Heritage Presbyterian Church Adult Sunday School

1. P e t e r J o n e s
Director of truthXchange
A Worldview & Culture Teaching Series by Ligonier Ministries
Adult Sunday School
Summer 2019

2. Lesson Slide
11 2
Living in Holiness
The Big Question
How can we make sense of the
breakneck spiritual and social changes
happening right now in our culture?
and
How should Christians respond?

3. Lesson Slide
11 3
Living in Holiness
Lessons in the Series
1. Explaining Modern
Culture
2. The Rise & Fall of
Secular Humanism
3. Carl Jung’s Alternative
Spirituality
4. Paganism in the
Shadows
5. Paganism in the
Spotlight
6. Pagan Sexuality
7. From Personal
Spirituality to
Worldview
8. Where Is Society
Headed?
9. Unbiblical Responses
10.Articulating a Biblical
Worldview
11.Living in Holiness
12.Thinking with a
Discerning Mind

4. Lesson Slide
11 4
Living in Holiness
Lesson Introduction
• When surrounded by a culture that indulges itself in
much sexual perversion, how should Christians
respond?
• In his letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul
addresses a context similar to the one believers face
today. He argued that Christians must live holy lives,
which not only pleases God, but also provides an
example of godliness for the wider world.
• In this lecture, Peter Jones explores what it means to
live in holiness, and what that looks like in our many
contexts.

5. Lesson Slide
11 5
Living in Holiness
Scripture Reading
• I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of
God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
Romans 12:1
• Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person
commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral
person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know
that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you,
whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for
you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
1 Corinthians 6:18-20

6. Lesson Slide
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Living in Holiness
Teaching Objectives
1. To exhort Christians to holy living
2. To show why Christians should live in
holiness
3. To explore how Christians can live holy lives

7. Lesson Slide
11 7
Living in Holiness
Watch Lecture 11

8. Lesson Slide
11 8
Living in Holiness
Twoism Based on Holiness
• Twoism isn’t just descriptive of the structure of biblical
cosmology; it’s a worldview that flows out of a way of
life, the way of holiness
• Holiness is the profound biblical principle of separation
that is the key to understanding the nature of reality
• Holiness is the very essence of the present religious
conflict between Oneism and Twoism

9. Lesson Slide
11 9
Living in Holiness
Holiness in the Bible
• The term “holy” appears in one form or another 1097 times
in the Bible!
• It is one of the most frequently described and most
important concepts in OT & NT
• The apostle Paul develops the concept of holiness more
than any other NT writer, particularly in the book of Romans
• Romans 1. The nature of pagan thinking.
• Romans 2-11. The character of the gospel.
• Romans 12-15. The application of the gospel.
• Romans 12:1. “Therefore” marks a major transition in
Romans. In the light of the pagan nature of the world and
of God’s saving action in Jesus, “therefore” believers should
respond in two ways:
1. Holy living (Rom 12:1)
2. Discerning thinking (Rom 12:2)

10. Lesson Slide
11 10
Living in Holiness
The Call to Holiness
• Christians are not only called to refuse conformity
with the cosmology of the world, they are also called
to embrace a cosmology of holiness
• Romans 6:19 I am speaking in human terms, because of
your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your
members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to
more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to
righteousness leading to sanctification [holiness].
• Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin
and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to
sanctification [holiness] and its end, eternal life.
• See also 1 Thess 4:3-4, 7; 1 Cor 3:17; 2 Cor 7:1

11. Lesson Slide
11 11
Living in Holiness
Contemporary Relevance
of Holiness
• The term holiness might seem old-fashioned and
moralistic to some; but in the present situation it
couldn’t be better attuned to what is required of
Christians in response to the times in which we live
• Just as the cosmologies of Oneism and Twoism are
finally irreconcilable, so the biblical understanding of
right living in relation to God and others (holiness) is
the polar opposite of what today’s spirituality
proposes (wholeness)

12. Lesson Slide
11 12
Living in Holiness
Defining Our Terms
• “Wholeness” and “holiness” sound and seem similar, but
they are not, even though they are sometimes mistaken for
the same idea, especially by Jungians
• “Holistic” and “holy” are not etymologically related
• Neither are “whole” and “holy”
• The root of “holy” is hagios (Greek) and qodesh (Hebrew)
• Meaning: an “object of awe”
• Used of sanctuaries or of the gods (things not accessible to the
public, set apart for a special purpose, divided from the common)
• The root of “whole” is holos (Greek)
• Meaning: universal, everything, nothing is “distinctly other”
• Used of joining things unrelated, even opposite, to each other
• Do you see how hagios (holiness) and holos (wholeness) are
opposite in meaning? In one sense they might be said to
represent two antithetical worldviews, Oneism and Twoism.

13. Lesson Slide
11 13
Living in Holiness
What’s So Bad About
Wholeness?
• From a Jungian perspective, wholeness refers to a
particular path of joining of the opposites
• The pursuit of wholeness a la Jung and Nietzsche led
French philosopher Michel Foucault into disorienting
sadomasochism, eroticism, irrational mysticism, and
radical relativism
• See Peter Jones, The Other Worldview, p. 146, for a
disturbing description of this pursuit of wholeness by
Foucault’s sympathetic biographer
• Does not such thinking lead to a shattered and broken
self, which is the total opposite of integrity, health,
and vitality. What kind of “wholeness” is this?
• Such thinking and living is not an option for Christians!

14. Lesson Slide
11 14
Living in Holiness
The Grand Plan of Twoism
vs. Oneism
• Romans 12:1-2 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by
the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living
sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that
by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect.
• As we look for a meaningful response to a pagan
worldview that explains everything from a Oneist
perspective—folding right and wrong, beauty and
ugliness together—we have a compelling cosmology of
holiness in the biblical vision of an ordered, God-
created cosmos

15. Lesson Slide
11 15
Living in Holiness
A Beautifully Holy God
• To say “God is holy” is to praise his utter uniqueness and
primacy of being--relative to everything and everyone else
he is Other
• Wherever God appears in this world in glory the place is
frighteningly holy
• Exodus 15:11 "Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who
is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds,
doing wonders?
• Psalm 96:9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;
tremble before him, all the earth!
• Matthew 6:9 Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven,
hallowed [holy] be your name.
• God is not only holy in relation to the world, but he is holy
in himself. Father, Son, and Spirt are God the Holy Trinity.

16. Lesson Slide
11 16
Living in Holiness
A Beautifully Holy Cosmos
• The created order is fashioned according to the model or
principle of God’s holiness
• Genesis 1:27; 2:3 So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him; male and female he created
them…So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because
on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
• Psalm 8:3-6 When I look at your heavens, the work of your
fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4
what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that
you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the
heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You
have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have
put all things under his feet,
• Isaiah 40:25-26 To whom then will you compare me, that I should
be like him? says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high and
see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name, by the greatness of his might, and
because he is strong in power not one is missing.

17. Lesson Slide
11 17
Living in Holiness
A Beautifully Holy People
• Both God’s holy nature and the holy, created cosmos
constitute the basis of the particular holiness of God’s
people, who reflect their Lord in a now-unholy world
• 1 Peter 1:14-16 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, 16 since it is written,
"You shall be holy, for I am holy" [Lev 11:45].
• Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave
himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
• Mark 1:24-28 "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are--the Holy One of
God." 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out
of him!" 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out
with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed,
so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? A
new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean
spirits, and they obey him." 28 And at once his fame spread
everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

18. Lesson Slide
11 18
Living in Holiness
A Beautifully Holy Life
• The exhortation to holiness in Romans 12:1 is
immediately followed by instructions for selfless living
for others
• The secret to powerful, Spirit-filled living under the
cosmology of holiness is biblical submission to God and
his law. Holy living is everyone’s calling, which
encompasses all areas of life.
• Personal holiness (Rom 8:7; 1 Tim 1:8)
• Sexual purity (1 Cor 6:18-20)
• Marriage (Eph 5:22-33)
• The family (Lk 2:51; 1 Tim 3:4; Eph 6:1-3)
• The church (Eph 5:24; Heb 12:9; 1 Pet 5:5)
• Civic life
• Civil magistrates (Rom 13:1; 1 Pet 2:13; Tit 3:1; 1 Tim 2:3)
• Employers (Tit 2:9; 1 Pet 2:18; Eph 6:5-8; 1 Tim 3:4-7)

19. Lesson Slide
11 19
Living in Holiness
A Beautifully Holy Future
• Such holy living also serves as a sign of the coming
resanctified heavens and earth. Since hope, not
destruction, is the final word, Christians must “strive
for peace with everyone, and for the holiness
without which no one will see the Lord” (Heb 12:14)
• A holy new creation (Rom 5:12-21)
• A holy dwelling place with God (Rev 21:1-4)
• A share in God’s holiness (Heb 12:10; 2 Tim 2:11)
• A vision of certain future holiness (Isa 35:4-10)
• An understanding now of our holy future (Prov 9:10)

20. Lesson Slide
11 20
Living in Holiness
Study Question Answers
1. Christians are supposed to live holy lives in order to
prove they’re better than everyone else. False
2. The primary meaning of holiness is being set apart.
3. Because a person’s soul is more important than his
body, what he does with his body is of less
importance. False
4. The Greek term cosmos means “the ordered
universe” in English.
5. There are certain Christians today who have a
unique call to holiness. False

21. Lesson Slide
11 21
Living in Holiness
Discussion Questions
1. How does the Islamic view of gender distinctions
demonstrate that it is not a consistently twoist
religion?
2. Explain the relationship between the distinctions God
has placed in the universe and the biblical view of
submission. How should this lead to individual bodily
holiness?
3. What are the primary reasons that Christians should
strive to live holy lives?
4. How can you encourage a fellow believer to holy
living when he does not feel his occupation or time
has great significance in God’s plan?

22. Lesson Slide
11 22
Living in Holiness
Next Lesson
As a little Jewish rabbi, Paul, was taken in chains to the “eternal city,” the very
center of the glorious “civilized” world of the Roman Empire, few could have
understood the enormity of the event. Everyone knew that there was only one
state and lord, Caesar. In league with the gods of nature, Caesar ruled over all,
and all was spiritually one. But Paul had written to the Christians in Rome, calling
for a complete transformation of the mind, a thorough overturning of all the
classic categories of pagan thinking. The gospel turned out to be world shattering.
All is not one. All is two.

23. Lesson Slide
11 23
Living in Holiness
Resources by Peter Jones
• Only Two Religions (study guide)
• Only Two Religions (evangelism tool)
• truthxchange.com (website)
• heritage-pca.org (website)
• The Other Worldview (book)
• The Pagan Heart of Today’s Culture
(booklet)