When we are born again, we are called to fervently love the other members of God’s family. In this study, we explore both the command to love, and the Biblical reasons to love, including the human and divine side of conversion. Oh, let brotherly love continue!
Teaching Notes:
Love One Another!
1 Peter 1:22-25
Intro:
Starting at 1:13 Peter begins to lay out the duty of believers. First our duty to God is given in 1:13-21. 3 words summarize our duty Godwards: Hope, Holiness, Fear. 2nd, our duty to other believers is given in 1:22-25 – love fervently from the heart. Finally, Peter gives our duty to ourselves in 2:1-3 – grow in our salvation. Yes, we are commanded to hope in grace, be holy as God is holy, and live out our brief lives here on earth in fear (1:13-17), but we are not alone in the midst of this hostile world. We are part of a spiritual community. Peter directs us towards our responsibility to other followers of Christ.
In this paragraph the main idea is that we are to love one another. That is the main verb that drives the entire section. Everything else in this section simply describes who we are to love, how we are to love, and why we are to love.
1. The Command to Love:
notice that this is a command – not a suggestion or good advice. It is also directed to our will. Believers can choose to love. John Stott: “Christian love is not the victim of our emotions, but the servant of our will.”
A. Who Are We To Love:? “the brethren” “one another.” Other Christians. Peter is not speaking here of loving the whole world. This love is specifically directed towards other believers. The NT is full of these exhortations:
Galatians 6:10 “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
Romans 12:10 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.”
1 Thessalonians 4:9 “Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.”
Hebrews 13:1 “Let love of the brethren continue.”
1 John 4:7 “Brethren, let us love one another.”
1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren.”
We are all children of the same father, members of the same family, indwellers of the same Holy Spirit, partakers of the same new nature, possessors of the same eternal life, and heirs of the same heaven. Truly, we have more in common with one another than we do with our own blood families! Our relationship with them will end at death, but our relationship with believers will continue for all eternity. We would consider a woman a horrible monster who did not love her children and gave them away or abandoned them. How much more is it horrible for believers not to love one another?!
B. How Are We To Love?
1) Sincerely… from the heart: means unhypocritical or genuine. Not pretended but real. Not just spoken with the lips, but felt from within. We should have true affection for one another. This is not just going through the outward motions, but loving from within.
2) Fervently: our love is not only to be genuine, it is to be intense! Fervent has the meaning of “to stretch out.” It gives the picture of a horse at full gallop, or an Olympic runner straining every nerve to propel himself forward toward the tape. It means to be eager, enthusiastic, passionate and zealous about loving other believers. It comes from a Latin word “fervere” which means to boil. So it speaks of water brought to a boiling pitch. We talk about someone who is “on fire” for God. That’s the idea of fervent. That is supposed to be how we love one another! This intensity of love will cause us to make costly sacrifices for one another. John says we ought to lay down our lives for one another (1Jn.3:16). That’s fervent love!
2. The Reasons To Love:
Peter gives us 2 reasons. The command to love is sandwiched between 2 reasons to love. “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls” and “For you have been born again.” Both of these reasons speak of our conversion, but they do it from 2 different perspectives: first the human perspective, then the Divine perspective.
A. The Human Side Of Conversion: this is our conversion seen from our experience and perspective. This is what we did when we were saved.
1) We obeyed the truth: what “truth” is Peter talking about? Word of God (23), Word of the Lord (25), The Word which was preached as Good News (25). What is another name for the Word preached as Good News? The Gospel! Peter is writing to those who have obeyed the Gospel. How does someone obey the gospel? Not by loving the brethren. Notice “for a sincere love of the brethren.” So obeying the truth is not itself the presence of loving the brethren. Not yet. It is to the end of loving the brethren. This is not the obedience of love. It leads to the obedience of love. It is responding rightly to “the truth” or “the gospel.” How does someone do that? By faith.
Romans 1:7 “to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake.”
1 Peter 3:1 – those who are “disobedient to the word” are unbelievers.
1 Peter 2:7-8 – in verse 7 Peter speaks of those “who disbelieve”, and in verse 8 he speaks of those who are “disobedient to the word.”
2 Thessalonians 1:8 – “God will deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Obviously, those who do not know God are those who do not have faith in Christ.
So, when Peter says, “in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren” he is saying “you have purified your souls through faith in the gospel of Christ” and the root of faith leads to the fruit of love.
2) We Purified Our Souls: this is the result of obeying the gospel. Our souls have been purified as a result of our faith in Christ. Acts 15:19 – God cleansed their hearts by faith. So, 1st reason we are to love one another is because something beautiful and wonderful has happened to make it possible to love this way. Our souls have been purified, cleansed, washed. This took place when we believed the gospel. Now we are clean and new, and able to love sincerely and fervently.
B. The Divine Side Of Conversion: how can someone dead in sin, obey the truth, believe the gospel, and purify their soul?
1) You Have Been Born Again: Notice this is in the Passive voice. It happened to us. We did not birth ourselves. We have been born again. That means God did it to us. He quickened us to newness of life. He made us alive together with Christ. He created us in Christ Jesus. By His doing you are in Christ Jesus. We have passed out of death into life. We are passive in the New Birth, but very active in obeying the gospel once we are born again. We are like Lazarus – he had no power to bring himself back from the dead, but once he was made alive by Jesus, he was very active in coming forth from the tomb. A baby has no ability to cause his physical birth, but once he is born he does a lot of crying and screaming! Even so, we had no ability to cause our first birth, but once we are born we begin to pray, believe and repent.
2) Through the Word of God: specifically the Gospel (25). There are 2 things necessary in the New Birth: The Agent (Holy Spirit) and the Instrument (Word of God). The Word is Seed. New Life takes place when this word is implanted in the soul, and the Holy Spirit causes it to sprout. Notice that this Word is imperishable. Peter has told us that our inheritance is imperishable (1:4), our faith is imperishable (1:7), our ransom price is imperishable (1:18), and now God’s Word is imperishable. Because of the imperishable ransom of the blood of Christ, and because of our imperishable faith in Christ, we are going to an imperishable heaven, and all because we have been born again through the imperishable Word! Notice Peter’s emphasis on the enduring quality of the Word: imperishable, living, enduring (23), endures (25). Why does he go to such lengths to emphasize this, even quoting Is.40:6-8? The point is the Word will not proved wrong. It lasts as long as God lasts. Those who trust it will not fall ever. This Word that has given you New Life is living and abiding. It will not fail you. It is has brought you into existence, you will stay in existence. 1:24 – this Gospel is not like flesh or grass or flowers. They all wither and fade away. Our time on earth is brief at best. All of man’s glory is like flowers of grass. All his wealth, wisdom, achievements, honor, power, fame are all temporary. They will wither and die. But God’s Word will endure forever. So, what would you rather have – the glory of flesh which will wither and die, or the implanted imperishable Word which will cause you to endure in True Glory forever?!
Application:
1. What is the Order of Events Here? We have the seed of the Word, and the fruits of faith and love. We know that faith must precede love, because “since you have in obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren.” Our faith (obeying the truth) is unto love. But what about the New Birth. Does the New Birth cause Faith, or does Faith cause the New Birth? In other words, does God respond to our faith by giving us New Birth, or is our faith a response to God giving us New Birth? I’m not talking about a chronological sequence. There is not a gap of a day, month or year between the New Birth and Faith. It is like Fire and Light. There is no gap of time between the existence of Fire and Light. But the Fire causes the Light. The Light did not cause the Fire. Do spiritually dead people believe in order to come alive? If they do, they don’t need life! They can believe without it! Like finding a turtle on top of a fence post. One thing’s for sure – he didn’t put himself up there! And if you find a sinner who believes, repents, and seeks to please God one thing’s for sure – he didn’t get that way on his own! Physical life must precede physical actions. Spiritual life must precede spiritual actions. This means that left to yourselves, you will not believe. If you have saving faith, thank God for it! Not all have it.
2. Fervently Love One Another! How? 1Jn.3:18 “not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth.” Find another believe who is needy, and meet their needs. Look out for a believer with financial needs, physical needs (sick or invalid), social needs (widow, orphan, shut ins), spiritual needs (immature). Invest yourself, give, serve, disciple young believers. Forgiving one another, bearing with one another, rejoicing with those who rejoice, weeping with those who weep, admonishing the unruly, encouraging the fainthearted, helping the weak, being patient with everyone. This means we must be involved in each other’s lives. Our love for each other must go beyond these meetings. Our church meetings are like meal times in a family. A healthy family spends time together other than at meal times.
_________________________________
© Stone Bridge Ministries
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be approved by Stone Bridge Ministries.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: By Brian Anderson. © Stone Bridge Ministries. Website: www.StoneBridgeMinistries.net
Follow Us!