Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION

This morning we are looking again at the first chapter of 1 Peter

Please take your Bibles and turn with me to 1 Peter chapter 1

We will conclude chapter 1 today as we look at verses 22-25

Peter says...

Since verse 13 Peter has called his readers to action

First he called them to fix their “hope” on the return of Jesus (v.13)

Second they were to be holy because God is holy (vv.14-16)

Third they were conduct themselves in fear towards God (v.17)

Now he says they are to “love one another” (v.22)

This is the only command in verses 22-25

Before they would be able to love one another they would have needed to be purified because...

LESSON

I. Love Begins with the New Birth (v.22a)

1 Peter 1:22 “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren”

The new birth is described by two phrases in verse 22: “obedience to the truth” and “purified your souls”

One is the result of the other

The “truth” is the gospel

Ephesians 1:13 (NASB95)

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

Colossians 1:5 (NASB95)

because of the hope laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel

2 Thessalonians 2:13 (NASB95)

But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.

The “truth” is also embodied in a Person

“Obedience to the truth” is obedience to the Gospel

“Obedience” as a compound noun (hupo, “under,” and akoē, “the act of hearing”) conveys the thought of attentively listening to an authoritative pronouncement and then submitting to it in obedience.

(D.

Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1997), 112)

Mark 1:14–15 (NASB95)

Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,

and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”

John 3:36 (NASB95)

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

2 Thessalonians 1:7–8 (NASB95)

and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire,

dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

Peter’s hearers were “chosen” (1:1) “to obey Jesus Christ” (1:2)

The results is the purification of the soul

“Purified” (hagnizo) is in the perfect tense and “refers to a decisive act in the past, the consequences of which continue in the present” (Robert H. Mounce, A Living Hope: A Commentary on 1 and 2 Peter, (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2005), 22.

It is literally “having purified” (Vincent)

The cleansing took place at the time of the readers’ regeneration, and so they were in a state of being clean (cf.

John 13:10; 15:3; 17:19).

(D.

Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, (Winona Lake, IN: BMH Books, 1997), 111.)

A positive result of obeying the truth is a purified life (Roger M. Raymer, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, 1985, 2, 844.)

This is the only way to have a “sincere love of the brethren”

The word “Sincere” (anypokritos) means “unhypocritical”

It means unfeigned, without pretense, that is that which is genuine, free from deceit, authentic, undisguised, without pretense or sham and to use the "king's old English" to be "without dissimulation" (KJV) (dissimulate = hide under a false appearance).

In classical Greek drama, the hupokrites (actor) wore a face-mask projecting an image but hiding his true identity under (hupo) a mask.

Peter is saying that the Christian’s love should not be acting a part or wearing a mask, but should be an authentic expression of warm Christian affection.

Believers are not simply to be "playing the part" but are to exemplify a love which is completely genuine, unhypocritical, without pretense or deceit.

A believer's love is to be "the real thing".

Metaphorically and morally, a hupokrites (a hypocrite) is anyone who pretends to be something they are not.

It is interesting to note that our English word sincere comes from the Latin sincerus, which means "without wax" which stems from a practice of the early Roman merchants who set their earthen and porcelain jars out for sale.

If a crack appeared in one, they would fill it with wax the same color as the jar, so a buyer would not be aware that it was cracked.

But astute buyers learned to hold these jars out in the sun, and if the jar was cracked, the wax would melt and the crack would be revealed.

So the honest merchants would test their wares this way and mark them sincerus -- "without wax (https://www.preceptaustin.org/1_peter_122-25#1:22)

John Calvin said that “nothing is more difficult than to love our neighbors in sincerity.

For the love of ourselves rules, which is full of hypocrisy; and besides, every one measures his love, which he shews to others, by his own advantage, and not by the rule of doing good.

He adds, fervently; for the more slothful we are by nature, the more ought every one to stimulate himself to fervor and earnestness, and that not only once, but more and more daily.

(John Calvin, 1 Peter: Commentaries on the Catholic Epistles, Calvin’s Commentaries, electronic ed., (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1998), 1 Pe 1:22.)

The word “love” (philadelphia) means “brotherly love”

It’s translated “brotherly love” in Romans 12:10 and “brotherly kindness” in 2 Peter 1:7

It’s not ‘love men as though they were your brothers,’ but ‘love men because they are your brothers.’

” (Hiebert).

The Holy Spirit gives us God’s love in our hearts

God teaches us to love

Jesus teaches us how to love one another in John 13

So this is where love begins...

II.

Love is Commanded from the Heart (v.22b)

1 Peter 1:22 “fervently love one another from the heart”

The word “fervently” (ektenos) means, “ to stretch, and signify intense strain” (Marvin Richardson Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1887), 1:640).

The word means to go all out, to reach the furthest extent of something (Luke 22:44; Acts 12:5; cf.

Acts 26:7).

(John F. MacArthur Jr., 1 Peter, MacArthur New Testament Commentary, (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2004), 90).

Ektenos was an athletic term conveying the meaning of “striving with all of one’s energy” and was used to describe a runner who was moving at maximum output with taut muscles straining and stretching to the limit.

This meaning presents the clear picture that love is not something that will just happen, but is something we have to work at like an Olympic athlete who strives to master his area of expertise with all his energy.

(https://www.preceptaustin.org/1_peter_122-25#1:22)

The word “love” is different from the previous

This word (agapao) is “deep-seated, thorough-going, intelligent and purposeful.

[It is] a love in which the entire personality - not only the emotions but also the mind and the will - expresses itself” ( William Hendriksen and Simon J. Kistemaker, New Testament Commentary : Exposition of Ephesians, New Testament Commentary.

250).

Agapao (aor.act.imp.)

refers to self-sacrifice which is the highest expression of love

This is the love that God has for the elect

“Sacrificial love is undeserved, yet it goes to the furthest extremity, as exemplified in Christ.

It says, ‘You don’t deserve anything, but I’ll give you everything.

You don’t deserve anything, but I’ll die for you.

You don’t deserve even My best, but I’ll give you My life.”

(Taken from John MacArthur’s sermon, “The Duty of the Husband” Series: The Fulfilled Family).

Love is something we have to work at, just as an Olympic contestant has to work at his particular skills.

Christian love is not a feeling; it is a matter of the will.

We show love to others when we treat them the same way God loves us (unconditionally, sacrificially).

God forgives us, so we forgive others.

God is kind to us, so we are kind to others.

It is not a matter of feeling but of willing, and this is something we must constantly work at… Jesus must be always increasing in us and our old self always decreasing.

How do we love this way?

By letting the word of Christ dwell in us richly and by being continually filled with (controlled by) the Holy Spirit of God.

The same truth that we trusted and obeyed to become God’s children is our "power source" to nurture and enable us.