1 Peter 1:22 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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1 Peter 1:22

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Have I purified my soul? No, God has purified my soul; Christ has taken my sin away, but Peter says that in a sense I have done it. How? By obeying the truth, the command to repent and to trust in Christ. He did it actually. I am said to have purified my soul, simply because I repented and believed. When I repented and believed in Christ and when I received that new nature, one component part of it was that I knew my brothers and sisters in the Lord and I had a bond with them. ‘Through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren’ – we can't do it alone; we ever pray and rely on the Spirit. It is unfeigned, unhypocritical; not with superficial charm and pleasantness on the outside, while inside there is a critical spirit or smouldering envy or resentment on the inside over some perceived offence. ‘Love of the brethren.’ Although here it is four words, it is one word in the Greek – ‘philadelphia’. The first part of the word means dear or loved, and the second part means brother or brotherly. It is love as close as a blood tie, and better even than that. That man is a brother in the Lord saved by the blood of Christ, one who I am called to walk with, appreciate, relate to, and pray for. I must be honest and open with the brother, that sister. A fellowship of God's people, a family of God's people, is wonderful. In the letter to the Hebrews we are told to continue in brotherly love. In other words we are given a bond with each other by Christ when we are converted. ‘We know that we have passed from death unto life’, says the apostle John, ‘because we love the brethren.’ Keep it up by prayer and effort, so that it's not spoiled. It can be reduced and damaged in any number of ways. We may be sure that there are a thousand demons, whose sole task it is to sow discord and mistrust in every heart. If there is a cause or an offence, resolve it, and pray to God, and bring it to a close, because like athletes, straining for the tape, we are to work at affection for one another. ‘Fervently’ – it translates a word which comes from the Greek verb ‘to stretch’, and you can almost see the implicit picture of a runner in a race, approaching the finishing tape, and stretching forward and exerting every muscle to finish successfully. Love one another, pursue brotherly love, fervently. How much it's needed by aliens and foreigners, the people of God, scattered in a place that doesn't understand them, where the devil and his hosts are against them. What an incentive to holiness, that I have been put into such a family, a people who love the Lord, who have been changed by him, who have concern, kindness and friendship.

Application

I have purified my soul, but have I kept my soul purified as my Christian life has gone on? How? By self-examination, by mortifying sin, by prayer to God for help for forgiving love, identifying of my chief faults and tendencies and asking God to purge them and cause me to advance. In repentance and seeking the cleansing of Christ, you progressively work with the Lord to deal with the blemishes and the sins. It is a terrible thing for us to carry unprocessed problems and sins deep into the Christian life. What were the things that you committed before you were saved? What were your chief tendencies and failings? Somebody may have been a natural and persistent gossip. You can be sure that that is marked up on the files of Satan. After your salvation he will be watching for an opportunity to bring back the old trait.

Now sometimes it is hard to love other people, who are Christians, or who say they are Christians. Maybe we see deep unpleasantness in them; maybe we see pride saturating them; maybe we see hypocrisy. You might find it difficult to love them but wherever it is possible, we are to love one another. Of course, we should always aim to see faults first in ourselves and put them right, but when we see them in others we are to pray for them. Don’t let laziness or coldness get in the way – ‘Oh, I can’t be bothered to go and talk to that person’. Don’t just stick to the people who are like yourself in some way. Don’t have an unforgiving spirit. If somebody offends and they genuinely regret it, forget it entirely!

Don’t disgrace the Father. Pray for holiness. Remember a tremendous price has been paid for you. Seek to advance in holiness. Remember you have been delivered from that vain, futile life into which you were brainwashed and have been delivered into the most intelligent life in the world, consecration to the living God. Let that be an incentive to holiness. Remember that you have been taught by God and you have discovered that outside your God there is no good, no life, nothing but anti-values. Let that be an incentive to holiness.

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1 Peter 1:22 Commentary and Bible Study