1 Peter 1:14-16

Children often look like their parents and behave like them. Christians are now children of God, because God is their Father in heaven. God is holy. God wants his children to be like him. They must have his character in their lives. To be holy means to be completely separate from all *sin and evil. It also means to belong to God alone. God commands Christians to be holy. The Holy Spirit makes them holy (verse 2). This does not mean that Christians can live their lives completely without *sin. This will only happen in heaven. But with God’s help they must now try hard to avoid all *sin and evil in every part of their lives.

Many times in this letter, Peter tells his readers what the Bible says. These verses are from the part of the Bible that we call the *Old Testament. Men wrote down all of the *Old Testament before the birth of Jesus. Like all *Jewish boys, Peter had to learn and remember many *Old Testament verses. This command to be holy is very important. God says it five times in the book of Leviticus (see 1 Peter 11:44; 1 Peter 11:45; 1 Peter 19:2; 1 Peter 20:7; 1 Peter 20:26).