How many people do you say “love you” to, but it’s little more than words? It happens to the point that it is merely a habit. Not that they don’t love, but would their words be more accurate if they said, “like you?” Love should carry with it so much more than saying a few words. In our society, we have cheapened the word by using it to speak about everything from people to pizza. I think we would all agree there are different levels of love for different people. We love our spouse and our children in a much deeper realm than we love an uncle or aunt. In our passage today, Peter is talking about how we are to love each other.
I Peter 1:22 “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:”
We need to keep in mind that Peter was speaking to scattered groups who represented the first Christians. It was not a world like we have today where the word Christian means very little to many who claim it. If you called yourself a Christian in Peter’s time, you were probably going to suffer because it meant you had turned your back on the pagan ways of those around you, or the highly religious Jews, and you had chosen to follow Christ. By God’s mercy, you were born again.
He has explained in previous verses that being a Christian requires a holy lifestyle. Now he makes it practical and shows them that the new birth demands a new love for those in God’s family.
I Peter 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
Peter reminds them in verse 22 of what has happened in their lives to bring them to the point of a pure, fervent love for one another. When they heard the truth of the gospel, they obeyed. They listened to God’s command to repent, believe, and put their faith in Jesus Christ. It is through the Spirit that they are enabled to obey.
I Peter 1:23 “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God;”
The result of their obedience is a purifying of their soul. Only after this inward action by the Spirit can anyone truly love brothers and sisters in Christ. The word unfeigned means without hypocrisy. It is true, genuine, sincere, and free from secret harsh feelings toward another Christian. It is a love where the indwelling of the Spirit allows us to have a kindred spirit with others. The most important part of your relationship is your common bond. This love is not a love based on emotions and feelings. It is based on the will and the intellect. As you get to know them and understand them on a more personal level, your emotions and feelings will emerge and make the love stronger, but that will be a result, not the basis, for that love. Biblical love is a self-sacrificing love that exhibits itself in seeking what is best for the one we love. It is not thinking of self at all, but of others.
Philippians 2:3-5 “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:”
I Peter 1:24-25 “for All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”
Peter ends this chapter with a quote from Isiah 40:6-8. He reminds them that all the things on this earth have their lifespan. Things grow and then die, but God’s word and those who follow His word will live forever. Therefore, the love we have for one another through Christ is to last forever.
Are you working at loving others as the word teaches? First, you must be born again. This type of love only comes through the working of the Spirit in our lives. Second, is your love sincere? Does Romans 12:9-10 describe your love for your brothers and sisters in Christ? Is your sincerity being shown in how you act and treat others as in I John 3:18?
Romans 12:9-10 “Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;”
I John 3:18 “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.”
Third, is your love pure? If you have sin in your heart, it will detract from a genuine love for others. Do you love without thinking about how it will affect you?
Fourth, is your love fervent? This word stems from a verb that means to stretch out or strain. It suggests emotion, plus effort. This is the word used about Jesus in Luke 22:44 when he is praying in the garden. He prayed more earnestly or fervently. It is also used in Acts 12:5 when the church is praying for Peter’s life to be spared and released from prison. It was a fervent, earnest prayer.
Luke 22:44 “And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”
Act 12:5 “Peter, therefore, was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.”
If the answer to all those questions is yes, then you should have no problem loving your brothers and sisters in Christ. If everyone who claims the name of Christ loved this way, there would be no limit as to what God could do through His church. All would know about Him, and that we are truly His!
John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
