Lesson 01 · Leviticus
What holy actually means
“Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy... thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”
Leviticus 19:2, 18
Leviticus 19 is famous for being the strict chapter. Read it closely and something surprising happens: the holiness commands are mostly about how you treat people.
Leave the edges of your field unharvested so the poor can eat. Pay your workers the same day. Don't gossip. Don't take advantage of the deaf or the blind. Stand up when an old person enters the room. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Holy doesn't mean separate from people. The root idea is 'set apart' — devoted to one purpose. And God's purpose, it turns out, is love.
So holiness isn't a list of things you don't do. It's a life so given over to God that love becomes the ordinary way you act.
Put plainly
Holiness is love with its sleeves rolled up. The rules were always describing what love does.
Sit with this
- What's your gut reaction to the word 'holy'? Where did that picture come from?
- Which of the Leviticus 19 commands would be hardest for you this week?
If you're giving the message
- 01'Love your neighbor as yourself' comes from Leviticus, the holiness chapter.
- 02Holy means set apart for a purpose, and the purpose is love.
- 03Most of Leviticus 19's holiness code is about how you treat the vulnerable.