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1Pe_1:15-16. ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν καλέσαντα ὑμᾶς ἅγιον ] Steiger: “this positive instruction, instead of forming a participial clause of its own, like the preceding (negative), is in animated discourse at once merged into the principal clause;” there is, accordingly, nothing to be supplied; still Oecumenius explains, in sense, correctly: ἀλλὰ νῦν γοῦν , λέγει , τῷ καλέσαντι συσχηματιζόμενοι , ἁγίῳ ὄντι κ . τ . λ .
ἅγιον ] is here a substantive, to which the participle καλ . is added as nearer definition (cf. 2Pe_2:1), and that by way of strengthening the exhortation (“as ye are bound to do, since He hath called you”). The behaviour of those called must correspond with the nature of Him who has called them. Schott rightly remarks that the καλεῖν must here be taken as “an effectual calling,” by which the readers are delivered from their state of estrangement from God, and introduced into one of fellowship with Him.
καὶ αὐτοὶ ἅγιοι ἐν πάσῃ ἀναστροφῇ γενήθητε ] καὶ αὐτοί forms the antithesis to τὸν ἅγιον ; Schott incorrectly: “as against what God has, on His part, by His calling, done to you and made you.”
ἐν πάσῃ ἀναστροφῇ ] not: in (your) whole (de Wette), but in (your) every walk.[85]
ΓΕΝΉΘΗΤΕ ] denotes not the becoming, but the being; Luther correctly: like Him … be ye also holy.[86]—1Pe_1:16. διότι γέγραπται ] διότι , i.e. ΔΙᾺ ΤΟῦΤΟ ὍΤΙ , “for this reason because,” indicates the reason for the preceding exhortation, and not simply for the use of the word ἅγιον (de Wette). The apostle goes back to the command given to Israel, as to the reason why the Christians, called as they were by the God of holiness, should be holy in their every walk. The holiness of God laid Israel under the obligation to be holy, since God had chosen them to be His people—the same is the case, as Peter suggests by καλέσαντα ὑμᾶς , with the N. T. church of believers, the true Israel, on whom, though doubtless in a form adapted to them, for this reason the commandments of the O. C. are still binding. Schott justly observes that the passage quoted by Peter is not meant to establish the duty of holiness in itself, but to show that the fact of belonging to God involves as a matter of duty the necessity of an holy walk. The expression, which the apostle quotes, occurs more than once in the book of Lev_11:44; Lev_19:2; Lev_20:7; Lev_20:26.
[85] For it must be observed that in the case of a collective expression, πᾶς is accompanied by the article when the totality is conceived of as forming one whole; the article is wanting when it is considered as composed of many; e.g. πᾶς ὁ λαός means: “the whole people,” but πᾶς λαός : “all people,” when not: “every people,” in which case the collective expression is the special idea.
[86] Wiesinger asks why? The reasons are—(1) because both in the LXX. and Apocrypha of the O. T., as also in the N. T., instead of the imper. of εἶναι , which is but rarely used, there is very generally the imper. aorist of γίγνομαι , in the LXX. translation of äÁéÅä , äÁéåÌ (cf. specially Psa_69:26); (2) because the exhortation “be holy” is more suited to the condition of Christians than “become holy.”