The Scripture behind the Scripture
Be Ye Holy, for I Am Holy
Leviticus 11:44 gives the reason for God's commands, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Peter takes up this call in 1 Peter 1:16 to ground Christian living.
“For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”Leviticus 11:44
“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”1 Peter 1:16
In its own place
In its own place. Leviticus is the book of Israel's worship and consecration, given to a people newly redeemed from Egypt and formed into God's own nation. The command Be ye holy, for I am holy appears in the context of the dietary laws that distinguished clean from unclean, and it recurs through the holiness code of later chapters. In its original setting the call to holiness flows from the character of God and Israel's relationship to him. Because the Lord who redeemed them is holy, set apart, pure, wholly other, his people are to be holy too, set apart from the practices of the nations and consecrated to him. Holiness in Leviticus is comprehensive, touching diet, worship, sexual conduct, honesty, and justice, all shaped by the reality that God dwells among his people and they belong to him. The dietary restrictions were part of a larger pattern of distinction, marking Israel as separated unto God. The ground of the command is not arbitrary rules but the nature of God himself, I am holy, and the fact that he brought them up out of Egypt to be his own. To be holy is to reflect the God to whom they belong, living in a way that corresponds to his purity and sets them apart as his treasured people.
Where the New Testament takes it up
This is a direct quotation, used by Peter to anchor Christian ethics. In 1 Peter 1:15 to 16 Peter writes, But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy, quoting Leviticus. Peter applies the command directly to Christians, both Jewish and Gentile believers scattered as strangers in the world. He follows the Greek text. The striking move is that Peter takes a command originally given to Israel, grounded in the dietary and ceremonial holiness code, and applies it straightforwardly to the church as the people of God, without the ceremonial food laws but with the same underlying call to reflect God's holy character in all conduct. Peter frames the whole passage around Christians being a redeemed and chosen people, calling them to gird up their minds, to be sober, to hope in grace, and to live as obedient children who do not conform to former lusts. The holiness of God remains the ground, and belonging to God through Christ remains the basis. For Peter, the identity of God's people carries over into the church, and with it the summons to be holy as God is holy, now lived out in response to the redemption accomplished by Christ.
How it points to Christ
How it points to Christ. Peter grounds the call to holiness in redemption, reminding believers that they were ransomed not with silver or gold but with the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without blemish. Just as Israel was called to holiness because God had redeemed them from Egypt, so Christians are called to holiness because Christ has redeemed them from sin. The command Be ye holy, for I am holy is not a ladder to earn God's favor but the fitting response of a people who now belong to a holy God through Jesus. And Christ himself is the holy one who makes his people holy, sanctifying them and setting them apart for God. The old call to reflect God's holiness finds its fulfillment in those united to Christ, who are being conformed to his image. Because the Redeemer is holy, and because his people are his, they are summoned to a holiness that mirrors the God who saved them.
Questions people ask
Does Peter apply Israel's holiness laws to Christians?
Peter applies the underlying call to be holy as God is holy directly to the church, without the ceremonial food laws of Leviticus. He takes the identity and calling of God's redeemed people and carries it into the Christian life, grounded now in redemption through Christ.
What is the basis of the call to holiness?
The character of God, I am holy, and the fact that his people belong to him through redemption. In Leviticus it was redemption from Egypt, and in Peter it is redemption by the blood of Christ. Holiness is the fitting response of a people who belong to a holy God.