but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct,
Truth to Learn
We are commanded to become set-apart from sin and the world system.
Behind the Words
The word “holy” is translated from hagios. The root of this word refers to that which is pure and without blemish. This word also carries the notion of being set-apart. God is set-apart in that He is without sin, and He is the creator while all others are created beings. People and things which are set-apart for God’s use or in worshipping Him are also considered holy.
“Conduct” is translated from anastrophē, which literally means “to turn up” or “to turn again.” By implication, however, it means “to move around.” It’s a reference to the way we behave as we move back and forth through this life on earth.
Meaning Explained
In the last verse Peter told us to be obedient children of our Heavenly Father and not to be conformed to our former manner of life which we lived in ignorance. Now that we are no longer ignorant of spiritual things, along with a change of heart we need to have a change of life. When I was a very new Christian, my pastor said to me that I needed to shed the grave clothes of my old way of life. I didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, so he explained it.
When Jesus raised up Lazarus from the dead, he was bound with grave clothes, and as Lazarus came out of the tomb, Jesus commanded that he be unbound and set free (see John 11:43,44). In the same way we, as we are born again spiritually, come forth wearing the same habits and lifestyles that we had before we were saved. And just like Lazarus, we are bound by them and cannot know the fullness of the freedom that is ours until we rid ourselves of our past behavior.
God realizes that as we take off one type of covering we need to put on another. When commanding us to change something about our lives, He frequently tells us to stop doing something. And, if you look carefully, you will find that either specifically, or contextually, we will also be given a command of what we are to do instead.
In today’s verse, we are told what to do instead of being conformed to our former lusts; we are to be holy in our behavior. So what does it mean to be holy? We just learned that it means to be pure and set-apart from our former way of life. But we can’t do these things ourselves while we still have our sin nature controlling us. But as we let our powerful, Holy God control us, He is able to produce purity and moral blamelessness in us, and legally we are already set-apart.
It takes a lot of effort on our part (effort to submit and commit), but as we do so, He performs in us what He desires. As the Apostle Paul said in Philippians 2:13:
For it is God who is at work in you both to determine and to work for His good pleasure.
Application
Instead of patterning our lives after our former lustful ways, obeying our own desires, we need to become progressively more like God, separated from the world and its sinfulness. Take your eyes off yourself and others and focus them exclusively on God.
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2016 Will Krause. All rights reserved