Concepts of holiness/righteousness run deep into theology, understood in contexts where the word is used. On this Page a year ago, the accent was on the refinement perceived between righteousness and holiness. For me, holy accents God’s nature, when the accent is on perfect holiness. Holiness implies righteousness, but righteousness does not have the depth and breadth of holiness. Holiness can be reflected in righteous conduct and thought for Christians. Righteousness becomes the human working of holiness in thought and conduct. By his payment for the sin and sins of persons who accept his gift, Christ can declare the person holy (redemptive) in that he attributes his own character/nature to those who are his. This is perceived as vital to redemption and last judgment (evaluation). Mankind is unique as candidates for divine adoption.
To repeat, the word must be understood in its context. We learn what we mean by Holy Bible, by the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies, and the like patterns in the Scriptures. To be permitted in the Holy Place, may be identified with the concept of righteousness. It was frequented by the priests (mankind). The Holy of Holies was entered once a year, by the High Priest, a substitute for the people (Christ Figure), so to return to the people having fulfilled a holy purpose of presenting us to God and God to mankind. The fulfillment was completed in the crucifixion of Christ that was seen in the tearing of the curtain that divided the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies in the Temple. The barrier was removed in the offering acceptable with God so to make holiness (righteousness) one of the practical goals of Christian faith. To whatever dimension that Christians fall short of the goal, they are justified in the ultimate attribution of Christ.
In making all this practical, Christians are called upon to move toward the attributed goal. To do that, they practice righteousness. The Apostle Paul includes in his letters what that means. Writing to Titus he reminded his colleague that this journey to holiness includes such things as avoiding some factors, and engaging others. One avoids greed, anger, drunkenness, selfishness, violence, infidelity, and the like. The positives include integrity (especially to family), hospitality (relating to others), blameless (meeting expectations), leading to sobriety, justice, temperance, and other related factors. In summary, civil righteousness leads to practical application in the journey toward holiness. The word relating to holiness in Greek permits the range in the use of the term (again, in context), to refer to a place, a thing, a day, a saint, all of which infer some special sacredness related to God, or for mankind anything genuinely religious. In general the concept is useful and practical, both in communicating meaning in the abstract and specifically in nature. In pure and specific meaning it is sublime and divine. It is directive to effective godly life.
Daily life needs attentiveness to righteousness that general society takes as too restrictive. For example, when the internet became ordinary, language declined. The use of swear words became commonplace in responses from the public to issues they were invited to comment upon. Adopting this language defection is downward, representing negative feelings more than values and elevated ideas. It does not adequately represent meaning in truth, so violates and discourages the best uses of language. Some authors, like Henry Miller (Tropic of Cancer), lived dissolute lives, writing that others were wrong to resist the new style. Peppering their paragraphs with language scum, and carnal drag, they were in emotional gutters. Few problems were met, little hope was implied. Readers and listeners were distracted from the point by the vocabulary of the rhetoric. One can help solve daily life problems in righteousness that includes aspiration, education, entertainment, improvement, and their best derivatives, including fulfillment.
I remember, during the Great Depression listening to the heated speeches of Father Coughlin in Michigan. Later, in college I found that some persons listened to him as related to his rhetoric favoring the working person, but few related to his ordained purpose, a priest for Christ. In the end he gained only a few followers either spiritually or socially. The apparent conflict between his worldly persona, and his Christian persona didn’t fit. Had he couched his activism in the context of the righteous faith he espoused on Sundays he might have made a major and lasting contribution. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020