By Rev. Lilian Karinga, All Saints Cathedral, Nairobi, Kenya

A Call to Holiness

1:13-16

Looking at the passage we’ve read, we see the call to holiness in three ways: 1) as an appeal to the mind; 2) appeal to the heart and; 3) as an appeal to character.

An appeal to the mind

Notice how in this passage Peter focuses on his reason for writing. He is intentional in addressing the mind of a believer in order to stimulate them into wholesome thinking (2 Pet 3:1). He calls the believers to alertness and sobriety in lieu of Christ’s appearing. We can tell that he does not want them to be conflicted with the goings-on around them. He appeals to them as obedient children not to conform to the evil desires that they had when they lived in ignorance. He purposes to point out to them that in Christ they were no longer what they used to be. There must be a clear distinction between whom they were and who they had now become. They needed to be like the one who called them. Peter saw this as a matter that needed to be resolved in their minds. A call to holiness is therefore first and foremost an appeal to the mind in order to get into agreement with God’s teaching and understanding on the same.