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. ~ 1 Peter 1:22
Today, we return to our study of 1 Peter. We are trichotomous beings; we have a spirit, a soul and a body. The only part of us that is "born again" is our spirit which is the arena of our justification. Having been justified by our faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ which is a one time event, we have been awakened to God by the indwelling Holy Spirit. This is what it means to be "born again."
Our soul, on the other hand, is made up of our mind, our will, and our emotions. It is the arena for our sanctification. This process whereby God is changing our souls takes time, a long time for the desired change to happen. The goal of this process is not a better us, it is about us dying to the self life and being defined by God. As a result of being more and more defined by God, we acquire His wisdom which when applied, we grow in our sanctification. Today's verse begins with: "Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit."
The word "purified" is written in such a way that it reveals that someone outside of us brought about the purification. It also reveals we have not only been cleansed, but we therefore have new capabilities; in this case to love authentically. This means our loving of one another is predicated on the purifying of our souls which has done and is continuing to do through the process of sanctification. No human purifies himself. No, it was the Lord Jesus Christ who made us new creatures through our faith in Him. Apart from Christ, we cannot purify our hearts. Apart from Christ we are unable to truly love one another most sincerely. It was the Lord Jesus who purified our souls at the point of our salvation and He continues to purify our souls through the application of His word and His Spirit. Of course, we play a role in all of this as we avail ourselves to Him and obey His word. Godly conduct only comes from a godly character, and a godly character only comes from Christ, as we remain in Him and as He remains in us. When all of this happens, we will have received the capacity to sincerely love others, even in the most difficult of circumstances. In context the Apostle Peter has reminded these young believers in Christ that they had been selected by God, and they had been given a living hope because of the resurrected Christ. And, when we obey God, we are living the lives the Lord Jesus died to give us. When we obey Him or acquire and appropriate His wisdom, we will be less defined by sin. The next words in today's verse are: "in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart." Having been made alive to God, we can authentically love others, especially those who struggle like we. The Greek word translated "sincere" means without hypocrisy. It literally means "in a full stretch" or "an intense strain." When we are being sincere or authentic or real, we are like a stretched blown up balloon which we are able to see through. When we come to know the Lord Jesus and His love for us, we will increasingly be defined by Him and His love for us. When this happens our authenticity will be seen by others. We will not be looked upon as phony, but real. It is out of a heart that has been made pure that we love sincerely. When we operate out of Christ's love for us, we will be holy and we will have the ability to love others purely. Peter knew this principle very well. After all, he knew what it looked like to be inauthentic when he denied knowing the Lord Jesus three times the night He was betrayed. It wasn't until after the cross and the coming of the Holy Spirit that Peter began to truly experience the love of Christ and he began to learn to love this way, empowered by Christ. Peter never forgot the love the Lord Jesus showed him when he denied his association with Him three times, and no doubt the heart-desire of this aging apostle was to obey the Lord's command to feed His sheep. As a result, Peter, therefore, encouraged these young followers of Christ to prepare their minds for action in the difficult days they were facing, and to be sober in spirit and in soul learning to be totally dependent upon Him. Matthew Henry once said, "Hypocrisy is to do the devil's work in God's uniform." It is at this point that we discover that we best lead by our weaknesses, underscoring the word of God where it says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." We get the credit for leading but we know full well that we are at our core following servants. The Lord Jesus is the author and perfecter of our salvation. And, we are at our best when we are being empowered by Him to love others. We were made to be loved by the Lord Jesus who enables us to love others through His empowerment to do so. It is in the fulfillment of these two in our lives that we are able to realize what it means to be holy and complete in the Lord Jesus. |
