Don't just act holy....BE holy!

I've been going back over the last couple of days and looking at some of the absolute truths Peter declares in his epistles. Like this one....

"because it is written, ”Be holy, for I am holy.” I Peter 1:16 (NKJV)

Peter is stating the truth that God has enabled us to live holy lives by the power of His own holiness!!! He is holy and His Holy Spirit now lives within us. We have become holy by His own holiness, therefore we can "be" holy as He is holy.

An apple tree bears apples because it is by nature an apple tree. Sinners bear the fruit of sin because they are, by nature, sinners. Holiness defines our new nature. We are holy because God has made us holy in nature. We have become “partakers of the divine nature” of God. (II Peter 1:4) We are holy by nature, therefore we can bear the fruit of holiness. It bears repeating...We can be holy because we are holy.

If a Bible verse starts with the phrase, “it is written,” it’s always important to look back to the original passage from which the phrase is quoted. In this case, the phrase is taken from a multitude of Scripture passages, many of which are found in the Old Testament book of Leviticus.

“For I am the Lord your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy…” Leviticus 11:44a (NKJV)

This was a portion of a passage of Scripture in which God prescribed the methods that were to be taken in the preparation of foods and in the ceremonial temple cleansings. Certain precautions were to be taken so that the people would avoid unclean foods and unclean activities.

In the days in which the Book of Leviticus was written, God used the ceremonial cleansings in the temple to illustrate the holy lives that were to distinguish His people from the rest of the world. In their outward ritual cleansings, the worshippers symbolically demonstrated that God had enabled them to live clean lives. God was teaching even then, that there was a connection between spiritual holiness and holy living. But remember that everything God instructed them to do in their temple ceremonies was a foreshadowing picture of what He would eventually do through Christ. In this case, the external ceremonial cleansing foreshadowed the spiritual holiness that Christians experience through their relationship with Christ. Our salvation provides the cleansing that was demonstrated in the temple rituals.

Notice the cause and effect of the verse in Leviticus. God said that since He is holy, then those to whom He is God will also be made holy by His holiness. The fulfillment of the picture He painted in Leviticus is that in Christ, we have “become” holy (II Corinthians 5:21) and you can’t get more holy than holy. The word “holy” means that the job has been completed. If there is any part of something that is not holy, then the entire something is unholy.

God says that believers are holy. If you are a beliver in Jesus Christ, then you already have all the holiness you will ever get. And by the way, no one else ever got any more holiness than you did!! Not Billy Graham. Not the apostle Paul or even Peter, the author of this book of truth. In fact, if you are a believer, then you are as holy as Jesus. All believers have been made equally holy, just as He is holy. Therefore, we can all now live holy lives.

Basically what Peter is saying in verses 13-15, is that we can think right and live right because we are right!!