Holiness also applied to people — for example, prophets, priests and Levites. People, places and things were then separated from their surrounding environment and placed in a very special and transcendent category. But perhaps the greatest use of the concept was its application to the entire people of Israel.

Leviticus commanded the people to be holy — other — as God is holy and other. They were to be very different from the peoples and cultures around them in worship, values and way of life. Holiness with its purity regulations was for protection of the nation’s spiritual integrity. The essence of this difference or otherness was the insistence that the people refrain from hatred and bearing grudges and that they love others as themselves.

Can we even imagine what our society would be like if we made an honest and concerted effort to live up to this divine command? Even on a small scale — the family, workplace and the Church — the results would be dramatic. Today the expression of holiness has changed — there is much less emphasis on places, objects, foods and so on. The basic principle is still very relevant: do not be swallowed up in the surrounding culture and its values. To be sure, there are many values that we should and do share. But in many respects, the call is still one of daring to be different, to live by other values and to display a way of life that is a challenge and sign of contradiction to the many inhumane aspects of worldly societies and cultures.

Paul was in complete agreement. The community of believers was the temple in which the Spirit of God dwelled, but there were certain preconditions. The people had to live in the Spirit and in the mind and heart of Christ, and they had to share that unity of purpose with each other. There was absolutely no room for selfishness, quarreling, factionalism, lack of love, unkindness or inequality. When these were present, the work of the Spirit was blocked. Paul challenged them to put aside many of the worldly values that were the cause of so much of this grief. Human selfishness and arrogance masquerading as wisdom was and still is a major part of the problem.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus reaffirmed these principles but turned up the heat, possibly in response to the oppression and injustice that the people were experiencing in first-century Judea. The temptation must have been great to lash out at their oppressors and seek revenge.

We react in similar ways to relatively insignificant provocations in a setting as small as a workplace or an organization. His counsel was to step back from the deadly dance that we call “getting even” or more euphemistically, “getting justice.” He saw clearly that physical violence, psychological abuse or insulting and critical language escalate rapidly. The end result is destructive of human community and relationships. Responding negatively has unfortunately become almost second nature for us — often we are not even aware of what we are doing. Jesus was not suggesting that we become passive victims or that we should not defend our physical safety or our rights. He was merely insisting that rather than responding out of fear, rage or wounded pride and honour, we take a more positive and efficacious path.

Modern cultures are characterized by confrontation, retribution, competition, power and imposing one’s will on others. By renouncing violence and revenge and committing ourselves to co-operation and non-violent means, we are free to create a just, peaceful and humane society. That is a good contemporary expression of the Bible’s call to be different for the sake of God.