What does it mean that without holiness no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)?

Further, the word is "pursue" (which is stronger than "follow") "peace with all and the holiness without which none shall see the Lord" (verse 14). Having peace with God through our Lord Jesus, we are exhorted to seek it diligently in practice, where there are so many sources of disagreement; and this not only with one another but with all. God Himself is the God of peace; and His children are to reflect His character. But there is a still more imperative warning attached to the exhortation to "holiness," "without (or, apart from) which none shall see the Lord." Here it is ἁγιασμός, not merely the quality in its abstract form, but in its action or its result as applied to us; and so found throughout the N.T. (Rom. 6:19, 22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3-4, 7; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Tim. 2:15; and 1 Peter 1:2). There is nothing to alarm the most timid in this, more than in all the scriptures which insist on conformity to God's will in all that are His (Rom. 2:7-11; 1 Cor. 9, 10, 1 Cor. 9:27; Gal. 5:19-20, Gal. 6:7-8; Eph. 5:5-7; Titus 2:12, Titus 3:8; 1 Peter 1:14, 1 Peter 2:3; 2 Peter 1, 2, 3; 1 John 2, 3; Jude; Rev. 21:8, Rev. 22:15).

Words of exhortation and encouragement follow. The first three exhortations refer to ourselves (verses 12-13); to others and to God (verse 14). To follow peace (pursue peace) with all men is to characterize those who have peace with God and who know the way of peace. Holiness must also be pursued, for without that none shall see the Lord. In Christ, believers are sanctified once for all, as this Epistle has so clearly demonstrated. The holiness which qualifies a man to see the Lord, is Christ, and His blessed finished work. Abiding in Him the believer pursues the way of holiness, practical holiness, separation from evil in all things. It does not mean a certain "holiness experience" by which a believer is fitted, by eradication of the old nature, or by something else, to see the Lord. In Christ the believer is sanctified; as Martin Luther used to say "My holiness is in Heaven." The exhortation here means to pursue that holiness into which grace has called us, which grace has given and for which grace gives daily power. Closely connected with this is the warning which follows in verses 15-17. The man who falls short of the grace of God, who lacketh that grace which is in Christ Jesus, his heart not resting in Him, is a mere professing believer and Possesseth not the holiness, which grace alone can give. He is a root of bitterness and a profane, and earthly-minded person, as Esau was who sold his birthright.

There are other scriptures that refer to practical sanctification, on which I must say a word next. One clear text of this description is in Hebrews 12, where the apostle says, "Follow peace with all men, and holiness" (or sanctification, if you please) "without which no man shall see the Lord." It is evident that this is practical holiness. He is addressing those whom he assumes to be Christians. There might be persons among them in danger of going back, as we know there had been. Some had already been apostates; but the apostle was "persuaded better things of them, and things that accompanied salvation, though he thus spoke." But here he says, "Follow peace with all men." They had already peace with God, but they were told to "follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." There is nothing really harsh in that, nor a word to cause the smallest difficulty to the most sensitive spirit; for surely, my brethren, there is no Christian who would affirm or allow that a man can live as he lists and yet go to heaven. Can a person sin habitually and be born of God? Surely the language of St. John is even stronger where it is laid down that "he that is born of God doth not commit sin." No doubt, as you justly plead, he means the person so characterised, not that a believer may not fail in this particular or in that, but that no man who is really born of God lives without exercised conscience and holy ways before God: no man so born goes on in sin, but walks according to the new nature. There are differences of measure, and various degrees of spiritual power as we know; but all saints have an uniform desire, and the Lord hearkens to that desire and answers it too, — meeting and helping the soul, sometimes by the comfort of the truth, sometimes by sharp discipline, but in one way and another strengthening it to please Himself. It is manifest from this that there is not the slightest ground for explaining away such an exhortation, no excuse for trying to make out that "holiness" here means what we are made in Christ. This is not the thought in the smallest degree. It is only deceiving ourselves if any think so.

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." Peace and holiness are normal fruits of Christianity: if they are entirely ab­sent, one has not known the Lord, nor will he stand in His presence. But let the believer follow these things in wholehearted devotion. Too often also souls may divorce these things, and insist on peace while ignoring holiness, or insist on holiness while ignoring peace. The former involves a friendly tolerance of sin, the latter a conten­tious spirit of legality. Our preservation lies in godly concern to follow both peace and holiness.

Fourthly, let us see that we follow practical holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. We see Jesus crowned with glory and honour, says the Apostle; but this supposes a normal walk in holiness. Any allowance of unholiness will obscure the vision. Without holiness we shall not see the Lord. Peace and holiness must be held together, as in this passage, otherwise we may follow peace at the expense of holiness, or holiness without peace.

But holiness must be pursued, as well as peace. For without holiness none shall see the Lord. Uncleanness, whether of the flesh or of the spirit, is the way of nature. Holiness is the way of God. We have been called by grace from one into the other. The "holy brethren" are not to choose uncleanness, but rather to eschew it; to cleanse themselves with diligence from all that clashes with the holy promises of God (2 Cor. 6:14 — 7:1). The Holiness which qualifies a man to see the Lord is Christ. To abide in Him, is to endeavour to pursue His way. The unholy are yet under law, which lawfully condemns the sinner in his ways (1 Tim. 1:8-9). The grace of God instructs the children in a better way. It is by such clear and express responses to the conscience that God's oracles preserve the saint from the delusive speciousness of those "vain words," by means of which the children of disobedience prepare themselves but more effectually for the coming wrath of God (Eph. 5:6). Grace is the true source of holiness in the believer. And grace is tasted, not by a mere assent to doctrine, but through the faith which looks to Jesus. Having found a Saviour in the stricken Lamb of God, the believer owns the Lord of his obedience in the loved Redeemer of his soul.

The word here rendered "holiness" is used some ten times in the epistles, and is often given as "sanctification." It indicates, as another has said, the "practical effect produced: not the quality, but the character in activity"; or, as he says in another place, "sanctification … the sum and measure of it, the thing as an effect, as a whole, characteristically, not agiosune, the quality." For simple readers the meaning will be readily apprehended, if it is compared with another scripture (1 Cor. 1:30), where the same word is employed. There we read, "Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us … sanctification." In Hebrews we are exhorted to "follow after … holiness [sanctification], without which no man shall see the Lord." What therefore, in the unspeakable grace of our God, Christ is made unto us, we, being in Him, are to follow after. The holiness in Hebrews will then signify correspondence with, or conformity to, Christ as glorified. It may further aid if another scripture is compared: "For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth." (John 17:19.) From this we gather that Christ has set Himself apart, in His new condition as glorified, as the pattern for His people, and that they will be brought into conformity to Him through the application to their souls of the truth of what He is as the glorified Man, the Leader of a new race, the Second Man out of heaven. But it may be said, Will not all saints be like Christ when they see Him (1 John 3:2)? Why then should we be exhorted to follow or "pursue" after holiness? Because God would have us in communion with His own mind, and our hearts set upon His own end and object. He presents Christ glorified to us as His eternal thought for man, and He would have us diligently to pursue after its realisation. The practical effect of this truth is seen in Philippians 3, where the apostle says, "I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus." Holiness, according to God's thought, is seen in Christ glorified, and we are to follow after it as thus expressed; and we are urged forward in its diligent attainment by the reminder that without it no one will ever see the Lord. Then only when we see Him, will God's eternal purposes for His people - that they should be holy and without blame before Him in love - be accomplished and realised.

202 The progress of practical sanctification must not be confounded with justification, because practical sanctification is wrought in a saved soul that has eternal life. It is an entirely new thing, of which there is no trace before I have found Christ. If we comprehend this passage, "Without holiness [sanctification] no man shall see the Lord" (there is nothing troubles a soul as that often does), it is clear that if I do not possess Christ, I cannot see the Lord; that is very simple. If I have not in myself the life of the second Adam, as I had before the life of the first, never shall I see His face. The tastes natural to the one will develop themselves therein, as they developed themselves in the other. The first inquiry to be made in such a case is, Have you peace with God, the pardon of your sins? If not, the question is of the justification of a sinner. Having then "purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit" - that is the power "through the Spirit" - the essential thing is the obedience to the truth. People seek purification, and desire to bear fruit, but this is not what God first asks of us; it is obedience, and obedience to the truth.

The great Apostle of the Gentiles was most emphatic when he wrote "without holiness no man shall see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). The nature of God being immaculate in holiness, none can tread His courts who do not answer morally to that nature. It is impossible that anything defiling should enter there, or anyone who works abomination.

The second part of sanctification is holiness. This is cer­tainly akin to purity (1 John 3:3) and is only perfected when inward as well as outward (2 Cor.7:1). Without it we cannot see God, for it becomes His house (both earthly and heavenly) forever (Psa. 93:5; 1 Cor. 3:17). We are to be holy in all manner of conversation, which is not in word only (see 1 Tim.4:12, where they are distinguished), but in deed also. It in­cludes a cleansing from all pollution of the flesh and spirit (2 Cor.7:1), which embraces far more than that we call gross sins.