The Church’s Holiness The church is definitively holy in an absolute sense in that it is “in Christ.” It is processively holy in a relative sense in that its sanctification is progressive, originating from the inner man and finding expression in the outer life. As Calvin remarks: “The church is holy … in the sense that it is daily advancing and is not yet perfect; it makes progress from day to day but has not yet reached its goal of holiness.”8 It is also holy in that it is separated from the