Holiness in the ChurchAccording to the Old Testament, holy things or places were reserved for a sacred purpose; the opposite of holy is therefore common or profane. Likewise a holy person meant someone who held a sacred office. The Israelites were a holy people because they had a special relationship with Jehovah. under the guidance of the Prophets it was seen that what distinguished Yahweh from the pagan gods was his personal character. The word HOLY then came to refer to moral character. Israel must have a holy character because the God of Israel was holy. The Law of Holiness shows how an attempt was made to secure this holiness of character through ceremonial observance. The attempt failed because later Jews observed the letter and neglected the spirit; they attached more importance to ceremonial than to morality; and the result was a fall into formalism. But in the writings of the Prophets it is clearly stated that the value of worship in the eyes of God depends on the personal character of the believer. Whether we like it or not, we cannot avoid the fact that we are called to be holy. It is not just an Old Testament concept that is swept away in the New Testament – ​​the Old Testament tells us: take the path of holiness and be holy, for I am holy,(1) it is repeated and even amplified in the letter of Peter . In Hebrews we read: Make every effort to live at peace with all men and to be holy, without holiness no one will see the Lord. (2). Holiness is so important that without it you will not see the Lord, neither here in this life nor in the life to come. The problem is that all in all we don't like it. The idea of ​​holiness seems intimidating or scary to us. We feel it more like a duty than a privilege. Too often, if we are honest with ourselves, our gut emotional reaction is that we want to sin, but we are ready to do God a favor and deny ourselves that pleasure. Yet the Bible speaks as if it expects us to be holy as a matter of course. In fact, he says that we are holy, he says that that is our identity, and he seems to take it for granted that it is also the way in which we will behave: he says that we are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.