We will definitely stand out because He tells us there will be few—few, not many, who will really be His. We will be light in an otherwise dark world.
To say we are better than others… no, absolutely not. To say we cannot be holy… no, no, a thousand times no! His goal for us is holiness! He has required it and He has provided it! I would invite you, no… urge you, to study Romans 6…
Romans 6:1-23 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
