Qodesh
by Wilhelm Ya'acov Wolfaardt
Qodesh means being set-apart; but what does it mean to be set-apart? The only and true definition of being set apart, is clearly defined in Scripture. Being set apart, or qodesh, is to be set-apart from sin and to be set-apart unto Yahuweh. As we do the commandments of Elohim we become set-apart unto Him. 4 Mosh. 15:40. "Having been set free from sin, and having become servants of Elohim, you have your fruit resulting in apartness, and the end, everlasting life." Rom. 6:22. This verse summarises it completely ! "Elohim did not call us to uncleanness, but to apartness. Therefore he who rejects this [apartness] does not reject men, but Elohim, who also gives us His Set-apart Spirit." 1 Thes. 4:7-8.
Yahuweh have set certain standards of separation. Those who are set-apart are distinctly different from those not serving Yahuweh; those who live by their own set of rules - their own commandments. "He who does wrong, let him do more wrong; he who is filthy, let him be more filthy; he who is righteous, let him be more righteous; he who is set-apart, let him be more set-apart." Rev. 22:11.
Called to be "qodesh"
Yahushua’s first instruction to His taught ones was, "Therefore, go and make taught ones of all the nations, immersing them ... teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you." Matt. 28:19. This is contrary to the general belief taught. After initial Salvation from sin, we are set apart from the world we used to be in, coming to the belief in Yahushua. Acts 26:18, Hebr. 10:29; 13:12. The belief in Yahushua does not complete our apartness, it is only the beginning of the process of being set apart. We are called to belief, thereafter we should make work of being set apart unto Him, growing in set apartness, until eternal life. Let us repeat this important verse: "But now, having been set free from sin, and having become servants of Elohim, you have fruit resulting in apartness, and the end, everlasting life." Rom. 6:22.
We are called to be set apart, which will lead to eternal life. Without being set apart, we shall not see Yahuweh. Read our motto verse at the top of this page.
"Qodesh" through works?
No, we are not justified by works, but only through faith and then confirmed through works. But faith or belief, means nothing if it is not followed by good works. Faith can also be described as belief or trust. When we came to salvation our sins being washed away, we believed that Yahushua did die for us, and we accepted His atoning work as having been done on our behalf, for us. That trust was planted in our hearts by the Ruach ha Qodesh, the Spirit of Separation or Spirit of Apartness.
Confirmation of what I have just said, is found in Ya’aqob 2. Let’s quote a few verses. "So belief, if it does not have works, is in itself dead." v.17 "Abraham believed Elohim, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness." v. 23 "You see, then, that a man is declared right by works, and not by belief alone." v.24 "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so also the belief (faith) is dead without the works." v. 26.
Through what works shall we then become set apart? A general example is given in verses 14 to 15. How can we say to someone, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," but you do not give them the bodily needs, what use is it?" Providing for the needy, is fulfilment of the commandments - "You shall love your neighbour as yourself."
There are however works unto separation, fulfilling the commandments saying, "You shall love Yahuweh your Elohim, with all your heart, and with all your being, and with all your mind." These Words Yahushua spoke, make us clean, if we obey them. Read about this in Yoch. 15:10. Yahushua in His prayer, prior to His great suffering, prayed for us, saying, "Set them apart in Your truth - Your Word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. And for them I set Myself apart, so that they too might be set apart in truth. Yoch. 17:17-19. How did Yahushua set Himself apart? By obeying His Father - setting an example to us. The Words Yahushua spoke, none other than those received from the Father, is what sets us apart - that is if we obey them.
Shabbat given as a sign of "qodesh"
If we read verses 13 to 17 of the Second Book of Mosheh chapter 31, we find that Yahuweh gave the Shabbat to Yisrael, to set them apart from all other nations. In keeping the Shabbat, He sets us apart from this world of sin in which we are living. The Shabbat is set apart for us - for our own good. This is repeated in Yehezqel (Ezekiel) 20:12, 20. In keeping the Shabbat, Yahuweh sets us apart, and we shall then know that He truly is Yahuweh the Elohim of His people. You can keep the Sunday as if being Shabbat, until the end of time, but you shall never be able to observe it as Shabbat is observed. No instructions are given in all of Scripture to keep Sunday. It will never be set apart unto Yahuweh, for He has not put His blessings upon it, and has not set it apart. By keeping Sunday, we shall never conform to Yahuweh’s standard of being set-apart. "Remember the Shabbat, to set it apart." 2 Mosheh (Exodus) 20:8.
Eating kosher is to be "qodesh"
In 3 Mosheh (Leviticus)11 we are given instruction of what to eat, and what not to eat. Together with 5 Mosheh (Deuteronomy) 14, these are the commandments of Yahuweh pertaining to clean and unclean animals, teaching Yisrael to be different from the nations around them. Different in the sense of being clean, healthy and set apart unto Yahuweh. After giving instructions what to eat, and what not to eat, He says, " For I am Yahuweh your Elohim, and you shall set yourselves apart. And you shall be set-apart, for I am set-apart. And do not defile yourselves with any creeping creature that creeps on the earth." 3 Mosheh 11:44. If we eat the unclean animal, we are both defiled physically and spiritually. Physically, for eating unhealthy, unclean animals, and spiritually for being disobedient to His instructions. To be defiled is non other that to be filthy or wrong, as referred to in Rev. 22:11. Several times we read that the unclean animal is an abomination to eat. If one eats those, can one then still be regarded as clean. No, if you eat it, you shall also be unclean and abominable as the unclean animal. Also read 5 Mosheh 14:3.
In the New Yerushalayim nothing shall enter that is unclean or abominable in the sight of Yahuweh, "And there shall by no means enter into it whatever is unclean, neither anyone doing abomination and falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life." Rev. 21:27.
How to become "qodesh"
To be set-apart, is to be set aside - different from other people or nations (in the case of Yisrael as a nation). Similarly, we shall be different from all people around us. We should observe all that Yahuweh has commanded us, but should also bear the fruits of the Spirit. People around us should be able to discern that we are different - set-apart.
"For you are a set-apart people to Yahuweh your Elohim. Yahuweh your Elohim has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a treasured possession above all the peoples on the face of the earth." 5 Mosheh (Deut.) 7:6.
Throughout the texts we have read, we found them to be prescribed for Yisrael. If they observed them, they were different, set apart, by Yahuweh. By obeying the voice of Yahuweh, they set themselves aside, not conforming to the worship of other nations, but to the worship of Yahuweh. By obeying Yahuweh’s voice, they became set-apart; "qodesh".
Yahushua came to earth for a specific reason - to first of all to set us free from the guilt of sin. Thereafter His purpose is to reconcile us with the Father, i.e. to deliver us from the power of sin, the power of Satan.
This results in us being set apart by Yahuweh! Through His Spirit of Separation, we are set apart. 1 Kepha 1:2. That is, if we conform to His commandments, which we can only do if we love Him. Yehudah (Jude) 1:1,20.
"And the Elohim of peace Himself set you completely apart, and your entire spirit, and being, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Master Yahushua Mashiach!" 1 Thes. 5:23. "Blessed are those doing His commandments, so that the authority shall be theirs unto the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:14