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May 24, 2020
Jason Meyer | 1 Peter 1:22-25
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
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
Introduction: Structure (1 Peter 1:1–2:3)
We are not lost orphans in the world, but we are chosen children of the world to come who have an imperishable hope (1:3–5), an inexpressible joy (1:6–9), and a profound sense of privilege (1:10–12). That is all what we have in Christ—it is indicative and focuses on our identity (who we are)—then we move to commands (what we are to be).
Because we are the saved people of God, let us (1) hope fully, (2) be holy (1:13–16), (3) fear our Father (1:16–21), and (4) love one another earnestly (1:22–25), and (5) long for the pure milk of the Word to grow up into salvation (2:1–3). Today we are unpacking Command #4: The call to love one another.
The structure of this passage is exquisite. What we have in this passage is a near-perfect example of what has been called a bilateral. There are twin truths on the outside that support a command in the middle. Think about these as two foundational beams (past realities) that hold up a life of obedience. What are the twin truths? It is the reality of conversion and the new birth. Peter gives two images: the imagery of consecration from the sacrificial system and imagery from begetting, fatherhood, and birth. Both of these images are presented as perfect participles (realities that happened in the past and have ongoing consequences). We will start by unpacking these two images before moving to the main point: the command to love one another.
Outline:
1. What Has Happened: Consecrated Souls (1 Peter 1:22a)
Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love …
Peter calls out one thing that has already happened: The believer’s soul has been purified or consecrated. This word occurs seven times in the New Testament. Four times, it refers to ritual consecration or purification (John 11:55; Acts 21:24, 26, and 24:18). It occurs three times in the Epistles: James 4:8 and 1 John 3:3 refer to present purification (cleansing or purifying yourself), while in 1 Peter it refers to a past purification or consecration. But when did that consecration happen in the past?
A. What Happened: Purified Souls
B. How It Happened: By Your Obedience to the Truth
C. Why It Happened: For a Sincere Brotherly Love
To answer that question, we need to take the first two phrases together: The believer’s soul has been purified or consecrated by obedience to the truth. That gives us two options. Does this purification refer to conversion or progressive sanctification? In other words, are we being progressively purified by our ongoing, daily obedience to God, or does Peter refer to the initial work of consecration that God does in conversion in response to obeying the command to repent and believe in the gospel?
I agree with most commentators in seeing a reference to conversion. Obedience to the truth is obeying the summons of the gospel. Of the many reasons to read it this way, let me mention two: (1) common NT usage, and (2) the context of the passage. First, let us look at its usage elsewhere. The gospel is often called “the truth” or “the word of truth.”
Here are a couple of examples:
In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him.—Ephesians 1:13
We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel, which has come to you, as indeed in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth, just as you learned it from Epaphras our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf and has made known to us your love in the Spirit.—Colossians 1:3–8
(See also Galatians 2:5, 14, and 5:7; Ephesians 1:13; Colossians 1:5; 2 Thessalonians 2:10, 12, 13; 1 Timothy 2:4, 3:15, 4:3, and 6:5; 2 Timothy 2:15, 18, 25; 3:7, 8; 4:4; Titus 1:1, 14; Hebrews 10:26; James 1:18 and 5:19.)
The second proof comes in this context. Peter makes it explicit that the word of God they received is the gospel in 1:25: “And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”
The other place in the context that helps answer the question is 1 Peter 1:1 and the sanctification of the Spirit. The Spirit has set us apart or consecrated us. This is the initial work of being set apart—the Spirit brings new life to a dead soul—what Paul calls the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5).
The first verse spoke of this setting apart with reference to the Spirit and now verse 22 shows how the Spirit uses the Word. Therefore, the initial answer to what happened and how it happened is this: Peter’s readers were converted and consecrated, and this happened when they heard and obeyed the summons of the gospel to repent and believe.
We will see more details about this new birth at the end of this passage. For now, notice how this new purified disposition leads to a new life of love. This new principle of life and new governing disposition results in love: “for a sincere brotherly love” (v. 22a). This love is now sincere and not fake or insincere because it is the work of God, not some thing we try to drum up. I think the meaning of both regeneration and conversion will become clearer if we look at the last part of this passage.
3. What Has Happened: New Birth With Imperishable Seed (vv. 23–25)
Since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for
“All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
1. What Happened: The New Birth
Peter gives almost a text-book description here of the doctrine of the new birth or regeneration in which God implants new life in the soul. These verses call for theological reflection and specification. The theological categories we are unpacking here are regeneration and conversion. What is regeneration? Regeneration is an act of God by which the principle of new life (seed) is implanted in a man or woman with the result that the person receives a new governing principle or disposition (that is, the governing disposition or heart is made holy or purified). Peter is trumpeting the truth in verse 22 that his readers turned from their life of sin and idolatry to Christ when they received the preaching of the gospel by the power of the Spirit (1 Peter 1:12).
We have both the reference to the new birth and to the seed that is implanted. This was not a natural biological process that would therefore be perishable. This is a supernatural birth from imperishable seed, and so it is going to stand the test of time. We have to take some time now to distinguish between regeneration and conversion.
Regeneration is “the implanting of the seed,” while conversion is “the result of that planting.” Regeneration is not something we do. It is the work of God—we are entirely passive. As a result of that supernatural work (regeneration—the implanted word), now we respond with conversion. Conversion is something that we do (we turn away and turn toward), whereas regeneration is something that is done to us by God. Conversion is a turning away from one thing to another in practice, but that is not the same as regeneration. When people turn away from a life of sin and turn to embrace Christ they are giving proof that regeneration has happened. Conversion is always the first act that follows regeneration.
If you use the analogy of childbirth, you know a newborn baby is alive by the signs of life: Usually the first sign of life is crying, screaming, or moving. You cannot have life without the manifestation of that life, and the same is true in new spiritual life. Conversion involves repentance and faith. Acts 20:20–21 is a great example:
… How I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.—1 Thessalonians 1:8–10
And I said, “Who are you, Lord?” And the Lord said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”—Acts 26:15–18
Peter is talking about a God-wrought miracle. God implanted an imperishable seed, and now everything is new. This new birth is a new disposition or a purification that results in a new trajectory of sin-slaying, Christ-exalting, holiness-pursuing, righteousness-thirsting, God-loving life of obedience. This principle is perhaps most clearly stated in 1 John 3:9.
No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God.
How do we know that this new work of God will not wither and die? The seed is imperishable. How do we know the seed is imperishable? It is the living and abiding word of God. But how do we know the word is imperishable? Isaiah has something to say about it. Peter quotes Isaiah 40:6–8.
I want to highlight two things about this quotation: (1) the context of Isaiah 40, and (2) what the apostle Peter emphasizes.
First, the quotation and the context of the quotation here are important. You will remember what we said about being spiritual elect exiles. In Isaiah 40, Israel was in exile to the Babylonians. They looked so powerful that some questioned whether God’s promises were powerful enough to rescue them from the Babylonians. Isaiah 40 is full of big-God theology. God says that the nations are a drop in the bucket, dust on the scales, less than nothing. God’s power stands behind his promises. His power will accomplish what he says. It was the lesson Abraham learned: God is able to do what he promised.
Here in Isaiah 40:6–8, God promises he will restore them from their exile in Babylon. The nations will not be powerless to stand against his promised word. Nations like Babylon are like grass and the flower of grass. The flowers are there one day and gone the next as the wind blows them away. They are perishable. Peter appears to relate this to the power of Rome and the persecutors of his day. It surely seemed strong to everyone (maybe almost invincible), but their glory and power were truly short-lived. Rome may be in the Spring season of its power, and some of its flowers may last through the summer, but Fall is coming, and there will withering and dying and perishing as it is buried in historical dust like the Minnesota ground is buried with inches of snow.
Second, notice that Peter puts the weight of emphasis on imperishable. It is one of Peter’s favorite terms for chapter 1.
Our heavenly inheritance is imperishable (1:4) and our redemption is imperishable (1:18), because we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, not perishable things like the world’s currency—silver or gold.
Now we hear that the seed from which we are begotten or from which we came alive is also imperishable (abiding, enduring, will not perish): “Not of perishable seed but of imperishable” (v. 23).
Imperishable: The Word (v. 23)
… through the living and abiding word of God …
Perishable: This World (v. 24)
The grass withers, and the flower falls …
Imperishable: The Word (v. 25)
But the word of the Lord remains forever …
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
God’s word is evergreen. The seed of God’s word is imperishable. What does this mean for our love? The flower of our love will endure the harshest conditions: scorching heat, blizzard temperatures, persecution, pandemics.
This means that nothing in this world—even persecution—will be able to blow out the flame of love that is present in the church through the gospel.
2. What You Must Do: Love One Another (v. 22b)
… love one another earnestly from a pure heart …
This love command has three features: A) love one another (what), B) earnestly (how), C) from a pure heart (from where).
What is love? The love we have in the gospel is God’s purposeful, self-giving love that is not based on what we have done for Him. In other words, biblical love is not earned.
For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.—1 John 3:11–18
Therefore, we were set free by love in order to love like we are loved. Jesus gave himself (laid down his life) and so we ought to do the same (lay down our lives for one another). This love cannot be a “lip service” love. It must be on display in deed and truth (like sharing what we have with people in need).
This word “earnestly” occurs only two other times and I believe it gives a flavor for what earnest means.
And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.—Luke 22:44
So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.—Acts 12:5
Peter calls us to love like we mean it, like weighty things are at stake. With Jesus in the garden, it was facing the most momentous reality ever—the wrath of God to save us. When Peter was in prison, once again it was a momentous time—life and death hang in the balance.
In other words, it would be out of place to take a passive approach to love as if nothing were really at stake in how we love. It matters immensely. There should be a passion and urgency to our love that accords with our estimate of how important it is.
This is one of the most important payoffs from the bilateral. Peter said that God has already purified us for a sincere (unmixed, non-hypocritical) brotherly (family) love. In other words, the change has happened.
The command to love is a certain kind of command like Jesus gives in the Gospels. He says to the paralytic: “Take up your bed and walk.” That would be a cruel command if the paralytic did not have the ability to obey it. But Jesus gave life to dead legs so they could get up and walk. So the command is freeing. I healed your legs to walk so walk! The command in our text is the same: Your heart has been healed to love: So love!
The command also has a progression. The first three commands: “hope fully,” “be holy,” and “fear …” were all in relationship to God. But now the command shifts to how to live rightly in relationship to one another. “The Christian life cannot be lived authentically in isolation” (Karen Jobes, 1 Peter, Baker Exegetical Commentary, p. 123).
Conclusion: The Brand Image of the Church
Bethlehem has sometimes been called a teaching church—and it is true. We love teaching! But a text I have read 100 times stopped me in my tracks this week:
The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.—1 Timothy 1:5
The apostle Paul says that love is the very goal for our teaching. Is love coming out from all our teaching? If love does not result from the teaching, then something is misfiring in the process.
You are born again to love because you are begotten by God (and God is love). Love is in your very DNA as a child of God. God is love and his children will walk in love. Don’t sell yourself short and make excuses. “Here is my personality type or “Here is my circumstances right now—I am under a lot of stress and ….”
Here is what this text is saying. As a child of God, you are going to have impulses and desires to love—so act on them. Obey those born-again impulses to love. As a sinner with remaining sin in your life, you are going to have impulses that are the opposite of love. Resist those! That is why the very next passage starts by saying, “So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” (1 Peter 2:1).
How is the church to be known in the world? A place of successful people, smart people, really good debaters? The church is to be known for its love.
“Love one another: just as I have loved you …. By this all people will know that you are my disciples.”—John 13:34–35
The local church is a display window for Christ’s supernatural love to the world. If we are a display window for Christ’s supernatural love, then that means the local church is a love laboratory. We are always working on our love, evaluating our love, improving our love.
How are we doing at loving one another? How often do we seek to control or manage people rather than love them? How often do we wear the robes of the ruler, rather than the apron of the servant? What is the “brand image” of the church today? I doubt that the first thing people think of is “love.” I fear that conversations among Christians quickly turn into opportunities to talk about ourselves rather than finding out how to love others better.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.—1 Corinthians 13:1–7
So apply this to the debated issues of our day. Do we engage potentially divisive issues with extra care to not violate Christ’s rule of love? When debating with other believers about how the government has handled the Stay at Home order and other details, you may share something and think: That was a good point. I don’t know how my debate opponents are going to answer that logic. Governor Walz has overextended his authority— we should have the ability to gather whenever we want. Or others say, “No, we need to submit to authority as they try to keep people safe and not let this pandemic spread further.”
After making your initial points (commending your convictions to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God), you may be tempted to play the Holy Spirit and produce conviction with the force of your logic and even the intensity of your language. And it keeps escalating until the person before you is an opponent to beat rather than a brother or sister to love. And in those moments, you think you are saying: “What I am saying is really important, you better listen …” But what God hears you say, “clang, clang, clang,” and “gong, gong, gong.”
When the world is in chaos and it looks at times like all hell is breaking loose, the message of the Church is that all heaven broke loose when the heavens were rent and the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus and he accomplished God’s purpose to save us and bring us into his family—so that we can be the display case for the love of Christ here on earth, and so we can sing (even in a pandemic): “It is well.”
Main Point: Believers should love one another earnestly because they have been set apart to love and they have been born again of imperishable seed.
Outline
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace from the Lord to become what we are as children of the God who is love.