10 Minute Teaching on the Greek Word for Holy and Meaning in 1 Peter 1:15-16
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Transcript:
What is the Greek word for holy in the New Testament? What does the word holy mean? The word holy seems to be used a whole lot in reference to people, places, and things related to religion and faith. Now, the Greek word for "holy" is hagios.
When I first think of something being holy, I kind of envision a picture or a vision of something glowing and radiating out golden rays of light—pure, undefiled, and sinless. Or, if it's in reference to a human, then those few holy people among us. But what does it mean when, in the New Testament, in 1 Peter 1 (where I was reading this week), we are taught that we, as believers and as followers of Christ, are to be holy? Not just that one day we’re going to be perfected and holy and pure in God’s kingdom, but that we are to be holy now? And not just when times are good, but even when times are really bad. The letter in 1 Peter is written to Christians in exile who are being persecuted, and he’s saying, "Remember, be holy!"
Now, some of us who have been studying the Bible for a while will know from our Bible dictionaries and from what other Bible teachers have taught us - that holy means to be "set apart by God." Yes, that’s true. But what does it mean to be set apart by God?
In today’s language, when I think of you telling me to "set something apart," it means that I set it aside, away from other things. But that’s not what holy means. It doesn’t mean being stored away, closed off from the world while we’re waiting for God’s kingdom.
Then, if we think of something holy as being perfect, blemish-free, sinless, and morally pure, then none of us will even try to be holy. Very few people will attempt to be holy, even though we’re told to be holy. We won’t take it seriously, and then we rationalize that it's not a standard that is actually possible to reach. So, both of those definitions—whether it's the idea of pure morality or being set apart—aren’t as useful in explaining what holiness is today.
As I began studying the word "holy" (hagios in Greek), I wanted to come up with a way to explain it that makes sense in today's common language and that we can apply to our lives. I was digging through the Greek lexicons, and here’s the gem I found. I like the way the word "holy" is defined in certain guides and lexicons because it makes the concept more understandable, in a way that all of us can incorporate into our everyday lives and daily walk with God.
Hagios is something which, on account of some connection with God, possesses a certain distinction.
Even that definition, which came from the 1800s, is a little lofty. The Helps Word Studies brings it down to a more common vernacular and uses the word "different" instead of "distinctive." It is different than what is in the world because of God. Holy is different because of God—distinctive because of God.
Holy is a religious word. You can go all the way back through history, and it is rarely found in secular writings because it implies a connection with God.
With these insights in mind, I think we have a practical and usable definition of holiness for ourselves. We can understand how to be holy, or hagios in modern times.
Holiness is not some laughable, idealistic concept. We shouldn’t lie to ourselves and say, "Oh, I could never be holy." Instead, we should ask ourselves: Is there any way that I am different from the world because of God? Is there anything about me that is different, and therefore holy?
I can be holy in that manner. I can be hagios. I can be different. All Christians are called to be different.
So, how are we holy in that sense? How are we hagios in the sense of being different? How are we different because of God? I find this to be the most practical definition of "holy" for us today. With that in mind, let’s think about some things that we consider holy within this context.
First, we have the Holy Bible, which is a book that is distinctive because it is different from all other books due to its connection to God. In the biblical sense, there were holy sacrifices, which were animal sacrifices done in a distinctive, different way because of their connection to God's laws for the Jewish people. We are told to keep the Sabbath day holy. I discussed this in the Words of Jesus Bible study—that keeping the Sabbath holy means doing something to make the Sabbath distinctive, something different about it because of its connection to God.
Paul told the people in his churches to greet each other with a "holy kiss." What did he mean by a "holy kiss"? Was it just a joke? No. The "holy kiss" was a kiss that was different among believers because of their connection to God. It was different than a romantic kiss. Early Christians greeted each other with a kiss on the cheek, a symbol among themselves that they were equal in the eyes of God, and not one was more elite than the other. This was a very different and distinctive way of not just greeting each other but also seeing and accepting each other. It was a holy kiss—different, distinctive because of the connection to God.
Finally, let’s mention the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is holy because it is pure, good, and morally holy. But it is also distinctive from all other spirits because it is the very Spirit of God. By its direct connection, even being the essence of God, it is the only spirit Christians need to guide them and the only one that can guide them toward God’s ways in a distinctive manner, different from all the ways of the world.
There it is: holy, distinctive because of a connection with God, different because of a connection with God. So, can we be holy, hagios, even now? You bet we can, and we ought to strive for it. It’s not some unattainable belief or ideal. As Peter taught in his letter to the persecuted and exiled Christians: Be holy. Be different because of God. We are to be different from the world. We are to think differently from the world. That’s what is supposed to be distinctive about us. That is what is supposed to make us stand out. We are to live in the world, and as the world grows further from God, we are to stand firm in our different ways because of our connection with God. That should be part of our witness to others
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