Over the following weeks, Pentecost excepted, our focus week by week at AUC will be the letters Peter wrote 1 & 2 Peter. Of course there is always debate authorship -but there seems to be agreement amongst those who study the scriptures that the words recorded in the letters are worth reading and digesting and then allowing them to impart something of God’s plan for his Elect (believers). There is plenty of food for thought in these letters, the first nine verses give us the framework that Peter will hang the rest of his thoughts on. Even so I have had difficulty getting past the phrase that Peter borrows from the Old Testament (Leviticus11:44; 19:2) as he encourages the believers in the face of persecution. That is, ‘be holy as I am holy’.
As I have experienced it, the holiness movement or at least the primary emphasis of those who advocate for holiness has been focussed on morality. So holiness = good moral behaviour. No sex, drugs or rock n roll or thinking about the same. No dancing because that leads to sex. Modesty and temperance must curb our desires.
Certainly there is biblical precedent for living up to a high moral standard – Jesus sets the bar high on our attitudes and the things that might hold sway over our lives. But there is so much more to holiness! We (believers) are not called ‘holy ones’ (1 Thessalonians 3:13) because we behave well but because who we are, whose we are, because of who dwells within us.
Peter is encouraging God’s elect to behave well but he is also more importantly encouraging ‘likeness’ – to be who we are because of Jesus – to be set apart for God’s glorious purpose as Jesus was set apart. To be motivated not by an external pressure to behave well but by a Spirit-filled desire to be a signpost to a way of being that ushers in the new heaven and new earth.
Its a good word and a timely reminder – ‘Be Holy’
