Becoming Saints
1 Peter 1.13 to 25
Christians ought to be saints (v.15-16), because, having been saved and made heirs of an inheritance divinely prepared, our conduct should be worthy of our Father in heaven.
Just as a man in those days would gather and fasten up his long garments so that they would not interfere with his vigorous movements, so we should be keen to learn, understand and obey the wishes of our Father (Romans 12.2) in readiness to take up our lofty position given us by the grace of God.
The believer must be sober, meaning serious and self-controlled, not intoxicated or fanatical, taking his vocation seriously: both in learning the Word of God and in his thoughts, words, and practice. Our hope, the expectancy of the great event we look forward to, overshadowing all other circumstances, is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (Luke 12.35-36). At the time when He comes to take the church out of the world, He will bring plenty of grace with Him: by His grace He will take out every believer; by His grace he will reward us according to our works at His judgment seat. This alone is a good incentive to endure the trials of this world.
Believers are children of obedience (obedient children, or children marked by obedience): the Scriptures lead us to obedience for they say "be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves" (James 1:22). The Word of God not only brings us hope, but we are to yield to its instruction. In so doing we shall change our behaviour from what it used to be, in our ignorance before our conversion, when we were moved by worldly pleasures, habits and ambitions. It is a genuine change, not an artificial veneer for others to admire.
God is our standard or pattern, and He is the Holy One calling us or Who called us. The holiness of God is absolute, and we have a suggestion of it in the "burning bush" seen by Moses, in mount Sinai experienced by the Israelites and in the vision seen by the prophet Isaiah (Exodus 3.5-6; 19.10-13, 21-22; 20.18-21; Isaiah 6.1-5). As His children our character should be holy, and our conduct, everything we say or do in life, should show this.
Holiness is unfortunately misunderstood by most people to be something rather superficial, like assuming a very pious attitude and becoming nonsensical in normal conduct. On the contrary, real holiness involves having a fully integrated personality, and it includes delight and enjoyment in the life we have been given: holiness is to the spiritual life what health is to the physical life. Just as we like to be physically fine, robust, and healthy, we are called to be healthy and robust spiritually, pleasing to God who knows us from within. Our God is a complete, wonderful personality and we are His children, in the process of growing spiritually and aiming towards full maturity some day.
Our Father in heaven judges every man's conduct impartially and this ought to cause us to become very sober minded and to give more attention to the way we conduct ourselves during the short time we dwell as aliens in this world. The Gospel transforms lives and brings with it a living hope which rests upon the resurrection of Christ. We have life from our living Saviour who is now in heaven at God's right hand.
The holiness and justice of God required a very costly ransom to be paid for our redemption from the vain manner of life which we had inherited. It was vain because it was empty, meaningless, away from God, leading to eternal condemnation. The ransom was not in the corruptible things of this world, like silver and gold which were used to set slaves free in those days, but the precious blood of Christ Himself. The blood of anyone is "precious" (costly), far above gold or silver, but that of Christ, the unblemished Lamb of God, of whom the paschal lamb was a symbol, was immeasurably more so. It is only by the blood of Christ that we are redeemed from sin.
Simon Peter, who lived with Jesus Christ for three years, wrote that He was without blemish and without spot. He was absolutely sinless. We can fully believe Peter's testimony because Peter was prepared to suffer and to die for it.
The Scofield Reference Bible (p. 1333) notes:
The sovereign choice of God in foreordination, election, and predestination logically originated in the divine decision based on His eternal omniscience of all possible plans of action. The order logically, not chronologically, is omniscience, divine decision (foreordination, election, predestination), and foreknowledge. As God's decision is eternal, however, so also His foreknowledge is eternal. As foreknowledge extends to all events, it includes all that is embraced in election, foreordination, and predestination. Election is, therefore, according to foreknowledge, and foreknowledge is according to election, meaning that both are in perfect agreement.
Christ was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world as our Redeemer (John 17.24, 1 Corinthians 2.7, Ephesians 1.4, 3.9-12, etc.), but was manifested as such in the fullness of time at His incarnation, as proof of God's love for us, not of our merit or worth. In other words, Christ was the Lamb who, in God's plan, was slain before the foundation of the world because God knew all the time that sinful man would need a Saviour, and He loved him enough to provide that Saviour at the right time in man's history.
He was raised up from the dead so that our faith and hope might be in God. Previously the words grace and hope were put together (1.3,13), now it is faith and hope: hope rests upon the resurrection of Christ and upon the fact that we have a living Saviour who will be returning some day.
Through the Spirit, the Word of God is the only true miracle cleanser of our souls in this world, and most of us need to use it more. It is the power of God for holiness of life (Psalm 19.7-11; 119; 2 Timothy 3.16-17). Just in this small portion it is called "the truth" (v.22), "incorruptible seed" and "the word of God" (v.23), "the word of the Lord" (v. 25).
The objective work of God was Christ giving his blood for our redemption. It happened nearly two thousand years ago, and we cannot add anything to it. His subjective work is in salvation through our faith in Him. If we are to become a child of God, we must be born again, born from above.
This is what the Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus (John 3.3). Nicodemus was a man who was religious to his fingertips, yet the Lord Jesus told him that he must be born from above, of water and the Spirit of God. It is through the Word of God, the incorruptible seed, which we are born again: this is the water applied by the Spirit (John 3.5-7, James 1.18). When we receive Him as our Saviour, we obey the truth, for the Gospel is a commandment, not only an invitation, and it is through our faith in the Word of God as regards the Son of God, Jesus Christ, that we are born again (John 5.24). The Word of God, like water, purifies our souls initially when we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The evidence that we have this new life by faith in Christ is our love for our fellow believers (John 13.34-35; 15.12,17; 1 John 3.11). In this way, obedience to the Word of God makes us "love one another fervently with a pure heart", a first step towards holiness in practice.
Holy Scripture is alive producing and nurturing spiritual life, and is permanent, never becoming obsolescent or antiquated, so it does not need to be revised or added to. Our bodies and our prestige come to an end very quickly, as well as our human doctrines, philosophies and religion. There is nothing of value in us that we can offer to God. But God's message is unchanging and is the Gospel announced by the prophets, the apostles and by the Lord.
R David Jones
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
16 because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy."
17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
20 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
21 who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,
23 having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever,
24 because "All flesh is as grass, And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, And its flower falls away,
25 But the word of the LORD endures forever." Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.