[Pastor Ralph]

Q3. (Ephesians 1:4) What does it mean to be "holy"? In what sense can you stand "blameless" before God?

[Doug]

Hi,
My name is Doug and I was named after the great General of the Army Douglas MacArthur. Being from the Philippines he was a hero, much admired American in the islands. I am grateful to be a member of the study group looking deeper into the Lord's Supper. I hope to learn much from all of you.

Re: Ephesians 1 and Predestination, all I know is what I have read from the Word which is that God in His omnicience or all knowing wisdom chose those whom He will save then sent His Son to save them and now the Holy Spirit is gathering them (us) into His Kingdom. I do not know much, but would like to learn.

Thanks and may God's sweetest smile be upon us as we study His Word.

Doug

[Chukwuemeka]

Well to be holy is to live a life separated unto God. Pleasing God in all you do in life. Becoming holy in our day to day life produces a kind of suffering in the lives of God's children that wells up from within us as the remnant of sin in our flesh fight for survival. Consider the phrases; ...take up the cross..., ...crucify..., ...put to death...

[pickledilly]

Holiness is the absolute moral purity and integrity of the character of Christ. To be holy is to be consecrated to flawless perfection, claimed by Him to be set apart from the nature of the flesh and dedicated to His divine nature and purposes. This is not something any person could ever accomplish by self-effort. It is only accomplished as we give ourselves over to His Spirit's refining work within us.

What an amazing thing to know that God already sees the work of creating this holy character of Christ in me as completed because, in Christ, "it is finished"! When He looks at me, He sees me already all grown up and matured in the perfection of being like His Son. He sees the covering of righteousness laid over me through the holy blood of Christ that has already gained my pardon and made me blameless of sin. He sees me as already fully reconciled and restored to Himself as a redeemed new creation. I need to get His vision of who I already am to Him because it will transform the way I see myself and how I want to live. Because of this glorious position in Christ, I can confidently approach the LORD, knowing I am accepted in the very presence of God. In His blameless purity, Christ is right now seated in acceptance at the very right hand of God. Because I am enfolded in Christ, I'm right there with Him. WOW.

[KathyK]

Pastor Ralph, on Aug 24 2006, 08:48 PM, said:

Q3. (Ephesians 1:4) What does it mean to be "holy"? In what sense can you stand "blameless" before God?

God is Holy...He is perfect, flawless...I don't think that even comes close to describing God as Holy...but I think for us to be holy is to be able to stand before God...the only way that can happen is for us to be blameless and the only way that can happen is for us to be made new. How are we made new, through Jesus Christ...when we are in Christ, we are able to stand before God.

I like that the Holy Spirit is working in us...first off he is Holy, in us, changing us from the inside out. And we are in Christ...so much force and power being exerted on us and in us...we certainly are being made holy. New without spot or blemish...refined.

[JCSupSvc]

To be holy is to be separated from the world and to God. We have been "dedicated" to God. Our lives are no longer our own, but His to do with what he wants.

I can stand blameless before God because my sins have been covered by the blood of Jesus. Although I have transgressed His law, Jesus has already paid the penalty for my sins.

[sandralee]

To be holy is to be without sin, a saint. I f we have no sin, we are without blame. I can only stand holy and blameless before God in a spiritual sense through faith in the One who became sin for me, who died for me and now lives for me, interceding for me ALWAYS and FOREVER.

[Ken7]

Each believer stands blameless, boldly before God through the blood of Jesus Christ. What a marvelous thought, and fact. We were justified at Calvary, through faith in Jesus. He is the One. While this is true, Sanctification is also real. Our daily walk with God is so important to our personal holiness.

We should allow God to transform us through His Word. Our daily bread (prayer & study ...this study included) is a key to my faith. Obedience is the key to holiness!

[KBB]

To be holy means to be set aside or distinguised for a special purpose. E.g., I have certain pants that I only wear to mow the lawn. That's what makes them special. Although the pants have grass stains on them, I see them as being perfect for what they're designed to do. Likewise, for me to be holy means that God has put me aside for a special purpose. Moreover, He sees me as being blameless [through Christ] for what He's called me to do. Though everyone else can see my "grass stains," God sees me as being just what He needs to do His will.

/kbb

Pastor Ralph, on Aug 25 2006, 01:48 AM, said:

Q3. (Ephesians 1:4) What does it mean to be "holy"? In what sense can you stand "blameless" before God?

[jules]

To be holy means to be spearated for a certain purpose in this case for God's purpose.

I can stand blameless before God only in the sense of being washed clean through Jesus's sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection. See Hebrews 9:11-14

[Gail Francis]

Pastor Ralph, on Aug 24 2006, 08:48 PM, said:

Q3. (Ephesians 1:4) What does it mean to be "holy"? In what sense can you stand "blameless" before God?

To be blameless, to not think bad of self or anyone. God created us and we belong to Him. We don't need to do or say anything just to get others approval, we only need Gods approval. We need to humble ourselves to Him. And be cleaned of ours sins and live only for him and let no one or anything come in our life that is not of God.

Don't think of self--self pity

Gail

[Kay71]

To be holy means to live through God and to teach others about God. I can only stand blameless if I accept God and his son and through Jesus Christ's sacrifice.

[highcalling]

To be holy is to live in the spirit and not in the flesh. Everything about us must be holy. Our thoughts Philippians 4:8 and our speech Psalm 141:3. For us to be holy we must model Jesus.


The only way I can stand blameless before God is to repent. We all have sinned and sin is what spots us and makes us have blame. The only way our sins are washed away is by repenting. For we have all come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:22-24), but every time he forgives us he forgets.

[Eudora]

Q3. (Ephesians 1:4) What does it mean to be "holy"? In what sense can you stand "blameless" before God?

To be holy means to be like Christ. Christ like minded. We have read of the walk of Jesus Christ our Savior and Master upon the earth. His walk was the path that we are to follow in. Where Jesus took the high road, so must we. Where Jesus took the low road, so must we. We are never in doubt when we follow in the path of The Master.

He is the potter, we are the clay. When we allow Him to lead our life and we follow His leading, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of His hands. Being in His hands reminds us of just how small we really are in the realm of things, but we must not fail to see the importance of the fact that we are in His hands. We are important to Him, that is why He takes the time to mold us and to inframe us with His will , to fulfill His desire and to go through the fire with us as we become the perfect clay vessels that He has purposed us to be.

Psalm 18:32
It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.

Psalm 18:30
As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

He makes me a strong vessel because He covers me with His defense shield. He is my buckler.

I can stand blameless before God because it is His divine will that I do so. We all must stand before God one day. God sees what I am. The outcome of His will, and not what I see. If I did not choose His will for my life, then I would be blamed for the outcome of what my life would be because I would be in charge of it. God is in charge of my life and as long as I abide in Him and He abides in me, I will be presented to Him blameless because it is His will that I come, cleansed by the Blood of The Lamb and that is how God sees me. Jesus paid for my sacrifice, and I am freed from the slavery of willful sin. Un-willful sin, that is different. I must repent for any sins that I unwillingly commit. Staying in His word, abiding in Him, keeps that kind of yuck to a very low and not very often minimum.

[may121]

We can never achieved God's standard of holiness. However we are made 'holy' in His sight because Jesus has paid the price for us. We can't achieve holiness but we can maintain that standard, by coming to God with clean hands and clean heart. We can stand blameless before Him because all our blemishes were taken away by Jesus. We can boldly stand before Him if we come with clean hands & clean heart. Otherwise we should humble & confess our sin (for our benefit !) .

[Jezemeg]

To me, being 'holy' has nothing to do with having a 'Jesus complex' or claiming I'm something I'm not and above making mistakes or even sinning. It is a striving to emulate what Jesus did within my human limitations. To stand blameless means to me that yes, while attempting to serve God, I may not 'quite hit the mark', I will make mistakes...but the very fact that allows me to stand blameless is that I didn't ignore His call, I accepted the task He assigned to me, and I am able to repent any mistakes or sin that I committed, forgive others, forgive myself, and move on in service

[RonS]

(Ephesians 1:4) What does it mean to be "holy"?

To be holy is to be perfect in deed and thought. Only God is holy.
We are to strive to be holy, but the bible says that are best deads are nothing but filthy rags to God.
God can not tolerate any thing that is no holy in his presents.

In what sense can you stand "blameless" before God?

We can not stand before God because we are not holy or blameless.

You say What!!!

Yes only in Christ can we stand before a holy God. When we are in Christ
and we stand before God he only sees Christ, we become invisable.

[TennLady01]

[b]Q3. (Ephesians 1:4) What does it mean to be "holy"?

The word says that none are holy or perfect no not one. But while we live our lives the best we can we strive to be holy as he is Holy. Paul said he died daily and we too must repent and ask God to forgive us our short coming. We are not going to be perfect while here on this earth but we are to strive to do our best to live Holy, and God is our Holiness and our Righteousness. Washed in the blood of Jesus, God is able to look upon us and see us as holy not because of what we do our have done but because we are under the blood covering.

In what sense can you stand "blameless" before God?

We have all sinned and fallen short with God the word tells us that clearly. When we repent and ask forgiveness of our sin God no longer remembers those sins or holds them against us. We are blameless because we excepted Jesus into our hearts and live our best for him daily. God is faithful and just to forgive us when we ask. He loves us and will forgive as long as we forgive others.

[EdW]

To be "holy" is to be set apart for God's purpose. I stand "blameless" before God because of Jesus' actions, not mine. He has given His righteousness to me so that when God looks at me, He sees the righteousness of Christ. This is an awesome fact.

[heavenlymann]

to be "holy" is to be set apart from the world to the Lord according to His purpose.

We can stand blameless before God through the blood of Christ. Now when He looks at us He sees His Son, the Lord Jesus.