Here are Peter’s words concerning obedience;

Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “Be holy, for I am holy.” And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

First, notice the “therefore,” and that it links this to the previous discussion of the gospel and the story of salvation into which “angels long to look.” In other words, because of this grand plan of salvation, because God is revealing His glory through the gospel, because the prophets searched carefully, because the angels long to look, because God is protecting us by His power through faith, and because Jesus has suffered we are to be happily engaged in the following behaviors.

The call in verse 13 is to a ready mind; “gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is interesting that Peter is calling for a state of mind here that is active and engaged, but it is also a state of mind that is utterly dependent upon the grace of Christ. This is akin to Paul’s command in Philippians, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who is at work in you.” This is also a reminder to us that doctrine, or what we think about God, is extremely important. Theology is not just the realm of the scholar, it should be the realm of every believer as Peter here encourages a mind that is ready for action. Not everyone will learn the biblical languages, or ready lots of systematic theology books, but we all are called to “gird up the loins of our mind,” which in context means that we need to know Jesus Christ and His gospel in a thorough and steadfast manner.

Next, notice the call to avoid “former lusts,” while being “obedient children.” I’ll not go into the “faith like a child” analogy because you probably know it well. I want to focus upon why Peter gives these commands here. He tells us in verses 15 and 16, because God is holy. Note well that we are not to be holy to earn salvation, or to remain in our salvation, but we are to be holy as obedient children because God is holy. Here again, there is a similarity to what Paul wrote in Philippians, “work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because GOD is at work in you” Our obedience to God should be a response to who He is in His character. If we are striving for holiness to earn our way to God, which is impossible, we are not obeying in a response of love to the character of God, we are obeying as a response to our own insecurity and inadequacy. This is the primary affront, as I see it, to a works based salvation, not only is it impossible, but it is motivated by man and initiated by man. A works based doctrine of salvation is ironic because while the “worker” attempts to get to God, he or she is in effect saying “God is not my motivation, and God is not my help, God is only my destination, and I will get there myself.” Here in these verses we see a beautiful picture of obedience; namely, that we should simply be obedient children who want to be like their Father. We should not only want to be like our Father, but we should long for His help, grace, and dialogue along the way.

Okay, this post is longer than I intended, so I think I will deal with the remaining verses tomorrow. The blood of Christ and why we should “conduct ourselves with fear” will be our discussion then. Have a blessed day as an obedient child of the holy Father.