When Christians speak about the Apostles’ Creed—or what we believe—we usually think about the person of God, the corruption of humanity and our need for salvation, the work of Christ, and the ministry of the Holy Spirit. For most of us, the doctrine of the church isn’t always considered too central to Christian doctrine. Nor do we readily connect it with what we believe. Yet when we review the Apostles’ Creed, we find that one of its central affirmations is that we believe in “the holy catholic Church.” This language reflects Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:21, “in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.”
In this article, we will consider what it means that the Church is holy.
The Church: A Holy Temple
The Church’s identity is that it is set apart for God. And this is because God dwells in it. The Church is the place of God’s presence among his people. And wherever God dwells, that place, or that people, becomes holy. The church is God’s dwelling place. How could we say that God is holy, that we are his people, and yet expect ourselves not to be holy?
The Church is set apart for God.
Listen to Paul again in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17. “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”
God’s Dwelling Place
Holiness flows from God’s presence, not from human merit. The Church is holy because God dwells in it. Not because its members are sinless but because God owns it and dwells in its midst. So, first of all, the Church is a people set apart from the world, for God, to be the place of his presence.
The Church is the place of God’s presence among his people.
Peter says essentially the same thing in 1 Peter 2:9, calling God’s people his “holy nation”. This language comes from Exodus 19, where God speaks in similar terms about Israel after bringing them out of Egypt. Notice something important: they became a holy nation before they had done anything to earn that designation. Their holiness was the result of God’s gracious work. He sanctified them. That is, he set them apart for himself and graciously determined to dwell in their midst. God’s presence among his people makes them holy.
A Holy Church Made Up of Holy People
But the Church isn’t merely holy as a corporate entity. Its individual members are also called holy. Listen to how Paul expresses both truths together. We are holy as individuals, and at the same time we belong to the Church of God, which is his possession and the place of his presence. “To the church of God that is in Corinth,” Paul writes, “to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:2)
Notice the language: “the church of God that is in Corinth”; then “those sanctified in Christ Jesus”; and finally, they’re not alone, for Paul continues by including all those who call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place. All of them are saints; holy ones.
God is jealous for the holiness of his Church and for everything that takes place within it.
This single verse has profound implications. God is always jealous for the holiness of his Church and for everything that takes place within it. God called his people out of Egypt to be a holy people. Therefore, he gave them extensive laws concerning holiness and commanded them to live accordingly. How could God dwell in the midst of a people who would not care about holiness or about becoming like him? When God gave his people the Ten Commandments, he was calling them to reflect his own character. They were to be truthful because God is truthful. They were to be faithful because God is faithful. That is why, throughout both the Old and New Testaments, God says to his people: “Be holy, for I am holy.”
Holiness Isn’t the End; It’s a Beginning
The Church’s status as a holy people, created by God’s work in the lives of its members and by God’s dwelling in its midst, is the beginning of the matter rather than the end. This holy people must continually pursue a life of holiness. God continually commands his Church to pursue holiness. “Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). The true citizens of God’s kingdom are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:6). But notice the order carefully, because it’s critical we don’t mix it up.
We don’t become God’s people because we have made ourselves holy. Rather, God sanctifies sinners. He turns sinners into his people, setting them apart and choosing to dwell among them. And because he dwells within us, he expects us to live in holiness that reflects his glory and his character and continually remembers that we belong to him above all else.
We don’t become God’s people because we have made ourselves holy.
This being said, we shouldn’t expect the Church nor our local churches to be perfect in this present life. The Church still has weaknesses and imperfections. Even though it has been delivered from the dominion of sin, sin clings closely to it. Although perfect holiness has not yet been fully realised, perfect holiness must always remain its goal.
Therefore, we must understand clearly that God doesn’t take his holiness lightly. He expects his people continually to seek purity and holiness. He knows that we are not yet perfect, so he continually gives us the means of grace through which he cleanses and sanctifies us as he dwells among us. But God doesn’t tolerate presumption. He doesn’t tolerate persistent sin and deliberate wickedness within his Church.
Discipline: A Gift of Christ to His Church
This brings us to church discipline, which is actually one of Christ’s gifts to his people. Through it, the Lord purifies the Church in which he dwells. The church therefore must not knowingly receive or retain in its membership those who persist in unrepentant sin despite repeated warnings from their brothers and sisters and from the elders.
As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:7: “Cleanse out the old leaven that you may be a new lump, as you really are unleavened.” We must therefore take seriously the holiness of the people who bear Christ’s name. As we think about the Church we must remember that she’s the bride of Christ. Christ is continually at work purifying his bride and he doesn’t regard its impurity a trivial matter.
We must take seriously the holiness of the people who bear Christ’s name.
What happens when a church persists in unholiness despite God’s dealings, warnings, and discipline? The Lord may remove his presence and judgment from such a church, just as he departed from the temple in Ezekiel’s day. In Ezekiel 8, the prophet describes the worship of God’s people as profoundly corrupt. The temple was filled with idolatry and sin. The same thing can happen in a church today. A church can be deeply involved in religious activity while sin flourishes within it, the gospel is absent, the word is neglected, and Christ is dishonoured. Outward activity doesn’t guarantee the presence of God. A church may have sermons, meetings, programs, conferences, ministries, and countless activities, yet lose the reality of what it means to be the dwelling place of the living God.
John Owen makes the point forcefully: “To compose churches of habitual sinners, and that either as unto sins of commission, or sins of omissions, is not to erect temples to Christ, but chapels unto the devil.” What a sobering thought: A church can go from being a holy temple to becoming a gathering place of Satan.
God Owns His Church
Let us remember what the church is: the church is the place of God’s presence. Whether we are preaching, serving, preparing ministries and sermons, gathering to make decisions about the life of the church, teaching our children and young people, counselling, dealing with difficult situations or interacting with those outside the church, we must never forget that this is the church of the living God; the people among whom he dwells. And because God dwells among us, his church must be holy.
Our holiness doesn’t make us God’s people. Rather, because God has graciously made us his people and chosen to dwell among us, we are called to live in a way that reflects the holiness of the God who has claimed us as his own. Therefore, in everything we do as Christ’s Church, let us remember the Lord’s command: “Be holy, for I am holy.”
