May 24 – LD 21, Day 4: The Holiness of the Church
by Prof Herman Hanko
Read: Revelation 21
The Apostles Creed puts
in our mouths the confession, “I believe an holy,
catholic church.” It also speaks of the church as “catholic.” Our teacher in
the Heidelberg Catechism explains this to mean that the Son of God gathers his
church “out of the whole human race.”
The human race was
divided into nations, tribes, and languages at
But, the Apostolic
Confession and our Heidelberg Catechism also speak of the holiness of the
church. This comes as something of a surprise, for if we look about us in the church, we see something quite different from
a holy church. The individual members of the church are all very sinful as yet,
and are far from attaining holiness, that is, freedom from all sin. Thus it is
not surprising that denominations or individual congregations are not holy
either, for they are composed of sinful people. We want to question our
teacher: Are you sure the church is holy? I do not see much evidence of that
when I look at the church.
The truth of Scripture,
we must remember, is the object of our faith. I believe
an holy catholic church. We walk by faith, not by
sight, Paul says in II Cor 5:7. The fact is that God
sees his church in Christ; and he sees them, therefore, as without sin and
clothed in Christ’s righteousness. He also deals with them as a holy people and
promises them that, in fact, he will make them holy so that they are able to
dwell with him in glory forever.
Scripture is not
hesitant to call the church holy. It does so in many places, In I Pet 2:9 Peter
writes: “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy
nation, a peculiar people (not an odd people, but a specially chosen
people); that ye should shew forth the praises of him
who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:”
Yet, at the same time,
Scripture calls God’s people to be holy. In I Pet 1:15, 16, Peter, under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, writes: “But as he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because
it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” We must struggle through prayer and
faith to become what one day we shall be.
What a blessing that I
am and forever shall remain a member of that church!