1 Peter 1:17-19

The reason for the holiness of Christians: V.17. And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, v.18. forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers,v.19. but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

That is a characteristic of the Christians: they invoke God as their Father, they bring all their requests to His attention because He is their Father for the sake of Christ. But of this Father and God it is and remains true, at the same time: If you invoke the Father, who without favor or partiality judges according to the work of each. In God there is no respect of persons; He renders judgment in an altogether impartial way, He will not be influenced in His judgment by the fact that any one bore the name of Christian. The works of every individual, as the fruits of the condition of the heart, will be the standard according to which God will decide on the last day, Rom. 2, 6. In the works of a man it is shown whether faith and the sonship of God is a mere pretense, or whether it is true and genuine.

This being true, it follows: In fear pass the time of your life here. The apostle does not speak, of course, of the fear of a slave, but of the holy reverence before the righteousness of the Judge of all men, which should urge the Christians to show all diligence in good works out of a pure heart. This must be kept in mind for the entire time of our sojourning here on earth. Day after day, year after year, the Christians should be mindful of the word, I am the almighty God; walk before Me and be thou perfect, and work out their own salvation, accordingly, with fear and trembling, Phil. 2, 12.

The apostle now names the basic motive for a life of sanctification: Knowing that not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, you were ransomed out of your vain conduct transmitted to you by tradition, but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb unblemished and unstained. Here is a reminder of the great, decisive fact of salvation, which is the strongest individual influence in the life of the Christians.

Ever since the fall of Adam one generation of men after the other conducted itself, led its life, in the vain, sinful manner which was bound to flow from inherited sin. The entire life of all unbelievers, of all men by nature, is a life of shameful, terrible slavery in the power of sin, all the thoughts, words, and deeds of such people being vain, useless, so far as spiritual life is concerned. From this slavery the believers are redeemed because they have accepted the fact of the payment of the ransom through the blood of Christ.

It was indeed no small matter, the price of ransom did not consist in corruptible things, such as gold or silver, no matter how highly these may be valued by the children of this world. It was the precious, the holy, innocent blood of Christ, which was placed into the balances in paying for the guilt of the world, in ransoming all men from the slavery of sin and of the devil. The immense, immeasurable value of this ransom was due to the fact that the Lamb which was slain on Calvary’s altar was not a sacrificial lamb of the Old Testament, whose offering had no atoning value in itself, but it was Christ, the Lamb of God, truly without a single blemish and spot, Heb. 7, 26, holy, sinless, undefiled, separate from sinners.

Truly, the wonderful assurance contained in these words cannot be proclaimed and repeated too often, since it is the one fact which opens to all men the doors of everlasting happiness.