Hebrews 12:14

The dual command — 'pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord' — joins two imperatives that might seem in tension: the outward-directed pursuit of peace and the vertical orientation of holiness toward God. The word 'pursue' (diokete — chase, pursue zealously, the same word used for persecution in the negative sense) indicates that both peace and holiness require active seeking rather than passive cultivation. The condition 'without which no one will see the Lord' presents holiness not as the ground of salvation but as the necessary characteristic of those who will encounter God — an ontological rather than merely meritorious requirement. The verse sits within Hebrews 12's call to active discipleship in view of the eschatological assembly at Zion, grounding both community ethics and personal sanctification in the horizon of standing before the living God.