Holiness is not separating ourselves from life in this world, but separating ourselves from sin and sin is any action that is not in submission to God’s word—this means we are expected to do everything in the way God has commanded. Remember, God has spoken about all of life so that we might do good works for his glory in every area of life (2 Tim. 3:16, 17). To turn this on its head and deny that God has spoken about all of life and insist that holiness means separating ourselves from some aspect of God’s original creation, is to take sides with the devil. To refuse to be involved with Christ in the work of re-creation is to oppose his purposes in this world—which is rebellion and rebellion is no different to witchcraft or the occult.19 Christ did not come to remove people from the created world, but to deliver them from sin so that they could glorify him in this world by obediently labouring with him for the re-creation of all things. Christ’s atonement frees us from the bondage of sin so that we can do his will in this world, for his glory.20 Christ became flesh so that he could redeem the whole of our being in order for us to be able to faithfully serve him in the whole of his creation—for the whole of his creation is meant to glorify him. Our call to rule under God cannot be separated from the responsibility to work for the advancing of life in this world—i.e. advancing civilisation.

Sin (which is an act of wilful rebellion against God’s law), is an intrusion into and not a part of God’s original creation order. If we don’t keep a clear distinction between God’s good, original creation and sin (the alien that has intruded into and perverted God’s good creation), then we will relinquish God’s creation to the devil (by withdrawing our influence from certain or all areas of life) and refuse to be involved with Christ in his work of re-creation. The purpose of Christ’s coming was to deal with this alien so that Christ’s name might be glorified in the whole world and he is glorified when his will is done in all areas of life.21 That is why Paul’s desire for the Colossians was that they might be filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so that they might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work (Col. 1:9, 10). By knowing and doing the Lord’s will in everything, the Colossians would live lives well pleasing to God and their labour would be fruitful in the Kingdom. Christ calls us to be involved in his work, but sin says no, man must be about his own work, which is to be defined by his own word (Gen. 3:5, 6). Many Christians who live according to their own law-word say it is sinful to be involved in re-creation, since holiness means separating oneself from the contamination in this world by separating oneself from many of the affairs of life.