1:14
We are to live as obedient children, and part of this involves not doing certain things. We are not to give in to evil desires. “When you lived in ignorance”. Some see this as indicative of the audience being largely Gentile. However, the Jews also lived in ignorance and were subject to evil desires, so it applies to all peoples. Following Christ involves a change of lifestyle and in the New Testament it is clear that a key part of the church life was teaching people how to live.
1:15,16
Lev 11:44 says “be holy, because I am holy”, it then goes on to remind them that He is the God who brought them up out of slavery in Egypt (Lev 11:45). Jesus has set us free from an even greater slavery, slavery to sin. So the injunction to be holy is greater as well. We have been forgiven and saved so that we can become like Jesus, not so that we can get away with sinning. We were created in the image of God, we were saved to become Christlike. Any notion of forgiveness being about being “let off” for our sins, or getting away with it are completely alien to the Bible.
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