1 Peter 1:22-25

Works or Faith?

Verse 22 can lead some people to think that purification happens through works. This is not true.

Obedience to the truth means to trust in Jesus.

John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

1 John 3:3 “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”

Fruit of Salvation

Love for the community of faith.

The word for love is the greek word “Philadelphia.”

This means that we develop affection for fellow saved people.

We are commanded to love one another.

The word for love here is the greek word “agape.”

This is a love that is not rooted in emotion, but in the will. It is a sacrificial love that does what is best for the one loved.

We see that we should both have emotional love and sacrificial love for one another.

This love should be:

Earnestly - means fervently.

From a pure heart - not selfish.

Why should we love?

Because we have been born again.

Not of perishable seed, but of imperishable.

Much of what we fight about is centered around things that are of limited supply and perishable. What we have in the Lord is something that is in unlimited supply and imperishable.

Through the living and abiding word of God.

There is no salvation without the Word, in both senses. Without Jesus, there is no salvation. Without the written Word, the Bible, there is no salvation.

The Word

It is good news

It was proclaimed to them.

The news must be proclaimed in order for people to be saved.

Romans 10:13-15 “For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!””