Holy Branches

“But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (1 Peter 1:15, NKJV).

You may be alarmed in reading this verse. “Am I to be holy as Jesus is holy? Impossible! He is spotless, perfect. How on earth could anyone live up to that standard?”

The very purpose of the law was to show us that it is impossible for us to measure up to God’s standard of holiness. No amount of human willpower, strength, or ability could ever make us holy. Therefore, there can be only one way for us to become holy: We must be in Christ, and his holiness must become our holiness.

“If the root is holy, so are the branches” (Romans 11:16). PPaul says that because of Jesus, the root is holy, and we as the branches, are also holy. John writes, “I am the vine, you are the branches” (John 15:5). Because we are in Christ, we are made holy by virtue of his holiness.

God recognizes only one man as holy, Jesus Christ. In God’s eyes, there have been only two representative men throughout history: the first, literal Adam, and the second Adam, which is Jesus. All of humankind was wrapped up in the first Adam, and when he sinned, we all became sinners. Then Jesus came forth as a new man, and through his reconciliation on the cross, all humankind potentially became gathered up in him. Today, God recognizes only this man, Jesus, who is holy.

Like Adam, we can never be holy apart from Christ's redemption. No matter how long we live or how hard we try, how many prayers we utter, how often we read the Bible, and how many lusts we conquer, we will never be perfectly holy.

Jesus stands alone in perfect holiness. If any person is ever to stand before the heavenly Father and be received by him, that person must be in Christ. Beloved, we stand before the Father without any merit or claims of our own. We stand only by the grace of Christ.