Embodied Holiness
Psalm 23:1–6 (NASB 2020)
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I will not be in need.
2 He lets me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters.
3 He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For the sake of His name.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows.
6 Certainly goodness and faithfulness will follow me all the days of my life, And my dwelling will be in the house of the Lord forever.
What does it mean to be a living sacrifice?
In Psalm 23, David describes himself as a sheep led by the Good Shepherd. (Ps 23.1) Throughout the six verses of this Psalm, David explains how the Lord is his Shepherd and the actions God is taking towards him. He leads him to green pastures and makes him lie down (Ps 23.2). He leads him to life, depicted by the quiet waters. (Ps 23.4) David will not fear because God is with him to guide and correct him. (Ps 23.4) God is preparing a place for him where his enemies cannot reach him, and he will dwell with the Lord for all of the days of his life. (Ps 23.5-6) It is a beautiful depiction of life as a sheep and being cared for by a shepherd who loves his sheep with a deep conviction. In this Psalm, David depicts his relationship with God through the lens of being a sheep—this idea is a common theme throughout Scripture.
We, as humans, are often referred to as sheep in the Bible. Most of the time, sheep are led to slaughter, and if we take a realistic view of our lives, we will see that, at some point, we are going to pass on from this life. Thinking this way might be a little morbid, but morbid or not, we all march on towards death. Dr. Osvaldo Padilla, in his article titled Paul’s View of Death Changed Mine, made the statement in Latin that translates to “Amid life, we are in death.”[1] In his article, he describes his feelings of being surrounded by death, and the older he gets, the more prevalent death is in his life. We are in a perpetual movement towards our slaughter if we continue with the imagery of the sheep. Understanding that we are moving towards death leads us back to our original question from the beginning: what does it mean to be a living sacrifice? If death is assured in this life, what is living, and how does it become a sacrifice?
The important note about a sacrifice, if we are speaking in terms of the Old Testament, is that a sacrifice had to be perfect, blameless, and without blemish. It was a way of atoning for one’s sins or even the community’s sins. The entire book of Leviticus is dedicated to the priestly laws, especially concerning forgiveness for many sins. The common denominator in bringing forth an animal for sacrifice was its need to be perfect, blameless, and without fault. Jesus came to change how we are forgiven for our sins. Being that Jesus was the only one who was perfect, blameless, and without blemish, it was through God’s embodiment in his Son Jesus that we were given the choice of death or life. It is through that choice to follow Jesus that perfection is possible. The perfection we strive towards is not earthly but an eternal perfection only found through faith in the blood of Christ. In his sermon titled Christian Perfection, John Wesley concluded that humans were never exempt from committing sins, but the perfection found in Christ was another term for holiness.[2] Even in the perfection found in Christ, we humans still need to grow in grace that only comes from the Lord.
Only through Jesus’ perfect sacrifice can we be a living sacrifice. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice on the cross for our sins. Without Jesus being the perfect lamb for slaughter, we would never be able to be a living sacrifice. Because of Christ’s work on the cross, we should deny ourselves the things that defile us as humans—we should give up on trying to save ourselves.[3] When we move away from holiness, we take the place of God and try to save ourselves. No amount of hard work or willpower will save us—we are broken, flawed, and sin-filled, yet we are perfect because we are made in the image of God. We are perfect because of Christ’s sacrifice; we can move towards holy living through our living sacrifice.
When you hear the term holy living, what is your first thought? For some, the term holy living can be a turn-off towards Christianity, community, or even Jesus. What they are turned away from is how the church community has taken the idea of holy living and turned it back into what the Jewish followers of God focused on in the Old Testament. It was the exact opposite of what Jesus spoke when he was the full earthly embodiment of God here on earth.
Jesus brought the gospel to the world, and it was the good news that we can have life through faith in Jesus’ death on the cross. A life free from the death we deserve because of our sins and turning away from God. There is freedom in holiness, but that freedom differs from what we have been shown in our lives. It does not matter if you grew up in the church or outside—there is a perception of how followers of Christ are supposed to behave. But what we find in holiness is not the same as the perception and expectation of the world and the church at large.
The holiness I am speaking to is a scriptural holiness, one that is based on the word of God, not the perceptions of the world. Holiness should be viewed through the lens of one’s whole self, that our salvation is not based purely on our soul but encompasses our complete embodiment. John Wesley viewed it as a holistic soteriology or a whole embodiment of salvation. Justification and sanctification are about recovering the divine nature of our mind, body, and soul to the embodied image of God, Jesus.[4] We are saved through our faith–that is the only condition for justification. But our sanctification is a process of our holiness and an act of grace from God. Our holiness should move us towards the renewed image of God, the whole image, not a distorted medium. Jesus was the full flesh embodiment of God, and we strive in our holiness to be like Jesus with all of our heart, mind, and soul, loving both God and neighbor. (Mat 22.36-40) Through these two commandments, we see the fullness of holiness, or holy living, played out here in the eternal.
Romans 12:1 (NASB 2020)
1 Therefore I urge you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
When Paul makes this statement to the church in Rome, he places the total weight of scripture upon this statement. The presenting of our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice to the world. Through our holiness, others will see the love of God. Our holiness will make us holy, pleasing, and accepting of God. The apostle Peter goes on to state we are a royal priesthood.
1 Peter 2:9 (NASB 2020)
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Our royal priesthood comes from our faith in Jesus, the King of Kings. Because of Jesus, we can be holy; without him, we are separated from our true image. Our triune God has given us the power and authority to be living sacrifices among the world so they may see the true power of our creator. As a living sacrifice, we embody the fullness of holistic holiness by renewing our mind, body, and spirit. We should start to see that we are the full embodiment of the image of God, and God wants to transform all of us and not just a part of us.
[1] Osvaldo Padilla, "Paul’s View on Death Changed Mine: The Corinthian church needed the reminder of the power of God. So do we.," 67, no. 8 (2023). https://christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/november/paul-death-changed-mine-corinthians.html.[2] John Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, Third Edition: Logos Research Edition ed., Vol. 6 (London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872), 5. “Christian perfection, therefore, does not imply (as some men seem to have imagined) an exemption either from ignorance, or mistake, or infirmities, or temptations. Indeed, it is only another term for holiness. They are two names for the same thing. Thus, every one that is holy is, in the Scripture sense, perfect. Yet we may, Lastly, observe, that neither in this respect is there any absolute perfection on earth. There is no perfection of degrees, as it is termed; none which does not admit of a continual increase. So that how much soever any man has attained, or in how high a degree soever he is perfect, he hath still need to “grow in grace,” and daily to advance in the knowledge and love of God his Saviour”[3] Mireia Ryšková, "Holiness as a Process of Growing into Spiritual Adulthood (Rom 12:1-21)," 61, no. 1 (2019).[4] John. Wesley, The Works of John Wesley, Third Edition ed., Vol. 8 (London: Wesleyan Methodist Book Room, 1872), 47, Logos Research Edition “By salvation I mean, not barely, according to the vulgar notion, deliverance from hell, or going to heaven; but a present deliverance from sin, a restoration of the soul to its primitive health, its original purity; a recovery of the divine nature; the renewal of our souls after the image of God, in righteousness and true holiness, in justice, mercy, and truth.”
