1 Peter 1:16

‘Because it is written, “You shall be holy; for I am holy”.'

And this requirement is confirmed by the Scriptures. The citation is from Leviticus 11:44 (compare Exodus 22:31; Leviticus 19:2; Leviticus 20:26), and is significantly connected there with the need for ‘cleanness' and separation from all that grovel in the earth or bear the stamp of death (see our commentary on Leviticus). For that was the purpose of the laws of ‘cleanness', to set their minds on what was wholesome and was free from the taint of death and corruption so that they may be truly holy to God.

These laws were not just haphazard regulations. They were based on very sound and identifiable principles and were intended to teach an important lesson which was very relevant here. The basic idea was that foodstuffs should be avoided that were in some ways connected with grovelling in the dirt and connecting with the dust of death. The animals that chewed the cud and had divided hooves spent their time eating in grassy areas and among good pasture, the remainder were often found in places where there was dirt and death. The birds that were acceptable generally obtained their food in the air, or among the grainfields, while those which were predators or waders were connected with death and delving into the mud. The fish that were clean swam in the clear water. The others swam in the murky dirt at the bottom of the river or sea. It was not just a question as to whether food was edible, (although it unquestionably acted to some extent as a kind of good health guide), but rather that not eating it was a testimony to the fact that as God's people they lived cleanly and above the sphere of dirt and death. They were holy. It was the badge that marked them off from their contemporaries as belonging to a holy and living God.

Thus Peter was not calling on his readers to follow the food laws of Leviticus. He was calling on them to live lives that were above the general sordidness of mankind, by not delving into the corrupt behaviour of mankind in general, but walking in the higher sphere, in the way of righteousness. Compare how Jesus made clear the meaning of the laws of cleanliness when He pointed out that cleanliness came from a clean heart, while what was ‘unclean' came from a sinful heart (Mark 7:15)..

‘It is written' was a standard way of indicating that the words came from Scripture. It was also later used of the New Testament writings. It indicates that what is written in them is what will be. Once so written it is certain of accomplishment. Thus the requirement for holiness and Christ-likeness is the equivalent of being ‘fixed in stone'. The use of the passive tense leaving the subject unidentified regularly indicates in Scripture that God is the subject. ‘It has been written.' Who by? By God. Thus it is God Who has caused it to be written. ‘Men spoke from God being moved by the Holy Spirit' (2 Peter 1:21); compare also ‘words which the Holy Spirit teaches' (1 Corinthians 2:13). And it is stressing that God's final intention is that we should be made like Him so that we can dwell with Him (Isaiah 57:15).