Be holy, because I am holy

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15)

   The Bible teaching about holiness is apparently confusing. Here in our present text God gives us a clear commandment to be holy and to live a holy life. But on the other hand other portions of the scripture tell us that holiness is not possible.

   For example, the epistle of James says in 3rd chapter, 2nd verse “we all stumble in many ways”. In 1 John 1:8, John the Apostle says “if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” Then in the 10th verse John says “if we claim we’ve not sinned, we make Him (God) out to be a liar” What is the scripture really telling us? On one hand it tells us to be holy; and on the other hand the scripture tells us that we can never claim to be without sin. Is it not rather confusing? If we can never claim that we are without sin how can we live and claim to be holy? If we really live a holy life according to 1 Peter 1:15,16 why is it that we cannot claim to be sinless? If we really live a holy life how can it be true that we stumble in many ways?

   Because all these verses are from the Holy Bible they can be anything but true. Though they are seemingly to be contradictory they must be expressing different facets of the truth.

   The truth of the whole matter is this – absolute and sinless perfection is one thing and Christian perfection is altogether a different thing. Please listen to me carefully my dear brother and sister. Christian perfection is different from absolute perfection, which belongs to God alone. Even angels of heaven do not have absolute perfection. We are told in the book of Job 4th chapter, 18th verse that “God places no trust in His servants... He charges His angels with error”. If the heavenly angels are not absolutely perfect, it would be highly impossible for the children of Adam to be absolutely perfect. If this is so why does the Bible command us to attempt impossibility in 1 Peter 1:16?

   There is law of sin and death in the body of every believer. And every believer is constantly tempted to commit sin and to transgress the commandments of the Lord. But this should not be the cause of concern for us. We need not worry about it. Being tempted is not necessarily falling in sin. Even our precious Lord Jesus was tempted but He was found to be without sin (Hebrews 4:15). You can be tempted and still be found holy in the sight of God. Temptations may come to our minds, but if we can resist the temptation and prevent the thoughts from being translated into actions, God is happy about it and will judge us as holy people. The Bible clearly tells us that, we shall all appear before the judgement seat of Christ, that we “may receive what is due to us for the things done while in our body” (2 Corinthians 5:10). God is bothered about what we are doing with our bodies. If we can prevent the temptations in our minds from being converted into actions, then God appreciates it and declares us as righteous and holy people. This is Christian perfection. If you aren’t aware of this, the devil deceives you. Absolute perfection is not possible as long as we live in these corruptible bodies. But God is expecting us to display Christian holiness. May God help you to stand righteous before His throne of Judgement.