"For it is written, "Be holy for I am Holy." 1 Peter 1:6
WRITTEN
This is not new teaching since it was already written in the Old Testament. The holiness of God is taught early in the Bible.
HOLY
To be holy is to be set apart. It is to be set apart from the common and especially from the sinful. All of God's people are holy; this is an exception to what we think. When we think about holiness, we think that only special people are holy, but the Lord wants holiness for all believers.
A COMMAND
It is a command to be holy, so we must have the ability to affect our own personal holiness. Since it is a command, we have a responsibility for it.
GOD IS HOLY
God's holiness is his standard. God is holy, and because His holiness is so different from us, we must become like him in holiness to have true communion with him. If we do not have a sense of personal holiness, we will not have satisfaction in our prayers, fellowship, Bible reading, and other disciplines that grow our spiritual life.
We cannot become holy by ourselves because of our sins, but God sent his son to die for our sins so we may have forgiveness of sin. Our expression of faith in him removes our unholiness and gives us a holy standing before God; this holiness is a gift since we could never earn it. The Almighty gives it to us freely.
See my other post to learn more about the plan of salvation and how you can have this personal holiness.
