“You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

“Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 13-16 ESV)

Peter wrote this epistle to Christians living in northwestern Asia Minor and along the Black Sea. His audience was mostly Jewish people living in the diaspora from Pontus, Galatia, and Cappadocia, as well as Asia. With Peter’s statement of “your former ignorance”, it is also believed that his audience included Gentiles.

Really, who they were is much less important than who they had become in Christ. Like us, the church comes from many different religions, countries, and life experiences, yet we have become one in the church. Peter reminds them of their conduct. He speaks of shedding worldly ways and their obedience to Christ. A truth which we, today, still struggle with. With the advent of electronic media, the world is pushed upon us with greater fervor, and it is difficult to escape the filth and evil that is put forward without care.

We are called to be holy just as those in Asia Minor were reminded by Peter. In the Greek, the word "holy" is ἅγιος (Hagios). Strong’s Lexicon (40) tells us that 1. Coming from the word ἀγός refers to religious awe, or worthy of veneration. 2. Set apart for God, to be, as it were, exclusively his; followed by a genitive or a dative: τῷ κυρίῳ. 3. In a moral sense, pure, sinless, upright, holy. So, in our obedience to Christ we, having been set apart for Him, grow in our holiness. Christ lives in us so that, as Peter said, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

It is important to recognize that there are no imperatives in the opening of this epistle. Peter uses this so that we may focus on the means of our salvation, God’s mercy and grace. Then, in 1:13, that changes with the word “therefore”.

Whenever we see the word “therefore,” we must look to the preceding verses which tell us what has been done for us. Because of this, you have to do this. This is the indicative aorist, what God has done, God saved us. So, because God saved us, Peter gives us the imperatives, we are to prepare our minds for action and be sober minded. We are to set our hopes on Christ and the grace that comes to us through Him.

The first participle literally means girding up the loins of your mind. When one prepares for war, the loose, flowing garment common in this period was pulled up from the rear and tucked into the front of the belt to allow for unrestricted movement in battle. The second participle reminds us to be sober in mind and be self-controlled in our thoughts and decisions.

The exhortations Peter reminds his audience of are the same for us today. We are to be hopeful in Christ. We “set our hope” full on the grace of Christ, for it is grace that brings us to faith. We are “obedient children,” knowing we must not conform to the world and its passions. Greater yet, we are holy, and we are to conduct ourselves with righteousness in all our dealings.

Lastly, the imperative of being holy. Peter is not saying this in terms of the world; he is saying to be holy even as God is holy. This is a whole different level of holiness, as God is elevated so far above us in His holiness that it cannot be put into words. We are to strive to be as holy as God.

What I find most important is that Peter reminds us that we are human. He reminds us that there are no promises of sinless perfection, or of the conquering of our sin in this world. Those who preach the attainability of sinless perfection are false teachers and preach lies. We are called to overcome our passions for sin. For it is our passion that our sinful nature uses to contaminate the heart.

As you can see, 1 Peter is applicable for today’s Christians. We suffer from sin just as those in the first century did, and the message is still the same. Trust in Christ; it is He who conquered sin for us. It is He who won the battle over death. For those who place their faith in Christ, it is His imputed righteousness that reunites us to God, and His resurrection that gives us eternal life. We died with Him on the cross, and we are raised again with Him in the resurrection.

Grace and Peace.