1 PETER 1:22 - Life Together: Love One Another

Introduction

We are working through what the Scripture teaches about our life together as a church. Last week we saw in Ephesians that fellowship together as believers isn’t just some “value added” benefit to church membership—it is the essential element of God’s glory manifested in the world. It is “through the church” that God has chosen to reveal His manifold wisdom to the principalities and powers of heaven (Ephesians 3:10)—nothing less than the glory of God Himself is at stake in the fellowship of church members with one another.

And so what I aim to do in the next several weeks is to explore some of the “one another” passages in the New Testament. It is remarkable how much of the New Testament is concerned with the way that we are to relate to one another in the church:

John 13:35 (LSB)

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

1 Thessalonians 5:11 (LSB)

Therefore, comfort one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Galatians 6:2 (LSB)

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

Ephesians 4:32 (LSB)

Instead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven you.

This morning I want us to begin with what is arguably the most foundational “one another” command for the church—the command that Jesus gave in John 13:35, echoed here in our text in 1 Peter 1:22:

1 Peter 1:22 (LSB)

Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart,

Our fellowship together as a church must be, first of all, a demonstration of love for one another. But right away we realize, don’t we, that we have to define what we mean by “love”. Like the title of the old Woody Allen movie, Everybody Says I Love You—it is a word that people throw around a lot to mean a whole range of different things. We live in a wasteland of loneliness, suspicion, division and insincerity—we fervently want to be loved, but we have no idea what it means to love fervently.

And so I want us to spend time digging into God’s Word here in these two verses to unpack what it means to “fervently love one another from the heart”. And what I aim to demonstrate here in Peter’s letter is that we do have a guide for what it means to love one another in our fellowship—we have a sure and steady bedrock upon which to build our love for each other here at Bethel. Look with me at our text and see that

Our FAITHFUL LIFE in Christ enables our FERVENT love for EACH OTHER

The Epistle of First Peter begins with a marvelous description of the living hope that believers have in Christ:

1 Peter 1:3 (LSB)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

In the first twelve verses of Chapter 1, Peter calls to his readers’ minds the wonderful treasures they have in their salvation through Christ. Then starting in verse 13 he calls them to act on the salvation that they have received:

1 Peter 1:13 (LSB)

Therefore, having girded your minds for action, being sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

He calls them to fight sin (v. 14), pursue holiness (vv. 15-16), live in reverent fear before God (vv. 17-19), focusing on Christ as the source of our faith and hope in God (vv. 20-21). And this then brings us to his exhortation that we find in Verse 22:

1 Peter 1:22 (LSB)

Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart,

Love one another in the fellowship fervently from the heart because of who you are in Christ. Love this way because of what Christ has done for you and what He has done in you. This kind of love that we are called to demonstrate for one another in the church comes from what Christ has done for us. So in order to understand what it means to be a church that loves this way, let’s take a step back and consider from this text

I. The COMMITMENT of a loving church’s MEMBERS

Look carefully through these verses and you will see at least three characteristics of believers who love one another fervently from the heart. First of all, a family of believers who love one another this way are people who

Seek to SUBMIT to the TRUTH (v. 22; cp. Phil. 2:1-3)

Look again at verse 22:

1 Peter 1:22 (LSB)

Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart,

Consider the thread of Peter’s argument up to this point in his letter—he is exhorting his readers to consider all that they have been given in their salvation; that they have put themselves under the truth of the Gospel; specifically the truth about what Christ’s blood has done for them:

1 Peter 1:2 (LSB)

according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to the obedience of Jesus Christ and the sprinkling of His blood: May grace and peace be multiplied to you.

They understand that the only way they could be redeemed from their sin and guilt was for Christ’s blood to be shed on their behalf. The depth of their sin and the scope of Christ’s sacrifice is not lost on them. And when a person submits themselves to the truth of what the Gospel says about them, when they recognize how utterly lost and wicked they were before the blood of Christ washed and purified them, then there is no room for pride or selfish ambition. As Paul would write to the church in Philippi, these are people who

Philippians 2:3 (LSB)

[do] nothing from selfish ambition or vain glory, but with humility of mind [regard] one another as more important than [themselves],

You can begin to see, can’t you, that the kind of love that God commands us to have for one another begins with our submission to the truth of the Gospel. When you look on your fellow church member as one for whom Christ suffered in agony on the Cross; that His blood was shed and His anguish was poured out for your brother; that your own wickedness and depravity was wiped clean by the same Blood that wiped clean the wickedness of your sister—that is a disposition of your heart that makes this kind of fervent love possible. It is a love grounded in humility and not pride; it is a love that is free to seek another’s good and not your own.

A church that loves one another the way we are commanded here in our text is a church whose members seek to submit to the truth of the Gospel, and notice secondly in 1 Peter 1:22 that they are a people who

Aim to WALK in PURITY (cp. James 4:8)

1 Peter 1:22 (LSB)

Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart,

You’ll notice that Peter refers to the soul and the heart here in this verse. Now, we tend to use those terms pretty much interchangeably to refer to the immaterial part of our being—our thoughts, will, emotions, feelings, and so on. And while the distinction in the way these words are used in the New Testament isn’t entirely clear-cut, there are some helpful nuances that we can draw out here.

Now, Peter says that our obedience to the truth of the Gospel has a purifying effect on our souls. In the context of the First Century, the word “soul” (Greek psyche) referred to everything that we would call a person’s psychological faculties—the conscience, the will, logical thought, self-consciousness and awareness—all of the mental, emotional and logical functions of a person’s heart and mind. It is a “catch-all” word to describe the entirety of a person’s immaterial existence.

So when Peter says that our obedience to the truth has “purified our souls”, he is saying something big, isn’t he? He is saying that everything about you is in the process of being transformed, changed, cleansed, filtered out and renewed by your obedience to the Word.

James 4:8 interchanges the “heart” for the “soul” when he writes about the purification that we undergo as Christians:

James 4:8 (LSB)

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

As our obedience to the Word purifies our souls (our hearts, as James would say), we find that we are becoming more “single-minded” in our pursuit of God; the conflicting desires that we have begin to fade—our pettiness gives way to grace, our suspicion gives way to trust, our self-centered desires give way to generosity, and so on. Once again—see how a church family that is committed to submitting to the truth and walking in purity becomes a church that is freed to one another fervently from the heart.

Moving on to the next clause in Verse 22 we see a third commitment of a loving church’s members—they

Strive to LIVE as a FAMILY

1 Peter 1:22 (LSB)

Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy...

Now the Greek word here for “love of the brothers” is very familiar to us: it is the word philadelphia; philos (affection, friendship) and adelphos (brother). Outside of the New Testament this word is used to describe family affection for one another—the bond that exists between siblings.

Over and over again, the New Testament writers call the church to this kind of love for one another:

Romans 12:10 (LSB)

being devoted to one another in brotherly love, giving preference to one another in honor,

1 Thessalonians 4:9 (LSB)

Now concerning love of the brothers, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,

Hebrews 13:1 (LSB)

Let love of the brothers continue.

And in 2 Peter 1, the apostle urges his readers to “apply all diligence in your faith to supply” (among other things)

2 Peter 1:7 (LSB)

...in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love.

Now, if you have siblings, you have an idea of what kind of love Peter is referring to here. C.S. Lewis wrote extensively about this kind of love in his book The Four Loves. It is a love of absolute trust, of unquestioned loyalty; the love of someone who has your back; who has been through thick and thin with you; one who will never let you down and will lay down his own life for you without hesitation. Lewis says

It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others…by Friendship, God opens our eyes to them (The Four Loves, p. 89-90). Quoted in C.S. Lewis And The Four Loves by Sam P. Schuldheisz at https://www.1517.org/articles/cs-lewis-and-the-four-loves, retrieved 1/10/2025)

A loving church is characterized by its members committing to love each other as a family—to go above and beyond for each other the way you would for your own blood, because the blood that binds you with each other is the blood of Christ Himself. He has knit you together (as we saw last week) into one family. And so He calls you to love one another that way.

Peter shows us in this text how our faithful life in Christ enables our fervent love for one another—we have seen how this love is fostered by the commitment of a loving church’s members—so now we can turn to consider

II. The CHARACTER of a loving church’s FELLOWSHIP

So in verse 22 we see that in obedience to the truth we purify our souls for brotherly love—but look at the prepositional phrase attached to “brotherly love”--

1 Peter 1:22 (LSB)

Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart,

So the first characteristic of a loving church’s fellowship is that

It is NOT an ACT (1:22)

The Greek word hupocrites here originally meant an actor—someone who wore a mask on stage. I wish it weren’t true, but every single one of us gathered here has at one time or another experienced a church setting where all of the so-called “brotherly love” was a pure fiction. Everyone is “Brother” this and “Sister” that, with kind words and warm greetings on Sunday mornings when face to face, but bitterness and gossip and slander and broken promises the rest of the week. There is nothing more disheartening than to discover that the grand show of love and fellowship on display on a Sunday morning worship service is just a thin veneer over the same old insincerity and superficial chitchat as you find anywhere else out there in the world.

And God forgive us; we have not only been victims of such hypocrisy, we have played the hypocrite as well. But see here that what God calls us to in His Word is a genuine brotherly love—that we really mean it when we say we love one another; in fact, instead of saying how much we love each other all the time, we just get down to the business of doing it. Because here’s the thing—when you really are in the midst of a loving church, you’ll know it without everyone having to tell you how loving their church is.

The character of a loving church’s fellowship is that it is not an act—it is “without hypocrisy”. And here we come in verse 22 to the command given to us as believers—that we are to fervently love one another. The Greek word beneath the English translation fervently (or earnestly as in the ESV) gives the sense of tension or straining or stretching—in other words, the character of a loving church’s fellowship is that

It STRETCHES to the LIMIT (cp. John 13:1)

This is the love we are called to have toward one another—love that gives everything; love that lays down its life. To love one another earnestly, fervently, is to love the way Christ loved His disciples in John 13:1:

John 13:1 (LSB)

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

It’s also not immediately apparent in our English translations, but the word for love here at the end of Verse 22 is agape—the love that is described as Christ’s love for us, the love that exists between Father, Son and Holy Spirit; the love that empties itself on behalf of its beloved; the love that is stronger than death; the love that Paul exhorts his readers to in Colossians 3--

Colossians 3:12–14 (LSB)

So, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and graciously forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord graciously forgave you, so also should you. Above all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.

And notice one more phrase in verse 22:

1 Peter 1:22 (LSB)

Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a love of the brothers without hypocrisy, fervently love one another from the heart,

—the third characteristic of a loving church’s fellowship is that it is a fervent love from the heart. Now at first glance this seems as though it is reinforcing Peter’s exhortation to love without hypocrisy. That’s the way we tend to use that phrase, “from the heart”.

And while I think that is a helpful way to understand what Peter is driving at here, I want to suggest to you that there is another element to this command to love “from the heart”. The third characteristic of a loving church’s fellowship is that

It is GOVERNED by HOLINESS

I take this from the fact that when you step back and consider the context of this verse—the whole sweep of Chapter 1 of 1 Peter is an exposition of the effects of the New Birth on our lives—the living hope we have been born into (v. 3), the purifying of our faith to shine bright as gold at the appearing of Christ (v. 7), the girding up our minds for action with our hope fixed on the grace Christ has purchased for us (v. 13) and the power to be freed from the former lusts which were ours in ignorance (v. 14) so that we can be holy as Christ is holy:

1 Peter 1:15–16 (LSB)

but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your conduct; because it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

And so we see that this fervent love without hypocrisy is a holy love—it is not governed by the whims and instability of the world around us; it is a love that speaks the truth; it is a love that stands on the solid bedrock of God’s revealed Word. When the ancient Greeks used the word heart to describe the inner life of a man, it referred to the seat of the rational will and emotions. So much of what is called love today is governed by hearts that are deceitful and desperately sick (Jeremiah 17:9); hearts that are dull; hearts that are hardened against God’s Word and His will—love that comes from a heart in that condition can never be the love that God commends to His people.

But beloved, you have been given a new heart; the heart of stone has been removed and a heart of flesh put in its place. You are able to love with the very love with which Christ has loved you—as He Himself prayed on the night He stretched His love for us to the limit:

John 17:26 (LSB)

and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Beloved, is this not Good News for you? God’s Word has laid out for you what He requires of our fellowship with one another—a love pursued with purity and obedience and holiness and sacrifice and sincerity and affection; a love free from hypocrisy or selfishness or resentment or apathy. A love that mirrors the extremity of action that led your Savior to suffer and die on that Cross, so great was His love for you.

Look around you in this room at this moment. Has the love with which you have loved these precious brothers and sisters—fellow family members for whom Christ suffered and died just as He did for you—have you loved fervently, from the heart, in holiness and humility? Sacrificially and joyfully in all ways? Is God’s cosmic purpose to have His manifold wisdom revealed to the heavenly powers and earthly rulers coming to pass in the way you love the people in this room?

You can see here, can’t you, why Peter goes on in the next verse to remind his readers

1 Peter 1:23 (LSB)

for you have been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

Truly, if we do not have the hope of the New Birth, what hope could we ever have of loving one another in this way? Because the kind of fellowship that the Scriptures demand of us is far beyond our own strength. This kind of fellowship doesn’t just happen—it comes about when a church family is committed to pursuing it. When we are fervent about showing this kind of love, when we prioritize this kind of life together. And we can only do that as we are obedient to the truth—as we submit to the truth of the Gospel by repentance and faith. If you have not come to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, you simply do not have the capacity to love in this way.

So the first step towards fervently loving one another from the heart is that your heart has been made new by saving faith in Christ. What is your relationship with Christ today? What role does He play in your life—a friend and advisor to help you accomplish your own goals for your life, a Presence to make you a more moral person and help you feel better about yourself? Or is He your only hope in life and death? Have you staked everything for you life and eternity on the hope that His death has washed away your guilt before God and that His resurrection three days later is an undeniable fact of history that demands your utter and total and unending obedience and worship? If He is not, you not only have no capacity to love others the way these verses demand, but you do not even belong to this body.

Fervently loving one another from the heart begins with a heart that has been transformed by the New Birth. Secondly, see here in our text that this fervent love is one that comes from a soul purified by the Word of God. So if you want to love one another this way, fight sin in your life. Seek the holiness that God has purchased for you by the blood of Christ, walk daily over the bellies of your lusts, root out every inclination in yourself toward selfishness, pride, bitterness, anger, lust, defensiveness, slothfulness, hypocrisy and whatever other sins will choke out the brotherly affection and sacrificial love that God wills for you.

And see further here in our text that the way you pursue that purity, the way you fight for that holiness, is through God’s Word:

1 Peter 1:23 (LSB)

for you have been born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, that is, through the living and enduring word of God.

It is God’s Word that has brought you to the obedience of the truth; it is God’s Word that cuts to the deepest recesses of your soul to expose the remaining corruption hidden there:

Hebrews 4:12 (LSB)

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And so let me suggest one way to put all of this together—how to fight for the purity of your heart through obedience to God’s Word in order to foster that fervent love for one another— spend time together in God’s Word. It is all there—the faithful life we are meant to foster in fervent love for one another will never thrive and grow more than when we gather together to study, learn, explore and cherish God’s Word. Whether it is in our Sunday morning Worship, Sunday School youth group, Young Adult, Ladies Fellowship, Men’s Prayer Breakfast—when you gather with your brothers and sisters in Christ and together become increasingly obedient to the truth of the Scriptures, your hearts are all being tuned and refined together by God’s Spirit at work in His living and active Word to make that fervent love and brotherly affection and sacrificial joy overflow in you and through you for the benefit of His gathered people here at Bethel.

So start small—if you haven’t already, pick up a Bible reading plan. Start seeking that obedience to the truth that purifies your soul by daily reading God’s Word. And as you are daily digesting and growing in obedience to God’s Word in your own life, seek the opportunities here at Bethel to do the same with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Is it easy to do this? No. Is it convenient? No. Is it challenging enough to carve out time to spend in private devotions, much less commit to a regular Bible study with your fellow members? Sure it is. But the question isn’t “Is this convenient?” The question is “Does God’s Word commend it?” Fervent love for one another is not automatic; it doesn’t “just happen”. But when we submit ourselves to His truth and walk in purity and strive to live together as a family, He promises you a depth of fellowship and love here in this place that you will never find anywhere else—a love that is genuine, a love that will stretch to the limit for you, a love that is pure and unfailing and true—because it is a reflection of the pure and perfect and unfailing love of your Savior, Jesus Christ!

BENEDICTION

2 Corinthians 13:14 (LSB)

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:

How does the flow of Peter’s argument highlight the role of the New Birth in creating the kind of love that he calls Christians to show one another in our text? How does this help you understand what it means that our souls have been purified by “obedience to the truth?”

What are the three characteristics of a loving church family that we see here in this text? How does this kind of love differ from the way that “love” is expressed in other areas of life? How is it similar?

How can spending time in God’s Word (individually and with other believers) foster the fervent love and brotherly affection this text describes? How can you grow in your commitment to studying God’s Word this year?

How can recognizing the sacrifice of Christ influence the way you interact with other members here at Bethel? What are some ways that you can demonstrate fervent love for your brothers and sisters in Christ this week?