Summary
Instead
A single, unassuming word stands at the hinge of the Christian life in 1 Peter 1:14–15: "Like obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." That little word instead does the heavy lifting. It does not merely add to the old life; it replaces it. Peter writes to lift up the believer's identity in Christ, to address suffering, and to set the gaze on the place prepared for God's people—and at the heart of that calling sits this pivot word.
Through baptism, God has made us his children. As children of the heavenly Father, we are called to obedience—not as slaves under threat, but as those who, in the words of Romans 6:17, have "become obedient from the heart." Peter therefore says: do not be conformed—shaped, fashioned—by the sinful desires that marked life before Christ. The catalog in Galatians 5:19–21 names the kinds of thoughts, words, and deeds we are to leave behind: impurity, idolatry, enmity, jealousy, anger, drunkenness, "and things like these." Hebrews 12:1 puts it simply: lay aside the sin that clings so closely.
The opposite of instead is furthermore—the quiet enemy that simply continues what was already there. Furthermore is the temptation to keep speaking the language of the world, to mirror its actions, to leave undone the things we ought to do because no one else is doing them either. Furthermore says, "this is just how people are now." The sinful self within us, tempted by the devil and pressed by the world, finds furthermore comfortable. But God never says, "go ahead, have your sinful furthermore's instead of my love, my grace, my promises, my presence." Instead, he sends his Son.
The Word made flesh goes to the cross and bears every furthermore upon himself. In the victory of the cross and empty tomb, applied to us in baptism, we are washed and clothed: "as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ" Galatians 3:27. When the Father looks upon the baptized, he sees the perfect holiness of his Son. To be holy is to be set apart from sin and set apart for God—and this is now our true identity. "You shall be holy, for I am holy" (1 Peter 1:16; cf. Matthew 5:48; Ephesians 5:1).
God does not leave the exhortation hanging in the air. He empowers what he commands. "It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" Philippians 2:13. The struggle with the old Adam and old Eve continues until our last breath, but God himself is at work bringing forth the new—new thoughts amid old thinking, gracious and quiet words amid coarse speech, different deeds amid the routine actions of a fallen world. He brings forth the instead.
A small candle, researchers have shown, can be seen in total darkness from nearly two miles away—visible only because of the contrast. Jesus says to his people, "You are the light of the world" Matthew 5:14. As Christ lives in us by the Holy Spirit, the holiness given to us pierces the darkness. God himself promises to crush the enemy of instead, and what will remain, drawn forth from his people, is simply this: the instead of the children he has called his own.
Video citations
- "Instead" 9-25-22 — Would you open your Bibles please with me for our study today? To first Peter, the first chapter. If you're using a Pula Edition, you're going to find that on page 205 in the New Testament. Page…