Be Ye Holy!
It was a Sunday morning. I had dressed for Church and was just
sitting, waiting, and thinking about nothing in particular.
Suddenly, the thought popped
into my mind, “Be ye holy, for I am holy.”
Usually, I do not think in those terms. Then, another thought came to
mind, “That is not a correct interpretation.” If you have read much of my work,
you know that I do question the accuracy of some translations quite often.
I ran to my reference books,
and began to search. The truth soon came
out. That translation was not accurate,
but I did not have time to thoroughly research the matter and discover an
accurate translation.
As I sat in Church listening
to the choir, I turned to the original quote in the Old Testament.
Lev 11:44
For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy:
neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that
creepeth upon the earth. (KJV)
Did you get that?
God said, “You shall be
holy---because I am holy.”
“You shall be holy” sounded
much better than what I remembered, but when I returned home, I still
researched the 1 Peter text.
1 Pet 1:16
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. (KJV)
That verse has always been
taught as a command for us to make ourselves holy in order to serve a holy
God. The problem is that we cannot make
ourselves holy. That is the work of God
through Christ Jesus.
The
The thought came to me that
the key was to be found in the word “Be.”
Something had to be wrong with our understanding of that word.
“Be ye” (Gr. ginesthe-ginesqe/Majority Text)(Gr.
genesthe-genesqe/KJV)
comes from the Greek word ginomai. That
is one of my favorite Greek words. It
means ‘to be,” “to become,” and “to come into being.”
The Majority Text uses
ginesthe, while the Textus Receptus uses genesthe. Ginesthe is present imperative. Genesthe is aorist imperative. Both ginesthe
and genesthe are 2nd person plural.
That means they should be translated into English as 2nd
person plural, “you all.” That speaks to
all Christians!
Now, we come to a translator’s
dilemma. Both Greek words indicate a 2nd person plural. Both
indicate an imperative voicing. One is
present tense while the other comes into English as past tense.
What is an imperative? It speaks of
something that is absolute
and inescapable.
So, is it a command for us to
do something we cannot do? Or, is it a
declaration of what Christ is doing, or has done?
The former is what we have
been told for centuries, but it is taught because of spiritual ignorance. The later is a declaration of Christ’s power
and presence in our lives, today!
1 Peter 1:16 is an imperative
declaration!
Present: You all ARE holy, because I am holy!
Aorist: You all became holy, because I am holy!
As a child of God and
follower of Christ Jesus, you are a saint.
Saint (Gr. hagios-agioV): one consecrated as being
pure, blameless, and holy.
Again, the point is that as a
saint, an adopted child of God, you are holy, only because the heavenly Father
has declared you to be holy.