LESSON TWO

1 Peter 1:13-2:3

Call to Holiness (1:13-2:3)

Be Holy
	13Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.  14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.  15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
	17Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.  18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  20He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.  21Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
	22Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.  23For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24For,
	     “All men are like grass,
		and all their glory is like the flowers
		     of the field;
		the grass withers and the flowers fall,
		     but the word of the Lord stands
		         forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
2	Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.  2like newborn babies, crave spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

	V. 13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action—We now come to the practical implications of 1:1-12.  Peter has been discussing our glorious future but the Christian cannot be forever dreaming about how it will be (Eccl. 11:4); he must prepare for action!  Even spiritual people occasionally need a renewal of attitude.  So Peter turns from the future blessings Christians will receive and brings his readers back to reality: we’re still here on earth and there is a battle to be fought.  Let’s “gear up” for action!  This begins with mental preparation.
	be self controlled—For action to be constructive we must first discipline our thinking.  This calls for “self-control” which, in reality, is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, 23).  Self-control will keep us from going off half-cocked with some half-thought-out idea.
	set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed—To forge ahead without clear focus on a goal would be rash and foolhardy.  So Peter suggests an overall goal to focus upon—the grace (favor) we will receive when Jesus Christ comes again.  True, we’ve received grace in this life (Rom. 1:5) but we will receive even more grace when Christ returns.  Truly, “he gives more grace” (James 4:6).
	V. 14 As obedient children—There is hardly anything that pleases a parent more than to see children obeying orders.  “A wise son brings joy to his father” (Prov. 10:1).  Paul, the spiritual father of the Philippians, praised them for always obeying, not only in his presence but “much more” in his absence (Phil. 2:12).  John had “no greater joy” than to hear that his spiritual children were “walking in the truth” (III John 4).  How much more is our heavenly Father pleased when His children obey?  Obedience is stressed throughout First Peter (1:2, 22; 3:1, 6; 4:17).
	do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance—With privilege (being God’s child) comes responsibility (holy living).  The word “conform” occurs only here and Romans 12:2 and, in both instances, the Christian is warned about giving in to worldly desires.  Just because we are saved from sin doesn’t mean we will never have a fight with the flesh again.  As long as we are in the flesh we will have to deal with evil desires.  But, as a child of God, we are no longer to conform—give in—to those desires.  God promises us that if we live by the Spirit we will not gratify, or fulfill, the fleshly desires (Gal. 5:16).
	The reference to having “lived in ignorance” would seem more applicable to Gentiles, who lived without God’s laws, than to Jews who possessed it.
	V. 15 But just as he who called you is holy—The One who has called us to holy living is the supreme epitome of holiness.  The perfect holiness of God is one of the great themes in Scripture (1 Sam. 6:20; Ps. 99:9; Isa. 6:3; Rev. 15:4).  In the Song of Moses we find these words of praise: “Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?  Who is like you—majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonder?”  (Exod. 15:11).  Paganism’s greatest gods were often connected with gross immorality.  Not so with our God—He is holy!
	so be holy in all you do—The word “holy” carries with it the idea of being separate.  We are separate ourselves from sin and when we make that break God separates us to do His work.  A holy God must have pure containers to dispense His milk from.  We who are His vessels should strive to be holy in everything: our thought-life, speech, attitudes and conduct.
	V. 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy—This quotation is found several times in Leviticus (11:44, 45; 19:2; 20:7).  If we are God’s children then we should want to be just like our Father.  If we are God’s representatives in an unholy world then we will want to reflect the holiness of God to others in our lifestyle.
	True holiness is found only in Christ.  I am not to manufacture my own holiness—that would be self-righteousness.  There is no way I can measure up to God’s holiness by my own feeble efforts.  We become the righteousness of God by accepting the atoning sacrifice of Jesus for our sins (Rom. 5:19; II Cor. 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24).  Then we can stand “dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne!”
	V. 17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially—How often in a day’s time did you call on your father for help when you were a child?  How often do you call upon your heavenly Father for help?  It is something we should do every day because we never outgrow our need of heavenly help.  Scripture urges us to “call on the name of the Lord” (Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:13; I Cor. 1:2).  
	Scripture also declares that God is no respecter of persons (Deut. 10:17; Acts 10:34; Rom. 2:11; James 2:1).  He will save any and all who call on Him.  In like manner God will judge our work impartially.  He knows our talent, capabilities and effort and will judge accordingly (Matt. 25:29).
	live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear—We live in the shadow of eternity.  Our stay on earth is only for a little while.  A hymn writer put it this way: “I am a stranger here, within a foreign land.  My home is far away, upon a distant strand.  Ambassador am I, of realms beyond the sea.  I’m here on business for my King!”
	The “reverent fear” spoken of is the kind of fear God wants us to have.  Cowardly fear, or timidity (deilia) is forbidden (II Tim. 1:7; Rev. 21:8) but godly, or reverent fear (eulabeia) is encouraged (Prov. 1:7; Heb. 11:7).
	V. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed—Money talks!  Or so people thought (and still think).  In apostolic times human beings were bought and sold on the open slave market.  But our redemption from sin was not purchased with money.  Salvation is one thing money can’t buy.  If I had all the money in the world I still couldn’t buy my way into heaven becasue eternal life is the free gift of God (Rom. 6:23).
	The Greek word for “redeemed” (elytrothete) means “released on payment of the ransom price.”  Satan “kidnapped” me and I was his slave to sin but Jesus gave His life as a ransom for me (Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45; 1 Tim 2:6).
	from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers—What is it, exactly, that we were redeemed from?  An empty, non-fulfilling life—a life that really wasn’t ours anyway—just a way of life that was passed on to us by our equally unfulfilled ancestors.  The pagans of Peter’s day were well characterized by this word “empty.”  Their hopes were empty, their dreams were empty, their victories were empty.  So it is with those who live only for the flesh today.
	How wonderful, in contrast, is the thought that Christian parents can pass on to their children and future generations a way of life that saves and keeps and satisfies!
	V. 19 but with the precious blood of Christ—Our eternal redemption was made possible only through the precious blood of Christ.  “O precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow; no other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus!”
	The blood of Jesus is precious (priceless, invaluable).  You cannot put a price tag on it.  Jesus shed His blood for the forgiveness of our sins (Matt. 26:28).  We can be saved through faith in His blood (Rom. 3:25).  Our sins can be washed away by the blood of Christ when we, by faith, are baptized with Christ into His death (Rev. 1:5; Rom. 6:3, 4; Acts 22:16).  Thank God for the blood!  Without it we would be forever lost and doomed.
	a lamb without blemish or defect—Under the Old Covenant a lamb could not be offered as a sacrifice if it had any physical defects (Exod. 12:5; Lev. 22:20-24; Mal. 1:8).  A perfect God demands a perfect sacrifice for an imperfect world.  That we are imperfect goes without saying—we cannot even control a little member of our body (the tongue), thus rendering us imperfect (James 3:2).  That Christ is uniquely qualified to become our perfect sacrifice is certified in such Scriptures as II Corinthians 5:21 and 1 Peter 2:24.  Jesus is “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).
	V. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world—Jesus Christ is the eternal purpose of God!  He is spoken of as “the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world” (Rev. 13:8).  We tend to think of God as Creator, then Redeemer but God thought of Redemption before Creation!  The Great Redeemer was not some emergency measure in God’s great plan to save man.
	but was revealed in these last times for your sake—How fortunate we are to be the recipients of God’s amazing grace!  We could have been born under the dispensation of law where the Messiah was always a hope but never a reality.  What did you and I do to deserve this unparalleled blessing?  No wonder salvation is “not by works, so that no one can boast!”  (Eph. 2:9).
	v. 21 Through him you believe in God—God wanted men to believe in Him.  But God is spirit (John 4:24) and men cannot see a spirit so He came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14).  Therefore, God was “manifest in the flesh” and “believed on in the world” (1 Tim. 3:16).
	The only way God can be known is through His Son, Jesus Christ, who declared, “I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6).  This was not as revolutionary to the Gentile as it would have been to the Jew.  Believe in God—whom they thought they had known all their life—through Jesus?  Think for a moment of the staggering implications of this truth:  if God can only be known through Jesus Christ then what of the millions of people in Judaism?  Islam?  And a hundred other non-Christian religions in the world?  They are lost, they are lost, they are lost!  God can only be known through Jesus Christ!
	who raised him from the dead and glorified him—Jesus was “delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Rom. 4:25).
	and so your faith and hope are in God—We believe in God because of what He did to and through Christ.  The reason God raised Jesus from the dead was so men would place their faith and hope in Him.  This is what Thomas finally did when he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!”  (John 20:28).
	V. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth—The faith that saves is a faith that obeys.  The natural result of genuine faith is trusting obedience.  Two Old Testament characters illustrate this.  “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family” (Heb. 11:7).  “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Heb. 118).  Saving faith does not argue over the necessity of public confession of Christ, repentance of and from sinful pleasures, baptism for the forgiveness of sins or faithful church attendance and Christian service. 
	When one obeys the truth, i.e. the gospel, his soul is “purified.”  This is not ceremonial purification, so common among devout Jews, but moral purification.
	so that you have sincere love for your brothers—The proof of our purification, or salvation, is seen in the new love we will have for our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Love is the first fruit of the Spirit mentioned in Galatians 5:22.  Without love we are nothing (I Cor. 13:2).
	Peter describes this love as being “sincere.”  Fulton Sheen described the kiss of Judas in the garden as “the kiss that blistered.”  It was insincere, feigned, put on.  May our love for the Lord and the brethren be “the real thing.”
	love one another deeply, from the heart—Does this describe the love you have and show for your brothers in Christ?  Mutual love is the one sign that will identify “the true church” (John 13:35).  I fear that our superficial tolerance of each other is a far cry from what our Lord commanded us.
	V. 23 For you have been born again—I love the signs of spring—tiny crimson buds appearing on tree branches; little shoots of green grass springing up through rich, black soil; colorful red, yellow and orange tulips unfolding their petals.  When I see these I know that spring has “sprung.”  One of the true signs that we have been born again is if we love God and His children as well (1 John 5:1).
	We need constant assurance of our salvation and so Peter reminds his readers of their conversion experience.  Satan wants us to doubt our conversion but God wants us to know that we have eternal life (1 John 5:13).
	not of perishable see, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God-—implanted seed brings life.  This “unperishable” seed is defined by Jesus as the Word of God (Luke 8:11).  God plants His Word in us through preaching.  Our responsibility is to be “good soil” and “humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you” (Matt. 13:23; James 1:21).
	V. 24 For “All men are like grass—Peter begins a quotation from Isaiah 40:6-8.
	When I was a boy growing up in Iowa I thought the grass I had to mow during the summer months would never stop growing!  But it did.  Every fall I would dutifully exchange the lawnmower for a rake and proceed to rake up the dead, yellow grass that only a short time before had been a luxuriant green.  So it is with life—we are here for just a season.
	and all their glory is like the flowers of the field—Man’s glory is like a tiny field flower—brilliant in splendor but only for a short while.  Even as I pen these words the beautiful daisies and buttercups of summer lie frozen and buried under a blanket of snow.  So it is with the glory of man’s life.  Do you realize that President John F. Kennedy had only 1000 days to reign in “Camelot”?
	the grass withers and the flowers fall—We grow old, health deteriorates and at last, death becomes the common lot of us all.  Martin Luther wrote, “Life is a constant and daily journey toward death.  One after another dies, and the living must merely engage in the miserable business of carrying another to the grave.”  Bleak words, but true.
	V. 25 but the word of the Lord stands forever”—In shining contrast with fallible man stands the infallible Word of God!  In a world where nothing lasts long—including man himself—it is assuring to know that there is something that will stand forever.  “Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven!”  (Ps. 119:89).  I’ve staked my eternal destiny on this.  How about you?
	And this is the word that was preached to you—Isn’t it thrilling to realize that this same everlasting Word has been preached to us?  What a privilege it is to hear great Bible preaching in our country!  Many are denied this joy throughout the world.  Let every Christian make the most of every opportunity to hear Bible preaching.  Let every teacher and preacher approach the Bible with reverence, study it with diligence and proclaim it with eloquence!  Praise God for the opportunities we have to read, hear and obey the Eternal Word!
	Chapter 2, V. 1 Therefore rid yourselves of all malice and deceit—In view of the fact that man lives just a short time, we should do some “spiritual house-cleaning” before we stand before God to be judged by the Word.
	The first two things Peter says we should get rid of are “malice” and “deceit.”  We are to throw them out of our life just like we would garbage because they represent “spiritual garbage.”  Malice is inconsistent with—in fact, opposite of—brotherly love.  It is ill-will.  McGee calls it “congealed anger.”  Deceit is opposed to the sincere love we are to have for our brethren.  It is tricking others for personal gain.  It was never found in Christ (2:22).  A Christian simply cannot grow until he gets rid of these debilitating sins.
	hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind—Peter adds three more things to our list of thins to “take to the dump.”  Hypocrisy is the one sin Jesus seemed to hit harder than any other (Matt. 23).  A hypocrite is an actor, one who plays a part, pretending to be something he is not.  Envy was present even among the disciples (Luke 22:24).  But true love does not envy (1 Cor. 13:4).  Envy is hatred of others for possessing something we do not have.  Slander is a vicious sin, somewhat akin to backbiting (II Cor. 12:20).  It is an evil fruit of envy and usually takes place when the person spoken of is not there to defend himself.  Slander is a cruel and cowardly vice.
	V. 2 Like newborn babies—New Christians are likened to newborn infants.  In what ways are they alike?  Both need constant supervision, attention, love, care and feeding.  Christ told Peter to “feed my lambs” (John 21:15).  That is what every mature Christian should be doing.  But I would have to estimate the percentage of spiritual deaths that occur in the church because of spiritual “child neglect.”  We would be booked for murder and thrown into prison if we treated our newborn babies the way we treat (or fail to treat) our newborn Christians!
	crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation—One of the signs that a newborn baby is going to make it is a craving for milk.  I knew our children were going to make it the way they howled come feeding time!  We fear for the wee one with an anemic appetite.  And so we should for the babe in Christ who does not “hunger and thirst for righteousness.”  But let us make sure the new convert has a Bible (especially a translation he can understand), is assigned a daily reading schedule, has someone to study and pray with him, and is present for all the services of the church.  His teacher should give him milk and not meat (1 Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:12-14) lest he choke to death on difficult texts.  And make sure the milk is “pure”—don’t dilute it with human opinions, rules and commands which “lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence” (Col. 2:20-23).  A newborn babe in Christ cannot grow up in his salvation if matrue members do not feed him, so feed, spiritual “moms and dads,” feed!
	V. 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good—The commercial world constantly urges us to take a “taste test” to see which soft drink or brand of peanut butter is best.  God challenges us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Ps. 34:8).  How are your spiritual “taste buds”?  Does Christ become “sweeter as the days go by”?  What about Bible study, prayer and church attendance?  Sorrowfully we report that some who “tasted the goodness of the word of God” have fallen away (Heb. 6:5, 6).  Why, O why, would anyone want to return to a worldly, sinful appetite?

Study Questions

1.	Why is “self-control” so important in responding to God’s call to holiness?

2.	What should be the ultimate focus of our hope?

3.	What is the only way a Christian can be holy as God is holy?

4.	What kind of fear does God want us to have?

5.	In what ways do pagans live “empty” lives?

6.	Why is Christ’s blood described as “precious”?

7.	What is the significance of Jesus being a “lamb without blemish”?

8.	Which came first in the mind of God: creation or redemption?  Explain.

9.	How does obeying the truth purify the soul?

10.	What is the Biblical concept of being “born again” and how does it compare with current religious thought?

11.	In what ways are men like grass and flowers?

12.	What are some things the new Christian is to get rid of?  What is he now to desire?