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1 Peter 1:22
“Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”
Peter’s focus on the life that believers must live in gratitude for the great salvation that Christ purchased for them has thus far stressed what we might call its Godward aspects: reverent fear of the Lord and holiness (1 Peter 1:1–21). In today’s verse, the Apostle transitions to the manward aspects of a life lived in thankful obedience for our redemption. As we see in verse 22, Peter calls us to love one another. Holiness of life, reverent fear of God, and love for fellow Christians—these are some of the chief marks of those who have truly rested in Jesus alone for salvation.
The Apostle includes both completed and ongoing actions in our salvation in his admonition. First, he states that believers have “purified [our] souls by [our] obedience to the truth” (v. 22). Peter refers here to our conversion, when we obeyed God’s command to believe the gospel, putting our faith in Jesus and turning from our sin. When we came to Christ alone for salvation, we engaged in what Paul calls the “obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5), the act of trusting in Jesus. Note that while to believe is to obey the Lord, we cannot take ultimate credit for our faith. We believe because our Creator has graciously given us the faith that we exercise (Eph. 2:8–9).
We believe “for a sincere brotherly love” (1 Peter 1:22). Faith in Christ is for the purpose of salvation, but that is not the only end goal of trusting in Jesus. Believing in Christ has as one of its fruits love for fellow believers. This must be so, for salvation involves restoring to us what was lost in the fall, including the loving communion that we enjoyed with others before Adam sinned. Redemption includes reconciliation with God and with one another (see Eph. 2:14–16).
Conversion, a once-for-all event, is the completed action in our salvation to which the Apostle refers in 1 Peter 1:22. The ongoing action is our sanctification, the process by which we are progressively conformed to the image of Christ. In verse 22, we see it represented in the command to love one another from a pure heart. Love for one another is an act of obedience that flows from the new heart that God gives us in conversion, and as we love one another we imitate God and thereby become more like Him. We love because He first loved us, and by loving one another we find His love more and more perfected in us and our hearts are further purified (see 1 John 4:12, 19). Our ongoing actions are part of the sanctification process, fueled by the Lord Himself (Phil. 2:12–13).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Dr. R.C. Sproul comments: “The more our souls are involved in obedience, the greater the purification that occurs, and the more our souls are purified, the greater our obedience will be. This is not a vicious circle but a glorious circle by which obedience feeds purification and, symbiotically, purification feeds obedience.” God conforms our hearts to His through our obedience. If we want to be more like Him, we must seek to love one another.
For further study
- Psalm 51:10
- Zechariah 8:17
- James 4:1–12
- 1 Peter 4:8
The bible in a year
- 1 Samuel 15–17
- Luke 15:11–32