1Pet. 1:15 but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior;
1Cor. 1:30 But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and holiness, and redemption,
1Pet. 1:16 because it is written, “YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.”
God’s call to us is to reveal the likeness of Christ, according to Rom. 8:29. We can therefore say what 1 Pet. 1:15 says, that as the One who has called us is holy, then we should be holy in all behavior.
The interesting thing is, The call to be holy in verse 15 is not a call to do something, but instead it is a call to surrender to something. In other words, it is a call to let something happened to you and through you. The grammar of those two simple words “be holy,” are aorist, and passive in the Greek language, which means the call is a decisive decision to surrender to something, allow it to happen to you.
The first Corinthians passage says that by God’s activity Jesus has become to us holiness. Jesus’ very life in us is our source of holiness. Holiness is a person, not a principal, or a sincere performance. That verse 16 passage in 1Peter, in light of what we just said, is best understood as a promise, and not a command. In other words, in light of the fact that Jesus is holy, and He lives in us as our holiness, we therefore also will be holy, if we will just surrender to His holy life in us, allowing His holy life to by faith be lived through us. Let me be clear, the call to holiness is not a call to “become holy;” instead it is a call to “be holy.” You already have holiness in the person of Christ who lives in you. Holiness is a free gift that you received at your “new birth;” therefore yield to it, embrace it, and in your surrender to what is already yours, go “be holy.”
Victory in holy living in all your behavior doesn’t come by promising God that you will try harder; instead, victory comes by surrendering to, and trusting in His holy life in you.