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1 Peter Studies (4)                                                                                       1 Peter 1:22-2:3

The Love for Our Brothers and Sisters

Verse 22 Obedience to the truth of the Gospel results in a purified life. Peter uses the perfect tense again, meaning that a consistent, habitual obedience to the Word had resulted in the purifying of the believers’ lives. This in turn resulted in a sincere, unfeigned love for their brothers and sisters in Christ. The Greek word for ‘sincere, unfeigned’ is literally ‘not hypocritically.’ Since hypocrisy originally denoted acting in a play, this word signifies sincerity without pretension and without putting on an act.

Realising that in Christ we are all on an equal footing of living by grace, rich and poor, slave and free, educated and illiterate, Peter commands us to love all our brothers and sisters ‘deeply, earnestly, from the heart.’ He uses the agape verb here, which often seems more than the philia kind of love. Here, it is the love that Christ had (and has) for us when he gave himself for us on the cross. In 1 Corinthians 13 we learn what love consists of, as well as what it is not: ‘Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.’ In 1 John 4:8 John defines God as love: ‘Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.’

The sincere love that we are to have for our brothers and sisters is one of the fruits of the Spirit: ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law’ (Galatians 5:22-23). The Spirit produces this divine love in the hearts of those who are subject to the control of the Spirit.

Verses 23-25 Peter again mentions the new birth, which happens by the working of the Holy Spirit and most often through the instrumentality of the “Word of God.” In the parable of the seed, Jesus said; ‘But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown’ (Matthew 13:23). Paul also connects faith with hearing: ‘faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ’ (Romans 10:17). Note how often the Bible mentions the need to hear the Word of God. We need to physically hear the Word with our physical ears. Paul commanded that his letters be read out in the congregation, because there would probably be only a few literate people. Not only in church, but also in our family and private devotions, it is good to hear the Word.

The seed of the born-again is imperishable. Peter quotes Isaiah 40:6-8 to say that we are mortal, like the grass: we wither and die, but ‘the Word of the Lord stands forever.’ If we truly hear the Word and believe it, we will live forever too. Peter, along with others in the diaspora, was privileged to preach the Word. We see that sincere love for our brothers and sisters and a desire for the Word go together and result in spiritual growth.

The next verse, 2:1, starts with a ‘therefore’ which indicates a follow-up and command of how we should behave as believers. We should actively rid ourselves of any sin in our lives; we are to put it away once for all. The grammar indicates that it must be a complete turn-around.

Peter mentions malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander.  These sins are also warned about by Paul and John (3 John 10). Malice refers to any kind of wickedness.

Deceit is the translation of a word which in its verb form means ‘to catch with bait.’ Today we have ‘click baits’ to entice us to click on advertisements of things or programs we don’t need. It is a kind of craftiness. ‘And I will keep on doing what I am doing in order to cut the ground from under those who want an opportunity to be considered equal with us in the things they boast about. For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light’ (2 Corinthians 11:12-14).

Hypocrisy is used when a person uses a mask to hide his/her true identity. It refers to acts of impersonation or deception. In the New Testament it refers to people we call hypocrites, those who assume the behaviour, speech, and character of someone else, thus hiding their real thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes. Christians should be open and above-board. Their lives should be like an open book, easily read. Peter himself had been guilty of hypocrisy earlier (Galatians 2:12-14) and was rebuked by Paul.

Envy is like covetousness: the desire to have what others have and what God has not granted us to have. That can mean material goods but also talents or opportunities.

Slander of every kind includes defaming, gossiping, and speaking against another. ‘Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice’ (Ephesians 4:31).

Paul characterizes those who repudiate God as: ‘filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practise them’ (Romans 1:29-32). Note that Paul denounces the same behaviours as Peter.

Verse 2 “Newborn babies” is from the Greek brephos, used only here in the NT in its metaphorical sense. In the literal sense it is used by Luke of baby Jesus in the manger (Luke 2:16). It invokes the picture of a baby at the breast. Peter was probably thinking of Isaiah 28:9, ‘Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?’ The recipients of this letter are called newborn babies because they had only recently become Christians. Compare Hebrews 5:11-14, where milk is contrasted with the solid food of the believer who has grown in the Word. The Hebrews recipients had failed to ingest the Word as newborns and had not even learned the basics. New Christians should have a strong desire for the ‘pure spiritual milk,’ i.e. the unadulterated milk, nothing added to it.

God’s Word has no ulterior motives, like so many human teachings. Its only purpose is that of nourishing the soul, so that we may ‘grow up in our salvation.’ Progress in our salvation means being sanctified, which occurs when we get rid of all malice etc. Sin destroys the appetite for the Word. The Christian who tries to find satisfaction in worldly things has no appetite for the things of God. A healthy infant is a hungry infant. A spiritually healthy Christian is a hungry Christian, hungry for the Word. We should know that by imbibing the ‘pure spiritual milk’ we will grow up in our salvation.

Verse 3 “Now that you have tasted” indicates that the new Christians had already experienced the goodness and graciousness of the Lord.

Questions:

How can we serve our brothers and sisters in love?

If we consider that we have already put off the behaviours that Peter and Paul condemn, does that mean we are perfect?

What sort of sins might we still have to repent of day by day?

Is acting a form of hypocrisy?

Abraham, Isaac, Rebekah, Jacob, Laban, and Rachel all practised deceit. Do you think some sins are somehow passed on through the family line?

– Alida Sewell