This book lays out the requirements and difficulties that will come with the pursuit of holiness in our Christian lives. Ryle starts out with the way to achieve holiness and the difficulties that arise with pursuing a holy life, and then going throughout the Bible giving true examples of the cost of holiness and the rewards it brings as the Bible promises us. To often we sing and pray for such a life without being willing to undergo the necessary life changes and adjustments to get there. This book lays out what we can expect in such a journey and what God will ask of each of us to get us to the point He wants us to be.

This is not a "slash and burn" kind of book. This is a book written with a tender love for The Wesleyan Church and the American Holiness Movement of which we are a part, and for all our holiness cousins who have experienced the same shifts we have experienced. It is kind and gentle in tone, but frank and firm in spirit.This is not a "let's go back to the good old days" kind of book, pining for the way we used to do things. This is a call to go forward - deeper and further - into the areas where we stopped short, into Life in the Spirit that takes us deeper into the lives of those who need us.This is a call to step around the American Holiness Movement and go back to Wesley, back to our original roots - back to a holiness based more in love and less focused on measured performance and personal sin management.This is a call to walk away from the shallowness of the Evangelical Movement and recover the depth and richness of holiness of heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Grace never leaves a man where it finds him. Grace always transforms the sinner into a saint--a holy man. God's will is for His people to be holy. This mandate for holiness is based in the very character and person of God: We are to be holy because God is holy. Joel Beeke and Michael Barrett expound the doctrine of sanctification and show that it is the application of the gospel to our daily lives.

Purity has long been recognized as one of the essential drives which determines humankind's relationship with the holy. Codes of purity and impurity, dealing with such far-ranging topics as 'external stains' and 'inner remorse', represent the physical and 'bodily' side of religious experience and provide the key to the understanding of human orientation to nature, and the structure of society, including even relationships between the sexes. Starting with the Hebrew Bible, a number of articles study some rather neglected passages from both exegetical and cultural-anthropological standpoints. Next, it is shown that the concept of purity is far more central to the New Testament than previously thought. Luke is portrayed as a Jewish-oriented writer. The discussion of purity in Mark is compared with Rabbinical and Qumranic material. Patristic discussions of purity reflect both allegorical and literal interpretations, while rabbinical rulings display a fine sense for detail and realia. Biblical references to illness are interpreted both in Christian and Jewish traditions as a metaphor for immoral behavior. The present collection of studies proceeds far beyond other collections on purity, studying both the medieval and modern periods. Purity rules, in both Christian and Jewish society, do not disappear in the Middle Ages, but become increasingly stronger. Sometimes there appear unexpected and surprising similarities between both societies. Modern society sees a decline in the importance of purity, reflecting a growing ambiguous attitude to the relationship between the body and the holy. A feminist perspective is also provided, examining the intertwined relationship between religion, gender and power. Exegesis, archaeology, liturgy, anthropology and even architecture are all used to study the complex phenomena of purity in their religious and social dimensions from both Christian and Jewish perspectives.

This volume aims to assist in the personal and family study of the history and teachings of the Old Testament. The book gathers some of the clearest writings on the Old Testament that have been published by the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University. The Old Testament is not only foundational to our understanding of the birth, life, atonement, crucifixion, and resurrection of the Savior, as found in the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, and other scripture, but it also teaches us about God, our faith history, and the spiritual heritage of the house of Israel.