The texts quoted must be regarded as only specimens, and not supposed to contain the whole teaching of Scripture on the subject.
GENERAL PRINCIPLES.
1. The only standard of holiness recognised in Scripture is the perfect character and will of God.
1 Peter, i. 15, 16; Rom. xii. 2.
There is no allusion in the Word of God to any lower standard of any kind whatever. We are never taught there that ‘We are not called to walk by the rule of angels, who excel, in strength,’ or that ‘our standard is not that which it will be in our glorified bodies.’ According to Scripture, our rule is exactly the same as that of angels: our standard is exactly the same as it will be after the resurrection: and our constant prayer is, ‘Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.’ It is not the object of the Gospel to lower God’s standard to man’s level, but in, and through, the Lord Jesus Christ, to raise us to His standard, and at length present us as faultless before His throne.
2. Personal holiness is the work of God.
Of God the Father.
Jer. xxxi. 33; John, xvii. 17.
Of God the Son.
Matt. i. 21; 1 Cor. i. 30.