Trying to define salvation is like trying to describe holiness. We will not have to dig too deeply to discover that our God is Holy, and we are not. The reason we are not holy is because we are not God. Also, God said regarding Himself, “I am holy.” Then he says, “I am Adonoi, and there is no other” … meaning that He is the only one who is holy. Yet God has said to us, His people, “Become holy … just as I am holy.”

What is God’s purpose for telling us to be holy? It is the revival of our first state in Adam and the sincerity of our current state with Christ; i.e., holiness, without which no one shall see the Lord. This is indeed the great design of all the ordinances of scripture. Their purpose is to bring us to that place of sanctification and learning to be holy. By our partnership with sin, which is an abomination to God, we make ourselves offensive.

But how can we become something (holy) that we are not? How can we become something that only God can be? Those two questions are what salvation is all about. Salvation is solely a work of God, and only God can provide salvation to us. When He extends salvation to us, He transfers to us an actual part of Himself (the Holy Spirit — Ruach Hakodesh), as a small but adequate portion of His own holiness. It is the Holy Spirit that enables us, through His power, to produce both holiness and salvation within us.

The holy God gave that special property to Avrom, and that is why He changed his name to Avrahom (Abraham). His new name had one of the letters of God’s name applied to it. This is because God had given him new properties, holy properties, and the extra letter added to his name reflects that change. Later, God also changed Moses. But Moses did not change his name, but his face shone with the glory of God, scripture says. He also became the greatest prophet in Israel, and he may have been the first person to actually hear God pronounce his personal name, I Am!

While not everyone in Israel could be an Abraham or a Moses, everyone could become holy by receiving the salvation of God. Though these were ordinary and obscure people in Israel’s history, many believed and were holy children of God. God loved them, and gave them enough of Himself to make them holy to Himself. That “process” is the definition of salvation.

Salvation as offered to us by our Heavenly Father is essentially a product of love and holiness. This love has God as its own merit and is a quality of the singularly Holy God. And when that love touches you, it changes you and you become one of His holy people, and this affection from God produces salvation for you.

Why holiness? What is so unique and different about holiness that it is the singular thing that God says you must be? “Be holy because I am holy (1 Peter1: 15,16),” God says. Hebrews says “without it no one will see God (Hebrews 12:14).”

No unholy person or thing is allowed in the presence of God. Yet, God invites believers into His holy of holies when they pray and worship. So, if you are to be in His presence, especially for eternity, what must you be? Holy – thus we discover the need for His imputed holiness to us. Even holiness is a loving work our God accomplishes for us.

– Frank Stephens –