1 Peter 1:13-21
As you read through the first chapter of 1 Peter, we see a transition from description to prescription, from extolling the wonders of God’s work of salvation to telling us what to do with it. To be truthful, it isn't so much a shift as it is a foundation on which to build—Peter is saying, “because all these things I’ve just told you are true, live this way.”
The first part of the chapter is dealing with the the story of their salvation, the “things into which angels long to look” (v. 12). Here, he tells them, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, ‘you shall be holy, for I am holy’” (vv. 13-16).
This series contains both positive and negative commands, a reminder that holiness (in God’s sight) is something much larger than simply avoiding conspicuous sins. Peter begins here by telling us to be vigilant, preparing our minds for action. The King James Version translates this phrase word-for-word from the Greek, rendering it as “gird up the loins of your mind”—the picture is that of a soldier in ancient times who would have to gather up his robes and tie them around his waist in order to run or do battle. Coupled with the next phrase, “keep sober in spirit,” the message is clearly that we are to be ready, mentally and emotionally, for whatever comes, a theme that is echoed later in the book when Peter urges believers to, “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).
You have to remember who Peter was writing to as he turns from the talking about God’s great salvation to a warning to be ready for battle. He was writing to believers in Asia Minor who were enduring fierce persecution for their faith. He first reassures them of God’s mercy and their secure, imperishable inheritance of salvation and then reminds them to stand firm on that promise. We are, he says, to “fix [our] hope completely on the grace to be brought to [us] at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” In other words, preparing our hearts and minds for action means keeping them clear of any vain hope. If we are trusting in anything other than Christ to rescue us from persecution, we are in danger of being overtaken by despair.
More than that, however, our “fixed hope” here is in more than the completed work of salvation or the present indwelling of Christ in us, but in His final victory and coming reign, “the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” With Christ as our anchor, we are given both the reason and the ability to flee from sin and pursue the righteousness of God—when we hope in Him, why would we desire otherwise?
In that spirit, Peter likens his readers to “obedient children”, calling to mind their relationship with God as their Father through Christ. In obedience, they were to be modeling their lives after the Father’s will and no longer conforming to their “former lusts” of their pre-redemption “ignorance.” Peter, like Paul, draws a clear distinction between former deeds of the flesh and life in Christ, imploring believers to “put off” the old nature and “put on” the new (cf. Eph. 4:22-24). Our behavior should reflect our change of allegiance, flowing from our identity as children of God.
Peter then makes his first of many appeals to Scripture, quoting Leviticus 11:44, “Be holy, for I am holy.” His understanding of holiness from the Old Testament combines both righteousness and anointing. In the context of this passage, he is reminds us that a holy God demands and desires righteousness from His followers—we cannot call ourselves His if we are still living according to the world’s way. Through the rest of the book, he portrays believers as set apart for God for His work on earth, just as Israel was called, “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of the darkness into His marvelous light” (2:9). Holiness is the primary characteristic of God seen in Scripture, and it is, for Peter, the primary marker of the Church in the world.
Extending his appeal to his readers for holiness, Peter continues, “If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth” (v. 17). He brings another dimension, the fear of the Lord, to his readers’ reasons to pursue holiness. He builds on the “family layer” of our status as those “set apart”—if we are in the family of God (calling Him our father), we should strive to “uphold the family name,” living in the reverent, respectful fear children have of their fathers.
Thematically, he reaches a deeper level than just that family metaphor, echoing Jesus’ words of Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Peter understood that his readers lived in constant fear under the shadow of persecution, and probably faced a pervasive temptation to hide their faith to preserve their lives. He pleads with them to correctly place their fear, forsaking earthly safety and comfort for the sake of the Gospel of the kingdom.
Peter then further restates the sheer glory of our salvation and directly ties that to our lives as believers. “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (vv. 18-19). We have been redeemed from the “dead end” of life without God that has plagued generations of men. That is the inheritance of the world to which we are born, and contrasts the “imperishable and undefiled” inheritance of Christ (v. 4). Our purchase price is infinite—the blood of our very Lord—and is worth every measure of our devotion.
Peter completes this section by reiterating the “cosmic significance” of Christ’s coming, “For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (vv. 20-21). As Christians, we are the heirs and beneficiaries of God’s eternal plan for fellowship with mankind, the culmination of millennia of expectation. Christ was born, crucified, and raised from the dead so that we might fix our hope in Him to the glory of God the Father.
This multifaceted plea for holiness should stir us to take great pains to “give feet” to our salvation, rejoicing with our whole lives in the power and mercy of God. Peter’s argument is quite clear—because of the work of Christ, it behooves us to pour out our all in pursuit of His glory. For his original audience of persecuted believers, it sets the tone for his whole letter by calling them to devotion to God above all others and against all opposition. He implicitly reminds them here (elsewhere in this book, much more explicitly) that true holiness is both attitude and action and will be actively opposed by Satan and the world. For us, we should be reminded that a holiness that doesn’t demand sober spirits and hearts prepared for action may simply be a cloak of moralism. In light of what the Lord has done for us, can we possibly be content with anything less than absolute commitment to His purposes for us? The grace of God is too great a gift to be squandered for a “futile way of life.”
