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."
Because of the importance of these 3 verses for the rest of the letter, we'll spend a couple of days on this. These verses set out the main theme of the rest of the letter, especially in terms of how the readers (and us) should respond to the gospel when we feel and are out of place, as we often ought to be because we have been chosen to be holy in an environment that isn't.
Initial thoughts...
Again, we have a reference to Jesus being revealed to us. I was thinking this revelation might be the process of being saved, but it is the one from the book (The Revelation of John).
ReplyDeleteV14: I always like references to children. It (re)emphasizes our relationship to the Father. Also, it reminds us that this is not complicated, and we should be accepting just like a child. Interesting to Peter say to be like children rather than ignorant. In these days there was no childhood education for the masses, so a child was probably the most ignorant one around. Yet even these ignorant children will know better once they know Jesus.
V15-16: what can I say. Be holy in all we do. Not easy, in fact it is impossible. Kinda like "love your neighbor." Yea, we all do it. But do we REALLY do it? And sure, we are holy, but are we HOLY? Always?
The incredible salvation Peter has described in vv. 3-12 (that brought him to a place of praise) is for a purpose. That purpose is introduced in vv. 13-16. They/We are called to respond. In Greek, Peter begins in the strongest way you can say 'therefore.' It basically means, 'because of what you have just heard/read, you must do this...'
ReplyDeleteWe'll take some of this phrase by phrase, though that will be difficult b/c I think vv. 13-21 are all one or two long sentences in Greek.
Peter begins with 'gird up the loins of your mind.' NIV translates it 'prepare your minds for action.' It probably comes from Exodus 12:11 and pictures men with long robes hiking them up and tucking them into their belts in preperation to do some running/work. In this case, Peter seems to mean get yourself ready to do some serious thinking about how you will live in response to God's grace in the face of suffering. So this includes being sober (keep your act together) and setting your hope fully on the grace being brought to you (NIV 'on the grace to be given you') at the revelation of Jesus Christ (NIV 'when Jesus Christ is revealed').
Your thoughts on 'hope': clear it is not a cross-your-fingers sort of thing...it gets at Dave's observation that Jesus appearing is a repeated idea in the letter...
V. 14 gives some more specifics - living with our hope set on Christ and His grace involves NOT conforming (fashioning ourselves) according to what Peter describes as our 'the former desires you had in ignorance (unknowing).' By 'former' of course he means before we were born anew by God's grace (v. 3). So Dave, the 'being holy' is a huge calling, but one way of getting closer is not just by doing the right things in the right way, but by moving away from those 'former' desires; that is, the wants we embraced before following Jesus. Then, v. 15 pushes the positive side by saying 'be/become holy in all your conduct.'
ReplyDelete"by moving away from those 'former' desires"
ReplyDeleteSounds almost like surrender. That has been a recent focus of mine. I'm not sure it's working any better than in the past, but it is high on my list.
Good choice of a word Dave...our conforming is no longer to our pre-Jesus wants, but to God's character...Romans 6:13 is a good verse to turn into a prayer that helps us live moment to moment in a way that let's God be the shaper and not our wants.
ReplyDelete