1 Peter 1:22-2:3 Spiritual Dynamics of Holiness (part 1)

By Gary DeLashmutt

The section of 1 Peter is beginning in 1:13 is about holiness (“be holy for I am holy). “Holiness” has negative connotations in our culture (“holy roller;” “holier than thou”), so we tend to avoid it (and use a more relevant synonym like “sanctification!”). Actually, the biblical meaning of holiness is intensely positive. Holiness means fulfilling the special purpose for which something or someone was designed. Conversely, to use something or someone for a different purpose is to make it profane.
There is a saying: “The right tool for the right job.” This is a maxim about tool holiness. When I use my screwdriver as a hammer or pry bar, I make my screwdriver profane. But when I use it only for driving screws, I make it holy. I make it last, and I make the other things it interacts with work better.
When Peter tells us: “Be holy in everything you do,” he is simply saying: “Live every aspect of your lives the way God designed you to live.” God has created us in his image, and therefore our lives have a high purpose—to demonstrate his character (his love, righteousness, justice, etc.) in this world. To live otherwise is to profane my life—to misrepresent God’s character and to damage myself and others.
For example, I am to be a holy husband. That means (among other things) that I am to be completely faithful to my wife sexually. To profane our sexual relationship would bring great damage to our marriage and family—and it would misrepresent the way God is completely faithful to his people.
Peter will say more about what holiness looks like in these areas later in his letter. But it is not enough to merely know what holiness looks like. Moral will-power alone cannot produce true holiness—it can only produce frustration or ugly caricatures (“holier-than-thou”). True holiness requires access God’s spiritual power. This is why Peter begins by focusing on the spiritual dynamics of holiness. In 1:22-2:3, he speaks of two key dynamics.

1. Holiness begins with a new birth.
There is a lot in this brief passage—but the first thing I want you to notice is that holiness begins with a new birth. Everything Peter says about holiness in this passage is rooted in the assumption that his audience has “been born again” (1:23). To be born again means to be adopted into God’s family, to be made his son or daughter. Why must holiness begin with adoption? Because the very core of God’s purpose for your life is to belong to his family. You must be adopted first to provide the foundation for the rest of your development.
Let’s say your neighbors are interested in a certain young child, so they bring him home and enter into an arrangement with him: “You can visit once a week. Learn to bathe and dress yourself. Do well in school. Develop your talents. Get a career. If you do all of these things well, then I’ll make you a member of my family.” You would be outraged! This will be disastrous! Because they did not start by making this child their son, he will lack the foundation of belonging that is necessary for his development in these other areas.
What we would never do with a child, many people think God does with us! Christian “religion” portrays God this way: “Be good. Learn how I want you to behave, and follow my instructions. If you do this well and long enough, I will let you become my child.” No wonder the people who are raised with this view of Christianity are either wracked by anxiety and insecurity, or reject the whole thing!
God is the ultimate good Parent. He says: “I start by adopting you. This cleanses you from all your sins (1:22a), and makes you my child forever (1:23). I welcome you into my presence and shower you with my kindness (2:3). On that secure foundation, let me teach you the rest of my purpose for your life.” Don’t you see how this lays the foundation for true holiness? When you are forgiven from your guilt, and secure in your destiny, and experiencing God’s kindness—you want to learn how he designed you to live. Anyone who loves you enough to give you all this must be good and wise enough to teach you the rest of your life-purpose!