1 Peter 1:14-16

“…as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’ ”

Here Peter addresses the believers as “obedient children,” more accurately translated as “children of obedience.” Every believer is born of God and is in that respect a child, the word ‘children’ (Greek: ‘tekna’) referring to young teenagers. The Bible speaks of two kinds of children – those of obedience and those of disobedience. “Children of obedience” is a title used in scripture for those who have believed on God in obedience to the Word.

Peter’s message to the believers is this: now that they have obeyed the gospel, they shouldn’t go back to their old ways. To conform is to be moulded into a shape. We can allow ourselves to be moulded into something that is useful and pleasing to God, or into something that will be quite the opposite. The same word is used in Romans 12:2 – “Do not be conformed to this world…”

“Lusts” are wrong desires. We may have good desires, but we often end up with unholy ones. Ephesians 2:3 says, “…we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath.” The world teaches us to live for ourselves. But for us Christians, our lives are not our own. We are redeemed by Christ. Our lives ought to be hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3), and whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s (Romans 14:8). We may have many desires – things we want to accomplish or experience. But Peter tells us here to put aside those desires that are our own; desires that we once indulged in out of ignorance.

We are exhorted to not go back to our former lusts, apparently because it is possible to do just that. A person may believe the gospel and trust in Jesus, but still go back to pursuing former desires. Peter then gives the reason why we shouldn’t do that – because God who called us is holy.

Three languages were used in the writing of the Bible – Aramaic, Hebrew and Greek. None of them had a word for ‘holy.’ The concept of holiness did not exist. So in the Hebrew texts, the word used was ‘qadosh,’ which literally means something set apart – a cut separate from the rest. Moses sang, “Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness…?” (Exodus 15:11). Scholars believe that the word ‘qadosh’ comes from this idea, of the living God being above other gods.

In the Greek texts, the word for holiness is ‘hagios,’ which carries the meaning of being special or different – for example, a special vessel used for worship as opposed to the regular ones used for meals. Neither of these words fully communicates the meaning of holiness, and we cannot fully comprehend what God’s holiness really is. But Christianity is the only religion that proclaims the existence of a God who is holy, and whose holiness entails that He is both righteous and loving. He is pure and perfect, but He is also a Friend who desires to have a relationship with us. We are in awe of Him, but we can also talk to Him as our Father.

The first mention of holiness in the Bible is in Exodus 3:5, where God commands Moses to take off His shoes as he is on holy ground. Where the presence of God is, there is holiness. Isaiah, writing about his vision of the throne of God, says that the Lord was surrounded by seraphims that declared, “Holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3), and John heard a similar declaration in his vision of heaven (Revelation 4:8).

We are commanded through Peter’s words to be holy because God is holy. In the Old Testament there were various laws that were given for people to understand that they needed to be set apart because God’s presence was among them. Today we are under the new Covenant, which tells us that we are the temple of God, which is holy (1 Corinthians 3:17) and we are commanded to be set apart because of this. In 2 Corinthians 6:15,16 we read, “What part has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what part has the temple of God with idols?”

To be holy is to think, walk and behave like Jesus, who was tempted in every way and was yet without sin. It is to make decisions in our daily lives that are quite different from the way people of the world do, because we follow Christ. Holiness begins with prayer and Bible reading, but should translate into what we do with our bodies and minds, for every one of these actions has spiritual implications.

When we do fail, falling short of God’s standards, we have the privilege of coming to God in repentance and receiving His forgiveness and cleansing. But let’s remember that God has called us to be holy as He is, and as Christians, we should strive for nothing less.