I came across a verse the other day that truly encapsulated the notion for how the Christian is to correctly understand, approach, and fight against sin. The verse was 1 Thessalonians 4:7, which says, “For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness”. It is important to note that this verse is also found inside a larger section entitled, “A Life Pleasing to God”.
On the surface, this verse can sound pretty elementary to the Christian who is familiar with the general idea that he should no longer live in the death of his prior sinful ways because he has been resurrected with Christ to live a new life—one marked by righteousness (Gal. 2:20). But what is so important in this verse that I believe is so easy to skim over—and so be unaware of its main significance—is the grammar and the careful word choice that the author uses to convey a powerful understanding of what it means to fight sin.
The words that I believe are the most critical to helping us understand this verse—and so giving us the power to live out the significance of what it is conveying—are the terms “for” and “in”. If you read the verse again, you might notice how its structure is not parallel like we might expect. For instance, it would seem like the verse should be read “For God has not called us for impurity, but for holiness”. However, the author instead carefully uses another term, “in”. “For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness”.
But what we don’t typically realize is that this small, supposedly insignificant word change from “for” to “in” actually denotes major theological weight. In fact, we might still gloss over the author’s careful use of “in” instead of “for”, and so read the verse as if it said “for” and “for” all along—completely missing the powerful punch of the verse.
The reason why the author was careful to use “in holiness” instead of “for holiness” is tied to two main reasons:
1. Using “for holiness” might allude to an emphasis on our striving to do better—yet, without the power to do better all along. For example, if the author uses “God called you…for holiness”, that renders a meaning of the verse to insist upon our fight against sin. Yet, it provides no grounds, motivation, or power to fight it in the first place. The idea might be, “fight sin because it’s bad” or “because you just should”. Which, unfortunately, is what many of us mistakenly do all the time. We become frustrated with constant failure because we are not looking to the source or the reason that will empower us to fight it—or we think that our ‘mere effort to go against it’ is sufficient. (NOTE: if God calls us to fight it, won’t He also provide us the means for fighting against it? He’s not trying to see how strong we are—as sinners fighting against sin…think on that one for a bit).
It’s like being in an intense battle with only a shield and no sword—always living on the defensive because you feel like you don’t have “that tool” (whatever it is) to live on the offensive front. This sword—or empowerment—that helps us to truly fight sin is understanding and living in light of our identity in Christ. Which fittingly segues to the second point as to why the author used “in” instead of “for”:
2. Using “in holiness” brings a whole new meaning to the verse because it emphasizes our position in Christ, which, once lived in light of, empowers our life. Relishing on our redeemed position as His children, what He has saved us from, and what He has saved us to—will help us remember the sweetness of Him and thus the distastefulness of sin. It reminds that we already have in Christ everything (security, significance, approval, acceptance) that we are trying to look for in sin as an ‘easy-fix’ to our instances of unbelief, allurement, etc.
While “for holiness” connotes our striving, “in holiness” emphasizes our position—which is grounds and power source for fighting sin anyways. “For holiness” gives us an imperative without giving us the power or tools to do it; but “in holiness” gives us an imperative with the empowering indicative of our position—which was given to us, not earned.
“In holiness” suggests that we can work-out practically what God has already worked-in us positionally.
In fact, the book of Ephesians definitely shows this in its structure. The first half of the book concerns the believer’s identity in Christ. And then the second half of the book concerns the believer’s work for Christ. In fact, the phrase “in Christ” and its variations occur 216 times in books of the Bible written by Paul. He is reminding us the importance that who we believe we are, and how much we value that, is directly tied to what we will do as a result.
Indeed, Paul lets us know that we can never do anything for Christ until we first know who we are in Christ, because what we do will always flow from who we are. Valuing right standing with God empowers right living for God.
Emphasizing the identity of the Christian before commanding him to live is as important as fueling a racecar before commanding it to drive. Otherwise, your Christian life will be as painstaking as pushing a car around the track by yourself—leading only to your exhaust, frustration, resentment, and eventual rebellion altogether. But if you are all fueled up with position, then driving the car becomes a desirable adventure.
This emphasis on new identity is to remind the Christian of their new nature in Christ, their redeemed position in Christ, the life of righteousness and the death of sin. This healthy re-gauging of who we are in Christ will empower us to live rightly for Christ.
One more important thing to note: this verse is also significant because it ultimately expresses that our fight against sin renders us boast-free and self-righteous-free when we succeed and despair-free when we fail—because it reminds us that the fuel for fighting sin all along—our position in Christ—is given to us by His grace and not earned by our deeds. Therefore, this careful understanding of the empowering grace of God in our life not only leads to confident humility in our own fight against sin, but also produces in us empathy and encouragement to those who are struggling, instead of smug self-righteousness, disdain, or condescension. That’s the wonderful effects of the gospel!
The careful non-parallel structure and particular use of “for” and “in” in 1 Thes 4:7 helps us how to truly understand, approach, and fight against sin. The “in holiness” (in Christ) reminds us of a position that empowers us to live “for holiness” (for Christ) all along.
