Love versus Holiness, or Love and Holiness? Part 1

Love versus Holiness, or Love and Holiness? Part 1
Wednesday, February 9, 2022 by Dr. James W. Walraven

In biblical Christianity, are love and holiness pitted against each other? Does love replace and in essence negate the need for holiness, or is holiness all that matters? Are love and holiness mortal enemies, or essential allies? Does it even matter?

In recent years many withing the church, notably liberal denominations and their allies, have increasingly taught that love alone is key, a teaching that meshes well with a feminized culture. After all, 1 Peter 4:8 does state: “Love covers a multitude of sins” (NAU). By cherry picking that verse, along with a few others, as the pop song from some decades back put it “love is all you need”. Since love covers sin, why bother with sin? In essence, love negates and cancels out sin. Even as far back as 1973, Karl Menninger wrote a book that was a harbinger of things to come: “Whatever Became of Sin?”

Again, that teaching meshes well with contemporary culture. If love is involved, you’re golden. If what one wants to do is seen as a loving act, one is free to do whatever one wants. Especially sexually, anything goes, so long as the parties involved view it as a positive experience. The same is true in religion. If one thinks the best way to love “Mother Earth” is by becoming a Wiccan, Druid, or Pagan, go for it. Even hating those who dare oppose these supposed truths is often viewed as the loving thing to do. Even hating can be seen as a form of loving. So that is how “love” is defined, and what the Bible supposedly teaches about “love” in general, not to mention God’s love.

More recently others, seeing the culture’s bent—generally though not always, from the very conservative Reformed camp—respond to these teachings about love, saying that holiness is the sole key. After all, both the Old and New Testament include the direct command to be holy: Leviticus 11:44; 19:2; 20:7; 1 Peter 1:16. Besides, Hebrews 12:14 states that apart from holiness, no one will see God (NIV, KJV). By cherry picking this set of verses, along with a few others, we are told to focus on hatred of sin in general, and particularly our own sin. It is sometimes insisted that anyone in the church who lacks that intense hatred towards sin may not even be a Christian.

As with the above-mentioned teachings about love, the emphasis on holiness is not new. Possibly as far back as the 1930s, the slogan in certain churches was, “Don’t drink, smoke, or chew, or go with those who do.” Sometimes “dance” or “card playing” was added, depending on local traditions. One’s holiness was confirmed by outward actions.

In their reaction against the “love teachers” some go to an even greater extreme. Some insist that any Christian preacher/teacher who emphasizes God’s love is at the very least soft on sin, more probably excuses sin, or even worse outright embraces sin. When one is on the righteous, holy warpath against sin, seeking to mortify the flesh in one’s fight against sin, there is no place for love.

Are either of these views about holiness and love biblical? What does God, through the Scriptures, have to say about holiness and love?

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