English · KJV

1 Peter 1:14

“A Call to Holiness and Obedience”1 Peter 1:13–21
King James Version
As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

KJV (with Strong's)
As G5613 obedient G5218 children G5043, not G3361 fashioning yourselves according to G4964 the former G4386 lusts G1939 in G1722 your G5216 ignorance G52:

Bible text: King James Version with Strong's numbers · Public domain

Berean Standard Bible
As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain

American Standard Version
as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance:

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

World English Bible Messianic
as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,

Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain

Geneva Bible (1599)
As obedient children, not fashioning your selues vnto the former lustes of your ignorance:

Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain

Young's Literal Translation
as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves to the former desires in your ignorance,

Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain

King James Version — Interlinear
12 Greek words
  1. ὡςhōsasG5613PRTParticle or Disjunctive
  2. τέκναteknachildrenG5043N-NPNNoun Nominative Plural Neuter
  3. ὑπακοῆςhupakoēsof obedienceG5218N-GSFNoun Genitive Singular Feminine
  4. μὴmēnotG3361PRT-NNegative Particle Negative
  5. συσχηματιζόμενοιsuschēmatizomenoifashioning yourselvesG4964V-PEP-NPMVerb Present Middle Or Passive Participle Nominative Plural Masculine
  6. ταῖςtaisto theG3588T-DPFDefinite article Dative Plural Feminine
  7. πρότερονproteronformerG4386ADV-CAdverb Comparative
  8. ἐνeninG1722PREPPreposition
  9. τῇtēatheG3588T-DSFDefinite article Dative Singular Feminine
  10. ἀγνοίᾳagnoiaignoranceG52N-DSFNoun Dative Singular Feminine
  11. ὑμῶνhumōnof youG4771P-2GPPersonal pronoun Genitive 2nd Plural
  12. ἐπιθυμίαιςepithumiaisdesiresG1939N-DPFNoun Dative Plural Feminine
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Greek, not the KJV's wording. Why?

This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Greek word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Greek word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “charity” where the gloss reads “love”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.

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This verse

As children of obedience, believers stop shaping their lives by the desires that ruled them in the days of their ignorance of God.

“As obedient children,”

Literally “children of obedience”, the family trait of those born again into God’s household.

“not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts”

Stop letting the old desires press you into their shape. Paul uses the same verb in Romans 12:2.

“in your ignorance:”

Those desires ruled while we were strangers to God. Knowing him now, we are free and answerable to live differently.

Called to Be Holy, Redeemed by Precious Blood

1 Peter 1:13–21

Summary

Peter has spent the first part of his letter on the living hope God has given his people (1 Peter 1:3–12), and here he turns that hope into a way of life. Because grace is coming to us when Jesus Christ is revealed, we are to ready our minds, stay sober and set our hope wholly on that grace. As obedient children we leave behind the desires that ruled us in our ignorance, and we become holy in all our conduct, because the God who called us is holy, as he said long ago in Leviticus. We call on a Father who judges every man’s work impartially, so we spend our short stay on earth in reverent fear. Under all of it lies the price of our freedom: the precious blood of Christ, the spotless Lamb, appointed before the world was made, revealed in these last times for us, and raised and glorified by God so that our faith and hope are in God.

Set your hope fully on the grace Christ will bring

The passage opens with “Wherefore”, dió, a word that marks what follows as the plain result of what came before. Peter has spoken of a new birth “unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3), an inheritance reserved in heaven (1 Peter 1:4), a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:5), faith tried in many trials (1 Peter 1:6–7) and found “unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7), and the joy of loving a Christ his readers had loved unseen (1 Peter 1:8–9). All of that now becomes the ground of a command. What God has done for us is the reason for the way we live.

His first readers were “the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia” (1 Peter 1:1), Christians in the Roman provinces of Asia Minor. They were likely facing social ostracism, economic hardship and the beginnings of persecution, and Peter wants their present conduct anchored in what is coming.

In the Greek, the verse has one command, “hope”, from elpízō, to hope, expect or trust. “Gird up” and “be sober” are participles that lead into it and share its force. The girding is an aorist participle, often read as one decisive act, and “be sober” is a present participle, usually read as a settled, continuing state. So the whole verse drives toward hope.

What does “gird up the loins of your mind” mean?

It means to make the mind ready for action. Men in Peter’s day wore long robes, and before running, heavy work or battle they tucked the loose ends into a belt so they could move freely. Israel ate the first Passover dressed that way, “with your loins girded” (Exodus 12:11), ready to leave Egypt at God’s word. Jesus used the same picture for his servants waiting for him: “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning” (Luke 12:35–36).

The verb anazṓnnymi, to gird up, occurs only here in the New Testament, and Peter applies it to the diánoia, the mind as the faculty of thinking, understanding and reasoning. We gather up our thoughts the way a traveller gathers up his robe, clearing away distraction and idleness, so that we are free to think clearly and act on what God has said. In modern terms it is rolling up your sleeves before a job, done inside the head. Paul speaks of the same inner work when he tells us to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2) and to think on whatever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report (Philippians 4:8).

To be sober, nḗphō, first means to be free from the effect of wine, and Peter uses it here for a mind that is clear, alert and self-controlled. He returns to the word twice: “be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer” (1 Peter 4:7), and “Be sober, be vigilant” (1 Peter 5:8). A sober mind keeps its judgment steady and its sense of spiritual things awake.

The grace that is still to come

“Hope to the end” renders teleíōs, which means completely or fully. Peter is telling us to set our hope wholly, with nothing held back, on “the grace that is to be brought unto you”. Grace, cháris, is God’s unmerited favour and blessing, and the verb phérō means to carry or bring, so the grace is pictured as something being carried toward us.

We already live by this grace. We are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8–9), and “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” (John 1:17), the Word made flesh (John 1:14). Peter looks ahead to its full measure, which arrives “at the revelation of Jesus Christ”. The word is apokálypsis, an unveiling, and it means the appearing of Christ when he comes again. Then the redemption of our bodies will be complete, sin and suffering will be over, and we will be with Christ in glory. Paul joins grace and this hope in the same way: the grace of God teaches us to live soberly while “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:11–13), and “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4).

This hope is sure because the one who is coming has already risen and ascended. The angels told the disciples that this same Jesus would come in like manner as they had seen him go (Acts 1:9–11), and “every eye shall see him” (Revelation 1:7). A hope like this is what carries believers through the fiery trials Peter speaks of later in the letter (1 Peter 4:12–19).

Obedient children leave the old pattern behind

“As obedient children” is in Greek “children of obedience”. The word for children is téknon, and “obedience” is the noun hypakoḗ, the same word Peter used when he said we were chosen “unto obedience” (1 Peter 1:2). We have been “born again” into God’s family (1 Peter 1:23), and obedience is the family likeness: a willing, attentive listening for the Father’s voice that leads to doing his will. Jesus is the perfect obedient Son, who prayed in the garden, “not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42), and “became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Philippians 2:8).

“Fashioning yourselves” translates syschēmatízō, to shape yourself after a pattern, to conform. The verb appears elsewhere in the New Testament only in Romans 12:2, “be not conformed to this world”. Peter names the pattern we used to follow as “the former lusts”. The word epithymía means desire or longing, and whether a desire is good or bad depends on what is desired. Here, called “former” and tied to ignorance, it means the cravings for what God forbids that once ran our lives. For many of Peter’s readers, who had come out of the Gentile world, that past included idolatry, sexual immorality and self-indulgence, and following Christ meant reshaping a whole way of life.

“In your ignorance” explains why those desires had such a hold. The word ágnoia means not knowing, and here it is ignorance of God, his righteous character and his will. It was a spiritual darkness, and it led to the old patterns. Knowing God brings light, and it also brings responsibility. Paul told the Athenians, “the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). Christ himself has declared the Father to us (John 1:18), so we can live by that knowledge.

God has done the deepest part of this change. We were dead in sins, and he made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:1–5). From there we put off the old man and put on the new, “which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Ephesians 4:22–24), and we put to death the old desires as people who have put on the new man (Colossians 3:5–10). The pattern God shapes us to is the image of his Son (Romans 8:29).

Be holy, because the God who called you is holy

Verse 15 opens with “But”, allá, a strong word of contrast, and it turns from the pattern we leave to the one we take up. That pattern is God himself: “as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy”. The verb kaléō means to call or summon, so our holiness begins with God’s initiative. He called us, and the life he asks of us answers that call.

The word holy, hágios, means set apart, sacred, consecrated. Said of God, it speaks of his perfect moral purity and his separateness from all that is common or sinful. Said of us, it means we are set apart by God and for God, so that our lives increasingly reflect his character. “So be ye holy” is literally “you also become holy”. The “so” renders kaí, a simple “and, also”, and the likeness comes from the “as” that opens the verse. The verb gínomai means to become or come into being, so holiness is something we grow into in the way we live.

What does “conversation” mean in the KJV?

In the KJV, “conversation” means the whole way a person lives. The Greek word, anastrophḗ, means conduct, behaviour, manner of life. “In all manner of conversation” puts en, “in”, with pâs, “all” or “every”, so Peter is asking for holiness in every part of life: thoughts, words, actions, relationships, work and leisure, in public and in private. The KJV uses the word the same way elsewhere: “let him shew out of a good conversation his works” (James 3:13), and “let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ” (Philippians 1:27).

“Be ye holy; for I am holy”

Peter grounds the command in Scripture: “Because it is written”. The verb gráphō is the ordinary word for writing, and the writing Peter means is God’s word in the Law. God says these words to Israel more than once in Leviticus (Leviticus 11:44, 19:2, 20:7). He had called Israel to be “an holy nation” (Exodus 19:6), and he told them, “ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine” (Leviticus 20:26). Peter now gives the same words to a church of Jews and Gentiles, and later he calls that church “an holy nation” too (1 Peter 2:9). The God of Leviticus is the God who called us, and his standard for his people is the same in both covenants.

“For I am holy” is the reason, and it is the deepest one there is. God asks his people to be holy because of who he is. Holiness is the family resemblance of those who belong to him, and Scripture says that without it “no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). In Jesus we see that holiness lived out in a human life. Even an unclean spirit called him “the Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24), and he came to “fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15).

How can sinners be holy?

God first makes us holy in Christ and then calls us to live out what he has made us. “We are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10), and God made Christ “to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). He chose us in Christ “that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4).

From that standing, the Spirit works holiness into daily life, so that the righteousness of the law is “fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Romans 8:4), and his fruit of love, joy, peace and the rest grows in us (Galatians 5:22–23). We still struggle with sin, as Paul describes his own struggle (Romans 7:15–20), and perfect holiness waits for the day of glory. Until then the command calls us to a lifelong, earnest growth in likeness to the One who called us, done in grateful response to grace already given.

A Father who judges impartially

“And if ye call on the Father” uses ei, “if”, in the sense of “since”. Peter’s readers did call on God as Father, in prayer, worship and trust, and the command follows from that relationship. The Father they call on is also the Judge, who “without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work”.

“Without respect of persons” is one word in Greek, aprosōpolēptōs, which pictures a judge who looks past the face before him. Wealth, rank, nationality and outward religious show make no difference to his verdict. The adverb occurs only here in the New Testament, and the related noun is in Peter’s own words at the house of Cornelius: “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons” (Acts 10:34). Moses had said the same of the LORD, “which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward” (Deuteronomy 10:17), and Paul writes, “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11), in a passage where God renders “to every man according to his deeds” (Romans 2:6–11).

He judges “according to every man’s work”, katá hékastou érgon, the actual life each person has lived. For believers, those works are the fruit of faith, since we are “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (Ephesians 2:10). The Father “hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22), so the Judge of that day is the same Jesus who shed his blood for us.

Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear

“Pass the time” is the verb anastréphō, from the same family as the word for “conversation” in verse 15, with chrónos, time. Peter is speaking of how we conduct ourselves for as long as we are here. That time is a “sojourning”, paroikía, a stay in a place as a foreigner. The word occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in Acts 13:17, of Israel “when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt”. Peter later calls his readers “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Peter 2:11), and Paul says that “our conversation is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). This world is where we live for a while, and our home is with God.

What kind of fear does Peter mean?

He means reverent awe before a holy God, the fear that “is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), and it makes us humble, careful and obedient. It sits alongside full assurance. The next two verses tell us what our salvation cost, and “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). Paul joins fear and confidence in the same way when he says, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). Living before the eyes of a perfectly just God also frees us from living for the approval of people.

Redeemed at a price above silver and gold

Verse 18 gives the strongest reason of all for holy fear: “Forasmuch as ye know”. The verb is eídō, and it speaks of something believers know for certain. They know what their freedom cost.

To redeem, lytróō, means to set free by paying a ransom, lýtron. Peter’s readers knew the practice of buying back a slave or a prisoner. “Ye were redeemed” presents the ransom as an accomplished act, paid once and finished.

The price was beyond anything “corruptible”, phthartós, which describes whatever decays and perishes. Silver and gold were the most valuable things a person could pay with, the currency for buying property, settling debts and purchasing freedom, and even they belong to a world that passes away. Isaiah had promised this kind of redemption: “ye shall be redeemed without money” (Isaiah 52:3). The psalmist knew that no man of any wealth “can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)” (Psalm 49:7–8).

An empty way of life, handed down

What we were ransomed from is “your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers”. The word “vain”, mátaios, means empty, futile, profitless. “Conversation” is again anastrophḗ, a way of life. “Received by tradition from your fathers” is one word in Greek, patroparádotos, found only here in the New Testament, and it means handed down from one’s fathers. The empty life was an inheritance, the customs of a family and a culture passed from one generation to the next. For most of Peter’s readers that meant pagan idolatry, and it can include empty philosophy and religious ritual that has lost its life, anything received from the past that leaves God out. Christ’s blood breaks the chain. Paul says that Christ “gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14).

The precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish

“But with the precious blood of Christ” names the price. Tímios means costly, of great worth, held in honour. Its worth comes from the One who shed it, the Son of God, and it outweighs all the silver and gold of the verse before. Blood, haîma, stands for life given up in death. The Law said, “the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls” (Leviticus 17:11). Jesus came “to give his life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). In him “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Ephesians 1:7), and heaven sings to the Lamb, “thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation” (Revelation 5:9).

Why a lamb “without blemish and without spot”?

The lamb points to the sacrifices God gave Israel, above all the Passover. The Passover lamb had to be “without blemish” (Exodus 12:5), and its blood marked the houses God passed over on the night he brought Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 12). The lamb brought for a sin offering had to be “a female without blemish” (Leviticus 4:32), one of the sin offerings God laid down for his people (Leviticus 4). The word ámōmos, without blemish, is used in the Greek Old Testament for animals fit to be offered to God, and Peter adds áspilos, without spot. The two words together stress that Christ is wholly pure, without sin of any kind, and so fit to be the offering for our sin.

John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The old sacrifices had to be repeated, “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). Christ offered himself once for all (Hebrews 7:27), “through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God” (Hebrews 9:11–14), and by his own blood “obtained eternal redemption for us” (Hebrews 9:12). Now “the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin” (1 John 1:7).

Chosen before the world, revealed in these last times

Our redemption was God’s plan from eternity. The Lamb “verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world”. The verb proginṓskō means to know beforehand, and it is the verb behind “the foreknowledge of God the Father” in 1 Peter 1:2. Used of God’s purpose for Christ, it speaks of a knowing that appoints, which is why the KJV renders it “foreordained”. The cross was the purpose God had settled before anything existed.

“The foundation of the world” uses katabolḗ, a laying down or founding. Before God laid the foundations of the heaven and the earth, before sin entered the world, Christ was appointed to redeem his people. Paul says that God “hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4), and Revelation speaks of “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). The Christ appointed this way was himself in the beginning with God (John 1:1), the Word by whom all things were made (John 1:1–3) and by whom all things were created (Colossians 1:16). He is “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13).

“But was manifest in these last times” turns from eternity to history. Phaneróō means to make visible, to bring into the open, and Christ was made visible when “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us” (John 1:14), in his life, death and resurrection. “These last times” joins éschatos, last or final, with chrónos, time. The last times began with Christ’s first coming, and they run until his return. We live in them now.

“For you” brings the whole eternal plan down to Peter’s scattered readers and to us. God planned the Lamb before the world for the sake of his people, and the same God keeps “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away” for them (1 Peter 1:4). Our salvation rests on a purpose older than the world.

Faith and hope that rest in God

“Who by him do believe in God”: it is through Christ that we come to trust God. There is “one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5), and Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).

The God we trust is the one who “raised him up from the dead”. The verb egeírō means to wake or raise up, and here God is the one who does the raising. The resurrection is God’s own act, his power over death and his approval of the sacrifice his Son made. The psalm had said, “neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption” (Psalm 16:10). Paul ties our faith to the same act, for righteousness is counted to us “if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Romans 4:24–25). He also says, “if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).

God also “gave him glory”. Dóxa means glory, honour and majesty, and here it is Christ’s ascension and his seat at the Father’s right hand, “Far above all principality, and power” (Ephesians 1:20–22). Peter preached the same order at Pentecost: “This Jesus hath God raised up”, and he was “by the right hand of God exalted” (Acts 2:32–33). Christ reigns now.

“That your faith and hope might be in God” gives the result. The word for “that” is hṓste, “so that”, which can mark result as well as purpose. Faith, pístis, is trust and conviction, reliance on God and his word. Here it rests on what God has already done in raising and glorifying Christ, and hope looks ahead to what he will yet do. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1), and the hope God gives “maketh not ashamed” (Romans 5:1–5). Its centre is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). The passage that began with hope in verse 13 ends with hope, and both times it is set on God. Peter has already named the Father, the Spirit and Jesus Christ together at work in our salvation (1 Peter 1:2), and here we see the Father raising and glorifying the Son so that we might trust him.

Living as people bought at such a price

Everything Peter asks in these verses grows out of what God has given. Our minds are made ready and our hope set fully on Christ’s coming because grace is on its way to us. Holiness is the family likeness of children whose Father is holy, and the fear Peter asks for is the awe of people who know their Judge is their Father and their ransom was the blood of his Son.

So the question for each of us is how the patterns we were handed, or drifted back into, still shape our days, and what it would look like to live in every corner of life as someone set apart for God. Peter’s answer is to look at the price. You were bought with the precious blood of Christ, planned for before the world began and revealed for you, and the God who raised him from the dead holds your faith and your hope.

Last revised

Public-domain commentary

Matthew Henry

From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers 1 Peter 1:13–23. He set out his notes in a four-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.

1662–1714 · 11 verses
Passage under comment1 Peter 1:13–23
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points(1.) (2.) Details[1.] [2.] Fine details

Here the apostle begins his exhortations to those whose glorious state he had before described, thereby instructing us that Christianity is a doctrine according to godliness, designed to make us not only wiser, but better.

I.He exhorts them to sobriety and holiness.

1.Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, etc., 1 Peter 1:13. As if he had said, "Wherefore, since you are so honoured and distinguished, as above, Gird up the loins of your mind. You have a journey to go, a race to run, a warfare to accomplish, and a great work to do; as the traveller, the racer, the warrior, and the labourer, gather in, and gird up, their long and loose garments, that they may be more ready, prompt, and expeditious in their business, so do you by your minds, your inner man, and affections seated there: gird them, gather them in, let them not hang loose and neglected about you; restrain their extravagances, and let the loins or strength and vigour of your minds be exerted in your duty; disengage yourselves from all that would hinder you, and go on resolutely in your obedience. Be sober, be vigilant against all your spiritual dangers and enemies, and be temperate and modest in eating, drinking, apparel, recreation, business, and in the whole of your behaviour. Be sober-mined also in opinion, as well as in practice, and humble in your judgment of yourselves." And hope to the end, for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Some refer this to the last judgment, as if the apostle directed their hope to the final revelation of Jesus Christ; but it seems more natural to take it, as it might be rendered, "Hope perfectly, or thoroughly, for the grace that is brought to you in or by the revelation of Jesus Christ; that is, by the gospel, which brings life and immortality to light. Hope perfectly, trust without doubting to that grace which is now offered to you by the gospel." Learn,

(1.)The main work of a Christian lies in the right management of his heart and mind; the apostle's first direction is to gird up the loins of the mind.

(2.)The best Christians have need to be exhorted to sobriety. These excellent Christians are put in mind of it; it is required of a bishop (1 Timothy 3:2), of aged men (Titus 2:2), the young women are to be taught it, and the young men are directed to be sober-minded, Titus 2:4, Titus 2:6.

(3.)A Christian's work is not over as soon as he has got into a state of grace; he must still hope and strive for more grace. When he has entered the strait gate, he must still walk in the narrow way, and gird up the loins of his mind for that purpose.

(4.)A strong and perfect trust in God's grace is very consistent with our best endeavours in our duty; we must hope perfectly, and yet gird up our loins, and address ourselves vigorously to the work we have to do, encouraging ourselves from the grace of Jesus Christ.

2.As obedient children, etc., 1 Peter 1:14. These words may be taken as a rule of holy living, which is both positive - "You ought to live as obedient children, as those whom God hath adopted into his family, and regenerated by his grace;" and negative - "You must not fashion yourselves according to the former lusts, in your ignorance." Or the words may be taken as an argument to press them to holiness from the consideration of what they now are, children of obedience, and what they were when they lived in lust and ignorance. Learn,

(1.)The children of God ought to prove themselves to be such by their obedience to God, by their present, constant, universal obedience.

(2.)The best of God's children have had their times of lust and ignorance; the time has been when the whole scheme of their lives, their way and fashion, was to accommodate and gratify their unlawful desires and vicious appetites, being grossly ignorant of God and themselves, of Christ and the gospel.

(3.)Persons, when converted, differ exceedingly from what they were formerly. They are people of another fashion and manner from what they were before; their inward frame, behaviour, speech, and conversation, are much altered from what they were in times past.

(4.)The lusts and extravagances of sinners are both the fruits and the signs of their ignorance.

3.But as he who hath called you, etc., 1 Peter 1:15, 1 Peter 1:16. Here is a noble rule enforced by strong arguments: Be you holy in all manner of conversation. Who is sufficient for this? And yet it is required in strong terms, and enforced by three reasons, taken from the grace of God in calling us, - from his command, it is written, - and from his example. Be you holy, for I am holy. Learn,

(1.)The grace of God in calling a sinner is a powerful engagement to holiness. It is a great favour to be called effectually by divine grace out of a state of sin and misery into the possession of all the blessings of the new covenant; and great favours are strong obligations; they enable as well as oblige to be holy.

(2.)Complete holiness is the desire and duty of every Christian. Here is a two-fold rule of holiness:

[1.]It must, for the extent of it, be universal. We must be holy, and be so in all manner of conversation; in all civil and religious affairs, in every condition, prosperous or reverse; towards all people, friends and enemies; in all our intercourse and business still we must be holy.

[2.]For the pattern of it. We must be holy, as God is holy: we must imitate him, though we can never equal him. He is perfectly, unchangeably, and eternally holy; and we should aspire after such a state. The consideration of the holiness of God should oblige as to the highest degree of holiness we can attain unto.

(3.)The written word of God is the surest rule of a Christian's life, and by this rule we are commanded to be holy every way.

(4.)The Old Testament commands are to be studied and obeyed in the times of the New Testament; the apostle, by virtue of a command delivered several times by Moses, requires holiness in all Christians.

4.If you call on the Father, etc., 1 Peter 1:17. The apostle does not there express any doubt at all whether these Christians would call upon their heavenly Father, but supposes they would certainly do it, and from this argues with them to pass the time of their sojourning here in fear: "If you own the great God as a Father and a Judge, you ought to live the time of your sojourning here in his fear." Learn,

(1.)All good Christians look upon themselves in this world as pilgrims and strangers, as strangers in a distant country, passing to another, to which they properly belong, Psalm 39:12; Hebrews 11:13.

(2.)The whole time of our sojourning here is to be passed in the fear of God.

(3.)The consideration of God as a Judge is not improper for those who can truly call him Father. Holy confidence in God as a Father, an awful fear of him as a Judge, are very consistent; to regard God as a Judge is a singular means to endear him to us as a Father.

(4.)The judgment of God will be without respect of persons: According to every man's work. No external relation to him will protect any; the Jew may call God Father and Abraham father, but God will not respect persons, nor favour their cause, from personal considerations, but judge them according to their work. The works of men will in the great day discover their persons; God will make all the world to know who are his by their works. We are obliged to faith, holiness, and obedience, and our works will be an evidence whether we have complied with our obligations or not.

5.The apostle having extorted them to pass the time of their sojourning in the fear of God from this consideration, that they called on the Father, he adds (1 Peter 1:18) a second argument: Because or forasmuch as you were not redeemed with corruptible things, etc. Herein he puts them in mind,

(1.)That they were redeemed, or bought back again, by a ransom paid to the Father.

(2.)What the price paid for their redemption was: Not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.

(3.)From what they were redeemed: From a vain conversation received by tradition.

(4.)They knew this: Forasmuch as you know, and cannot pretend ignorance of this great affair. Learn,

[1.]The consideration of our redemption ought to be a constant and powerful inducement to holiness, and the fear of God.

[2.]God expects that a Christian should live answerably to what he knows, and therefore we have great need to be put in mind of what we already know, Psalm 39:4.

[3.]Neither silver nor gold, nor any of the corruptible things of this world, can redeem so much as one soul. They are often snares, temptations, and hindrances to man's salvation, but they can by no means purchase or procure it; they are corruptible, and therefore cannot redeem an incorruptible and immortal soul.

[4.]The blood of Jesus Christ is the only price of man's redemption. The redemption of man is real, not metaphorical. We are bought with a price, and the price is equal to the purchase, for it is the precious blood of Christ; it is the blood of an innocent person, a lamb without blemish and without spot, whom the paschal lamb represented, and of an infinite person, being the Son of God, and therefore it is called the blood of God, Acts 20:28.

[5.]The design of Christ in shedding his most precious blood was to redeem us, not only from eternal misery hereafter, but from a vain conversation in this world. That conversation is vain which is empty, frivolous, trifling, and unserviceable to the honour of God, the credit of religion, the conviction of unbelievers, and the comfort and satisfaction of a man's own conscience. Not only the open wickedness, but the vanity and unprofitableness of our conversation are highly dangerous.

[6.]A man's conversation may carry an appearance of devotion, and may plead antiquity, custom, and tradition, in its defence, and yet after all be a most vain conversation. The Jews had a deal to say from these heads, for all their formalities; and yet their conversation was so vain that only the blood of Christ could redeem them from it. Antiquity is no certain rule of verity, nor is it a wise resolution, "I will live and die in such a way, because my forefathers did so."

6.Having mentioned the price of redemption, the apostle goes on to speak of some things relating both to the Redeemer and the redeemed, 1 Peter 1:20, 1 Peter 1:21.

(1.)The Redeemer is further described, not only as a Lamb without spot, but as one,

[1.]That was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, fore-ordained or foreknown. When prescience is ascribed to God, it implies more than bare prospect or speculation. It imports an act of the will, a resolution that the thing shall be, Acts 2:23. God did not only foreknow, but determine and decree, that his Son should die for man, and this decree was before the foundation of the world. Time and the world began together; before the commencement of time there was nothing but eternity.

[2.]That was manifested in these last days for them. He was manifested or demonstrated to be that Redeemer whom God had fore-ordained. He was manifested by his birth, by his Father's testimony, and by his own works, especially by his resurrection from the dead, Romans 1:4. "This was done in these last times of the New Testament and of the gospel, for you, you Jews, you sinners, you afflicted ones; you have the comfort of the manifestation and appearance of Christ, if you believe on him." [3.] That was raised from the dead by the Father, who gave him glory. The resurrection of Christ, considered as an act of power, is common to all the three persons, but as an act of judgment it is peculiar to the Father, who as a Judge released Christ, raised him from the grave, and gave him glory, proclaimed him to all the world to be his Son by his resurrection from the dead, advanced him to heaven, crowned him with glory and honour, invested him with all power in heaven and earth, and glorified him with that glory which he had with God before the world was.

(2.)The redeemed are also described here by their faith and hope, the cause of which is Jesus Christ: "You do by him believe in God - by him as the author, encourager, support, and finisher of your faith; your faith and hope now may be in God, as reconciled to you by Christ the Mediator."

(3.)From all this we learn,

[1.]The decree of God to send Christ to be a Mediator was from everlasting, and was a just and merciful decree, which yet does not at all excuse man's sin in crucifying him, Acts 2:23. God had purposes of special favour towards his people long before he made any manifestations of such grace to them.

[2.]Great is the happiness of the last times in comparison with what the former ages of the world enjoyed. The clearness of light, the supports of faith, the efficacy of ordinances, and the proportion of comforts - these are all much greater since the manifestation of Christ than they were before. Our gratitude and services should be suitable to such favours.

[3.]The redemption of Christ belongs to none but true believers. A general impetration is asserted by some and denied by others, but none pretend to a general application of Christ's death for the salvation of all. Hypocrites and unbelievers will be ruined for ever, notwithstanding the death of Christ.

[4.]God in Christ is the ultimate object of a Christian's faith, which is strongly supported by the resurrection of Christ, and the glory that did follow.

II.He exhorts them to brotherly love.

1.He supposes that the gospel had already had such an effect upon them as to purify their souls while they obeyed it through the Spirit, and that it had produced at least an unfeigned love of the brethren; and thence he argues with them to proceed to a higher degree of affection, to love one another with a pure heart fervently, 1 Peter 1:22. Learn,

(1.)It is not to be doubted but that every sincere Christian purifies his soul. The apostle takes this for granted: Seeing you have, etc. To purify the soul supposes some great uncleanness and defilement which had polluted it, and that this defilement is removed. Neither the Levitical purifications under the law, nor the hypocritical purifications of the outward man, can effect this.

(2.)The word of God is the great instrument of a sinner's purification: Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth. The gospel is called truth, in opposition to types and shadows, to error and falsehood. This truth is effectual to purify the soul, if it be obeyed, John 17:17. Many hear the truth, but are never purified by it, because they will not submit to it nor obey it.

(3.)The Spirit of God is the great agent in the purification of man's soul. The Spirit convinces the soul of its impurities, furnishes those virtues and graces that both adorn and purify, such as faith (Acts 15:9), hope (1 John 3:3), the fear of God (Psalm 34:9), and the love of Jesus Christ. The Spirit excites our endeavours, and makes them successful. The aid of the Spirit does not supersede our own industry; these people purified their own souls, but it was through the Spirit.

(4.)The souls of Christians must be purified before they can so much as love one another unfeignedly. There are such lusts and partialities in man's nature that without divine grace we can neither love God nor one another as we ought to do; there is no charity but out of a pure heart.

(5.)It is the duty of all Christians sincerely and fervently to love one another. Our affection to one another must be sincere and real, and it must be fervent, constant, and extensive.

2.He further presses upon Christians the duty of loving one another with a pure heart fervently from the consideration of their spiritual relation; they are all born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible, etc. Hence we may learn,

(1.)That all Christians are born again. The apostle speaks of it as what is common to all serious Christians, and by this they are brought into a new and a near relation to one another, they become brethren by their new birth.

(2.)The word of God is the great means of regeneration, James 1:18. The grace of regeneration is conveyed by the gospel.

(3.)This new and second birth is much more desirable and excellent than the first. This the apostle teaches by preferring the incorruptible to the corruptible seed. By the one we become the children of men, by the other the sons and daughters of the Most High. The word of God being compared to seed teaches us that though it is little in appearance, yet it is wonderful in operation, though it lies hid awhile, yet it grows up and produces excellent fruit at last.

(4.)Those that are regenerate should love one another with a pure heart fervently. Brethren by nature are bound to love one another; but the obligation is double where there is a spiritual relation: they are under the same government, partake of the same privileges, and have embarked in the same interest.

(5.)The word of God lives and abides for ever. This word is a living word, or a lively word, Hebrews 4:12. It is a means of spiritual life, to begin it and preserve in it, animating and exciting us in our duty, till it brings us to eternal life: and it is abiding; it remains eternally true, and abides in the hearts of the regenerate for ever.

Historical interpretation

Nine Centuries of Reception

4 surviving comments on this verse. Each one is dated, so this reads as a timeline rather than a list.

4 quotes · AD 215–1107
Ante-NicenePost-NiceneEarly MedievalMedieval
20030040050060070080090010001100

Select a marker to jump to its quote. Markers stagger vertically where authors wrote within a few decades of each other.

d. AD 215Clement of AlexandriaAnte-NiceneSourceThe Stromata Book 3
And Peter in his epistle says the same: "So that your faith and hope may be in God, because you have purified your souls in obedience to the truth," "as obedient children, not behaving after the fashion of the lusts in which in your ignorance you formerly indulged; but as he who has called you is holy, so also must you be holy in all your conduct; as it is written, Be ye holy for I am holy."
d. AD 735BedeEarly MedievalSourceCommentary on the Catholic Epistles
As children of obedience, etc. Rightly he wishes them to be children of obedience, whom he had called elect in the preface to the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.
AD 990Pseudo-OecumeniusEarly MedievalSourceCommentary on 1 Peter
Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope perfectly for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, in your ignorance: but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written: "Be holy, for I am holy." [Lev. 19:2]
For this reason, an exhortation is brought forth from those things which were previously held in honor. For when it was said, The prophets provided you with what concerns your salvation, and these were so admirable that even angels were made agreeable: and that they themselves also demonstrated that these things were agreeable in that they sweetly sang from abundant joy at the birth of Christ, "Glory to God in the highest." (Luke 1:14) Therefore, having said this, he adds for their sake, saying: "Since these things have been administered to you all, both agreeable and most desirable, not only to men but also to angels, therefore do not be negligent in being affected by these things, but directing yourselves and arranging yourselves with courage. For this signifies the girding of the loins: which Job was also commanded by God. (Job 38,40) He explains what he means by loins, saying that they refer to those who are of the mind. Therefore, he says, prepared, perfectly sober, hope perfectly in the grace that is brought to you. Moreover, this is what he said a little earlier, concerning the second coming of the Lord; consider that he did not simply say, "Sober," but added "perfectly," as if the law had provided a slender and introductory soberness.
Conforming [Συσχηματιζειν], however, means to shape and adapt oneself to the present circumstances. This is also what some foolish people now say: Conform yourself to affairs and business. Therefore, it commands to renounce such vanities: whether those who were previously knowledgeable and wise, or those who ignorantly clung to these. But now, he says, you, and those like you, be holy yourselves.
d. AD 1107Theophylact of OhridMedievalSourceCOMMENTARY ON 1 PETER
To be conformed to the things of this world means to be surrounded by them. Even today there are some weak-willed people who say that when they are in Rome, they have to do as the Romans do. But whether they do this knowingly or in ignorance, the message here is clear. We are to abandon this world and be conformed to the One who alone is truly holy.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.

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