Memory, Meaning & Faith

"Be Holy For I Am Holy" - God's Call for Holiness

By Teresa Reeve (New Testament Department, SDA Theological Seminary, Andrews University)

 

It would make a great addition to the billboard messages from God that sprang up along freeways across the country a few years ago:

                     “You shall be holy for I am holy.”
                                                        Sincerely,
                                                                God

This message from 1 Peter 1:16* seems clear and unequivocal, it can be read in a moment while speeding along one’s way, yet it stimulates recurring questions and ruminations that refuse to let us rest.  For some, it also stimulates feelings of discouragement and despair as they consider how far they are from attaining to the holiness of God.   

What Does This Call Mean?

    So what is meant by the call to holiness in 1 Peter? The concept of holiness, expressed by the Greek word, hagios and its cognates, is important throughout the epistle. Key to understanding 1 Peter’s use of hagios is that, when used of created persons and objects, the word means: “set apart to the divine.” It was thus also employed to describe things and persons considered fit to approach God— those that are “pure” and thus acceptable to Him. Hagios is regularly used as the opposite of koinos (common).

"Be Holy For I Am Holy"

 

By Teresa Reeve (New Testament Department, SDA Theological Seminary, Andrews University)

“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.’”  1 Peter 1:14-16, NASB (emphasis mine)
 
Take time to be holy,
Speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always,
And feed on His word;
Make friends of God’s children,
Help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
 

Holiness, holiness is what I long for,
Holiness is what I need,
Holiness is what you want from me.
So, take my heart and form it.
Take my mind and transform it.
Take my will and conform it. 

To Yours, to Yours, oh, Lord.

 

Questions

• What does Peter mean when, in the passage above, he calls humans to be holy?
• Is it really possible to be holy like the Holy One?
• How is this holiness accomplished?
• Do either of these often-sung sets of lyrics, express well what 1 Peter means by holiness?