1 John 1:8 | Sanctified in Christ

1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

1) The depth of the holy

It is a humbling thing to know that we are sinners in need of saving. At the very core of Christianity lies the unwavering truth that all have fallen short of the glory of God, and all of humanity needs saving (Romans 3:23). This convicting reality is so essential to Christian doctrine that even Jesus’s title of Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One, is a testimony to what He does: He saves. Christ went to the cross and bore all the sins we will ever commit. The true depth of this sacrifice, however, cannot be fathomed while living in this lifetime.

The reason we will never be able to fully understand the depth of what Jesus did on that cross on this side of eternity, is because it would require us to fully understand God’s holiness. The Living God is entirely and perfectly good in every way, all the time, forever. “The Lord Almighty is the One you are to regard as holy, He is the One you are to fear, He is the One you are to dread.” (Isaiah 8:13 NIV). God’s innate nature as being holy is what encompasses all that He is: He alone is good; He is just; He is all-powerful; He is wise; He is compassionate; He is all-knowing; He is awesome; He is righteous… All of this helps define His nature of being holy; separate; different; set apart; other.

Christ says that all things will pass away, but not Him. We see this in Matthew 24, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Matthew 24:35 NKJV). Everything but God is temporary. God alone is eternal because He alone is God. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:14 NIV). God doesn’t change in His perfect nature, and this makes Him holy; He is different from everything else which inevitably decays. “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” (Revelation 1:8 NASB). “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5 NKJV). No darkness at all.