Biblical ‘holiness’ (Hebrew: Qodesh קֹדֶשׁ / Greek: Hagios ἅγιος) means to be set apart, sacred, and pure. It is not just moral behavior — it is separation unto God, reflecting His own holy nature. True holiness involves both position (being made holy in Christ) and practice (living a consecrated life). As it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’ — a call to purity, righteousness, and intimate fellowship with a holy God.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
H6944 קדשׁ qôdesh 1) apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness
The Hebrew meaning of the word holy is to separate from something (the world) and to be joined to something else (God). Like most Hebrew words, it can be both positive and negative. One can be holy unto God, or ‘holy’ unto the adversary. The word for prostitutes, especially cult prostitutes who’s function was to serve the temples of satan, is the same word for holy in Hebrew. The word for sanctuary is מקדש ‘miqdash’ which comes from this same Hebrew word. We can choose to be holy unto God and be His sanctuary (מקדש ‘miqdash’) or we can choose to be set apart FROM GOD and be the sanctuary of evil.
In Hebrew the idea of freedom has the same concept. We can be free IN Him or free FROM Him. See Freedom study.
1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
1Pe 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:
HOW DO WE BECOME A PECULIAR TREASURE?
Exo 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Deu 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Deu 7:7 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
Deu 7:8 But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Deu 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
Deu 7:10 And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.
Deu 7:11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.
SANCTIFIED/SET-APART BY THE WORD/TRUTH
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh 15:3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Psa 119:9 BETH. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
1Pe 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
The other choice is to rebel from the Torah/Word and be the seed of the serpent
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him...{TRUTH =MESSIAH, TORAH}
Isa 57:4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,
Mat 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened graves which outwardly indeed appear beautiful, but within are full of bones of the dead, and of all uncleanness.
Mat 23:28 So you also indeed outwardly appear righteous to men, but within are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Mat 23:33 Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How shall you escape the judgment of Hell?
See Seed of Falsehood study
Walking in the Word to be sanctified unto Him
1Th 4:1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more.
1Th 4:2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
1Th 4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
1Pe 1:13 Because of this, having girded up the loins of your mind, being sober, perfectly hope on the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ,
1Pe 1:14 as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves to your former lusts in your ignorance,
1Pe 1:15 but according to the Holy One who has called you, you also become holy in all conduct;
1Pe 1:16 because it has been written, “Be holy,” “because I am holy.” Lev. 19:2
We are to be holy as He is Holy
Lev 11:45 for I am Jehovah who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to become your God; and you shall be holy, for I am holy.
Lev 19:2 Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and you shall say to them, You are holy, for I am holy, Jehovah your God.
Lev 20:26 and you shall be holy to Me, for I, Jehovah, am holy; and I have set you apart from the nations to become Mine.
2Co 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness? And what fellowship does light have with darkness?
2Co 6:15 And what agreement does Christ have with Belial ? Or what part does a believer have with an unbeliever?
The word Belial means without the yoke. This means to be without Word/Torah
2Co 6:16 And what agreement does a temple of God have with idols? For you are a temple of the living God, even as God said, “I will” dwell in them and “walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” Lev. 26:12; Ezek. 37:27
2Co 6:17 Because of this, “come out from among them” “and be separated,” says the Lord, “and do not touch the unclean thing,” and I will receive you. Isa. 52:11
2Co 6:18 “And I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons” and daughters to Me, says the Lord Almighty. 2 Sam. 7:8, 14; Isa. 43:6
If we abide in Him we shall be Holy
Rom 11:16 Now if the firstfruit is holy, so also the lump. And if the root is holy, so also the branches. Olive Tree.
Joh 15:1 I am the True Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser.
Joh 15:2 Every branch in Me not bearing fruit, He takes it away; and each one bearing fruit, He prunes, so that it may bear more fruit.
Joh 15:3 You are already pruned because of the Word which I have spoken to you.
Joh 15:4 Remain in Me, and I in you. As the branch is not able to bear fruit of itself, unless it remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in Me.
Joh 15:5 I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one abiding in Me, and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because apart from Me you are not able to execute, nothing.
Joh 15:6 Unless one remains in Me, he is cast out as the branch and is dried up; and they gather and throw them into a fire, and they are burned.
Joh 15:7 If you remain in Me, and My Words remain in you, whatever you desire you will ask, and it shall happen to you.
Joh 15:8 In this My Father is glorified, that you should bear much fruit; and you will be disciples to Me.
Joh 15:9 As the Father loved Me, I also loved you; continue in My love.
Joh 15:10 If you keep My commandments you will continue in My love, as I have kept My Father’s commandments and continue in His love.
Joh 15:11 I have spoken these things to you that My joy may abide in you, and your joy may be full.
If we abide in Him and He in us we shall be one with Him. We will be His sanctuary. His body. His holy priesthood.
See Christ in You, the Hope of Glory
His Temple
Exo 25:8 And let them make a sanctuary* for Me, that I may dwell in their midst.
2Co 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, {this is the meaning of qodesh/saint…set apartness} saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
The word for sanctuary in the above verse in Exodus 25 is מקדש ‘miqdash’ which comes from the root קדש ‘qodesh’ meaning holy/set apart.
See study on the biblical definition of the Church to see the connection to holiness, the church, His body, the saints…
Just as the word holiness (qodesh) suggests, there are two ‘churches’, two bodies, two set-apart peoples. One is the body of satan (the whore of Babel), the other is the body of Messiah. It all goes back to the garden. There were two trees. We can choose to be joined to the Tree of Life who is Messiah or we can choose to be joined to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil which is religion and is enwrapped by the adversary.
The word above for set apart prostitute is translated as Sodomy in most English translations.
King James Version
Deu 23:17 There shall be no whore (קדשה ‘qedeshah’) of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite (קדש ‘qodesh’) of the sons of Israel.
Jay P Green Literal version
Deu 23:17 There shall be no prostitute among the daughters of Israel, nor shall there be a homosexual among the sons of Israel.
Notice how the word קדש ‘qodesh’ in this context is translated as homosexual or sodomy by most translators. Literally, this is not the meaning of the word but on a deeper level it does mean this. It is the idea of joining together strange flesh. A cult prostitute is the physical representation of whoring with the adversary, of being joined to him.
John Gill’s commentary
Deu 23:17 There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel,…. The word for “whore” is “kedeshah”, which properly signifies an “holy” one; and here, by an antiphrasis, an unholy, an impure person, one that is defiled by man; See Gill on Gen_38:18. Jarchi interprets the word, one that makes herself common, that is sanctified, or set apart; that is, one that separates herself for such service, and prostitutes herself to everyone that passes by: but some understand this not of common harlots in the streets, but of sacred whores, or such as were consecrated to Heathen deities, as such there were to Venus. Strabo (x) tells us that the temple of Venus at Corinth was so rich, that more than a thousand of those sacred harlots were kept, whom men and women had devoted to that goddess; and so a multitude of the same sort were at Comana, which he calls little Corinth (y); now these of all harlots being the most abominable are forbidden to be among the daughters of Israel:
nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel: by the same rule that “kedeshah” is rendered “a whore” in the preceding clause, “kadesh” should be rendered “an whoremonger” here, as in the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; though Aben Ezra interprets it passively, one that is lain with, and Jarchi one that is prepared to lie with a male, that prostitutes his body in this unnatural way; and it looks as if there were such sort of persons sacred to idols, since we read of the houses of the sodomites, which were by, or rather in the house of the Lord, 2Ki_23:7.
(x) Geograph. l. 8. p. 261. (y) lb. l. 12. p. 385.
Keil and Delitzsch
Deu 23:17-18
On the other hand, male and female prostitutes of Israelitish descent were not to be tolerated; i.e., it was not to be allowed, that either a male or female among the Israelites should give himself up to prostitution as an act of religious worship. The exclusion of foreign prostitutes was involved in the command to root out the Canaanites. קָדֵּשׁ and קְדֵשָׁה were persons who prostituted themselves in the worship of the Canaanitish Astarte (see at Gen_38:21). – “The wages of a prostitute and the money of dogs shall not come into the house of the Lord on account of (ל, for the more remote cause, Ewald, §217) any vow; for even both these (viz., even the prostitute and dog, not merely their dishonourable gains) are abomination unto the Lord thy God.” “The hire of a whore” is what the kedeshah was paid for giving herself up. “The price of a dog” is not the price paid for the sale of a dog (Bochart, Spencer, Iken, Baumgarten, etc.), but is a figurative expression used to denote the gains of the kadesh, who was called κίναιδος by the Greeks, and received his name from the dog-like manner in which the male kadesh debased himself (see Rev_22:15, where the unclean are distinctly called “dogs”).
In the Scriptures ‘gentiles’ are referred to as dogs…why, because of this very reason. They are the body of satan. Nobody who is in covenant with God should refer to themselves as a ‘gentile.’
From Websters 1828 Dictionary
Sodomy
SOD’OMY, n. A crime against nature.
Sodomite
SOD’OMITE, n.
1. An inhabitant of Sodom.
2. One guilty of sodomy.
Homosexuality is sodomy, but not all sodomites are homosexuals. A Sodomite is someone who seeks to change nature or the natural way of things. In the garden there was only one way. The way of Torah. Satan came to destroy that way, hence, he is the first sodomite. This is what Genesis 6 is all about. The sons of God saw that the daughters of Adam were ‘tovot’ or good. The Hebrew word good means everything is the way it should be. The fallen angels came to destroy that which is good or the natural way of things.
Jud 1:6 And those angels not having kept their first place, but having deserted their dwelling-place, He has kept in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of a great Day;
Jud 1:7 as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, in like manner to these, committing fornication, and going away after other flesh, laid down an example before-times, undergoing vengeance of everlasting fire.
Marriage was ordained in the garden to be between one man and one woman as a picture of Messiah and His bride. The adversary seeks to pervert the natural way of things by causing mankind to commit fornication with the whore of Babylon. May we all choose to forsake false religion, to come out of Babylon and to be joined to the tree of Life which is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. May we abide in Him and He in us that we may bring forth the fruit of Life.
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