Hope and Holiness
1 Peter 1:13-25 NIV
Preparing Your Minds for Action
In this passage, Peter encourages believers to prepare their minds for action, to be holy, and to live a life of obedience to God. He reminds them that they are strangers and foreigners on this earth, and that their true citizenship is in heaven.
Hope and Inheritance
13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully committed, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming.
Peter urges believers to set their hope on the grace that will be revealed when Jesus Christ returns. This grace is not just a future hope, but a present reality that should shape their lives.
Be Holy in All You Do
14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
Peter reminds believers that they should not conform to their former evil desires, but instead, they should strive to be holy in all they do. This is not a call to moral perfection, but a call to a life of dedication to God, just as God is holy.
Fear God, Not Man
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each person's work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. 18 For 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 ancestors, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Peter reminds believers that they should live in reverent fear of God, who judges each person's work impartially. He also reminds them of the precious price of their redemption, which was paid by the blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
Living a Life of Faith
20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. 22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For, "All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, 25 but the word of the Lord endures forever."
Peter reminds believers that they have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. He encourages them to love one another deeply, from the heart, and to remember that the word of the Lord endures forever.
