ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 Peter 1.15-16

Book: 1 Peter · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

13. Wherefore girding up the loins of your mind, be sober and set your hope perfectly on the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14. as children of obedience, not fashioning yourselves according to your former lusts in the time of your ignorance:

15. but like as he who called you is holy, be ye yourselves also holy in all manner of living; 16. because it is written, Ye shall be holy; for I am holy.

  1. And if ye call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to each man's work, pass the time of your sojourning in fear: 18. knowing that ye were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from your vain manner of life handed down from your fathers; (1 Peter 1:13-18, ASV)
WEB

13. Therefore prepare your minds for action, be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, 14. as children of obedience, not conforming yourselves according to your former lusts as in your ignorance,

15. but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; 16. because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy.”

  1. If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man’s work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear: 18. knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, (1 Peter 1:13-18, WEB)
KJV

13. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; to the end: Gr. perfectly 14. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:

15. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16. Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

  1. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: 18. Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; (1 Peter 1:13-18, KJV)
YLT

13. Wherefore having girded up the loins of your mind, being sober, hope perfectly upon the grace that is being brought to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ, 14. as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves to the former desires in your ignorance,

15. but according as He who did call you [is] holy, ye also, become holy in all behaviour, 16. because it hath been written, 'Become ye holy, because I am holy;'

  1. and if on the Father ye do call, who without acceptance of persons is judging according to the work of each, in fear the time of your sojourn pass ye, 18. having known that, not with corruptible things, silver or gold, were ye redeemed from your foolish behaviour delivered by fathers, (1 Peter 1:13-18, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Peter the apostle, writing with the help of Silvanus (1 Pet 5:12).
  • Audience: Christians described as "those who reside as aliens, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia" (1 Pet 1:1), five Roman provinces in northern and central Asia Minor. The audience is largely Gentile (1 Pet 1:18, a futile way of life inherited from their forefathers; 4:3-4).
  • Location: Written from "Babylon" (1 Pet 5:13), which the great majority of interpreters read as a cipher for Rome, as in Revelation 17:5.
  • Time period: c. AD 62-64 on the traditional authorship, before or at the very beginning of the Neronian persecution. The hostility the letter addresses is social and local, slander, exclusion, and abuse, rather than empire-wide legal prosecution.

Theological reading

"...but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, You shall be holy, for I am holy."

The quotation. From Leviticus 11:44-45, repeated at Leviticus 19:2 and 20:7. In Leviticus the command frames the dietary and purity legislation that marked Israel off from the nations. Peter applies it, unaltered, to Gentile converts in Asia Minor.

What "holy" means here. Hagios is first a relational term, set apart to God, and only derivatively a moral one. Peter's logic is that the readers' separateness follows from whose they are: "like the Holy One who called you." The behavior is a consequence of the calling, not the qualification for it, which is why verse 15 puts the caller first.

"In all your behavior." Anastrophē, manner of life, is one of the letter's key words (six occurrences), and it is always public: the way of life inherited from the fathers (verse 18), excellent behavior among the Gentiles (2:12), the wife's behavior observed by an unbelieving husband (3:1-2). Holiness in 1 Peter is visible to hostile neighbors, which is the whole point of the letter's strategy.

Israel's vocabulary transferred. This is the first of several places where Peter reassigns Israel's identity markers to a largely Gentile church, culminating in 1 Peter 2:9-10. He does so without argument, which suggests the move was already uncontroversial among his readers.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.