Eusebeia 2008

Welcome to another year friends,

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all those who've visited the site and taken the time to read some of the articles and posts. I hope it has been a blessing to you all.

Also, I wanted to clarify some terms to make the future of Eusebeian Way and the Eusebeia blog easier to move forward in 2008.

There are four words/concepts crucial to Christian life and the intentions of this blog that have some overlap in meaning and application and thus can sometimes lead to confusion.
I want to look at the meanings and implications of godliness (eusebeia), holiness (agiasmos), righteousness (dikaiosyne) & purity (agneia).

Godliness and it's meaning have been explored through various posts in the early days of this site. To summarise, it pertains mainly to our attitude towards God and our neighbour and whether we worship God in a way that is pleasing to Him and with sufficient reverence to His Majesty. Eusebeia comes from the greek words Eu (good/well) and sebomai (worship/reverence) and is also close in meaning to the English word piety in a positive, rather than cynical sense.

Holiness, often used synonymously with sanctification, is commonly simplified as the quality of being "set apart" for the service of God. It also conveys an idea of separateness, in that God's purity, excellency, majesty and other perfect attributes ensure His status and nature are quite distinct and separate from the created world. So too are we called to be holy even as the LORD is holy, and from the peculiar customs of the Israelite nation that separated them from the pagan nations, to the Way in which Christians walk and live, this distinction between God's people and the world is made evident.

Righteousness is doing that which is right in the sight of God and living according to His will.
Every Christian knows that they have failed to achieve this moral quality and lifestyle and in fact are naturally inclined to do the things that God despises, due to our sinful nature and imaginations. True righteousness has been manifested in Jesus Christ alone and the only way to attain that right moral and legal standing before God is through the justification of Christ.

Purity is specifically keeping ourselves clean from moral and spiritual filth. There are many things that would seek to taint our morals, our motives & our doctrines, but purity is emphasised in order to keep us white and clean before our God.

So as you can see, while there is definitely overlap, we have a need for more than just one blanket term to describe proper Christian living and culture.

I try and string them all together by saying we should aim for godly attitudes, holy lifestyles, righteous deeds and pure hearts.

I hope this is helpful for seeing how these concepts of the Christian life stand together and apart.