Bible Study: Be Holy
1 Peter 1:1-16 [New Living Translation]
1 "This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ.
I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia. [Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia were Roman provinces in what is now Turkey.]
2 God the Father knew you and chose you long ago, and His Spirit has made you holy. As a result, you have obeyed Him and have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ. May God give you more and more grace and peace.
3 All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by His great mercy that we have been born again, because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,
4 and we have a priceless inheritance—an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay.
5 And through your faith, God is protecting you by His power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all to see.
6 So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while.
7 These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold—though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.
8 You love Him even though you have never seen Him. Though you do not see Him now, you trust Him; and you rejoice with a glorious, inexpressible joy.
9 The reward for trusting Him will be the salvation of your souls.
10 This salvation was something even the prophets wanted to know more about when they prophesied about this gracious salvation prepared for you.
11 They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when He told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and His great glory afterward.
12 They were told that their messages were not for themselves, but for you. And now this Good News has been announced to you by those who preached in the power of the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. It is all so wonderful that even the angels are eagerly watching these things happen.
13 So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world.
14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then.
15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
NOTE: Here the Apostle Peter is quoting from the Book of Leviticus, where, in context, God has instructed the people regarding what is healthy or unhealthy to eat as far as the domestic animals, or the wild animals, birds, and marine life.
In Leviticus 11:41-46, God says:
41 “All small animals that scurry along the ground are detestable, and you must never eat them.
42 This includes all animals that slither along on their bellies, as well as those with four legs and those with many feet. All such animals that scurry along the ground are detestable, and you must never eat them.
43 Do not defile yourselves by touching them. You must not make yourselves ceremonially unclean because of them.
44 For I am the Lord your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground.
NOTE: Many of these creatures were God’s clean up crew, eating the waste and garbage, and so were not healthy for human consumption, and quite possibly carried diseases.
Secondly, many of these creatures were worshipped by the Egyptians, and in the following verse God makes it clear that He brought them out of all that. He says,
45 For I, the Lord, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.
46 “These are the instructions regarding land animals, birds, marine creatures, and animals that scurry along the ground.
47 By these instructions you will know what is unclean and clean, and which animals may be eaten and which may not be eaten.”
NOTE: These were the Laws given to the Ancient Nation of Israel, to set them apart from the other nations who chose to do evil rather than to obey God, as did those in Sodom and Gomorrah, and those who lived before the Flood in the days of Noah. Each of these Laws is an indication of what was the prevalent lifestyle in those ancient times.
The only major difference, when Jesus came, is that Jesus declared all animals as “clean”, no longer stipulating a difference.
In the vision given to Peter, he was told to eat the animals previously not allowed to be eaten, so that Peter would not make a distinction between people groups either, as had been done previously, since he was being sent to all the nations.
Eating healthy is still important, and most of us, even if very hungry would probably prefer not to eat a centipede. Jesus said a good father would not offer a snake to a child who asks for something yummy [my generous paraphrase].
God stipulates what a Holy lifestyle looks like to Him, as it was to benefit their spiritual and physical health and well-being, and it would also honor Him as their God. Being holy protects one’s family, and indeed the coming generations.
Consider that when sin entered into the world through one man, Adam, it stayed. When Jesus came, He introduced a sinless lifestyle, and made it possible for all who followed Him to live a holy life in Him and with His continual help. We now give our whole self as a living sacrifice to God, to walk with Him for eternity in His Kingdom.
For a moment, however, let’s look at how it was in ancient times, under the Law of God, to which Peter is referring in His letter to the Churches, in the Roman ruled Provinces of Turkey, the people of God who were living amongst those who lived a pagan lifestyle.
Leviticus 19
Holiness in Personal Conduct
1 “The Lord also said to Moses,
2 ‘Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.
3 “Each of you must show great respect for your mother and father, and you must always observe my Sabbath days of rest. I am the Lord your God.
4 “Do not put your trust in idols or make metal images of gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
5 “When you sacrifice a peace offering to the Lord, offer it properly so you will be accepted by God.
KEY: God had already instructed them about what to sacrifice, and how to sacrifice the animal, so to not be obedient in this matter made the sacrifice unacceptable.
6 The sacrifice must be eaten on the same day you offer it or on the next day. Whatever is left over until the third day must be completely burned up.
7 If any of the sacrifice is eaten on the third day, it will be contaminated, and I will not accept it.
8 Anyone who eats it on the third day will be punished for defiling what is holy to the Lord and will be cut off from the community.
KEY: Just to give you an idea of the necessity of this health Law — even modern food safety rules make it clear that meat left out and not refrigerated will be contaminated after a much shorter time than three days.
This Law prevented food poisoning, and anyone who disregarded it was not only in danger of sickness, and spreading sickness, but also in danger of the act of rebellion against the clear instructions God gave, for their good.
This would be seen as disobedience to God, right up there with witchcraft, and was to be utterly removed from the people of God. God never tolerated utter rebellion, because it invites everyone to do whatever they please, and that causes chaos.
Let’s continue, remembering that these were the sins committed which brought complete destruction in previous times, and God wanted to spare His chosen people from suffering the same consequences.
9 “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop.
10 It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.
11 “Do not steal.
“Do not deceive or cheat one another.
12 “Do not bring shame on the name of your God by using it to swear falsely. I am the Lord.
NOTE: The only time some people hear the name of Jesus, in modern times, is when they are being cussed out. This is not how to use God’s name. His name is Holy.
No one would use their own earthly father’s name to cuss somebody out, or use it to emphasize a point they are making — everyone would think they were stupid.
In the same way, we do not use our Heavenly Father’s name, or His Son’s name for any other reason than to address Him, in love, and prayer, as our God.
Let’s continue:
13 “Do not defraud or rob your neighbor.
“Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.
NOTE: This was important in a culture where buying food fresh every day was the only choice. They were not to be defrauded of their wages, because they had to provide for their families on a daily basis.
14 “Do not insult the deaf or cause the blind to stumble. You must fear your God; I am the Lord.
15 “Do not twist justice in legal matters by favoring the poor or being partial to the rich and powerful. Always judge people fairly.
16 “Do not spread slanderous gossip among your people.
“Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is threatened. I am the Lord.
17 “Do not nurse hatred in your heart for any of your relatives. Confront people directly so you will not be held guilty for their sin.
KEY: If we hold a grudge instead of forgiving quickly, it only exacerbates the situation, and potentially causes the other person to sin against us, and we would then be complicit in the sight of God, in their sin against us.
Do not even place someone else in the position where they would sin against us then, is God’s intent here, I believe.
18 “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.
19 “You must obey all my decrees.
“Do not mate two different kinds of animals. Do not plant your field with two different kinds of seed. Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread.
KEY: God created animals with a specific DNA, which ensured the longevity of their species. God makes things to last, and this does not occur in mixture, but only in the purity of a seed as God created it.
A genetically modified animal or plant cannot bear pure seed. What comes from it is weakened, and ultimately degenerates, or becomes extinct. God gave us every plant with seed in it, so that there would always be a continual supply of healthy food.
Combining different fibers was impractical. Wool and flax, for example, were not to be combined because they have differing kinds of durability, or unequal strengths. They needed to obey these laws to preserve their clothing.
Let’s continue in Leviticus 19
20 “If a man has sex with a slave girl whose freedom has never been purchased but who is committed [that is: engaged, or betrothed] to become another man’s wife, he must pay full compensation to her master. But since she is not a free woman, neither the man nor the woman will be put to death.
21 The man, however, must bring a ram as a guilt offering and present it to the Lord at the entrance of the Tabernacle.
22 The priest will then purify him before the Lord with the ram of the guilt offering, and the man’s sin will be forgiven.
23 “When you enter the land and plant fruit trees, leave the fruit unharvested for the first three years and consider it forbidden. Do not eat it.
24 In the fourth year the entire crop must be consecrated to the Lord as a celebration of praise.
25 Finally, in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you follow this pattern, your harvest will increase. I am the Lord your God.
26 “Do not eat meat that has not been drained of its blood.
“Do not practice fortune-telling or witchcraft.
27 “Do not trim off the hair on your temples or trim your beards.
“Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with tattoos. I am the Lord.”
NOTE: The King James Version [Year 1611] says,
27 Ye shall not round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou mar the corners of thy beard.
28 Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord.”
The 1599 Geneva Bible says:
27 Ye shall not [p]cut round the corners of your heads, neither shalt thou [q]mar the tufts of thy beard.
28 Ye shall not cut your flesh for the [r]dead, nor make any print of a [s]mark upon you: I am the Lord.
The footnotes clarify the reason for the cutting or printing marks
- Leviticus 19:27 As did the Gentiles in sign of mourning.
- Leviticus 19:27 Or, cut, or tear.
- Leviticus 19:28 Hebrew, soul or person.
- Leviticus 19:28 By whipping your bodies or burning marks therein.
NOTE: These were a sign of mourning for the dead, and were done by the Gentile, pagan, nations, and God did not require that of His people.
These were laws put in place to set them apart from the pagan cultures around them which did these things as part of the worship of their false gods which was an abomination, and an act of spiritual prostitution in the sight of God.
Leviticus 19, continued:
29 “Do not defile your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the land will be filled with prostitution and wickedness.
30 “Keep my Sabbath days of rest, and show reverence toward my sanctuary. I am the Lord.
31 “Do not defile yourselves by turning to mediums or to those who consult the spirits of the dead. I am the Lord your God.
32 “Stand up in the presence of the elderly, and show respect for the aged. Fear your God. I am the Lord.
KEY: There is no room for elder abuse in God’s Kingdom. The first commandment that came with a promise of long life, was to honor one’s parents.
I still remember when men used to stand when a woman walked into the room, or hold the door open for her, as a gesture of honor, or even to stand when someone older walked into their presence, in order to give them their seat.
These are gestures of common courtesy and etiquette that have somehow fallen by the wayside, and might do well to be reintroduced into modern cultures once again. It is part of honoring and loving one another, and treating others as we would like to be treated.
Let’s continue in Leviticus 19
33 “Do not take advantage of foreigners who live among you in your land.
34 Treat them like native-born Israelites, and love them as you love yourself. Remember that you were once foreigners living in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
35 “Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight, or volume.
36 Your scales and weights must be accurate. Your containers for measuring dry materials or liquids must be accurate. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
KEY : When God brings us out of evil, and into His goodness, there is no more room for economic fraud of any kind. Just wages, just scales, and justice in every area of our lives helps us live well.
The Pharisees were exchanging money for lambs to be sacrificed, and lying to and defrauding people, so Jesus threw them out, and overturned the tables filled with the money they had extorted from the unsuspecting people.
God says, in Verse 37,
37 “You must be careful to keep all of my decrees and regulations by putting them into practice. I am the Lord.”
KEY: What I notice most about each of these decrees, is that they end with: “I am the Lord” — to sin against God is to serve a different spirit, and God makes clear that it is Him we must serve, for He is the Lord of our lives, and in their case, not the Egyptian gods they had been exposed to for the last 400 years.
We have already seen that the Law was unable to perfect anyone, and no one could keep it perfectly. That is why, at the time, God instituted a way of payment for their sins that would deter them, because they had to sacrifice their best lamb, or young goat.
Just because we live under the grace of God now, and don’t have to sacrifice a lamb each time we sin against Him, doesn’t mean the laws were impractical, or not beneficial to keep.
There is a good reason for each one of the Laws God decreed, for the benefit of the person, their family, the nation, and indeed all the nations.
But Jesus came to save us from the penalty of breaking the Law, which was a person’s death, or the death of their lamb, etc., or being cut off from the community of God.
Jesus, the Lamb of God, paid the price by laying down His Own life for us, so that we could experience holiness by the Grace of God, which is the gift of God to all people who accept Jesus as their Savior.
The Book of Wisdom, chapter 14 [from the Catholic Canon] says this about serving idols, instead of God:
14 “Or imagine this: A man is preparing for a trip. He’s about to board a ship that must sail through rough waves. So the man cries out for protection to a little piece of wood that is even more flimsy than the boat that will carry him.
2 Desire for profit led to the ship’s planning, and wisdom was the artisan who built it, 3 but your watchful guidance, Father, pilots the ship. You made a way in the sea, a sure path through strong waves.
4 You have shown us that you can rescue us from anything, so that even those who have no skill can put out to sea.
5 Your will is that the works of your wisdom be fruitful. This is the only reason in the end why humans can entrust their lives to cheap pieces of wood and can reach land safely by riding the breaking surf on a ship that is no more than a raft.
6 Near the beginning, at a time when proud giants were being destroyed, the hope of the world escaped on just such a raft. This was how the genetic character [[a]seed, or DNA] of a new generation survived for the world to come. They were steered the whole way by your hand.
7 Praised be the wood by means of which it has now become possible for us to do what is right!
8 But idols made by human hands are cursed, as are those who make them. Those who make them are cursed because they make them. The idols are cursed because, though made of corruptible material, people call them gods.
9 Both are equally hateful to God: the godless craftsmen and the products of their godlessness.
10 The thing that has been produced will be punished along with the one who produced it.
11 Therefore, God will come in judgment on the nation’s idols, for they have turned a part of God’s creation into something that God hates. They have produced stumbling blocks for the well-being of humans, a trap set to spring when the feet of the foolish step on it.
12 The very notion of idols was the beginning of immoral sexual activity. The invention of idols ruined human life.
13 In the beginning, idols didn’t exist, and they won’t last forever.
14 They came into the world through the empty-headed imaginings of humans. Therefore, they’ll come to a quick end.
15 Imagine a father overcome with grief at the untimely death of his child. In his grief, he makes an image of the child. The person who was once a corpse he now honors as a god. He passes it on to those under his authority, along with certain mysteries and special ceremonies.
16 As time goes by, his godless custom becomes tradition. Eventually, his custom becomes law, and rulers order the people to worship these carved images.
17 These rulers, moreover, lived far away from most of their subjects. So because the people couldn’t pay their respects in person, they imagined what the ruler looked like and made an image of their honored leader. By their diligent efforts, they were thus still able to shower the king with their flattery.
18 But the artist’s desire to be recognized for his work also incited the fools to an ever greater intensity of worship.
19 Perhaps out of a desire to please the person in power, the artist makes the most of his artistic skill to fashion an even more beautiful and perfect image.
20 The masses, charmed by the object’s workmanship, now begin to consider the object worthy of their worship, where not long before they had only honored the person as a human being.
21 In this way idolatry becomes a trap for one’s life. Whether it is because of a father’s misfortune or because people are ordered to do so, stones and plants begin to be called by the name that was never supposed to be shared with anything or anyone else.
22 Then, as if it weren’t enough that they should err concerning the knowledge of God, other things follow. When living ignorantly in the midst of great war, people call such evil things peace.
23 Then, in the celebration of secret religious ceremonies involving the ritual murder of children or in hidden mysteries or in the mad orgies of strange worship practices,
24 people stop keeping their lives and their marriages pure. Instead, one person plots to kill another by lying in ambush. Another person causes grief by becoming sexually involved with another person’s spouse.
25 Everything becomes a confused mix of blood, murder, theft, and deception. Corruption, breaking one’s word, upheaval, false pledges—all these things abound.
26 What is good is shouted down. Favors are forgotten. Entire beings are stained with guilt. Legitimate genealogy is lost. Marriage is thrown into confusion. Adultery and promiscuity abound.
27 The worship of nameless idols is the origin of all evil—its cause as well as its result.
28 People begin to party so wildly that they all go mad. They prophesy lies. They live in such a way that everything they do is wrong. They bear false witness,
29 but because they have entrusted themselves into the hands of lifeless idols, they don’t expect any harm to come from swearing false pledges.
30 A double judgment will hunt them down—first, because they acted wickedly toward God when they gave their attention to idols; and second, because they made solemn pledges falsely out of contempt for what was holy.
31 It isn’t the power of the things by which they made these solemn pledges but justice that will pursue them until it punishes them for doing wrong.”
Now, let’s continue again with Peter’s Letter:
1 Peter 1:17-25
17 “And remember that the heavenly Father to Whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of Him during your time here as “temporary residents.”
18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.
19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.
20 God chose Him as your ransom long before the world began, but now in these last days He has been revealed for your sake.
21 Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And you have placed your faith and hope in God because He raised Christ from the dead and gave Him great glory.
22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart [with a pure heart].
23 For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.
24 As the Scriptures say,
“People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field.
The grass withers and the flower fades.
25 But the word of the Lord remains forever.” [Isaiah 40:6-8]
And that word is the Good News that was preached to you.
1Peter 2:1-25
1 “So get rid of all evil behavior. Be done with all deceit, hypocrisy, jealousy, and all unkind speech.
2 Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment,
3 now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.
4 You are coming to Christ, Who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by people, but He was chosen by God for great honor.
5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are His holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.
6 As the Scriptures say, “I am placing a cornerstone in Jerusalem, chosen for great honor, and anyone who trusts in Him will never be disgraced.”
7 Yes, you who trust Him recognize the honor God has given Him. But for those who reject Him, “The stone that the builders rejected has now become the cornerstone.”
8 And, “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them.
9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.”
11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.
12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when He judges the world.
13 For the Lord’s sake, submit to all human authority—whether the king as head of state,
14 or the officials he has appointed. For the king has sent them to punish those who do wrong and to honor those who do right.”
NOTE: There are leaders of nations who have taken this Scripture out of its God-given context on purpose, and subjected many believers to intolerable tortures for being Christian.
They answer to God for their actions. But the admonition stands to keep the believer right with God, and to represent the Kingdom of God well by submitting to the authority God places over them for their good.
And we pray for those leaders’ hearts to be changed, who act with evil intent, knowingly, for they are led by evil spirits, when they do such things to the righteous.
Let’s continue:
15 “It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.
16 For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.
17 Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.
18 You who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel.
19 For God is pleased when, conscious of His will, you patiently endure unjust treatment.
20 Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.
21 For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.
22 He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone.
23 He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.
24 He personally carried our sins in H is body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By His wounds you are healed.
25 Once you were like sheep who wandered away.
But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.”
Encouragement:
Remember that God does all things for our good, because He loves us.
Remember, that when people do not behave as God wants them to, love them and pray for them, and ask God to forgive them, just as Jesus did when He was on the Cross, dying for our sins, so that we may be forgiven.
Remember that He knows we are not perfect, and so be holy as He is Holy, knowing that you will always have His help to do so, because He lives inside you, because you are a child of God.
