Sermon & translation by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church Manhattan KS, 31 May 2015
13
Therefore,
after girding up the loins of y’all’s mind,
being sober,
perfectly start hoping upon the grace
which is being brought to y’all in the revelation of Jesus
Christ.
14 As children of
obedience,
not being shaped with [your] earlier desires during your ignorance,
15 but rather, in
accordance with the Holy One who called you,
you yourselves should also start becoming
holy
in all [your] lifestyle,
16 because it has been written, “Y’all shall be holy because I myself am holy.”
· I am skipping over v.13 because we looked in depth at that verse at the beginning of this year. Just to refresh your memory, that was the sermon where I demonstrated “girding up your loins” with a middle-eastern man’s skirt and talked about how it applied to our minds by:
o getting rid of junk information that you don’t need to be thinking about,
o filling your mind with Bible truth which prepares your minds for action in spiritual battle!
o and using the love of God to limit your rebellion against God.
With a girded and sober mind we can hope as God wants us to hope
· Next, in verses 14-16, we come to the topic of holiness.
· Now, there are a lot of misguided ideas about holiness:
o Often we think of holiness in lateral terms rather than horizontal.
§ Someone who is “holier-than-thou” seems to be comparing himself (or herself) to other people, rather than to God as the standard of holiness.
§ As long as they are slightly above average in some areas they can feel good about themselves.
§ But this is not what the Bible means when it talks about holiness. The standard of holiness is not human; the standard of holiness is God. That’s why v.16 does not say, “Be holier than your neighbor,” rather it says, “Be ye holy as I [the Lord] am holy.”
o Another problem is that we think of holiness as merely “differentness”
§ Now, this does begin to get at the meaning of holiness, because holiness has to do with uniqueness, but that uniqueness is a relational uniqueness – a special relationship to God; it is not a uniqueness based on simply being different from other people.
§ The Holiness churches around Lookout Mountain, GA where I lived for a time may have started with a good idea – the idea that if you were a Christian, you would be different from the world, but what I observed when I lived there was that they believed that if you were a Christian, you would not use instruments in worship, you would not watch TV or movies, you would not drink alcohol, you would not go to doctors, and furthermore, a holy woman would never cut her hair or wear pants, and, as far as I could tell, it was those outward practices which defined their sense of holiness.
§ But to be holy does not necessarily mean to look freakish or weird to other people; it is not about looking different for the sake of being different.
§ Any differences between you and the world around you should stem out of who you are as a child of God. Of course your relationship with God will lead you to do things which are different from the world which does not have a good relationship with God – it may even lead to doing some of the things those Lookout Mountain Holiness folks practiced, but the reason for that differentness must be to match your lifestyle to the God you are relating to, rather than simply to look different from other people.
§ By the same token, if you feel compelled to get a tattoo just because everybody else in the Army has a tattoo, or, for you K-Staters, if you feel like you have to wear purple because everybody else in town does – in other words, if you are afraid to look different, then that is a sign that your life is organized around what other people think of you rather than what God thinks of you, and that’s the opposite of holiness.
o Confusion also surrounds what it means for God to be holy. The pastor under whom I grew up often mentioned an anecdote about a country boy who was learning the Lord’s Prayer. He said, “Our Father in heaven, who hollered my name, let your will be done...”
§ What does it mean that God is “holy” and that His name is “hallowed”?
§ Does it mean He is aloof and hard to get to know? That is certainly not how the Bible portrays God.
§ Does it mean He looks like he is on a drug trip and has a funny circle around His head as some artists portray Jesus? No. Holy does not mean “oddball” it means “special” in a good sense: God is the kind of person that you will enjoy being with more than anyone else in the universe because He makes you feel special to Him and like nothing else matters.
· Now, the central command in this passage is:
· In Greek, a command in the Aorist tense (like this one is) can be considered to focus on a particular point in time, particularly the starting point, so this command to be holy can be translated “start becoming holy and make it your life practice.[1]”
· The late Dr. Jack Arnold was the father of a friend of mine in college and a pastor in the Presbyterian Church in America. In a sermon he composed on this very passage, he noted that, “Peter has a process in view. Holiness is not an immediate, once-and-for-all transformation. Rather, it is a lifelong process. In fact, no one ever attains to complete holiness in this earthly life, but one does become progressively more God-like. Holiness, therefore, is not perfection but progression in Christ-likeness. It is not a once-and-for-all act but a continued process involving thousands of actions. Many naïve Christians think the Christian life is a Cinderella story—a fairy godmother waves her magic wand, and suddenly we are transformed with no more sin. But the problem is that when midnight comes, the whole thing falls apart. Then we wonder whether we have ever been saved at all. We must understand that the Christian life is not like Cinderella but is a war story in which true believers struggle to overcome sin every day of their lives. Through this process we will win the war, but we may lose some battles along the way... A holy person is a singleminded person... who has fixed his eyes on a goal—total conformity to God—although he will reach this goal only in eternity.”
· Now, in verses 14 and 15 there are four phrases which tell us how to obey this command, followed by a reason for this command in v.16, so let me organize the body of my sermon around these four phrases in verses 14 & 16 which tell us how to be holy.
· Remember that this epistle of Peter was addressed, in v.2, to “pilgrims elected... for the purpose of obedience and sprinkling by His blood...” so this obedience is God’s plan for His children, but this is a limited audience, namely children of God. Only those who have been born again by the regeneration of the Holy Spirit can obey this command to be holy.
· This genitive in v.14 “of obedience” can be taken two ways:
1. children who became children due to an act of obedience – we became children of God because of the obedience of Christ to the point of death on a cross,
2. yet we are also children who are obedient – characterized by our own obedience to God, modeled after Christ’s obedience[2].
· To continue quoting Jack Miller, “Every Christian is a child of obedience. Peter is speaking categorically; therefore, this is the character, nature or constitution of every true Christian... a child of God is made a partaker of the divine nature which impels and motivates him to obedience (2 Pet. 1:4). The ‘sons of disobedience,’ on the other hand, according to Ephesians 2:3, ‘conduct themselves in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and are by nature children of wrath’ (cf. Col. 1:21).”
· So that’s the context, the kind of people who can and do obey this command.
· If you are not in that relationship with God as your heavenly Father, that’s where you need to start. It’s pointless for you to try to obey this command because you will fail and you will get it all wrong. Don’t start with trying to be holy, start with asking God to save you and make you His child.
· The only other place in the Greek Bible that this verb “conformed/shaped” occurs is Romans 12:2,“I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is Your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom. 12:1-2, NKJV)
· The way the Greek word for “conformed/shaped” is spelled, it could be interpreted as being in the middle (or reflexive) voice (“not fashioning yourselves to the former lusts”) as the KJV reads, or it could be interpreted as passive voice (“not being conformed to the former lusts”). Either way is valid.
o There are ways that the world around us tries to squeeze us into its mold,
o and there are also ways that we compromise with the world because we foolishly fear being left out or despised if we don’t make those accommodations.
o Both these internal and these external pressures to conform must be resisted.
· Concerning these lusts, classic commentator A.R. Fausset wrote, “Lusts flow from the original birth-sin (inherited from our first parents, who by self-willed desire brought sin into the world), the lust which, ever since man has been alienated from God, seeks to fill up with earthly things the emptiness of his being... In the regenerate, as far as the new man is concerned, which constitutes his truest self, ‘sin’ no longer exists; but in the flesh or old man it does. Hence arises the conflict, uninterruptedly maintained through life, wherein the new man in the main prevails, and at last completely. But the natural man knows only the combat of his lusts with one another, or with the law, without power to conquer them.”
· “Before these Asian Christians were saved, they molded themselves like plastic to the world. Whatever the world was seeking, they sought. Whatever the world was doing, they did. In their unsaved states, they were characterized as children of the world. Now that we Christians are saved, we do not let the old world system become our pattern.” ~Jack Miller
· Later on Peter says in 1 Peter 4:1-3 “...since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.” (NKJV)
· Now, Desires are not all bad. Earlier in v.12 we saw that angels coveted to look into our salvation with the same kind of passionate desire, but Peter clearly defines what kind of desires to resist conforming or shaping us: these are the “earlier desires” – the kinds of desires that ruled your life before you became a Christian, the kinds of lusts and passions which you had when you were spiritually ignorant and did not know God.
· This is not to say, by the way, that God won’t punish those who are ignorant of Him. As we noted from Psalm 19 and Romans 1,
o everybody has some knowledge of God revealed through creation itself which they have suppressed,
o and, as Romans goes on to prove, everybody has some internal sense of right and wrong, which they have violated, and so no one is without excuse.
o As Gordon Clark put it in his commentary, “Ignorance may lessen the penalty but it does not abolish it” (Luke 12:47-48).
· Another misunderstanding concerning this “ignorance” is addressed by John Calvin in his commentary: he noted that Peter was not using the word “ignorance” in the Platonic sense – which is much like the modern Humanistic sense of a lack of education. Biblically, the opposite of “ignorance” is “repentance.” This word “ignorance” only occurs in three other places in the New Testament, and they all describe life before believing in Jesus:
o Acts 3:13-19 The God of... our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate... and killed the Prince of life... 17 "Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers. But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out...” (NKJV)
o Acts 17:29-30 “Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising. Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent...” (NKJV)
o Ephesians 4:17-20 “...walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. But you did not learn Christ in this way...” (NASB)
· Entering into the holiness into which our Holy God calls us involves moving away from old desires that are not God-directed, and moving toward – not merely knowledge about but also – relational knowledge of God. Holiness is not man-centered, it is God-centered, and that leads us to the next point:
· The standard of our holiness is not the opinion of some human being. The standard of our holiness is that of God Himself.
o Too many Christians take a certain set of rules, such as, “I don’t drink and I don’t chew and I don’t go with girls that do,” as the standard of Christianity, and they are good at enforcing that on each other, but in doing so, many miss the Gospel train altogether because they were watching each other or paying attention to a human leader instead of looking at God.
o Concerning this, John Calvin noted, “We are too ready to look to men, so as to follow their common way of living.... [But God says, No] ‘I’m the one you have to deal with; you are mine; so abstain from the pollutions of the Gentiles.’”
o Another problem of looking to men for the rules is that nobody perfectly obeys all of God’s rules, so if you are following another person, you are going to overlook whole sections of God’s law because that other person overlooks them.
§ For instance, when I lived on Lookout Mountain, Georgia, one of my neighbors invited me to attend his Holiness church service. I enjoyed the enthusiastic singing and the modest-looking dress of the people, but I was appalled at the flagrant violations of Paul’s instructions on how to conduct worship services.
§ I’m sure every one of us could come up with a story of how Christians in some church obeyed some Biblical commands but not others.
§ And that goes for our church too; we’re not perfect. I am not your standard for holiness; God is. Anybody that simply tries to imitate me is headed for a train wreck.
· Our standard of comparison is “the Holy One who called you.” Let’s consider who this is for a moment: What does it mean that God is holy?
o It starts with God being fundamentally different from man. If all personality were of the same class, there could be no holiness, only exclusivity, as one person excluded the company of another. But because there is a transcendent God, there can be holiness.
o When God created man, He remained distinct from man but invited man into fellowship with Him, while also laying down boundaries for participating in that fellowship. “Eat from these trees and survive; don’t eat from that tree or you’ll die” (Gen. 2).
o Adam and Eve broke God’s law and broke fellowship with God, destroying that fellowship in holiness with God for all their descendents.
o God, however, did not give up on mankind but arranged for His son to suffer the curse of death to fulfill the demands of His justice and holiness and re-open the bridge of fellowship with Him and participation in His holiness.
o The people who trusted in Him to bring them back into the circle of fellowship with Him also entered into the circle of His holiness, demonstrating God’s character traits and avoiding anything that demonstrated rebellion against God or dissonance with His character.
· The holiness of God has to do with Him being set apart from human nature and also had to do with all His good character qualities, such as love, goodness, justice, mercy, faithfulness, integrity, etc.
· The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says of the word “qadosh/holy,” “The separation of men from what defiles ceremonially is but typical of the holiness that is spiritual and ethical... Man was made in the image of God and capable of reflecting the Divine likeness. And as God reveals himself as ethically holy, he calls men to a holiness resembling his own... The title ‘The Holy One of Israel’ is applied to God numerous times in the OT, but is especially frequent in the prophecy of Isaiah (in all parts). It serves to place the sins of Isaiah's society in stark contrast to God's moral perfection (Isa 30:11) and expresses God's absolute separation from evil (Isa 17:7).”[3]
· It was this God who “called” you.
o We looked at the doctrine of God’s calling back when I preached on First Corinthians 1:9 (Audio: http://www.ctrchurch-mhk.org/sermons/ctr100508.mp3 | Text: http://www.ctrchurch-mhk.org/sermons/1Cor01_01_09.htm ) “God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ, our Lord.” (NAW)
o The God who is there personally outside of our human existence and experience, created us to be able to relate to Him, but we chose to act in rebellion against Him and stand outside the circle of His holiness.
o He, nevertheless chose to redeem us by covering the penalty for our rebellion through Jesus’ death on the cross and to draw those whom He redeemed back into fellowship with him, as it says in Romans 8:30, “Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.” (NKJV)
o This means we must enter that circle of His holiness.
o Although we are not morally or spiritually capable of stepping into that circle of holiness, the Holy One who is determined to bring us into that circle will, along with His invitation, provide the supernatural and moral ability to step into that circle.
o I am reminded of an interaction I had with my daughter last week. I invited her to unload the dishwasher with me, but some of the clean dishes were stored in cabinets which were way too high for my little girl to reach. At one point, she grabbed a measuring cup and asked me where it goes. I told her it went way up in the top cabinet. She kinda shrank back when she realized it would be a difficult climb for her, at the end of which she still might not even be able to reach the shelf where we store the measuring cups. I knew she was going to need some help with this, but I didn’t tell her how I was going to help her. I just said, “Go over to that part of the kitchen and face the cabinet.” As soon as she obeyed me, I picked her up from behind and lifted her eye-level with that high cabinet, and she popped that measuring cup right into place. When I set her down, her eyes were sparkling, because what she did was a big deal, and it was fun because I helped her do it. And that’s kind-of how I see it can be with us when we respond to God’s call to be holy, even when we know it’s not within our ability, when we step over and face the cabinet, He will sweep us off the ground and help us reach the goal He has set for us.
o “‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9, NKJV).
o Now, how high are we going to have to reach for holiness?
· Peter, more than any other Bible author, talks about anastrofe/lifestyle/conduct/behavior:
o 1 Peter 1:18 You are redeemed from the empty lifestyle inherited from your ancestors
o 1 Peter 2:12 We are called to maintain a virtuous lifestyle in the midst of the nations. (cf. 3:16)
o 1 Peter 3:1-2 A husband can be won over by his wife’s pure and reverent lifestyle.
o 2 Peter 2:7 – Lawless men lead oppressive and filthy lifestyles,
o 2 Peter 3:11 – but holy and godly lifestyles are necessary in light of God’s judgment.
· A literalistic way of interpreting these Greek words could also be, “be holy at every turn.”
o This is not just an occasional holiness like on Sundays when you go to church, while living like the devil the other six days of the week,
o nor is it a superficial holiness that affects only a few areas of your life, such as your speech or your love life. The standard of God’s holy character is to be systematically applied to every area of your life – everything you do, from your driving habits to your eating habits to your business deals to your study habits, your recreational habits, your viewing habits, your personal health, your relationships with neighbors, your treatment of God’s creation, your daily schedule, everything!
o God is big enough that He will not be content to rule only parts of your life in fits and spurts. His goal is your total obedience and your total salvation, or, another way of putting it, your total transformation into His love, His justice, His peace, His truth, and His joy – which are all part of His holiness.
· “There is no such thing as a division of the sacred and the secular. Holiness is to reach into every facet of our existence.” ~Jack Arnold
· Now, that doesn’t mean we will ever be equals with God. John Calvin pointed out, “In bidding us to be holy like Himself, the proportion is not that of equals; but we ought to advance in this direction as far as our condition will bear.” Although we will never be God, we will become more and more like Him.
· Now we come to reason behind this command to be holy:
· It is written in three places, all of which are in the book of Leviticus:
o Lev. 11:44 “For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore consecrate yourselves, and you shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves...”
o Lev. 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: ‘You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.’”
o Lev. 20:26 “And you shall be holy to Me, for I the LORD am holy, and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be Mine.
· All three Hebrew texts from Leviticus containing this quote employ the Qal Imperfect form[4], which can be translated as a simple Future, or it can be translated as an Imperative command, and, as a result some Greek manuscripts – and some English translations (such as the KJV and NIV) – rendered it as an Imperative (“Be ye holy”), while others rendered it as a Future (“You shall be holy”). It works either way, and, in fact, I think we can apply it both ways:
o It can indeed be interpreted as an Imperative: “You must be holy.” Don’t follow the unholiness of being conformed to the world; follow instead the pattern of God’s character of holiness. This is a command from God.
o In addition, I think it can be interpreted as a plain and simple Future: “You are going to be as holy as I am one day,” says God. And when Jesus comes back and gives you that glorified body and inaugurates your final freedom from sin, you certainly are going to be holy like God is holy, and it’s going to be great!
o It’s kinda like when your mom says, “Young man,” or “Young lady, you are going to tell the truth,” and you know it means that this time you must not lie about the fact that you broke that vase or broke that rule or had that run-in with the police, or whatever it was, and, by the same token, your mother’s determination to train you out of telling lies is going to eventually pay off as you become a person who can be depended upon to tell the truth.
o Do you see how, “You shall be holy,” can be both an Imperative command and a Future prediction for a Christian?
· It is noteworthy that Peter didn’t just say, “Hey, I’m the Pope, so you have to obey me. Now, be holy!” He instead used Scripture as the authority behind what he is instructing the church to do. This should tell us something about the authority of scripture.
o The things that God said and that He had his prophets write down in scripture are to be treated as of utmost importance. There is no higher authority. That is why the Bible is so special to us.
o God said, “Be holy for I am holy;” He had Moses record that for his posterity in Leviticus, then God tells Peter to repeat it to the church, “Be holy at every turn.”
o And we must cultivate this kind of holiness because this command is backed up, not by mere scientific study, not by the force of a democratic majority, not by the fiat of some bishop or pope, but by the absolute authority of the Bible.
· Does that seem like a tall order to you? How can I possibly get more holy? I don’t have it in me to get any holier. I’ve tried and failed. True, it’s not within the power of your fleshly humanity, but God’s command to be holy is not some cruel cosmic joke.
o Commentator A.R. Fausset wrote, “God, in giving the command, is willing to give also the power to obey it, namely, through the sanctifying of the Spirit.”
o Remember back in v.2, you have the Spirit of God at work within you. And his name is the what Spirit? The Holy Spirit! It is no mere coincidence that God commands you to be holy and then sends the Spirit whose name is “Holy” into you to make you holy.
o “The hand that points us to holiness is the hand which extends... grace to make us holy [by] degrees in this life. The flesh says, “I can’t do it!” Then God steps in and says, “Let me do it. You must trust Me by faith and do the things I tell you in My Word, and I will give you power!” ~Jack Arnold
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GNT-V |
NAW |
KJV |
NKJV |
ESV |
NASB |
NIV |
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13 Διὸ ἀναζωσάμενοι τὰς ὀσφύας τῆς διανοίας ὑμῶν, νήφοντες, τελείως ἐλπίσατε ἐπὶ τὴν φερομένην ὑμῖν χάριν ἐν ἀποκαλύψει ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ. |
13 Therefore, after girding up the loins of y’all’s mind, being sober, perfectly start hoping upon the grace which is being brought to y’all in the revelation of Jesus Christ. |
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; |
13 Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is [to be] brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; |
13 Therefore, preparing your mind[s for action], and being sober[-minded], set your hope fully on the grace that [will] be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. |
13 Therefore, prepare your mind[s for action], keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace [to be] brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. |
13 Therefore, prepare your mind[s for action]; be
self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace [to be] |
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14 ὡς τέκνα ὑπακοῆςGSF μὴ συσχηματιζόμενοιPEP-NPM ταῖς πρότερονADV-C ἐν τῃ ἀγνοίᾳ ὑμῶν ἐπιθυμίαις[5], |
14 As children of obedience, not being shaped with [your] earlier desires during your ignorance, |
14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: |
14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; |
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, |
14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, |
14 As obedient children, do not conform to the |
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15 ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν καλέσανταAAP-ASM ὑμᾶς ἅγιονASM καὶ αὐτοὶ ἅγιοι ἐν πάσῃ ἀναστροφῃ[6] γενήθητεAOM-2P · |
15 but rather, in accordance with the Holy One who called you, you yourselves should also start becoming holy in all [your] lifestyle, |
15 But as he which hath called you [is] holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; |
15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, |
15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all [your] conduct, |
15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; |
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy X in all youX doX; |
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16 διότι γέγραπται ·[7] ἅγιοι εσεσθε[8] ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιος εἰμι[9]. |
16 because it has been written, “Y’all shall be holy because I myself am holy.” |
16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. |
16 because it is written, "BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." |
16 since it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." |
16 because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY." |
16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." |
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Lev 11:44 ... ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε, ὅτι ἅγιός εἰμι ἐγὼ ... |
Lev 11:44 Qal Pf. 2mp + v.c. וִהְיִיתֶם קְדֹשִׁים כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אָנִי |
Lev 19:2 ... Ἅγιοι ἔσεσθε, ὅτι ἐγὼ ἅγιος... |
Lev 19:2 Qal Impf. 2mp קְדֹשִׁים תִּהְיוּ כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אֲנִי |
Lev 20:7 ...ἔσεσθε ἅγιοι, ὅτι ἅγιος ἐγὼ ... |
Lev. 20:7 |
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[1] A.T. Robertson and Dr. Jack Miller both label this Imperative as “Ingressive” – which is also the way I interpreted it.
[2] Miller and ATR preferred this second interpretation of the “descriptive genitive”
[3] Thomas McComiskey was the author of this article in the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament
[4] or a vav consecutive form of the Qal Perfect which amounts to the same as a Qal Imperfect in interpretation
[5] The verb form of this word occurs in v.12 “Angels desire to peer in...”
[6] Peter, more than any other Bible author, talks about lifestyle/conduct/behavior: cf. 1 Peter 1:18; 2:12; 3:1,2,16; 2 Peter 2:7; 3:11 (The word doesn’t occur in the LXX).
[7] Critical versions insert ‘οτι here because it’s in the Vaticanus, but the majority of Greek manuscripts, including the majority of the oldest ones (incl. P72, א, A, C, P) all do not include this word. It is unnecessary, since the gegraptai already alerts the reader to the opening of a quotation.
[8] The Textus Receptus follows the Aorist Imperative spelling γένεσθε “Start being holy” from a few 9th-12th-century Greek manuscripts, whereas the Majority of Greek manuscripts spell the word as a Present Imperative γινεσθε “Continue being holy.” Thus the Imperative form in the KJV, “Be holy.” The majority of the oldest-known Greek manuscripts, however, render this verb as a Future Indicative εσεσθε, hence the ESV and NASB, “You shall be holy.” All three Hebrew texts from Leviticus containing this quote (Lev. 11:44, 19:2, and 20:7) employ Qal Futures (תִּהְיוּ) – or Perfects with a vav consecutive (וִהְיִיתֶם) which amount to the same thing – rather than Imperatives, so the esesthe of the Critical versions is technically more accurate than the Patriarchal or Textus Receptus tradition to the original Hebrew quote. The Future tense, nevertheless, is a way of stating an Imperative in Greek, as well as in Hebrew and in English (cf. Hanna: “volitive future εσεσθε expresses a command” so also ATR), so translating it “shall” in English keeps the range of meaning open and does not limit the meaning to exclude possible meanings which could be expressed by the original. It can indeed be interpreted as an imperative: “You must be holy.” Don’t follow the unholiness of being conformed to the world; follow instead the pattern of God’s character of holiness. In addition, I think it can be interpreted as a plain and simple future: “You are going to be as holy as I am one day, says God.” It’s kinda like when your mom says, “Young man,” or “Young lady, you are going to tell the truth,” and you know it means that this time you must not lie about the fact that you broke that vase or broke that rule or had that run-in with the police, or whatever it was, and, by the same token, your mother’s determination to train you out of telling lies is going to pay off as you become a person who can be depended upon to tell the truth. Do you see how, “You shall be holy,” it can be both an imperative command and a future prediction?
[9] The final verb of being is in the majority of Greek manuscripts, but not in the Siniaticus, Alexandrinus, or Vaticanus. Surprisingly, the critical text editors decided to keep it. The verb of being is understood and not explicit in any of the three Levitical Hebrew texts from which this could be quoted (כִּי קָדוֹשׁ אָנִי), and of the Greek translations of those texts from Leviticus it exists explicitly only in the Septuagint of Lev. 11:44 (...ὅτι ἅγιός εἰμι ἐγὼ ...). The presence or non-presence of this verb of being really makes no difference in translation, however, except to make what it already says somewhat more emphatic. It is clearly understood in the predicate adjective construction of both the Greek and Hebrew wordings of this verse “...because I [am] [holy].”