¹⁴ As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, ¹⁵ but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, (1 Peter 1:13-14 ESV)

I like when scripture calls us out in very exact words. Speaking about our sinful state as our “former ignorance” is pretty exact. It points out how we were living before Christ came into our lives. It is not seeking to be demeaning, but to be exact in just how we live without the knowledge of Christ. We are living in ignorance.

This ignorance may not initially be our fault. Maybe we have lived in a place where the knowledge of Christ has not been throughly preached. However, I am not sure where this might be this day and time. It could be that we live in a Christ centric area but are not exposed to Him due to other social factors. The enemy and the world conspire to teach us everything else and suppress the Word of God. This can be conflicting “religious” or new age ideas being forced upon us or simply being pervasive in our culture. Christ message has to cut through all of this ignorance.

Once received, we are no longer living in our former ignorance. We still may reject the message and choose to live in our ignorance. This is where free will comes into place. Ignorance can be a lack of knowledge or a lack of acceptance. The latter being the worst state in God’s eyes. He desires that we become obedient children, holy in all of our conduct.