Digging Deeper – The Great Exchange: Ignorance for Holiness
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.
1 Peter 1:14-15 (ESV)
THE GREAT EXCHANGE: IGNORANCE FOR HOLINESS
Peter, writing to the Jewish Christians in Asia Minor (v. 1), turns his epistle to matters of personal holiness, presenting a model upon which we should base our conduct: “Do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct” (v. 14-15). Thus, there are two objects that can serve as the basis for our conduct. The first is not to be imitated—the “passions of our former ignorance.” Our lives before Christ were guided by spiritual and moral blindness, or, as Peter says, “ignorance.” The Greek word agnoia shares the root of the English word “agnostic” (a = not, gno = knowledge) and conveys a condition of not knowing. The apostle Paul also uses this word to emphasize the ignorance of unbelievers, stating, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance (agnoia) that is in them, due to their hardness of heart” (Eph. 4:18).
When we confess Jesus as Lord and submit our lives to Him, we are called out of ignorance or “agnosticism”—for the knowledge of His Lordship can only be bestowed upon us by the Holy Spirit (Mt. 16:17).
Peter then presents a second, better model that should serve as the basis for our Christian conduct: “As He who called you is holy, you also be holy.” We are called out of a life of estrangement from God into one of fellowship with Him, out of “not knowing” into knowing the Father. In this new, regenerate life, His indwelling Spirit enables us to imitate holiness. It has been said that the truest form of worship is imitation. Christ has given us the ultimate example, as He is the image of the invisible God. Pray that you imitate Him today, fulfilling the exhortation set forth in 1 Peter 1:14-15.
Ryan Hoffer serves as NextGen Production Director at NorthStar. He holds an M.Div in Church History and enjoys playing the harp. He and his wife, Tiffany, live in Acworth and have three children.