Today I wanted to look at the idea of brotherly love. There is some wording in today’s verses that make grasping them a bit more complicated than they seem at first glance. I mentioned in an earlier post (Rejoice! The Quest: Day 22.0) that Peter’s use of prepositions is sometimes confusing. I’ll address that again here, but again only in brief. I have an idea to look back at 1 Peter, once we’ve finished it and I have a better understanding of Peter’s writing. At that point, I hope to do a day or two looking in detail at these instances. Regardless or the difficulties, Peter gives a clear command that we are to love one another. How? Earnestly and from a pure heart with brotherly love.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, 23 since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; 24 for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
1 Peter 1:22-25
for brotherly love?
You can perhaps spot the odd preposition for for yourself. What does Peter mean by writing that we have purified our souls through obeying the truth for sincere brotherly love? I am not sure. This is one that I want to come back to later. However, his point is clear from the following command that we love one another sincerely from a pure heart. So, we have brotherly love, and we have love in action (the evangelical buzzword intentional might be properly used here, but I grow weary of that word). And, both are stemming from purification – of the heart and the soul.
Purified souls for brotherly love
We have discussed salvation and sanctification while going through 1 Peter. I think these studies do a pretty good job of covering the idea of purification. If you would like to read any of those, I think some of the most applicable are the following: Called: The Quest: Day 18.0, Sanctification: The Quest: Day 19.0, Obedience and Blood: The Quest: Day 20.0, Inordinate Desire: The Quest: Day 27.0, and Holiness: The Quest: Day 28.0. These studies should give some real insight (at least studying and writing them did for me!) into the process of purification of the believer. That’s why I want to make today’s focus brotherly love.
What is brotherly love for?
Christ said that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). But, Christ did give us a new commandment. He said that believers are to love one another in the same manner that Christ loved us. This was not only for the benefit of the Church writ large, but for the edification of the non-believer as well.
34 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. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
John 13:34-35
Christ’s reasons for brotherly love
So, we are to possess and to demonstrate brotherly love for our fellow Christians. I think it’s easy to pass over this and think, “Love for other believers? Check!” and go on our merry. But, it would be good to pause here and think of the inferences we can pull from such a command, as well as Christ’s own stated reasons for it. The following are not exhaustive, but representative of the reasons I think we can pull from Christ’s command. I believe these reasons are likely, at least, part of the reason Peter echos Christ’s command that we love one another earnestly with brotherly love.
The imitation of Christ
- First, we have the imitation of Christ.
- Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. – 1 Corinthians 11:1
- 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,[a] 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. – Philippians 2:3-8
- For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. – Romans 8:29
- 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. – John 15:9-11
Brotherly love as an example to the world
Second, we have a testimony to the world.
16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
John 17:16-23
Exploration of since
The third reason for having and showing brotherly love, not given by Christ, but given by Peter in these verses is that Christian’s have been born again. This is interesting. Maybe I shouldn’t call it a reason, but in English, that is often how we use the word since. Since can be a preposition focused on a time frame, i.e., “I have been awake since 4 a.m.” Since can be an adverb, i.e., “Since waking up, I have been trying to understand Peter’s prepositions.” Or, since is used as a conjunction to give a reason.
A thought experiment from a non-scholar
The way the translation in ESV is here, love one another earnestly…since you have been born again…, makes it read like a reason. If I were a Greek scholar (and we both know I am not!) I might be able to tell whether or not the verse could have the alternative adverbial translation of since. If it did, you could translate it, You love one another…since being born again… It’s a possibility. The style of the writing would change, though. That sort of writing seems very reminiscent of 1, 2, & 3 John, and not much like Peter’s. John is always telling us who and what we are. Peter’s writing has more exhortation to it.
If since were an adverb, Peter would be telling us that we are enabled to have and demonstrate brotherly love because of our salvation. But, if we take it for a reason, as I think we should, Peter is telling us that we should have and demonstrate brotherly love because of our salvation.
Why not both?
Either way, I think we can say it is this salvation that both enables and requires us to possess brotherly love for our fellow Christians. Why? What is it about this salvation that both supplies and empowers us to Christ-like love? Because we have been born again of imperishable seed. For more on this, please see Obedience and Blood: The Quest: Day 20.0.
How?
Finally, let’s briefly cover the how. Peter says we have brotherly love due to our salvation, and this salvation is eternal. How did we come by such a thing? Peter tells us it was by the word of God, and soon there after, this word is the good news that was preached to you. We have done a number of studies that cover this in step by step detail: Believe: The Quest: Day 23.0, Doers of the Word: The Quest: Day 8.0 , but I think our very first study, Steadfastness: The Quest: Day 1.0, probably touches most directly and to the point on this concept.
Let’s end with a quote that summarizes Peter’s last thoughts in this set of verses.
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:17
