1 Peter 1:13-16 Therefore, preparing your minds for action,[a] and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
First note that acting in obedience to God's instructions is not in opposition to setting our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, but is in accordance with it. We should be holy in all our conduct as God is holy. In verse 16, the author quoting from the OT Scriptures and in a high context society that also brought to mind the context of what is being quoted, so let's look at the context of the quote to see how we are to be holy as God is holy.
Leviticus 11:44-47 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. 45 For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” 46 This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, 47 to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.
Here, the command to be holy as God is holy is in the context of the dietary laws. "To be holy" means "to be set apart". Something can not be clean and unclean at the same time, so to be holy is to be pure or spotless. The deeper meaning of God commanding His people in regard to dietary laws is to teach them to be discerning about everything that they took into their bodies so that we would not become polluted by the world around us. In every action, we should consider whether it is something that God would have us do. Are we bringing glory to God or dishonor? We are either facing toward God or away from God, there is no middle ground.
Leviticus 19:2-4 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.
God has ordered the world in a way that He wants us adhere to, so we are to be holy be revering the parents that God has put over us. God has blessed the seventh day and made it holy or set it apart, so we are to be holy by treating God's Sabbaths as holy. We are to be holy by not polluting ourselves with the worship of idols.
Leviticus 20:7-9 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 9 For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.
We are to be holy as God is holy by keeping God's statues in accordance with His holy, righteous, and good standard. Again, we are to be holy by honoring our parents.
Leviticus 20:22-26 “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24 But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 25 You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
Again, holiness is associated with keeping all of Gods statues and rules and doing them, as well as with keeping God's dietary laws.
Leviticus 23:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.
We are to be holy as God is holy by keeping all of God's appointed times, which includes the Sabbath as one of the feasts.
Numbers 15:40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.
Deuteronomy 28:9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Speaking to Gentiles, who were not a people, but were now the people of God, the author says they are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's special possession. What God said about Israel is now true about Gentiles:
Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
We can not be a holy nation without God making us holy and without faithfully following God's instructions for how to be holy.
First note that acting in obedience to God's instructions is not in opposition to setting our hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, but is in accordance with it. We should be holy in all our conduct as God is holy. In verse 16, the author quoting from the OT Scriptures and in a high context society that also brought to mind the context of what is being quoted, so let's look at the context of the quote to see how we are to be holy as God is holy.
Leviticus 11:44-47 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. 45 For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.” 46 This is the law about beast and bird and every living creature that moves through the waters and every creature that swarms on the ground, 47 to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean and between the living creature that may be eaten and the living creature that may not be eaten.
Here, the command to be holy as God is holy is in the context of the dietary laws. "To be holy" means "to be set apart". Something can not be clean and unclean at the same time, so to be holy is to be pure or spotless. The deeper meaning of God commanding His people in regard to dietary laws is to teach them to be discerning about everything that they took into their bodies so that we would not become polluted by the world around us. In every action, we should consider whether it is something that God would have us do. Are we bringing glory to God or dishonor? We are either facing toward God or away from God, there is no middle ground.
Leviticus 19:2-4 “Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. 3 Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. 4 Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God.
God has ordered the world in a way that He wants us adhere to, so we are to be holy be revering the parents that God has put over us. God has blessed the seventh day and made it holy or set it apart, so we are to be holy by treating God's Sabbaths as holy. We are to be holy by not polluting ourselves with the worship of idols.
Leviticus 20:7-9 Consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. 8 Keep my statutes and do them; I am the Lord who sanctifies you. 9 For anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he has cursed his father or his mother; his blood is upon him.
We are to be holy as God is holy by keeping God's statues in accordance with His holy, righteous, and good standard. Again, we are to be holy by honoring our parents.
Leviticus 20:22-26 “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24 But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 25 You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.
Again, holiness is associated with keeping all of Gods statues and rules and doing them, as well as with keeping God's dietary laws.
Leviticus 23:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.
We are to be holy as God is holy by keeping all of God's appointed times, which includes the Sabbath as one of the feasts.
Numbers 15:40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God.
Deuteronomy 28:9 The Lord will establish you as a people holy to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in his ways
1 Peter 2:9-10 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Speaking to Gentiles, who were not a people, but were now the people of God, the author says they are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and God's special possession. What God said about Israel is now true about Gentiles:
Deuteronomy 7:6 “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.
We can not be a holy nation without God making us holy and without faithfully following God's instructions for how to be holy.
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