Holiness in exile
Inspired by the Biblical truths in John 15:19 and 17:14-16, we know that Christians are exiles in this world. We are in this world but not of this world as we are set apart; we are called holy by our Father, who is holy. Yet, maintaining our holiness in the exile can be downright difficult. The temptations of the world are more prevalent and immediate than our heavenly home and we find ourselves easily swayed away from our inherited holy status. Yet, we look to 1 Peter 1:13-21 to find how we can maintain the holiness won by Christ while in the exile. From this passage, we know there are three things to do.
1. Have alert and fully sober minds (verse 13-14)
Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. (1 Peter 1:13 NIV)
In some versions, the phrase “be alert and of sober mind” is also translated to “prepare your minds for action”. In the original Greek, it refers to girding up of loins which is the action of tucking up the traditional long robe into a belt (otherwise known as a girdle) so that your robe doesn’t come in the way of the physical activity that is to come. In essence, it means our minds must always be prepared. How? By maintaining our relationship and connection to God through prayer and Bible reading.
2. Be obedient to the right father (verses 15-17)
Since you call on a Father who judges each person’s work impartially, live out your time as foreigners here in reverent fear. (1 Peter 1:17 NIV)
When we acknowledge that Jesus is our Lord and Saviour, we receive God’s spirit and are able to deny sin. In addition, we are adopted into God’s family, being called as obedient children as verse 14 says. As obedient children, there are three key things to remember.
We can’t live according to the desires of the world, obedient to the father of lies, like before we came to know God (verse 14).
We have been made holy only through Christ, and so are to be holy in all we do as our heavenly father is holy (verses 15-16).
We must live in reverent fear, otherwise known as good fear of God
Out of honour and respect, we must humbly have reverent fear for God, seeking only to obey and please this Father as opposed to the father of lies, Satan. As it says in Matthew 10:28,
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
3. Remember our Redeemer (verses 18-21)
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, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect… (1 Peter 1:18-19 NIV)
As it says in verse 19, we were redeemed, or ransomed, by the precious blood of Christ. In the original Greek, redeem means to be freed by paying a price. In the first century, church members were made up of three castes: slaves, free men and freed men. Freed men were an interesting caste as they were once slaves (either forced into slavery through war, birth, parents or of their own judgement), who had been bought out either of their own ability or by another. This was the definition of a freed man, and this is the same word that Peter uses to describe us as Jesus paid our ransom. Jesus paid the price to free us from slavery to sin and death by sacrificing himself. God chose him as the Saviour of humanity “before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”
It’s only through Jesus that we could even be called holy and come to Christ as it says in verse 21. It is not through any of our own work, but 100% in the saving work of Christ. So, if we did not save ourselves, our confident is not in ourselves. No, our confidence while exiled here in the world is in Jesus who is vastly greater and holier than us.
Dear Heavenly Father,
You are Holy God, and we thank you that there is none like you. We thank you for your Son, who through his saving work on the cross and in the tomb, allowed us to be called holy too. We pray that while we must live in this world, we can live up to the holiness won for us by Christ. May we be alert, sober minded, obedient to the one and only Father, and mindful of our Redeemer.
In Jesus’s mighty name we pray,
Amen.