Christ Makes Us Holy

January 23, 2025

More than six hundred times throughout the Bible, we see the word “holy.”

What does it mean to be “holy?” The word Holy means “set apart.”

The holiness of God sets Him apart from everything else. And, because God is holy, He is perfect. We can see the perfection and God’s holiness through His Son, Jesus.

Christ is our example. “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3).

In His life and death, Jesus was perfect and holy and came to make us holy. Christ bridges the gap between us and God.

“Be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

So, how do we become holy? We aren’t perfect like God. And, trying to be perfect would be absolutely exhausting.

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23

We could never measure up to a perfect, holy God. So, what's the solution?

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus makes us righteous. He makes us holy.

We are declared holy the moment we trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Not because of anything we did, but because of God’s grace. We get Jesus’ holiness as a gift when we are saved. When God looks at us, he sees the holiness of Jesus.

That’s pretty incredible when you think about it.

But, just because God declares us holy doesn’t mean he’s just going to leave us how he found us. There is a transformation process.

From there God continuously works on us from the inside out, making us more holy throughout our lives.

So, we are declared holy, then God works on us so we can have a lifestyle of holiness. This is called the sanctification process – and it’s a life-long process. As we grow in our faith and become more like Jesus, one can see the fruit of the Spirit in our lives.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

He transforms us into a person who reflects the image of a holy God.

Because of Christ’s death and resurrection, you don’t have to work to be good enough. Christ’s goodness makes you acceptable to God. And it will allow you to live with him one day in heaven, his perfect place. That’s quite a deal!

Many people feel trapped by their past. They say, “If you knew what I’ve done, you’d know I’ll never be acceptable to God.”

I don’t know what you’ve done, but God does—and he still accepts you: “God says he will accept and acquit us—declare us ‘not guilty’—if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like” (Romans 3:22 TLB).