13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:13-16
How many times have I heard that we are made Holy through Jesus Christ, with the implication that it is not something we can do, or in other words, is out of our reach? Instead, it is some status we obtain by becoming a Christian. Looking at this Bible passage, I can not ignore the fact that it is full of verbs of things expected of us to do:
- Therefore gird up the loins of your mind
- be sober
- rest your hope fully upon the grace…
- not conforming yourselves to the former lusts
- you also be holy in all your conduct!
Scripture expects us to take an active role, not a passive one! So, what does it mean to be Holy? Let’s start to look at the definition of Holy and what it is not.
Holy is also defined as Sanctified, something set apart for or by God. It is the opposite of common, so something special. We see it first being used in Genesis 2:3:
3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.
So God made the 7th day Holy, set apart from all the other days, a special day.
Then to be Holy means to be different from the common man and to not conform to this world but to walk in God’s will, as we can read in Romans 12:2
12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Because it is Written
When Peter wrote this, he specifically mentioned “because it is written”, so let us look to the scriptures of those days (the TaNaK=Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim) and see what Peter is referring to. It might answer how we ought to be different from the common man.
- You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps; nor shall you make yourselves unclean with them, lest you be defiled by them. For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. Leviticus 11: 43-45
- And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
‘Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19: 1-3- You shall therefore distinguish between clean animals and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing that creeps on the ground, which I have separated from you as unclean. And you shall be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine. Leviticus 20: 25-26
To answer the question of how to be Holy, we should look closer to the chapters in which these verses are written. What is interesting is that points 1 and 3 directly refer to eating clean food and for us to distinguish what is clean from what is unclean. The whole of chapter 11 in Leviticus is about clean and unclean food! The second point starts with referring to two of the Ten Commandments, the 5th and the 4th. These two commandments are the only ones within the Ten Commandments that tell us to do, in the affirmative, instead of do not! When God instructs us to do something then that instruction is directly linked to an act of Holiness on how to walk in His Ways.
What amazes me is that the same people who tell us that we obtain the status of being Holy by simply accepting Jesus in our lives and not playing an active role in it are also those who actively oppose us from doing what God tells us to do when it comes to keeping His instruction.
We no longer have to keep His Shabbat because Christ is now our rest. And Christ also declared all foods clean, so no worry about what you eat (see also article: In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”).
How are we to be Holy, set apart, if we are no different from anyone else? When you quote Leviticus 19:3
“Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths: I am the Lord your God.”
they have no issue with “revering your mother and father” but will take serious offence to the text “and keep my Sabbaths“!
Notice how God is saying here, “keep MY Sabbaths”, not “keep a JEWISH Shabbat”, or “keep YOUR Sabbaths”. His Shabbat is a day that belongs to Him, made Holy by Him!
Distinguish between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean
We read in Leviticus 20:25 that God wants us to distinguish between what is clean and unclean. Throughout scripture, we see this specifically mentioned and is directly linked to what is considered Holy and unholy/common. Take, for example, Leviticus 10:
It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, 10 that you may distinguish between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean, 11 and that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.”
Leviticus 10:10-11
Or Ezekiel 44:23-24:
23 “And they shall teach My people the difference between the holy and the unholy, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean. 24 In controversy they shall stand as judges, and judge it according to My judgments. They shall keep My laws and My statutes in all My appointed meetings, and they shall hallow My Sabbaths. Ezekiel 44:23-24
The Bible warns us in very clear terms against that what is today taught in Churches:
Her priests have violated My law and profaned My holy things; they have not distinguished between the holy and unholy, nor have they made known the difference between the unclean and the clean; and they have hidden their eyes from My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, to shed blood, to destroy people, and to get dishonest gain.
It defines those who teach this within churches as Wolfs, and it is those who Jesus warns us of in Mathew Chapter 7 (see also article: I Never Knew You, you workers of lawlessness )
Being Holy means you live an active life the same way Jesus did, by doing the will of the father in the same way Jesus did and walking the way Jesus walked. Jesus himself tells us to follow His example (John 13:15), and John tells us:
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 1Jn 2:3-6
The disciples of Jesus were known as the sect of “The Way” because of this. His disciples lived as Jesus did and walked the same way Jesus did. Be aware of anyone telling you anything else; they are those who Christ calls Wolfs!
When Peter mentioned, “Be holy, for I am holy.” He tells us to try to be like Christ and walk like him. Jesus, Yeshua in Hebrew, ate clean food and kept His Father’s Holy days, including His Sabbaths!
May God Bless you, and don’t forget to test everything!