It seems impossible to better describe the God of the Bible by a more appropriate word than by “Holiness”, (Deut. 32:4; Ps. 45:7; 99; Is. 6:3; Hab. 1:13; Rev. 4:8); and, I believe that the Bible confirms that holiness in the fear of God (Leviticus 19:2; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Eph. 4:24; Rev. 20:6) is one of the main general goals of mankind, and separation is the essence and main tenet and requirement of this holiness. I also believe that our glory and pleasure to God, our good testimony, our Godly and beneficial unity in the Church, and our power and fruitfulness in Christ comes from our separation from the world and sin, not in our affiliation and love of it (1 Jn. 2:15-17). God’s holiness and purity without our obedience and the practice of separation just does not exist in the Bible as this goes against the very nature of God: ”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.” (1 Pet. 1:15, 16) (Also, Lev. 19:2; Job 34:10; Ps. 92:15; Titus 2:11-12; 1 Pet. 1:15-16; 1 Pet. 2:1; 3:11; ) We should be like Christ in our loving witness to the lost; while, at the same time, like Him in being “separate from sinners” in our doctrine, associations and close friendships (Rom. 16:17; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; Heb. 7:26). Actually, we we have more reason to do so than Him in that disobeying these Scriptures can lead to our corruption (1 Cor. 15:33) and lessens our fruitful convicting witness to the lost.
