¹³ Therefore, prepare your minds for action, remain sober, set your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, ¹⁵ but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behaviour; ¹⁶ because it is written: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” ¹⁷ If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth; (1Pet1:13-17).

Context

The opening “therefore” pertains to the astonishing nature of human salvation within the New Covenant, which as considered in the previous post intrigued the very angels of heaven. A Christian who has at least begun to grasp the stupendous nature of his or her future destiny is the one most likely to comply with Peter’s exhortation to set their  hopes completely on God’s gracious intentions towards them when Jesus Christ returns (v13).

Incentives to be holy

Such that has been revealed to me concerning the wonders of the Christian’s destiny was reviewed in the previous post. But thinking back to my much earlier perspectives, if one regards being a Christian as primarily a form of spiritual insurance policy against future damnation, the sober-minded contemplation and preparation Peter calls for is less likely to be the case; one’s hopes and aspirations are more likely to be focussed on the things of this world that James warned us about in the previous epistle.

God’s impartial judgement

That is especially the case if, as I used to believe, the whole salvation process is “all of grace and all of God”. For sure, He alone initiates it, but thereafter it is very much down to the believer to “work out his own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil2:12). As verse 17 asserts, God judges everyone impartially, according to their own works. That places (or should place) the Christian at a great advantage (next paragraph), but the notion that Christ’s personal righteousness is imputed to the believer would make a nonsense of passages such as this, as it does of so much Scripture, not least that of Paul. As quoted in this paragraph, the latter affirms with Peter (v17) that our conduct as Christians on earth should be regarded with a measure of fear as well as joy and hope.

The privileges and responsibilities of election

Peter refers to “your former lusts (that were committed) in ignorance” (v14). Whilst ignorance is by no means bliss, not least in spiritual matters, I have been at pains to point out from  Scripture, again contrary to what I once understood as a Calvinist, that God is more merciful to the ignorant than He is to those He has called to be His own, who should know better (cf. Amos3:2) . And as recently considered, Christians being under the New Covenant not only have a knowledge of God’s law and the example of Jesus Christ’s life on earth, they have the spiritual resources at their disposal to help transform their former way of life. “So if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every violation and act of disobedience received a just punishment (under the Old Covenant), ³ how will we possibly escape if we are careless of so great a salvation?” (Heb2:2-3)

So, concludes Peter quoting Scripture, “like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves in all your behaviour; because it is written: ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’.” That is what JHWE told His people under the Old Covenant: “You shall be holy towards me: for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from other people, that you should be My own” (Lev20:26). For those like Martin Luther who understood God’s nature to be incomprehensible to human reason, this presents a difficulty. Those who recognize that man has been created in God’s image will know that Peter and the Scripture he was referring to are not asking the impossible.

God’s holiness is infinitely superior in degree, but cannot be alien in nature to those who have been created in His own image. Every good trait that we possess derives from Him. And applying all available means of grace and following the example of our Master and Saviour, the Christian is well able to comply with the requirements of those set apart to be the heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.

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