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15 But as He who called you holy, you also be holy in all conduct,
16 Because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."

In the NT, holiness is an attribute of GOD that the people of GOD must reflect in their lives (Luke1:75; 2Cor7:1; Eph4:24; 1Pet1:15,16 etc.).
A. Introduction
   Terminology. The language of holiness in the NT and other early Christian literature is almost entirely represented by a word family that is rare in Attic Greek: hagios, "holy," hagiazein, "to make holy," and cognates.
   Greek hagios corresponds with sanctus in Latin, ouaab in Coptic, and qds in Syriac. Other Greek words occasionally express holiness or the related idea of purity (hosios in Acts2:27 and 2 Clem.1:3; hosiotes in Eph4:24 and 1 Clem.29:1; hagnos in 2Cor7:11 and Pol. Phil.5:3; hagnotes in 2Cor6:6 and Herm. Vis.3:7; hieros in 1Cor9:13 and 1 Clem. 43:1). But their association with Hellenistic religions of the period prevented any widespread use among NT and early Christian authors. Also the preponderance of hagios in the LXX as a translation for the Hebrew qds, "holy," made this word group ready at hand for early Christian writers.
   It is in the LXX, in fact, that hagios developed luxuriantly (ca. 700 occurrences), spawning a full family of cognates: hagiazein, "to make holy" (ca. 200 occurrences); hagiasma, "holy place" (ca. 64 occurrences); hagiasmos, "holiness" (10 occurrences); hagiasterion, "holy place" (4 occurrences); hagiosyne, "holiness" (4 occurrences). Lev19:2, "you shall be holy, for I, the LORD your GOD, am holy" (cf. 1Pet1:16; 1Thess4:3); Ps2:6, "I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill;" and Wis1:5, "For a holy and disciplined spirit will flee from deceit," illustrate the breadth of usage: ontology and theology, social description, cult, and ethics.
 

B. Hagios and Cognates in the NT
   1. Jesus. To the extent that Jesus' sayings can be distilled from the faith of the early Church and the editorial work of the evangelists, one sees that Jesus rarely, but deliberately, spoke of holiness. The LORD's Prayer invokes the Father with the petition "hallowed [hagiazesthai] be thy name" (Matt6:9, Luke11:2, Did.8:2). The holiness of GOD's name, a common motif in Hebrew prayer (Ps.30:4; 97:12;
 

Tob3:ll), evolved into a powerful symbol and rallying point for Christian life and faith (cf. Luke1:49; John17:11; 1 Clem. 58:1; 64:1; 9:1; Did.10:2). Apart from the LORD's Prayer, the word "holy" turns up in four sayings attributed to Jesus. At Mark8:38 (cf. Matt16:27 and Luke9:26) Jesus speaks of the hagioi angelloi, "holy angels," who will accompany the Son of Man upon his return. An important part of Jewish and early Christian faith was the belief in holy angels (Ps89:7; Zech14:5; Acts10:22; 1 Clem. 39:7; Herm. Vis.2.2.7; 3.4.1-2; Herm. Sim. 5.5.3), who would return with Jesus (Did.15:7; cf. 1Thess3:13).
   In another saying (Matt7:6; cf.Did.9:5 and Gon. Thom. 93) Jesus declares, "Do not give dogs what is holy (to hagion)." If this meant for Jesus that His mission did not include Gentiles, then so too in Matthew. In the Didache the saying becomes a rationale for excluding the catechumens from the Eucharist. In each case holiness serves to fix a boundary that restrains the outsider.
 

   In the Synoptic apocalypse only Matthew reports that the desolating sacrilege will stand in the "holy place" (hagios topos) or temple (Matt24:15; cf. Mark13:14).
   And finally, in Matthew's Woes against the Pharisees one reads at 23:17. "What is then greater, the gold or the temple which sanctified (hagiazein) the gold?" Presupposed in this saying is the dialectic of holiness (Eliade 1963:12) or the belief that the holy (temple) can raise ordinary things (gold) to the level of the sacred.
   2. Synoptic Sayings Source. Apart from the LORD's Prayer there is only one other occurrence of the idea of holiness in the synoptic sayings source: "The devil took Him to the holy city, and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple" (Matt4:5; cf. Luke4:9).
   3. Mark. In Mark, holiness is twice attributed to a person. Once (Mark1:24) a demoniac recognizes Jesus as "the holy One of GOD" (ho hagios tou theou), that is, as one removed from the profane order of things for the service of GOD (cf. Luke4:34; John6:69; Exod22:31; Lev11:44-45; 19:2: 20:7; 26; 21:6: Num15:40; 1Sam7:1; 1Esdr8:58; Hab3:3;
 

Isa4:3; Jer1:5). In the second instance Mark6:20; cf. Matt14:5; Luke9:7-9) Herod Antipas fears to put John the Baptist to death because he was a righteous and holy (hagios) man.
   4. The Special Material in Matthew and Luke. Apart from the four savings of Jesus discussed above Matthew's special material refers only once more to holiness. Matt27:52-53 narrates that upon the death of Jesus "the tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the holy who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many." Whatever the origin of this tradition, whether in a saying of Jesus (cf. John5:25) or in Jewish Christian apocalypticism (cf. Dan7:18-27), the holy ones became in the course of the 2nd century c.e. identified with the Hebrew prophets (Ign. Phld.5:2), thus expanding again already existing conceptions of who constituted the holy ones of the end time.
   In Luke's special material holiness is an attribute of GOD's name or of those set apart for His service. The texts appear only in the infancy narrative (Luke1:35,49,70,72; 2:23). At the Annunciation Luke writes, for example, that "the Child to be born will be called holy [hagios]. "The view that the summons to holiness takes place through a "calling" (kalein) in traditional (cf. Isa4:3; 35:8; 62:12; klete hagia, "holy assembly:" Ex12:16; Lev23:2: passim). Mary's hymn of praise, the Magnificat, celebrates GOD's holy name (hagion to onoma autou), and if Ps110:9 LXX lies behind this verse (Fitzmyer, Luke AB, 368), then "holy" is equivalent here to "awe-full" (phoberon).
   5. Acts of the Apostles. The 14 occurrences of hagios and cognates in Acts (apart from its use in the "Holy Spirit") reflect conventional Jewish usage. Eight belong to kerygmatic and sermonic material (3:14, 21; 4:27, 30; 7:33; 20:32; 26:10, 18); three to the traditions of Peter in Lydda, Joppa (9:32, 41), and the seacoast city of Caesarea (10:22); and three to the charges raised against Paul (9:13; 21:28) and Stephen (6:13). In Peter's sermon at Solomon's portico Jesus is identified as the holy and righteous One (3:14: ho hagios kai dikaios; cf. 4:27, 30; otherwise of John the Baptist at Mark6:20). Among the earliest christological titles, "the holy and righteous One" and "the holy Servant" (pais) combine traditional Jewish designations for Moses (Wis11:1), the Suffering Servant (Isa53:11), and Elijah (2Kings4:9) and apply them to Jesus (Fuller 1965: 48).
   In another sermon Peter calls the prophets of old holy (3:21; cf. Luke1:70), while the charge against Stephen is that he "never ceases to speak words against this holy place" (6:13; cf. Matt24:15; in ancient Jewish piety a favorite circumlocution of GOD's name was hammaqom "the place," while the graves of saints in late antiquity were known simply as ho topos, "the place" [cf. 1 Clem 5:7]).
   In Paul's farewell discourse at Miletus and in his defense speech before Herod Agrippa II, holiness becomes a category of social and religious identity Paul commends the assembled Miletians to GOD and His word, who will give them "the inheritance among all those who are made holy."
 

(20:32). Likewise, before Agripppa, Paul says that it is "the holy ones" (26:10: cf. 9:13) whom he formerly persecuted, before GOD called him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles so "that they receive a portion among those who are made holy by faith in Me" (26:18). Here Paul identifies faith as the social and religious wellspring of holiness.
   At Joppa Peter seeks out believers described as the holy ones and the widows (9:41; cf. 9:32), a designation which suggests that while "the holy ones" serves as a blanket designation for "believers," there are also nuances to be considered, since the category of "holy" may from time to time mark a special role or function in early Christianity (cf. Eph4:11-12; Heb13:24; Rev11:18).
 

   6. Paul. Of the undisputed letters of Paul, Romans, 1Corinthians, 2Corinthians, and Philippians begin and end by addressing themselves to Christian communities whose members are designated as holy. Among the disputed letters, Ephesians and Colossians open in this manner. Philemon and the Thessalonian letters do not use this form of opening address, and hagios and cognates are completely wanting in Galatians. In Rom1:7 and 1Cor1:2 the addressees are "those called holy" (kletoi hagioi). According to 1Cor1:2 the addressees enjoy this status because they are "made holy in Christ."
 

   For Paul, Jesus incarnates holiness (hagiasmos; cf. 1Cor1:30). A pre-Pauline formula says that Jesus was designated son of GOD at His resurrection "according to the Spirit of holiness" (kata pneuma hagiosynes, Rom1:4).
   At the end of Romans Paul encourages the Church to receive Phoebe the deaconess in a manner "worthy of the holy ones" (16:2), and to "greet Philologus ... and all the holy ones" (16:15). Similarly at the end of 1Corinthians (16:15), 2Corinthians (13:13), and Philippians (4:21) Paul uses the designation "the holy ones" as an epithet for the faithful, proven, and tested.
   Within the general designation of few believers as the holy ones there are special usages that derive from Paul's own theological and pastoral concerns. There is first the special status accorded the Jerusalem Church, most visible in the collection for its benefit. Everywhere except in Galatians, where the word "holy" is missing and the collection is a "remembering of the poor," the subscriptions of the Gentile churches are earmarked for the holy ones. Paul prays at Rom15:16 that the Holy Spirit will render holy the gifts of the Gentile churches. From Corinth, Paul traveled to Jerusalem "to relieve the holy ones (Rom15:25)," bringing Macedonia's and Achaia's donation "for the poor among the holy ones at Jerusalem" (15:26) in the hope that
 

his ministry to Jerusalem will be acceptable to the holy ones (15:31; cf. 12:13). Similarly, in the Corinthian correspondence Paul appeals on behalf of the holy ones in
Jerusalem (1Cor16:1; 2Cor8:4; 9:1,12). Their vulnerability to economic and political distress gives their status as the impoverished holy ones a special sense of urgency and connects them with the tradition of the pious and persecuted poor of Hebrew scriptures and intertestamental literature (Osick 1983: 15-24).
   Secondly, there is the conception of the eschatological holy ones: those who join Christ at His second coming. Only 1Thess3:13 and 2Thess1:10 (this latter often reckoned among the disputed letters) articulate this role of the holy ones clearly, although it is assumed in other texts (e.g. 1Cor6:2; cf. above on Mark8:38 and Matt27:53).
1Thess3:13 envisions the holy ones appearing with Jesus at His second coming, at which time their holiness will be..Mk13:13. At 2Thess1:10, it is the holy ones in whom Jesus' final glory is encompassed. At the end of time the holy ones will judge the world (1Cor6:2). To the extent that the end has already begun for Paul, the holy ones already incur certain obligations within their communities, and this leads to a third special usage, the ethical.
   Rom12:1, "present yourselves as holy and living sacrifices," opens the ethical section of a letter which sets forth the day-to-day dimension of holiness in a series of exhortations on brotherly love, civil obedience, and tolerance (Rom12:3-15:6). Elsewhere the holy ones serve as arbiters at internecine suits (1Cor6:1) and persevere even in marriage with an unbeliever, since "the unbelieving husband is made holy by his wife, and the unbelieving wife by the husband" (1Cor7:14). Thanks to the holy marriage partner, the unclean (akathartos) children of such a marriage become holy (1Cor7:14b). The search for holiness in body and spirit informs the life of the single woman (1Cor7:34). At 1Thess4:1-12 Paul frames his earliest set of ethical instructions in concepts that derive ultimately from the holiness code of Leviticus17-26.
   Loyalty to moral, doctrinal, and liturgical traditions both precede and deepen the "holiness of the spirit"(2Thess2:13-15). The churches of the holy ones are invoked as precedents for the silence of women (1Cor14:33). In his discussion of dying and rising with Christ Paul points to righteousness as the ethical and theological ground of holiness: "Yield your members to righteousness into holiness" (Rom6:19; cf. 6:22). Holiness, Paul boasts, is a benchmark of apostolic life (2Cor1:12), and in a section with close ties to the ideology of the Essenes Paul envisions the life of holiness as a wearing down of defilement in order to "make holiness perfect" (2Cor7:1).
   Fourth, Paul knows that the following are holy: Scripture (Rom1:2); law and commandment (Rom7:12); firstfruits, root, and branches (in the allegory of Israel; Rom11:16); and the temple (1Cor3:17).
   7. The School of St. Paul. In Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastorals, holiness has a distinctive trait which lies in its
 

application to the routine life of Christians both individually and corporately. Almost completely lacking are the more specialized usages characteristic of the undisputed letters which associate holiness with eschatology, ritual, and special position of the Jerusalem church. Col1:2 and Eph1:1 address themselves to the holy and faithful ones whose hallmark is the love of the holy ones (Col1:4; Eph1:15). To a life without blemish GOD has set apart (eklegein not kalein, "to call;" cf. 2Tim1:9) his holy ones individually (Eph1:4) and corporately (Eph2:21; 5:27; cf. Col1:22) in order that they will acquire "a share in the inheritance of the holy ones in the light" (Col1:12; cf. Eph1:18; Acts20:32; Gos. Eg. III, 2:51,3). The holiness of the faithful stems from possessing the long-hidden but now-revealed mystery of Christ's presence to the world (Col1:26; cf. Eph3:5 [where the mystery is revealed to the holy apostles and prophets] and 3:18). The routinization of holiness is evidenced in Col3:12 where a conventional list of virtues (Tugendkatalog) discloses the ethical duties of "GOD's chosen ones holy and beloved." Fornication, impurity, and covetousness belong to the vices which the holy ones avoid (Eph5:3; cf. 1Thess4:1-12). Positively, "the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ" and "prayer" contribute to the day-to-day agenda of the holy ones (Eph4:12; 6:18). Lists of household duties (Haustafel) further domesticate holiness by lifting up the ideal ancient household, managed by husband and wife in a spirit of love, as an analogy for that love between Christ and the Church which makes the Church holy (Eph5:26; cf. 1Cor7:14). Even more concretely, a woman is saved by childbearing, if she perseveres in "holiness" (hagiasmos; 1Tim2:15). Mention should be made, too, of the test with which 1Tim5:8-10 discerns the authentic widow. Full of good deeds, a mother of children, hospitable, she has also washed the feet of the holy ones (cf. John13:4).
   Although it is more characteristic of pre-Pauline and Pauline writings to say that holiness creates identity and status in the Church, this idea nonetheless shines faintly through in the self-designation of the author of Ephesians as the "least of all the holy ones" (Eph3:8). Eph2:19 belongs here as well: are no longer "strangers and sojourners" but "fellow citizen with the holy ones and members of the household of GOD.."..2:21,22.
 

   8. Gospel of John. In the gospel of John there are only five occurrences of "holy" (hagios) and its cognates, although in the apocalyptic side of the subsequent school the Revelation of John owes a substantial debt to the concept of holiness. The Father is the foremost bearer of holiness in John. In His high priestly prayer Jesus prays to the Father as "Holy Father" (17:11; cf. Matt6:9; Luke11:2) that He "make them holy in the truth" (17:17: cf. v19). As the "Holy Father" sanctifies (or sets apart) through truth, so too Jesus becomes the "Holy One of
 

GOD" by speaking the "words of eternal life" (John6:69; cf. Mark1:24; Luke4:34; Acts3:14; 4:27). At John10:36, Jesus advance the "works of GOD" which He performs as evidence that GOD has sanctified Him, that is, has set Him apart as Son of GOD.
   9. The School of St. John. Within the Johannine letters only 1John2:20 mentions holiness: "You have been anointed by the Holy One." In the Revelation of John, however, there are some twenty-two instances of "holy" and cognates. The most distinctive feature is the belief that the holy ones, along with the apostles and prophets, constitute the martyrs who await in heaven their final vindication.
   At the blast of the seventh trumpet (Rev11:18) the elders announce (cf. Ps2:1) that the time has come for rewarding "the servants, prophets, and holy ones." The holy ones belong to those against whom the beast raged (13:7) but whose sterling qualities of "endurance and faith" (13:10), that is their ability to "keep the commandments of GOD" (14:12; cf. John8:51; 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10; 17:6; 1John2:3, 5; 3:22, 24; 5:3) helped them persevere.
   The spilling of the third bowl of wrath occasions a heavenly hymn which laments the blood of the holy ones and prophets (16:6). Of the great harlot it is said that she is drunk with the blood of the holy ones and martyrs (17:6). Babylon's doom is sealed because an angel laments that the blood of the prophets and holy ones runs within her walls (18:24). This same angel celebrates the vindication of the "holy ones, apostles, and prophets" (18:20) whose "righteous deeds" (dikaiomata) are symbolized by the linen worn by the Lamb at his marriage (19:8; cf. 22:11; Rom6:19) and whose prayers are to GOD as incense (5:8; 8:3,4). The holy ones participate in the first resurrection (20:6) after the thousand-year reign of Christ and after satan surrounds the camp of the holy ones for a time (20:9).
   In Revelation, GOD is the holy One whose heavenly court resounds with the epithet "holy" (4:8; 6:10; cf. 1 Clem.34:6). His angels are holy (14:10) as is His city Jerusalem (11:2; 21:2, 10; 22:19).
   10. Hebrews. Hebrews borrows the idea of holiness from Hellenistic Judaism at a time when Platonism and the Roman destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 c.e. impelled 1st century c.e. Judaism (e.g., Philo) to moralize and idealize the language of the Jewish cult, including the idea of holiness. Hebrews 9 and 10 represent in this regard the classic NT statement of the ideal, heavenly cult over against the earthly one. The earthly sanctuary (hagion kosmikon) belongs to the first covenant (9:1; cf. 13:11; Gos.
 

Phil. 11, 3:69,15-36), while the heavenly sanctuary is the one into which Christ entered to render his sacrifice (9:10-11; cf. 9:24-25). The high priests of old entered the earthly sanctuary repeatedly in order to "make holy for the purification of the flesh" (9:13), but Christ entered the heavenly sanctuary once, and immolated himself to "purify the conscience" (9:14). Inspired by the prophetic and sapiential criticism of sacrifice, Christ's will was that "we be made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once, (10:10; cf. 10:14; 13:12).
   The blood of Jesus, shed for his followers, gives them confidence that they too can enter the same sanctuary (10:19). Sharing in Jesus' heavenly call (kleseos epouraniou metochoi; cf. 2:11), these followers acquire the status of holy associates (adelphoi hagioi) of the new apostle and high priest, Jesus Christ (3:1; cf. 1 Clem.64:1; Ign. Phld.9:1).
   Occasionally the more primitive Christian connotations of holiness stand out. At 6:10 some are praised (cf. Rom12:13) because they have loved the vulnerable holy ones. At 13:24 the author of Hebrews greets two groups, the leaders and the holy ones. Holiness (hagiasmos) and peace are the presupposition and goal, respectively, of the moral life (12:14; cf. 1Thess5:23). Holiness (hagiotes) represents, too, the crown toward which GOD's discipline directs his people (12:10).
   11. The Catholic Epistles. 1Peter, 2Peter, and Jude combine traditional Jewish views of holiness (the word is missing in James) with an ecclesiological emphasis. Echoing the language and levitical sources that Paul drew upon, 1Peter urges that the holiness of GOD issue in the holiness of his people (1Pet1:15-16; cf. 1Thess4:1-12; Lev11:44 passim), and that they consider themselves a "holy priesthood." A few are a "holy nation" (1Pet2:9; cf. Exod19:5-6). and are "made holy by the Spirit into obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood" (1Pet1:2; cf. Heb10:19). In a traditional list of domestic duties, the holy women of old serve as a model for submission within the Christian household (1Pet3:5). Persecution calls for "revering as holy the LORD Christ in your heart" (1Pet3:15; cf. 1Thess3:13; Ep. Barn.6:15). For 2Peter, holiness is a property of the mountain on which Jesus was transfigured (1:18) and the commandments from which the apostates have turned (2:21). It is also an attribute of the prophets, whose predictions have come true (3:2), and the life which Christians lead (3:11). For Jude the holy ones are those to whom the faith was once entrusted (v3; cf. v20). When the LORD returns, His holy myriads will accompany Him (v14).