He Died To Make Men Holy

He Died to Make Men Holy was my third book.  I was going through one of my study projects in Abilene when I got a call from Don DeWelt in Joplin, Missouri.  At the time Don headed up College Press, a Christian book publishing company.  I was more than surprised.  I was downright shocked by his request.   He asked me to write a book that would be a comprehensive discussion of what the Bible has to say about holiness.  I already had some interest in the subject.  My study for the grace book had taken me in that direction, but the thought of writing a comprehensive serious study of such a massive subject was more than daunting.  It's the only time I've ever been commissioned to write a book.

Still I found myself saying, “yes” to Don.  Over the course of the next year there would be many times when I would question whether he caught me at a moment of temporary insanity.   I asked myself, “Why on earth did I consider myself qualified to develop such a project?”  Nevertheless I immersed myself in the project, and was able to turn out a manuscript in about a year.

I started by deciding that I would take a look at every usage of the word “holy” in the Bible.   I soon discovered that some form of the word “holy” is used about a thousand times in scripture.  Had I been a quitter I would have called Don at that point, and said, “I can’t do it.”  Nevertheless I pressed on.   Most days I spent about two hours on the manuscript before finally bringing it to a close.

I suppose it’s the closest thing to a work of scholarship that I’ve ever done.  I’m not a bonafide scholar (at least not in my own mind).   I’m not really conversant with Biblical languages.   As the saying goes, I know enough Greek to be dangerous.   Actually I know enough Greek to know how much I don’t know.  A while back I acquired D. A. Carson’s book, Exegetical Fallacies.  Carson shows how many prominent authors misuse the Greek text.  Just to be fair, he even corrects some mistakes in his own books.   After reading through it, I decided to be very careful about telling the church, “The Greek says….”  Most preachers think they know more Greek than they do.  So to that degree my book is comes up short as a scholarly work.  The reviews have been favorable, and I’ve been invited to present the material in several different venues.

I am confident of one thing. I’ve at least taken a shot at most of the pertinent holiness issues in the Bible.   The most important thing to know about holiness is that our own holiness can be nothing more than a dim reflection of God’s holiness.  Probably my favorite chapter in the book is titled, “Holy is the Way God is.”  I spent the first half of the book writing about God’s holiness, and the second half writing about the human response to God’s holiness.  I’ve concluded that we experience holiness at three levels – (1) Positional – We are made holy when we become Christians. (2) Progressive – We grow in holiness throughout our lives. (3) Prospective – We will experience holiness as at a fuller level in the next life.

The book is a 354 page hard cover book, and is essentially out of print, but  I have several copies, which I will make available at extremely low cost ($5.00 plus postage and handling).   The books do not have a dust jacket, which is all right with me.  I thought the original cover design was poor.  The publisher has returned the copyright to me, and I am also considering the possibility of issuing it in an electronic format.