Leviticus: the necessity of holiness

It seems to me that Leviticus is one of the most neglected books of the Bible. It's easy to understand why: it starts with seven chapters about different types of offerings, then talks about the priesthood of Aaron, then gives loads of laws which seem fairly obscure. A lot of them aren't applicable for Christians today; they have been fulfilled in Jesus' death and resurrection. We don't have a levitical priesthood anymore, nor do we offer sacrifices, because Jesus is our great High Priest and His sacrifice was offered once for all (see Hebrews 10). But it does bug me that Leviticus gets written off, especially the moral laws, because so many of the principles in those laws still stand today. Where did Jesus get 'you shall love your neighbour as yourself' from (see Matt 22:39)? Leviticus 19:18.

The key thing to remember when reading Leviticus is that at the heart of the book is the holiness of God and how God's people are to reflect that holiness. This principal is very relevant for Christians today; after all, God doesn't change. He is still holy. He still requires holiness from His people. That's one of the main ways Leviticus is used in the New Testament. Peter quotes it in his letter:

'As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”' (1 Pet 1:14-16)

Peter is quoting from Leviticus 11:44 and Leviticus 19:2.

In some ways, the ways in which people demonstrate holiness have changed. In Leviticus there were laws which gave a symbolic representation of holiness and by following them, God's people would be separate from other nations. We don't have these symbolic ritual laws anymore, like purification rites (Lev 12), not eating certain animals (Lev 11, see also Acts 10) and circumcision (Lev 12:8). It's the moral perspective of Leviticus which strikes me the most: be holy in your sexuality or die (Lev 20:10-16), be holy in your words about God or die (Lev 24:10-23), be holy in your worship or die (Lev 10:1-20). Why did God judge people so harshly for breaking laws in the Old Testament? Because in their disobedience, they revealed that they really cared little for Him. Holiness is a key test of our devotion to the LORD, and the New Testament continues this same perspective:

'Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practise homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.' 1 Cor 6:9-11.

From a New Testament perspective then, being born again is the beginning of a journey to holiness. Before we came to Christ, there was no way we could be holy. We were lost in sin. But once He saved us, He gave us His Spirit and, through His Spirit, the power to say 'no' to our flesh.

'His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.' 2 Peter 1:3-8

There's this amazing harmony in these verses of God's power in us and our own effort working together to make us holy. It's not salvation by works; it's spiritual growth, and this doesn't happen if we just sit around and fail to exercise our faith in action, or spiritual disciplines like prayer, reading the Word, helping the needy. The New Testament doesn't promise us perfection in this life; it tells us this will be a battle and a struggle which we need spiritual weapons to fight (Eph 6). But there is a sense that we will increase in practical holiness as we grow in spiritual maturity and as our passion for God takes over more and more of our hearts, souls and minds.

Our fight against sin will be most effective when we are fixing our eyes on Jesus, and exposing our sin to others with confession and prayer so that it loses its power and grip on our lives. The devil wants you to wallow in secret sin and doubt your salvation and the efficacy of Christ's redemption; the Spirit wants to convict you of sin so that you see it for what it really is, and see victory over it through Jesus' blood shed for you on the cross.

'Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.' 2 Cor 7:1

'Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.' 1 John 3:2-3

A Christian response to spiritualism: Why I wouldn't go to a medium

I've often seen spiritualist meetings advertised in theatres and around my area, but more recently it seems they've been happening closer to my home. Some of my friends are going along -you may be one of them!- and I thought I should take some time to properly write down where I stand on this as a Christian, and hopefully if you read it, it may make you think twice about getting involved with this sort of thing.

From what I've gathered, spiritualism is all about plugging into supernatural experiences. Often people are interested in what happens after death and try to contact someone they loved who has died. At the heart of spiritualism is the belief that a person's spirit is immortal and exists in a spirit world after their physical body has died. In terms of religion, spiritualism basically says that all religions hold truth and it doesn't matter which path you take because all paths lead to God. Buddha, Mohammed, Krishna and Jesus Christ were all messengers -even the same reincarnated being.

This fits with what a lot of people think today about religion, faith and spirituality. Many people will pray, and believe that there’s a supernatural world beyond this visible world. Many believe that when we die we’ll live forever and go somewhere else. And because this seemingly connects with religions like Christianity, a lot of people feel that they have their own way of 'believing' so they don't really need to look any further into it.

The key difference with Christianity is that we know there is a spiritual reality out there, but we discern what is good and comes from God and what is evil and comes from Satan (or the Devil).

Let me just unpack that!

The Bible teaches that God is the ultimate One who is Lord over everything. He made everything, which includes the powers in the spiritual realm. We don't exactly get a very detailed picture of how a third of the angels rebelled and 'fell' with Satan and came under God's judgement, but we do know that God has allowed Satan and his demons to be active in the world until the day when Jesus will come back and all demonic power will finally be destroyed.

So at the moment, there are demons out there, and they have one simple mission: to take people away from the kingdom of Jesus Christ. They will do that by deception and they will do that by distraction. Spiritualism is a key tool that they use for this.

If someone goes to a spiritualist and they are not a Christian, they have some faith in God and in an afterlife, they may see things and hear things which confirm for them what they already believe. They see 'evidence' of a spiritual, supernatural realm. But they leave the meeting without any desire to know Jesus Christ. That's the key victory for the devil here! Give people something to fill their spiritual appetite, so that they won't bother with Jesus.

Demons have no problem with lying. They will tell you whatever it takes to keep you away from Jesus. Things like “I'm your Grandad, I'm in a wonderful place now, don't worry, you'll join me here one day.” It's a lie. They've told you that so that you go away with a false sense of security, and that you never bother trusting in Jesus for your salvation.

'Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.' 1 John 4:1-3

The Bible recognises that there is spiritual activity all around us. But it warns us not to just listen to anything and every 'message' that is communicated. In fact the Bible is really strong in telling us not to consult with mediums (Leviticus 19:31) because when we do, we open ourselves up to a barrage of lies and deception from the devil and his demons. The Christian standpoint is simple: if it holds up Jesus Christ as the Son of God then the spirit is from God and is good. If not, it is nothing else but demonic. Don't be deceived! Not everything in the spirit world is good. Not everything in the spirit world is connected to God.

Mark Driscoll, a pastor with a lot of experience in the area of the occult, explains the Bible's teaching: 'Don’t believe every spirit... some of you will have a supernatural, paranormal experience that is a direct unmediated encounter with the spirit world. See an angel, have a dream, something amazingly supernatural happened. For others of you, you will have your gateway into the spirit realm through a teacher, but that teacher is getting their information from Satan or from a demon, and they’re all over the place. So you got to be really careful to be critical and to distinguish and to discern that which is good and evil.'

The Bible teaches this amazing truth that Jesus Christ was fully God, yet He also came into this world fully human. Often people will say that Jesus was a great man, but He wasn't God. Others will say He is a god but He never became human and flesh. The thing is, in Christianity, Jesus has to be both so that He can mediate between man and God. He was tempted but never sinned, and He died on the cross to pay the price for our sin. He rose from the dead three days' later, and in doing so He conquered Satan and ultimately has total victory over him (Colossians 3:14-15).

Because I believe and trust in Jesus Christ, I don't need to go to a medium. I don't need to contact the dead or any sort of spirit. In Christ I am connected to God. I have assurance of eternal life. There's no way I would go along to a spiritualist meeting and plug in blindly to a supernatural world, hoping to find a good spirit or hear some message. I've got the Bible, which tells me everything I need to know about God, myself, the world, and about the spiritual realm. I've got the Holy Spirit, who is God, not a created being like Satan and his demons, and He is greater than any of those. I'm not spiritual, I'm Spirit-filled!

Mark Driscoll's advice is this:

'Anytime you get a supernatural experience, anytime you receive instruction, two things you need to do... Pray and test it by Scripture... Read the Bible. Pray to Jesus. Be connected to God. He will speak to you, and he will love you. You respond to him in faith. You trust him walking away from your spirituality, from your superstition, from your skepticism, and you extend your hand to the living God, who adores you and by faith, you move forward, not as a spiritual person, but as a spirit-filled person, as a Christian.'

So that's where I stand. Please do let me know what you think on this! I'd love to chat more about it with you. God bless you.

What does John teach about combatting heresy in 1 John?

It seems clear that John wrote his first epistle specifically to counter various forms of Gnostic heresy which had infiltrated the church. Gnostics believed that the spirit was good, but matter was evil, and denied the Incarnation of Christ as God made flesh. More extreme forms of Gnosticism such as Docetism suggested that Jesus was a phantom and only appeared to have a body. John emphasises in his letter the historical coming of Christ: 'which we looked upon and touched with our hands' (1 Jn 1:2); 'Jesus Christ has come in the flesh' (1 Jn 4:2).

Similarly to his gospel, John writes about polar divisions of light and darkness, truth and error, children of God and children of the devil in his letter. The false teachers seemed to have claimed a higher revelation and spirituality through their 'superior' understanding, and John is keen to stress that all men are spiritually blind and dependent on God's revelation of Himself to them in Christ. Either a person rejects Christ, and thus is in spiritual darkness, or believes in His Name. Anyone who believes in Him is in the light and there is no sense of a hierarchy of spiritual experience. Instead, John emphasises the benefits that all people receive when they believe in Jesus: they have eternal life and become children of God, with His Spirit's anointing: 'He has given us of His Spirit' (1 Jn 4:13).

As Stott points out, 1 John is marked with certainty. Believers can be certain of having eternal life, by testing themselves on whether they believe in the truth of Christ and whether they love one another. Ultimately the assurance of our salvation rests in the fact that Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins, which John mentions twice in his letter. God took the initiative to offer His Son as a sacrifice for our sins, and the Son willingly offered Himself: 'we have an advocate... He is the propitiation for our sins' (1 Jn 2:1-2).

David Jackman suggests that the false prophets had separated themselves from the main body of believers on their claim to a special 'anointing' of the Holy Spirit, by which they had been given true knowledge of God. John therefore emphasises and defines what a true knowledge of God really is, and the point he makes repeatedly is that true knowledge of God is shown in loving your brothers. The false teachers did not regard their unwillingness to value and love other Christians as sin; John shows them how they have completely missed the point of God's commandment: 'that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us' (1 Jn 3:23). The singular form of 'commandment' is used, and yet two things are included: believing in Christ and loving one another. This shows just how inseparable these aspects are from true faith. 'Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.' (1 Jn 4:8)

John finishes his letter with a brief summary of all the assurances of the believer. Repeating the phrase 'we know', he emphasises that 'you may know that you have eternal life' (1 Jn 5:13), 'we know that he hears us in whatever we ask' (1 Jn 5:15), 'We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning' (1 Jn 5:18) and 'We know that we are from God' (1 Jn 5:19). This culminates in his great statement: 'we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.' (1 Jn 5:20) For John, combatting heresy is about rejoicing in the truth: Christians have a unique privileged status before God in Christ, and a unique privileged certainty that they have salvation through His blood ('your sins are forgiven for his name’s sake', 1 Jn 2:12). As long as we consciously seek to obey His commands, we have no reason to doubt His love towards us and the reality of our salvation: 'if we walk in the light... we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.' (1 Jn 1:7)