1 Peter 1:22–2:3 Love One Another Fervently

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Love One Another Fervently

1 Peter 1:22–2:3

Introduction: We noticed in our last lesson that Peter begins the body of his letter with four imperatives or primary commands: “set your hope fully…”  “be holy in all your conduct,”  “conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile,” and “love one another fervently from a pure heart.” The motivation for each of these commands is that we have been ransomed by the precious blood of Christ. 

However, this last command, “love one another fervently,” is set apart in a unique way. In fact, the command is repeated twice: “your souls were purified by obedience for a sincere brotherly love…” Therefore, “love one another fervently from a pure heart.” And then the reason for loving one another fervently: since you have been born again by imperishable seed…” 

I have found it fascinating how Peter placed emphasis on this final command. In fact, the entire text through 2:3 gives the basis for loving one another fervently. Therefore, our key in this section is love even though the mechanism of attaining fervent love is “born again by imperishable seed.” 

1. The Relationship between Fervent Love and Born Again
   1. First, it should impress us that Peter brings up our rebirth a second time in the letter. In 1:3, he started the letter with God’s great mercy that “caused us to be born again to a living hope.” Notice that 1:23 begins with “since.” In other words, the reason we are to love another another fervently is because we have been born again by an imperishable seed.
   2. Therefore, notice Peter’s contrast: Born of a perishable seed results in a fleshly, carnal person, with all the sinfulness and hatefulness that goes along with the flesh.
   3. However, born of an imperishable seed is being reborn by God’s own seed, and thus results in a Spirit–born person in the likeness of God. Since God is love, to be born of God means that we will love like God loves. To be anything else to show evidence of still being in the flesh and not to have been born of God.
   4. Therefore, this makes sense of Galatians 5:19-23, which displays the same contrast. Do we have evidence of being born of the flesh or born of the Spirit? “By their fruit you will know them.”
2. The Imperishable Seed
   1. Notice that in the rest of our text Peter stresses the rebirth that takes place by this imperishable seed, “the living and abiding word of God.” Notice:
      1. 22: purified your souls by your obedience to the truth
      2. 23: born again of imperishable seed, through the living and abiding word of God…
      3. 25: In contrast to the flesh, “but the word of the Lord abides forever. And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”
      4. 2:2: “…long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation…”
   2. What is it about the “word of God” that causes Peter to place such emphasis on it? There are two reasons that we will need to explore:
      1. It is the means by which we complete our rebirth, that is, our transformation to becoming a person who loves fervently. 
      2. Peter is writing in the context is trials. Just consider how emotional and unstable we become during the tribulations that regularly come our way. It doesn’t even have to be some major ordeal, our brains just take us all over the place. We become anxious and we easily fret over what the future will hold. Consider these areas of our lives over which we can be troubled:
         1. Relationships
         2. Children
         3. Time constraints
         4. Job
         5. Money
         6. Health
         7. Of course, the above are just daily pressures and not to be consider true trials, but when we add them up they cause significant stress.
   3. The point of seeing Peter’s words in the context of trials is that trials and the above concerns are not the source of life. It is where humans most often define life, but none of that is “life.” This is why Peter’s uses the quotation from Isaiah 40:6-8.
   4. First, consider the context. Isaiah has just completed 39 chapters of a devastating rebuke against the nation for trusting in their own wisdom, their own power, their own wealth, their idols, and the help of the pagan nations. The Lord’s charge to the people in this text is that all flesh, including everything they produce, are like the flower of the field. Oh yes, the flower is beautiful, but only for a moment. Very soon it withers and is gone. Even the most glorious flower man may produce, it will wither and die. The glory of Rome, faded and died. So will the glory of the United States.
   5. The beginning of Isaiah 40 is, “Comfort, comfort my people…” Isaiah was writing to those who would be in exile long after he was gone. But they are to be comforted. The Lord is returning to bring them home. And so it was with these exiles of Peter’s day. And so it is for us as elect exiles. Here is what is beautiful about what Peter writes. He knew that what God said to those 6th century BC Jews was just as true to these first century exiles. And therefore, it is just as true for us. 
   6. The last words of verse eight are, “but the word of our God will stand forever.” Peter explains that statement by the “imperishable seed” that produces in us a rebirth. That seed in us is what makes us “stand forever.” There is a permanence to what we are doing that no person outside of Christ can claim. The world will go after that which is temporary, and it will fade away.
   7. Further down from the quote of Isaiah 40 the Lord reminds his people of how great he is compared to the powers of their age like Babylon. In verse 15, he says “the nations are like a drop in the bucket and are accounted as dust on the scales.” Later in verse 22, he says, “He who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers…who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.”
   8. But we must remember, our rebirth means we grow into a new life. It is not stagnant. It is not a one time event. Paul said that in baptism we raise up to “walk a new life.” The word of God is still our sustenance by which we “grow up into salvation” (2:2).
   9. Further, Isaiah goes on to talk about the word of the Lord as “good news.” It is not only good news because it gives us eternal life, but it is also a stabilizing factor in our lives. Please put this deep into your mind: the word of God should be both preventive and therapeutic. Used every day you can give yourself the ability to sail through the waves of life (Eccl. 5:20). But also, when our lives are hit hard and the “evil day” comes, we often forget to go to the Rock of our salvation. The Lord said in Jeremiah, “for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).
3. Practical Living: 2:1-3
   1. Jesus summarized it in explaining the thorny ground in the parable of the sower: “the cares of the world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word” (Mark 4:19). Interesting statement by Jesus, isn’t it? What chokes out the benefits that come from the word planted in our hearts? It’s all these cares. It’s protecting and growing possessions. It’s desires for other things. Jesus specifically tells us what is hindering us from growing and bearing fruit. There is not one of us who is not subjected to all these things. Of course, Jesus is not suggesting that we can rid ourselves of all these things. We must live in this world. The problem isn’t that we are confronted with cares, riches, and desires, the problem is the weight we put on cares, riches and desires. We convince ourselves that all that confronts us in life are urgent and therefore must be placed as a priority.
   2. However, the fact that these things seem urgent to us is what makes them so dangerous. “Urgent” doesn’t mean important. Urgent things are loud and intrusive. They get in our face and scream at us to pay attention to them. However, the real priorities, the important things that truly have longterm value, these usually sit quietly waiting for us to pay attention. 
   3. The key is to make the “important” more urgent. Our stomachs growl with hunger when we have not eaten, and that becomes urgent. But unless we have repeatedly tasted the goodness of the Lord in God’s word, our spiritual hunger simply disappears like someone who has not eaten for weeks. In other words, have you made spiritual hunger urgent? 
   4. How do we whet the appetite of our spiritual hunger? 2:3 is the answer. It is the only answer. We must taste and re-taste. Hebrews 6:5 speaks of “tasting the goodness of the word of God.” Have you tasted the goodness of the word of God? Transformation does not happen any other way. Learning to love one another fervently doesn’t happen any other way. 
   5. According to Peter, a person who isn’t loving fervently, isn’t transforming because he isn’t making the pure spiritual milk urgent. Isn’t that what “like newborn infants, long for…” means? Anyone want to argue that an infant’s desire for milk isn’t urgent? Ha! That child will make it urgent! 
   6. In regard to “tasting,” Peter brings up another significant point in 2:1. Look at the specific sins Peter mentions. They are the opposite of loving one another earnestly from a pure heart. He begins the verse with “so…” The idea is that since we have been born again of imperishable seed, we will put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. We do not have malice for one another or deceit or hypocrisy or envy, and we never slander one another! Notice the word “all.” We put all of it away from us.
   7. “Hypocrisy” is a critical word that needs mentioning. In this context, an example would be claiming to love our brothers and sisters while gossiping and slandering them. There is only one kind of gossip that should be heard in a church. We always need uplifting gossip, gossip that speaks well of one another.
   8. However, we must not miss the critical message. If our lives are involved with malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy and slander, it will be impossible to long for the pure spiritual milk! 

Conclusion: the primary result of born again in this section of Peter’s letter is loving fervently. As we know, that is always the greatest sign of God’s people. John 13:34-35 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Berry Kercheville