The former ignorance (1 Peter 1:14) that once characterized the lives of Peter’s readers was a dead-end street, providing no hope for the future. This dead-end sort of life had been passed on from generation to generation and no generation was able to break out of its hopelessness. Peter draws attention to God’s glorious grace in Jesus Christ as providing the way out of this hopelessness so that a glorious life is possible, endlessly.

This gracious work of God does not exclude work on the part of human recipients. God created people for responsibility (Genesis 1:26–27; Genesis 2:15). So recipients of God’s grace need to embrace three imperatives: set your hope (1 Peter 1:13), be holy (1 Peter 1:15), and conduct yourselves (1 Peter 1:17). God’s work requires man’s response; without that response people cannot claim God’s work for themselves.

The fact that Peter lists these three imperatives implies that those who are born again are able to do these imperatives (in the strength of the Spirit, though Peter does not emphasize that here). As being born allows for more possibilities than when an infant is still in the womb, so being reborn allows for a manner of living that is not possible for the preborn. So both the need for and the ability to follow through on these commands must be set before the people of God of all generations.