1 Peter 1:15 KJV
[15] “but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;”
To say that holiness doesn’t matter is both unbiblical and unreasonable. We understand that there is positional holiness that can only come through the righteousness of Christ. His blood makes us holy in the eyes of God. We know man could never achieve holiness by his own ability. It took the Lord Jesus to save us and His blood to cleanse us to have positional holiness.
However, we have a command to be holy in all manner of our conversation. The word “conversation” has to do with the way we live. The liberals don’t quote this verse because it puts too much responsibility on them and takes away the idea that you can be right with God and conform to the world. Don’t be fooled by a liberal, worldly “Christian theology” that says standards and convictions don’t matter. Don’t be led astray by the deceptive teaching that godly saints before us got their teaching wrong and placed too many legalistic rules on people. The difference is that they were a more dedicated generation and were willing to stand openly against worldliness in the church and call sin out by name.
Just look at where the church is now and where it was then. Too many have dropped their standards and taken up the idea that it doesn’t matter where I go, how I dress, what I watch or listen to, or how I live. That’s not what this verse says. The Lord says we are to be holy in ALL manner of conversation. God says everything matters, and everything should have holiness stamped upon it! I am not telling you that I have arrived or hit the mark for daily living, but at least I still know where the mark is and where it is not! Some have erased it, and others have forgotten it altogether.
I leave you with this final question, “Does it make God a legalist because He commanded holiness in the Old Testament and still expects us to practice it in the New Testament?” No, it doesn’t make Him a legalist because He wants His children to practice holiness in all that they do. It makes Him Lord! He doesn’t want us to practice holiness through ceremonial laws, but He wants us to practice it through committed lives. If the blinded world can see the difference between a holy child of God and an unholy child of God, then surely we can!