Leviticus 20:7 Meaning: Our Part in a Holy God‘s Work

The first key word is the verb behind “sanctify yourselves.” In Hebrew it is a reflexive form of qadash, meaning “to set apart, consecrate, make holy.” The reflexive force matters: this is something you do to yourself. You cannot make yourself holy in the deepest sense, but you can choose to separate from what defiles and turn toward God. The second word is “holy,” qadosh, which carries the idea of being set apart for a special purpose. A holy person is one who belongs to God, not to the world around them. And the third word is the name God gives for himself: Yahweh, the covenant Lord. His personal name grounds the whole command. His holiness is not an abstract quality; it is who He is. Because He is your God, and your God is holy, you are called to reflect that belonging in your choices.

Christians across traditions have wrestled with how human effort and God’s work relate. The reformers, like the Geneva Bible notes, saw this verse as a call to active obedience that flows from God’s grace. John Gill, a Baptist commentator, stressed that “internal sanctification is not the work of man” but that the command is to abstain from evil and separate from idolatry. Later commentators like Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown note the context of the surrounding nations’ sins, emphasizing that Israel could not follow their neighbours if they were to be God’s people. Across traditions, the common thread is that God initiates holiness, and we respond by choosing to live as His set, apart people.

Some read this verse as saying holiness is something we achieve by our own effort, like a to, do list for earning God’s favour. In fact, the verse sits between warnings against sin and the declaration in verse 8: “I am Yahweh who sanctifies you.” Our sanctifying ourselves is a response, not a cause. It means actively choosing to live as the holy people God has already made us, not trying to become holy on our own.

This week, you might ask yourself where your habits, entertainment, or conversations are pulling you toward the patterns of the world around you. The call to “sanctify yourselves” can be as ordinary as turning off a show that stirs up what is not God, honouring, or speaking gently when insulted, or setting aside time to be with Him. Holiness is not a feeling. It is a decision, made again and again, to live as someone who belongs to a holy God.