Holiness, again, is a term we will be hearing in the next few weeks because of the upcoming Holy Week season. However, in this short post, our aim as Christians is to understand the word ‘holiness’ from a Christ-centered perspective. Christ is holy and is sinless. In theological terms, the sinlessness of Christ is referred to as the impeccability of Jesus. Meaning, that Christ is holy and there was and is no sin in Him.
1 John 3:5 reads, “You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him.” Our holiness is wrought upon from and by God. His sinlessness—righteousness—was shared with our lives; thus Paul said, “It is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Further, Hebrews 4:15 states, “We do not have a high priest [pointing to the supremacy of Jesus Christ] who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin” (emphasis and comment mine). Christopher Morgan correlates Christ’s sinlessness (or holiness) with His saving work. Indeed, both Christ’s personhood and work are aligned to his holiness.
Why Christ’s sinlessness is significant? Since Jesus is our mediator, his representation as both God and Man requires holiness. God is Holy. Only someone (a person) who is sinless/ holy can be our advocate to reconcile us to God. But it also needs to be someone (a divine) who can face God. Hence, Christ is the only person—the only way—who can both represent God to humanity, and man to God.
As it is written, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:18-19; emphasis mine).
Since God is Holy, Jesus the Son as our Lord and Savior is sinless, Christians, having indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit, are ought to live likewise. In 1 Peter 1:15-16, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
The sinlessness of Christ was evident during his triumph against the temptations of the devil (Matt. 4). Christ defeated both sin and the devil. Jesus is Lord, King, and victorious. Trust, the One who bears no sin—Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity.
John&Paul's Reflections 