The Unchanging Standard

A master jeweler once told an apprentice, "Never judge a diamond's quality by comparing it to other diamonds in the case. Judge it against the standard." He pulled out a flawless reference stone, certified and unchanging, against which every other gem was measured. "Opinions shift," he said. "Fashions change. But this standard never moves."

When Peter writes, "But just as He who called you is holy, so be you holy in all you conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy,'" he is not offering a suggestion shaped by cultural context. He is quoting Leviticus 11:44 — the eternal, inerrant Word of God — and applying it with full apostolic authority to the New Covenant church. The standard has not shifted one degree from Sinai to Calvary to the present hour. God's holiness remains the fixed reference point against which all human conduct is measured.

This is precisely why biblical inerrancy matters for daily Christian living. If Scripture is merely a human document reflecting ancient opinions, then its moral commands carry no more weight than any philosopher's musings. But if every word is God-breathed and without error, as B.B. Warfield so carefully demonstrated, then "Be holy, for I am holy" thunders across every generation with undiminished authority.

The world will always try to grade holiness on a curve. Scripture never does. God does not compare you to your neighbor. He calls you to Himself — the unchanging, flawless Standard — and says, "Be like Me." That calling demands not our renegotiation, but our obedience.