Spiritual Theology

Being holy is to be set apart from the world, but what does it mean to be set apart from the world? There is a myriad of misconceptions as to what it means that have led to much moral and theological confusion and controversy, resulting in endless debates over all kinds of questions of morality and theology, the understanding of which one’s Salvation rests.

More perturbingly is that much of what is thought to be holy by many well-meaning professing Christians completely misses the mark, resulting in an appearance of godliness that denies its power, a false guise of holiness. They profess holiness, avoiding certain things they brand as illicit but which are not in fact so, and claim as licit certain things that are illicit. This warped thinking is the result of a lack of knowledge from God about that which is licit and illicit, leading to immorality and false virtue, both of which are extremely prevalent in today’s world.  

Knowledge about the essence of holiness is what they lack, and it is precisely because of such lack of knowledge that they make up all kinds of arbitrary rules that do not profit a person unto holiness, but only bind people to law-keeping in vain. Much pain is caused in people as a result, causing them to lose their faith. For who would want to a faith that only causes pain and breaks people, not bringing any joy or peace, but only misery and pointless suffering?

Many Christians are focused on the sins of those who have departed from the faith despite having grown up in it, castigating them for their rebellion. This, however, is often because of false doctrines that they have been inculcated with from a young age and the religious hypocrisy they have seen, that has only caused much frustration, pain, and weariness in people. It is for such reasons that it is understandable that people leave the faith because of false doctrines, as well as false virtue and false holiness that reeks of rancid hypocrisy.

True Holiness begins with Knowledge of God

The Proverbs teaches that: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is prudence” (v 9:10). Holiness begins with the fear of God, for only with the fear of God can one begin to perceive the things of God and receive knowledge of the spiritual. Prudence is an acquired virtue that one can seek out from God, for whomever seeks it out will not only receive it, but an abundance of it. Prudence is understanding of the will of God, that is, the eternal law of God. It follows that having a right and proper view leads to right view about the divine and natural law.

Those who lack prudence will fall into many errors, both theological and moral. They are often both too restrictive about things that warrant only a lax attitude, such as leisure activities and dressing, and lax about things that warrant being strict about, such as sexual morality and economic justice. This is because they lack knowledge and therefore have no doctrinal soundness on the finer, nuanced issues. Such people are often those who presume themselves to have much knowledge but do not, and when shown they lack knowledge, react viciously with rage. Such people are fools, and not merely fools, but fools who profess Christ.

A key sign of foolishness is a fixation or obsession with trivial petty issues or otherwise non-issues, be it whether it is permissible to listen to certain genres of music, attain a secular education, watch certain sports, use certain pejorative or taboo words, or interact with people of the opposite sex. Many professing Christians are fixated on such trivialities and get caught up in all kinds of foolish debates. They have absolutely no sense about what even are the substantive moral issues that matter, such as economic justice, marital chastity, and bioethics.

Any profession of concern about such real issues that they claim to possess is based on a half-baked understanding, riddled with error, owing to a lack of knowledge. Their attitude towards these moral issues is just as worldly as the average worldling. Such fools create controversy where there is none and have no concern for matters where there should be, filled with indifference towards the weightier matters of the law (Matthew 23:23), all of which stems from a lack of knowledge, and whose character is devoid of all holiness.

The virtue of prudence appertains to having a right understanding of things and sound judgment. Proper and right thinking in accordance with the will of God and as ordered towards doing His will is foundational to holiness. Without proper and right thinking about God and His eternal law, there can be no holiness for which no degree of sincerity of belief in Him can atone or be merited towards one’s virtue.

Whole-hearted sincerity in one’s belief in Christ and His salvation is not only completely in vain, but reaps a greater damnation, if one is in error on any part of the faith, whatsoever, as the faith is one (ST SS Q1 Art 8). Erring on any single doctrine, whether moral or theological, demonstrates that the true faith does not reside in one. Possessing knowledge of God is of utmost importance to holiness. Without knowledge, one will surely face eternal damnation (Hosea 4:6). Ignorance of the law of God is no excuse, for ignorance is itself folly.

Folly is itself a vice, as it is to not pursue knowledge of God and His will. Folly is itself a curse and brings upon a person all manner of curses. It is tragic when a person is full of folly which is most what people are, thinking themselves wise when they are anything but wise. They think that their own views, feelings, and preferences are truth, which is precisely what folly is. Such is rebellion against God in the mind. Of course, the sinner can only sin and be in rebellion unless God grants him the grace, by which He draws him near to the Truth who is Christ (John 6:44). These are the people who professing Christians love to throw the proverbial stones at, but far worse are the professing Christians who themselves lack knowledge, but think themselves wise, having an appearance of holiness but are not, and filled with all manner of theological and moral error!

Possessing knowledge of God alone, however, does not suffice, as this knowledge must be ordered towards doing the will of God in becoming more holy. Knowledge without applying it towards its proper end, is knowledge acquired in vain which does not profit one unto Salvation. Possessing knowledge of God without applying it is foolishness, creating out of one a knowledgeable fool whose head is full of knowledge about God but yet does not obey Him. It is therefore imperative that any knowledge of God one acquires is applied towards its proper end, which is holiness.

In fact, possessing such knowledge increases culpability as one has been enlightened. Whoever sins in despite of possessing such knowledge that one is not to sin, commits a greater sin that those who sin in ignorance. This is because knowing that one should not sin, but still commits the sin one knows one should not commit demonstrates an active will to sin than one who sins in ignorance.

Sin committed in ignorance, though not negating the guilt of the sin, incurs less culpability because one committed sin without the knowledge that one offends God. This demonstrates instead a passive will to sin, where one wills to commit the deed or act, but without knowing it offends God and thus worthy of His judgment. Thus, sinning in ignorance is forgivable, and no sin done in ignorance amounts to, or can amount to the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Wilful sin done in full knowledge of the truth, having once received the grace of Salvation, however, is unforgivable because it is sin committed in exercise of the knowledge that one is offending God. For such hardened rebellion that is done in full knowledge of the truth, there can be no sacrifice left for him, and no hope of salvation. As the scriptures testify:

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

(Hebrews 10:26-27)

Ignorance of the salvific truth is to be distinguished from ignorance of the moral law which is written on the hearts of each person (Ezekiel 11:19; Romans 2:12-16; 2 Corinthians 3:1-6; Hebrews 8:10). God has made Himself known to all through the natural law and the creation so that none have an excuse to claim ignorance to His natural law. Though a person may not have divine revelation, his innate knowledge of the natural law that acts such as murder and adultery are sins, renders him to be without excuse:

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

(Romans 1:19-20)

Owing to sins that one commits, one’s intellect darkens as it supresses knowledge of the truth, drawing one away from the truth, resulting in ignorance on the matters of the moral law (Romans 1:17-28; Ephesians 4:18). This leads to unsound and perverted moral reasoning, whether as wrong positions on issues of moral law, or right positions on such issues undergirded by unsound or even evil reasoning as to why that which is a sin is not a sin, and why that which is not a sin, is a sin. Salvific grace serves to draw a person to be in the truth, so that he may find the way where eternal life may be found. That is what Jesus meant when He declared: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).

Only when one possesses the knowledge of God can one be free from conforming to the ways of the world, in adhering to its expectations and demands, by refusing to follow its ways that are ordered towards satisfying the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). Such leads only to bondage to sin and the flesh, for conforming to the flesh and the world is bondage. Though a worldling may defy societal and cultural expectations, he is invariably in bondage to the flesh as much as other worldlings who conform. Thus, he is not truly free at all, still conforming to the ways of the world, only just in a different manner from others. It is rooted in the same worldliness, the love of the world and the things of the world, as characterised by bitter jealousy and selfish ambition which lead to disorder and every vile practice. For as Saint James teaches:

Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

(James 3:13-18)

Knowledge of God which leads to true wisdom comes only from Heaven above. It is only such knowledge and wisdom that truly liberates one from bondage to the devil, the world, and the flesh. For the knowledge of God is the key to divine spirituality that is the true liberation from all bondage. 

True Holiness is the Pursuit of the Divine Will

If knowledge of God alone does not amount to holiness, what then is holiness? True holiness is the pursuit of the eternal law of God, the divine will, conforming with the ways and the nature of God. In its pursuit of God, holiness rejects the ways of the world and all that it pursues, being the satisfaction of the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. True holiness strives for nothing but the will of God alone, and participation in the eternal law. It wills to surrender one’s whole self and one’s very life to God, out of a pure love for God. If one possesses knowledge of God without striving to obey the will of God, such knowledge is in vain.

True holiness is the whole-hearted, single-minded pursuit of God and God alone. All other things that a truly holy person pursues are singularly ordered towards glorifying God. Such pursuit of God is born out of a pure love for God necessarily born out of detachment from the world, and a resolve to be singularly attached to God, labouring in this life solely for the eternal, in contrast to the ways of the world. By cultivating such a love for God and God alone, purely for His sake, one will grow in detachment from the world, as the things of the world lose the lustre they once held before one’s eyes and become strangely dim. For as Saint John of the Cross stated: “Live in the world as if God and your soul only were in it; so shall your heart be never made captive by any earthly thing.”

Regardless of culture, nationality, ethnicity, language, or professed religion, the people of the world desire a life of ease, of pleasure, one free from hardships, afflictions, toils, and suffering. They live for status and power. They desire respect and honour from other people. They count suffering as a shame and become filled with resentment because of it. Owing to their pride, they despise those who suffer, regarding them as deserving of it, and scoff at them because of it. When they suffer, they cry out to the world to help to elicit worldly sympathy for the masses, becoming embittered when they do not receive it, while being indifferent towards the suffering of others. The sympathy world shows to people who are suffering is merely but a worldly one, which compassion may indeed be genuine, but who feel sympathy because of their own aversion to suffering. Such worldly sympathy is devoid of virtue, rooted not in the theological virtue of faith, but in the vice of self-love, born out of selfish fear that suffering might befall them.

Owing to a lack of knowledge, the people of the world are swept and tossed about by the ever-changing winds and tides of worldly norms. As the norms of the world change, their hearts change to follow the trend to gain the approval of others and because it the only way they know. They do nothing out of sincere, complete, unwavering conviction. In contrast, those who are holy are guided by and live with sincere conviction inspired by the unwavering, never-changing, divine wisdom of God imparted by the Holy Spirit to those who have the supernatural faith in Christ. Owing to the lack of unchanging, eternal, divine wisdom, the worldling can only but be dragged about by the currents of the world.

The lover of Christ is not to pursue a life of ease, pleasure, or comfort, but instead, labour and toil in accordance with the will of God. God did not create us to enjoy life on earth, indulging in meaningless pleasures and vain comforts. He wills us to find joy in Him for an eternity in Heaven. The follower of Christ is to labour and toil for the eternal to merit eternal rewards in Heaven, not live a life of ease, comfort, and pleasure, relaxing until one’s time to depart this earth finally comes. As Saint Ambrose said, “The present life is given us, not for repose, but that we may labour and by our toils, merit eternal glory.”

Nor is the Christian to conform to the norms of the world. Saint Paul warned the believer to not be ‘tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes’ (Ephesians 4:14). Such is the way of the worldling who is inevitably influenced by every wind of doctrine, human wisdom, as well as deceitful schemes of both the devil and the world. He is indoctrinated by his ideology and his worldly philosophies without realising it, thinking himself wise because of it and at enmity with anyone who has a different ideology or philosophy from him. He relies on his own limited and flawed wisdom, rather than that of God’s, presuming himself to be the arbiter of truth, regarding anyone who disagrees with him to be a fool.

Yet, in thinking himself so clever and wise, he is easily deceived and manipulated by deception in the world all without realising it because he has no divine wisdom from above that can enlighten his mind which is enshrouded by the darkness of the world. All he can do is conform to its ways. He may try to break free from its ways and rebel against it, but he is bound to it because of his desire to satisfy the lusts of the eye, lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life.

The world is full of movements and ideologies that it sees as radical. None of these, however, are anything truly radical since they are all rooted in one thing in common: self-love, which is the pursuit of power for one’s own interests, desires, and wants. The root of all evils in the world lies in the wickedness of the human soul which essence is the love of self, rather than the love of God. That is why no worldly movement or ideology can ever eradicate the very real grievances in the world they fight against, such as economic injustice, racial discrimination, and the mistreatment of the poor, needy, and vulnerable.

Worldly movements and ideologies are conceived out of the desires of the flesh and desires for the things of the world, born in sin, and baptised by its adherents with their illegitimate authority by which they claim moral authority to determine what is right or wrong, good or evil. Though they may be diverse and often at war with each over as to what is right or wrong, or good or evil, all the movements, ideologies, philosophies and doctrines of the world are ordered towards satisfaction of the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Their desires to appease the love of self is what unites and divides people of the world, as they fight, war, and compete against one another in their pursuit of self-love.

True Holiness is Radical Non-Conformity with the World

Many erroneously conceive of holiness as a kind of boring conformity and that to be holy one must lack critical thinking and blindly follow religious doctrine. This could not be further from the truth. Holiness is radical non-conformity with the ways of the world, an utter rejection of conformity with the world. This radical rejection of conformity with the world begins with detachment from it, totally consumed by nothing except by a pure love for God.

Zeal for God begins with detachment from the world. One cannot be holy without being detached from the world and being attached to God alone. One cannot be detached from the world and the things of the world without a radical rejection of all its ways. For all its ways are unholy, driven by the love of self for the end of self. It is precisely because of self-love that the world is marred by all kinds of never-ending conflicts, wars, and strife (James 3:16).

Worldly people focus on the physical, material realm, which includes politics, economy, society and culture around them. They involve themselves in all kinds of causes to bring about the change that they want to see, anxious to usher in a world that conforms with their vision. This is because they do not see God and God’s divine purpose for all things, and are instead fixated on what they can see through their worldly, fleshly lens.

The people of the world only know and can only know the ways of their society, culture, and time. They are bound by sociocultural norms and expectations. They are anxious about politics. They are worried about finances and the economy. They live in constant fear of the state of the country in which they live and the state of the world. Above all, they are swept by the zeitgeist, for they do not know the truth and inevitably ensnared by all kinds of deceptions, becoming caught up in all manner of foolish debates and meaningless discourses.

What the world neither understands nor perceives is that all that happens in the world is a manifestation of the spiritual realm, be it the rise and fall of nations, installation of certain political leaders, economic turmoil, political upheaval, or social change. Change in the world begins with change in the souls and hearts of people, not in the structures and systems of governments or societies. This transformation of one’s soul is that from being unvirtuous, worldly, lacking all manner of reverence before God, and filled with self-love, to one that is virtuous, spiritual, and holy before God (James 3:15).

Pursuing the will of God is to live out a life that is unique as one lives out the life one was perfectly created by God to live for His divine purpose. So intricate is the perfect design of God for one’s life that every single aspect of it is ordered towards that purpose. The saints of the Church lived interesting lives because they lived out their divine purpose, rejecting the ways of the world. So bold and courageous they were in living out their divine purpose, they cared not one bit how they were perceived by the world.

It is only through such radical non-conformity to the world that one can make a real impact on and rectify the evils of the world. The life of St Bernard of Clairvaux is testament to that. Though a mystic, he was also highly influential in the secular world, and instrumental in the political realm as an advisor of King Louis VI, also known as King Louis the Fat, and King Louis VII, also known as King Louis the Young. Radical non-conformity to the world is to live as if all worldly affairs do not matter, possessing complete detachment from the world, and a complete attachment of one’s soul to God and God alone. Therein such power to change the world lies because it is the power from the heavens above that moves it.

The reason the current system of global finance cannot change is because the people fighting against economic immorality and injustices are unbelievers who are powerless to do anything about it. Such people are merely raging and railing against the ways of the world while being part of it and perpetuating the very evils, malaises, and ailments they claim to speak up against. The reason unjust political systems do not change is because those who fight against it are corrupted by evil and wickedness themselves. It is not merely because their wickedness provides opponents with ammunition to attack them, but because by their own wickedness, they perpetuate more wickedness, further entrenching it in the system.

Radical non-conformity to the world rejects all trends, values, beliefs, and norms contrary to divine law, including all errors widely held among professing believers of Christ who appear godly but are not. Escapism and isolationism from the world is not radical non-conformity to the world but a foolish, cowardly, expedient, self-righteous means to justify one’s hatred of the world, making oneself no different from it. Nor is anti-establishment populism, a mindset characterised by proud and foolish opposition to governing authorities, which is rebellion, all in the name of opposing political correctness and liberalism.

Two examples of movements that exemplify false virtue in contemporary times are the tradwife and homeschooling cult movements. The adherents of these movements merely want an easy life to escape from the reality of the world, with tradwives wanting to escape from the brutal, harsh realities of the working world into the comfort and safety of the domestic realm, and homeschooling proponents who want to shield their children from all the perceived evils of the world and to escape from the surveillance of government authorities, not uncommonly to conceal abuse of their own children, all while justifying themselves using scriptures. Their isolationist mentality is born out of a self-righteousness attitude, coupled with their perverted views they are so proud of adhering to, amounting to nothing worthy of respect or honour, nor something to emulate. Such movements exude false virtue, possessing a false, pretentious guise of holiness but who are anything but holy.

Living out a Holy Life in an Unholy World

Holiness begins with the fear of God and is the path of wisdom. It is the pursuit of intimacy God, a zeal for the things of God in drawing close to God, in walking in union with Him. To live a holy life is to live as if the happenings of the world are meaningless, and the things of the world to be of no value, in knowing that the world is passing away and that only God and His Kingdom is eternal.

Living a holy life requires not only detachment from the things of the world, but an attachment to God alone. It requires a non-conformity to the world, a radical rejection of its ways, its philosophies, doctrines, values, attitudes, and outlooks, all of which are ordered towards satisfying the desires of the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. True holiness eschews the satisfaction of such lusts and pride, disdaining all and any traces of carnality that still lie within one’s flesh, and mortifying it daily.