Unholiness and Bad Company

The word anosios means unholy, and Paul uses it twice in the pastorals. One of the purposes of the law that God gave us is the restraint of the wicked and unholy. “Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane . . .” (1 Tim. 1:9). The list that continues is equally unsavory. And later Paul says that in the last days “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemous, disobedient of parents, unthankful, unholy . . .” (2 Tim. 3:2). And again, that list goes on. From the company it keeps, we may conclude that unholiness is a matter of being ethically grimy. Too many Christians define holiess in terms of a seraphic countenence and an implied halo, and therefore see unholiness as the mere absence of that — a state of being ordinary. But as Paul uses unholy here, it means polluted and defiled.