In verse 13 Peter also charges us to set our hope completely on the grace. This hope is the living hope which has issued from regeneration (v. 3). We need to set our living hope completely on the grace that is being brought to us at the unveiling of Jesus Christ. Surely this grace is not merely unmerited favor. It refers to the salvation of the soul (vv. 5, 9-10), which will be the consummation of God’s full salvation. The grace has been brought to us by the Lord’s first coming (John 1:17). It will be consummated by His second coming. On such grace we should set our hope.
Whatever we enjoy of the Lord today is, comparatively speaking, a small portion. In the Bible this is called the foretaste; it is not yet the full taste. This age is an age of foretaste. But when the Lord Jesus comes back, we shall enjoy the full taste. While we are enjoying the foretaste, we set our hope on the coming full taste. The nature, the essence, and the reality of the foretaste are the same as that of the full taste. The difference is one of quantity. Today we are enjoying a small portion as a sample, a foretaste. Eventually we shall enjoy the full portion and experience the full taste. Therefore, on the one hand, we are now enjoying grace; on the other hand, we are expecting the coming full taste. This means that as we are enjoying the foretaste, we are expecting to have the full taste. This causes us to set our hope on the coming full taste. The coming full taste will be the consummation of this unique grace.
This grace is not merely unmerited favor. It is the Triune God as our full salvation for our full enjoyment. Today we have only the foretaste, the enjoyment of a small portion, but the full taste is coming. Let us set our hope on this coming full taste, which will be the consummation of grace.
Toward the end of verse 13 Peter speaks of the unveiling of Jesus Christ. It is significant that he uses the word “unveiling” and not advent or some other word. At present, we are enjoying the Lord Jesus as a foretaste under the veil. But the time is coming when the veil will be taken away. Then we shall be able to declare, “Hallelujah, I am enjoying the Lord Jesus outside the veil!” Today we are enjoying grace; however, we are enjoying this grace under the covering of a veil.
Because we are under a veil with the Lord, others may not be able to understand what we are doing. We may try to tell them that we are enjoying Christ. However, they may say that this is nonsense. Our enjoyment is concealed, and others who do not share the same experience cannot know anything about it. But one day the Lord Jesus will be unveiled. Then others will be able to understand that we have been enjoying the Lord Jesus. This unveiling will be the coming grace as the consummation of the full salvation of the Triune God.
If we are not enjoying the Lord Jesus as the foretaste, we shall not have the hope that He will be unveiled as our full taste. I can testify that daily I enjoy the Lord as the foretaste and always have an earnest expectation concerning the full taste. I may pray, “Lord Jesus, unveil Yourself, and let my enjoyment of You be in full.” When we enjoy the foretaste, we have such a hope. We need to set our hope completely on the grace being brought to us at the unveiling of Jesus Christ.
In verse 14 Peter goes on to say, “As children of obedience, do not be conformed to the former lusts in your ignorance.” The Greek word rendered “conformed” is the same as that used in Romans 12:2. It is used here to denote a state as the path in which God’s elect as sojourners walk. We should not be conformed to the former lusts. This means that we should not shape ourselves according to them. Formerly, we were ignorant. But now, having become children of obedience, we are knowledgeable.
Verse 15 says, “But according to the Holy One who called you, you yourselves also become holy in all your manner of life.” The Holy One is the Triune God—the choosing Father, the redeeming Son, and the sanctifying Spirit (vv. 1-2). The Father has regenerated His elect, imparting His holy nature into them (v. 3); the Son has redeemed them with His blood from the vain manner of life (vv. 18-19); and the Spirit has sanctified them according to the Father’s holy nature, separating them from anything other than God, that they, by the holy nature of the Father, may become holy in all their manner of life, even as holy as God Himself.
We become holy in all our manner of life through the sanctification of the Spirit. This is based on regeneration, which brings us the holy nature of God and issues in a holy life.
We ourselves need to become holy. This is not merely a matter of wearing a certain kind of clothing or of not wearing makeup. That concept of holiness is too outward. Our being, our disposition, our entire person, should become holy. This is for us to become holy in all our manner of life.
In verse 16 Peter gives us the reason we need to become holy: “Because it is written, You shall be holy, because I am holy.” This is a quote from the Pentateuch. In the Pentateuch we are told at least a few times that God’s people should be holy because God Himself is holy.