"Will The Real Man Of God Please Stand Up!"

"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse (to purify from the pollution and guilt) ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh (temporal) and spirit (external), perfecting (complete or finish) holiness in the fear (reverence) of God." (2 Corinthians 7:1) You might be wondering what these bold words and things in parentheses are all about, or maybe you didn't even notice? To start of with, let's look at the word 'therefore', which makes us ask ourselves: what is it there for? In this particular case, we are to be asking ourselves, 'What are these promises we have, that we should to be purified from the pollution and guilt of sin?' As I have said, Paul has really been on the same thought since chapter 3, and between here and there, a lot of promises have been revealed. But, let's look at the most recent promises mentioned in verses 16 and 17 of chapter 6; where we can see that God, who is Holy, has promised to inhabit us, which means that our mortal body, which is temporal, shall become a temple for God to dwell in, and to take our relationship to the next level, God then says, He will be a Father unto us, and we will be His sons and daughters. That seems simple enough to comprehend; doesn't it? Okay, so why don't we take it to the next level, and look at all three highlighted words together: 'therefore, us, holiness', which are not that significant by themselves; however (try to follow), this word for 'holiness' is only used three times in the New Testament, and it is the word 'Hagiosune'. This is a very interesting word for holiness, because it actually means that it is a holiness which does not need to be proven; in other words, it is there and does not need to be proven because the qualities, or character of this particular holiness are part and parcel of sanctity. This is different than the other definitions of holiness, in that this is derived from the word 'hagios', which means Holy; verses the word 'hagiasmos', which denotes more of a sanctification, and requires verification and a result at each stage of the process. So; those three words together, placed in perfect English, would read more like this: Therefore we have holiness within us! (Could you see that coming?) Now, we look at the words in parentheses, which are pretty much self explanatory, given what was just revealed; but let's go over them anyways. Because we are indwelt with holiness, we must complete the process by purifying the temporal and external from the pollution and the guilt of sin, with a reverence for the God who dwells within us and has given us the holiness which we possess. (The Title just jumped up...)