Fervently & Continually!

“Let love of the brethren continue.”¹ - Hebrews 13:1

“22 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, ²³ having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, - Your "soul" is, for Peter, your inner self, the immaterial part of man. Peter, as well as the rest of the Bible authors, makes no formal difference between the soul and the spirit of man. They are simply aspect of his immaterial side.

He says those to whom he was writing "have purified your souls in obeying the truth...". "Purify" speaks of being ritually or ceremonially cleansed, a reference to the OT rituals conducted in the Temple, now fulfilled in Christ. Now that those who are in Christ have believed they are "purified once and for all. The word implies the moral virtue that was attached to the worthy OT offering.

It is a participle, picturing the verbs action but putting in the place of a noun in the sentence. They are "the purified ones". It is worth noting that it Perfect tense as well as plural also. Peter is speaking their entire group, not intending that anyone be able to separate themselve and make themselves an exception. Further, as always, we are reminded careful, that the basis of all of this is the past, in the Work of Christ, finished once and for all and, more directly, the outworking of that accomplishment in their lives - their love for each other.

They "Obeyed the Truth through the Spirit". This, of course is a reference to salvation by grace and to all that followed. The "Truth" is athe Truth of the Gospel as revealed in the Word of God and the Spirit is the Holy Spirit of God. What is interesting here (not the only interesting thing surely!) is that we have "purified ourselves" in a "sincere love of the brethren".

Sincere means genuine or without hypocrisy. Romans 12:9: Paul uses it when he tells us to "let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.". In 2 Corinthians 6:5-6 Paul uses the word: "...⁵ in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings; ⁶ by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,..." He uses it in 1Ti 1:5 & 2Ti 1:5 to refer to a "sincere faith". James uses the word in James the word in James 3:17 to speak of a "Wisdom that is from above" and then goes on describe its' characteristics.

"Love of the brethren" is the noun form of the word of which we have been speaking, here in its noun form. Early Greek used this word to speak of love for an actual blood brother or sister, no small indicator of just what kind of tie we are talking about when we see it applied to the Christian fellowship. It is not a mere acknowlegement of logical or organizational tie. It is a real and intimate tie that has deep and personal, essential meaning.

Sadly, this is where many believers fall short. We allow these ties to fall down. We allow the love for the brethren to cool and fall into almost mere aquaintence levels. This is not what God intended and is not the way the Church was designed to work - there is little wondeer that it has fallen into disrepair!

This is borne out, by the way, by the word "fervently" at the end of verse 22 in 1 Peter 1. The most common translation of this word is "continuously" or "without ceasing". Though it is not a word that is used often, it is used a couple times, This is the word that used in Acts 12:5 as the Church prayed for Peter's release from prison in Acts 12:5. It is used in Acts 22:44 (translated "earnestly") when Jesus was praying the Garden. the Septuagint uses it to translate Jonah 3:8: "But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from ^fthe violence that is in his hands.".

Peter sums up with the reason why all of this is so: "Having been born again..." As with so much in the Christian life, all of this is rooted in the truth, the fact that we are, first of all, believers. That fundamental fact MUST have implications, and one of those must be that our behavior is altered - in this case, it is our behavior toward one another - we must love one another fervently, continually!

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[1] This year I am often using MacArthur’s devotional “Strength for Today” as a starting point for my comments. Quotes from MacArthur’s Devotional are in boldface.