Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
So far in these first few words of Peter’s letter to us, he has touched on a number of points:
- We have been chosen by God (v 2)
- God’s Spirit is sanctifying us
- We are to be obedient to Jesus Christ
He continues with more insights into the Christian life:
- We have been given new birth (v 3)
- We are shielded by God’s power (v 5)
- We love and believe Jesus even though we don’t see him (v 8)
- We are filled with joy
- We are receiving the salvation of our souls (v 9)
Having received all of these things, how should we be and act?
- Keep our minds alert and fully sober (v 13)
- Set our hope on Jesus Christ
- Be obedient (v 14)
- Be holy in all we do (v 15)
- Live as foreigners in referent fear (v 17)
So how are we doing so far? Are you being sanctified? Are you obedient to Jesus? Do you know the joy that Peter is talking about? Are you holy in all you do?
If you can answer “Yes” to all these questions then you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth. Such a person has “sincere love” for other Christians. Now Peter urges us on to the next level:
“…love one another deeply, from the heart.”
This is not what might be called a “technical love.” This is not a pro forma love. Peter is urging us past simply being polite and courteous. He wants us to love others as God loves us.
Can we do that without God’s sanctifying Holy Spirit? Can we love without having joy in our hearts? Can we disobey or be unholy in our thoughts or actions and still love others?
No.
Peter has given us a checklist of prerequisites. If you are having trouble loving others from the heart, let Peter take you by the hand and lead you back through the basics.
Application: Don’t kid yourself. Obedience, joy, and holiness are all required if we want to honor God by loving others from the heart.
Food for Thought: What does it mean to purify yourself?
It is a perfect participle. My understanding is that it is something that has been done. It carries the connotation of “having been purified.” We have been purified or are considered clean by obeying the truth of the gospel. The result is seen in that we love one another. To say it backwards helps me, but I am admittedly weird. We have a sincere love because we have responded to the truth of the gospel and the gospel truth has transformed us so that we are clean or pure.
When I think of purity I think of a single minded devotion to God. When I am devoted to God I naturally become more like what He wants me to be. And He wants me to love Him and others as Christ loves me.
Okay, brother Rich, you made me smile this morning. 🙂
Thank you! And by the way, we love your weirdness!!
Once again I agree with Rich who got here before me.
“To purify is to cleanse something, wash away its impurities, making it pure.”
In the Old Testament this was physically done with water, people and garments were washed, cleansed in preparation for service to God. This was an outward action to demonstrate an inner reality.
Exodus 19:10, and let them wash their garments;
Exodus 29:4, wash them with water.
Numbers 8:6-7, sprinkle purifying water on them, wash their clothes, and they will be clean.
2 Chronicles 4:6, was for the priests to wash in.
Leviticus 16:4, Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on.
The the inner reality would be accomplished through Christ. He is the power to purify His people as we draw near to Him we have access to God, and are made useful for His service.
James 4:8, Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. and purify your hearts,
Titus 2:11-14, To purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
Acts 15:9, Cleansing their hearts by faith.
1 John 3:3, Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
Though not frequent, I genuinely enjoy visiting here; the blog itself & in reading the comments & interactions from others. Rich & Jeff’s faithfulness is a blessing to count on. It’s especially nice knowing some of the brothers here and how much I know they seek to follow God. I don’t think I know Ron yet, but I especially appreciate all the Scripture that you have been sharing lately. They are a blessing.
In coming at this as a former Catholic, it provides me with an interesting perspective. Being purified by “grace” for the believer–in the eyes of Mother Church–is dispensed or “earned” incrementally over time through sacrament.
So I guess I’m more responding to Rich’s comment, and Ron’s followup (though I don’t think this was Jeff’s main focus), about the perfect participle of our purification. Sometimes we can see more clearly what we believe when contrasted against what we don’t.
According to Catholicism, there is not a point in someone’s life where they will or can know if they are purified, let alone saved, as the Catholic dogma equates the two and counts those who would pronounce to know such things, anathema.
There may be more nuance to it than this, but basically you don’t make it to heaven until you are completely perfected and all your sins are paid for (which you can never know). According to their doctrine, this was not accomplished once and for all by Christ on the cross for those who believe. Hence, the need for constantly re-performing Christ’s sacrifice during Transubstantiation.
Yet even here, purgatory most likely (probably most definitely) awaits the believer until their sins are fully accounted and paid for and their perfection is completed (usually by others and through indulgences) so that they may at some point enter through those pearly gates to be with Jesus.
In contrast to what we see in Scriptures and what I see in one of my favorite verses (Ephesians 2:8-10) where good works are a sign of walking in something that Christ has already prepared for us. Christ ALWAYS brought arguments of this nature back to the ontological level. An apple tree will only bear apples, and a brier patch…thorns.
So for sure, he is always in reference to such a perfect participle. A brier patch does not slowly grow into an apple tree, but by a miracle of God, who can in an instant change the ontology or nature of our inner man.
I think what Jeff is getting at, is that does this mean that we do not participate in our efforts of perfecting our love towards one another? No, we do walk in and produce fruit and to do so requires a real focus and intent of our hearts.
How does this differ from something like Catholicism in comparison? The difference is that if someone is truly born again they are now empowered by the Holy Spirit and are born again unto such works. These works aren’t what places us in a right standing before God, which has already been secured by Christ.
Such “workings” as love are a fruit that we are only now able to bear on account of the purified perfection of what Christ has done in our hearts, by having already washed and changed us. We are purified in this sense, it is 100% complete. A babe born into God’s kingdom is of a perfect and purified nature. But we have a duality of natures within us and these two are at war, til one be ultimately cast off in glory.
I think of when Christ washes Peter’s feet and says that he need not wash his whole body because he is already clean, save that his feet only be washed. Peter had picked up some dirt from walking around in this world, but Christ as our high priest has already cleansed us before God. So when we pick up dirt from walking around in this dirty world given our fallen nature that has not yet been fully shed, we can go to Christ for cleansing as we continue to grow in him and in our love for one another.
We are not yet perfected, yet we are perfect and purified in Christ Jesus at the same time. I guess we can see here that there is a distinction between justification and purification, but that I think it even more nuanced than this. Because we are pure according to the above verse that Jeff uses. Though we are not yet fully perfected and in this we have to continue to “work out” our salvation with fear and trembling. But it does not say “work for”…
I think also of Paul, where he states that he has not yet accounted himself to have obtained, but presses forward. I think there is a difference between what may be objectively true (that Paul had obtained in one sense being born again into the Kingdom of heaven), and yet how he needed to push forward for the prize (the full accomplishment of that reality working itself out in his walk w/ God and love for the brethren down on earth).
NMOP3PISdn,
You had my full attention as I read your wonderful post. I did not realize it until I began to breath normally as I finished. I can tell you are enjoying your freedom rather than laboring under a burden.
Isn’t it wonderful being left on earth, living in the Kingdom, allowing the power of Jesus Christ to purify, serve and glorify our Holy God in whatever capacity He chooses?
God Bless!
Thank you all for your comments here. I feel like I learned a lot and was certainly challenged to think. Blessings to you all.
Thank you all for your comments today. It would seem that today’s post has taken wing and ascended to heights greater than I could have imagined. Being of a simple mind, I approached the topic in a simpler vein. So for the sake of clarity, I offer a brief restatement of my thesis today.
The context of my thinking for what I wrote was nested in the words of Jesus when he spoke with Nicodemus. He says, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” (John 3: 14-15) Salvation is no more complicated than that. We can debate the technicalities of how that process works, but only to the point that Scripture speaks about it.
Peter is a believer in Jesus, but he is also a Jew. Being raised Jewish he is familiar with the rites of purification. These rites are things people symbolizing a transition from a state of being unclean to being clean.
I do not say this definitively, but I believe Peter may be thinking along these traditional lines. If so, the construction of his sentence suggests that the things we do in response to the gift of new birth in Christ are a prerequisite for achieving the ability to love deeply, from the heart. If this is the case, this is not a “salvation issue” in the sense of being a requirement for access to heaven. Instead, it is an admonition to live as Christ lived, reflecting God’s love for others.
In my mind’s eye, I look back on my shortcomings when I am unable to love deeply, from the heart. In each case (in my personal experience) something along the lines of Peter’s checklist has tripped me up. For example, I was not alert and/or sober, I wasn’t thinking of Jesus, I wasn’t even being obedient, my behavior wasn’t holy, and instead of reverent fear, I was living the moment in a cavalier state of mind.
So for myself, if I want to be more loving, I will do well to follow Peter’s prompts. For all of us, whether by God’s grace, our effort, or a combination of the two, I hope we find that we can love one another deeply, from the heart.
“Isn’t it wonderful being left on earth, living in the Kingdom, allowing the power of Jesus Christ to purify, serve and glorify our Holy God in whatever capacity He chooses?”
Amen to this brother Ron, & I thank you so much for your encouraging & uplifting words! They were a particularly well placed encouragement for me against some of the fiery darts of the enemy.
I have poor time management in my attempts to keep this to a “three minute” study, lol. You made me think of Romans 14. We are all unique and may serve God in “different” ways, but all unto Him & His glory! He will make us to stand!
Thanks as well Jeff for restating your thesis, especially in sharing:
“For example, I was not alert and/or sober, I wasn’t thinking of Jesus, I wasn’t even being obedient, my behavior wasn’t holy, and instead of reverent fear, I was living the moment in a cavalier state of mind.
So for myself, if I want to be more loving, I will do well to follow Peter’s prompts. For all of us, whether by God’s grace, our effort, or a combination of the two, I hope we find that we can love one another deeply, from the heart.”
This was of immense value to me. Something about having it restated or re-framed the way you did drove it home. Thanks so much for taking the time. I did not misunderstand your position, not at all, but you’ve gifted me here w/ greater enrichment.
NMOP3PISdn,
I am pleased to provide you with a special dispensation that allows you to exceed three minutes in your responses any time you choose. 🙂 Nobody has ever asked, but I will tell you how I came upon the name of “Three Minute Bible.” One Minute Bible and Two Minute Bible were taken. (Five Minute Bible seemed a bit long. 🙂 ) So there you have it. This could have been One Minute Bible and then we would all be needing dispensations all of the time!!
👍🏻