by FOLLOWING THE ANCIENT PATHS
If being holy is the act of being set apart then we can understand
what it means when HaShem tells us that we must be holy because He
is holy. We must be set apart from the world, we must not be like
those who serve other gods. I remember being so overjoyed when I
realized that my loving Father, HaShem, outlined just HOW I am to
be holy, how Im to be set apart from the world in Scripture. What
a blessing His Word is.
So we know what holiness is. We are in control of our holiness.
What about righteousness - what does that mean? Righteousness is
the right-standing before HaShem. Righteousness is equated with
sinlessness. We remember that our righteousness is as filthy rags.
We remember that it is the righteousness of the Messiah that is
imputed to us so that we can be considered righteous via HIM and
Him alone. There is nothing we can do to affect our righteousness.
Our ability to stand before the Most High is based on the
righteousness of our Messiah. We are covered by His blood.
Our own holiness is in our hands - we can be covered by His blood
and yet choose to live an unholy life. But it is our responsibility
to be holy because of His righteousness.
Do not yoke yourselves together in a team with unbelievers. For
how can righteousness and lawlessness be partners? What fellowship
does light have with darkness? What harmony can there be between
the Messiah and Bliyaal? What does a believer have in common with
an unbeliever? What agreement can there be between the temple of
G-d and idols? For we are the temple of the living G-d
In this passage we are given a series of opposites. Light is the
opposite of darkness. The Messiah is the opposite of a false god. A
believer is the opposite of an unbeliever. So righteousness is
listed as the opposite of lawlessness (sometimes translated as
wickedness or another similar word). This makes complete sense once
we understand what righteousness is. How do we learn what sin is?
The Torah tells us. HaShem is faithful to us to explain to us what
is sin and what is righteousness. The Torah is our tutor to teach
us and lead us down a path that brings our Father glory and
joy.
So what is lawlessness? It can also be translated as Torahlessness.
The Greek word is anomia, meaning without law. What, Biblically
speaking, is the law? It is the Torah, the Word of G-d as given
through Moses. When a Pharisee, such as Shaul (the Apostle Pauls
Hebrew name), is writing a faith-based letter to a group of
Believers in Corinth it stands to reason that his use of the term
anomia would be in reference to the Torah. When speaking
Biblically, any reference to Law is a reference to Torah.
In many traditional churches today we hear that we are free. What
are we free from? We are told that the Law is done away with and
that we are free from it, that it is a burden. I am afraid that
there are many who believe that the Word and Will of G-d Most High
is somehow a burden or somehow too hard for us and that His Word
prior to the ministry of our Master is different than His Will
after the ascention of the Master. In reality, nothing changed. The
teachings that say we are free from the law are teachings of
anomia. Im afraid for what the spiritual implications and the
long-term theology this anomia teaching is having on our loved
ones.
If we are saved by our faith in Yeshua the Messiah, we are grafted
into the lineage of Abraham. We are instructed in the Scriptures
that we are to be holy because our Father is holy. This instruction
is so often repeated throughout Scripture that I wonder if it is
the most often repeated phrase throughout the entirety of
Scripture. Knowing what holiness is helps us to be holy but
somehow we have seemed to confuse holiness with righteousness. If
we can understand the difference between the two and have a solid
understanding of what righteousness really is, I believe that we
will understand our need to be holy based on the gift of
righteousness that we have been given through the Messiah. It is
NOT anything we can do, but it is being under our Masters
righteousness that saves us. We need to be holy
because we are saved.