October 13 – 1 Peter 1:13-21

Main Focus: Hope in the gospel of Christ leads to holy living.

Holiness isn’t the sexiest topic in the world, but at least according to the Apostle Peter holiness is a prime subject of Christian living. As 1 Peter 1:13-21 will explain, belonging to God’s people and benefiting from Jesus’s work of redemption all lead to holy living. In particular we’ll see how hope in Christ and holiness go hand in hand, and we’ll consider what growth in each of these might mean for boots-on-the-ground, Monday-morning life.

We’ll start discussion by seeing, as the saying goes, what the “therefore” is there for. Many of our Bibles have a title over the previous passage, v.3-12, that has something to do with hope, that hope being in the imperishable inheritance (i.e. eternal life) saved up for believers in Christ. Based on this hope, then, Peter will call us to work, to prepare our minds for action and to be “sober minded,” setting our hope fully on Christ.

Verse 13 is a good summary of our passage for this week, which falls into two main sections: v.13-17 is about holy living, while v.18-21 is about hope in salvation through Christ. We’ll follow that order in discussion, but don’t miss the past tense of verse 18, “you were redeemed.” Salvation leads to holiness, not vice versa.

After observing the therefore, we’ll take a moment to look at verses 15-16 to try to understand holiness, first by asking what it means to “be holy in all your conduct.” This is a great time to make sure we know what the word “holy” means. Holiness has connotations of righteousness and purity, but fundamentally the word means “set apart,” as in something that is separated from common use and reserved just for use in worship. In Old Testament worship, a sacrificial animal would be separated from the common herd and given over to God. Holy living is distinct, set-apart living, though by set apart we don’t mean isolated from the rest of the world (see 1 Cor 5:10).

Another way you could understand holiness is by treating it as a synonym for godliness. God is the definition and standard of holiness, perfect in all his ways, entirely set apart and distinct from his creation. Holy living is living according to God’s ways; holy living is righteous and pure living because God is perfectly right and pure. Thus to “be holy in all your conduct” requires knowing God’s ways and living according to them.

And Peter points out something interesting in the passage: God’s holiness isn’t just the standard for our holiness but the reason for it too. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” Here Peter is quoting a common refrain from the book of Leviticus (ex. Lev 19:2, 20:7, 20:26, 21:8). One of the more emphatic statements is Leviticus 11:45, “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.” God is holy, so if you’re going to belong to him, you’ll have to be holy too.

Which brings us back to the fact that belonging to God precedes holy living; just as Israel was brought out of Egypt before receiving the law, so too we are redeemed in Christ and then called to holy living. In discussion, we’ll look at verses 18-21 to see how hope in salvation leads to holiness. As you can imagine, our growth in hope, in love for God and in thankfulness for Christ’s sacrifice for us, leads to a greater desire for God and his ways. Of course, most of us lag in either holiness or hope (often both), so we’ll also create space for vulnerability in discussion by asking in what ways we each need to grow in both holiness and hope.

We’ll wrap up by asking how growth in hope or holiness might affect us in any of our different spheres of life—work, family, neighborhood, etc. Of course, growth in our hope in Christ and godly living can and should affect them all, but the question should allow the Holy Spirit to draw to mind perhaps one specific point of conviction, one area of faithlessness in which the Spirit is currently at work. Perhaps then we can walk away with tangible points of contact between hope, holiness, and our Monday-morning lives.

Resources