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SINCE YOU HAVE IN OBEDIENCE TO
THE TRUTH PURIFIED YOUR SOULS: Tas psuchas humon hegnikotes (RAPMPN)
en te hupakoe tes aletheias: (note: some manuscripts like
Greek Textus Receptus -- KJV add "through the Spirit" after "truth).
(John
15:3;
17:17,19;
Acts 15:9;
Romans 6:16,17;
2 Thessalonians 2:13;
James 4:8)
(1
Peter 3:1;
4:17;
Acts 6:7;
Romans 1:5;
2:8;
Galatians 3:1;
5:7;
Hebrews 5:9;
11:8)
Since you have - Peter
appeals to the genuineness of his readers' conversions, a radical
change they were well aware of. One of the radical changes of this new
birth is that it brings is love for our brethren.
You do have love for your
Christian brethren don't you?
In obedience to the truth -
Synonymous with believing the truth. We should not separate belief and
obedience for true faith is obeying faith. Those who teach you can
believe the truth but not obey the truth have difficulty
with passages like this.
John 3:36 He who believes
(present
tense = as the
general direction of their life) in the Son has eternal life; but he
who does not obey (disbelieves wilfully and perversely and as a
lifestyle =
present tense)
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
See related topic - Study of
phrase
Obedience of faith
What is the evidence of a purified
soul in this context? Love for the brethren. Holy living is incomplete
if it isn’t accompanied by love. And such love is now possible for
born again persons for as Paul explained to the believers in Rome...
the love of God has been poured out
within our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who was given to us. (see
note
Romans 5:5)
Peter alluded to
obedience in his opening words explaining that his readers were
chosen...
according to the foreknowledge of
God the Father, by the sanctifying work of the Spirit, that you may
obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with His blood: May grace and
peace be yours in fullest measure. (see note
1 Peter 1:2)
In Romans Paul the phrase
obedience of faith is like a pair of "bookends" as it were enclosing
Paul's magnum opus on the gospel of Jesus Christ...
through whom we have received grace
and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all
the Gentiles, for His name's sake (see note
Romans 1:5)
but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets,
according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known
to all the nations, leading to obedience of faith; (See
note
Romans 16:26)
Barnes writes that obedience
to the truth refers to their...
yielding to the requirements of truth, and to its fair influence on
their minds, which has been the means of their becoming pure. The
truth here referred to is, undoubtedly, that which is revealed in the
gospel--the great system of truth respecting the redemption of the
world. (Barnes NT Commentary)
John Piper comments on the critical importance of understanding
the phrase obedience of faith writing...
How then does our own obedience—“the
obedience of faith”—relate to justification? The answer is: Our
obedience is not the ground or the basis of our justification. Nor is
it any part of the instrument or means by which we are united to
Christ who alone is the ground and the basis of our justification.
Faith alone unites us to Christ and Christ alone is the ground of our
justification. Our obedience is the fruit of that faith. The faith
that justifies is the kind of faith that, by the Holy Spirit (see
note
Romans 8:13),
changes us. If your faith in Christ leaves you unchanged, you don’t
have saving faith. Obedience—not perfection, but a new direction of
thought and affections and behavior—is the fruit that shows that the
faith is alive. James put it this way, “So also faith by itself, if it
does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). Faith alone justifies, but
the faith that justifies is never alone. It is always accompanied by
“newness of life” (see note
Romans 6:4).
Live in the Joy and Assurance of the Gospel - When Paul begins and
ends his letter with the goal of “the obedience of faith,” he means
for us to live in the joy and the assurance of the first five chapters
of Romans, where he shows that we are “justified by faith apart from
works of the law” (see note
Romans 3:28).
And then out of that faith and peace and assurance and boldness, a new
mind and a new man emerge and the fruit of obedience grows. And the
reality of justifying faith is made manifest. I pray that you will
trust in Christ alone as the ground and basis of your justification
before God, present and future, and that this faith prove its life and
truth by producing a passion for obedience to God—the obedience of
faith. (See further relevant texts:
Romans 14:23 (note);
Galatians 5:6;
1Thess 1:3 (note);
2 Thessalonians 1:11; Hebrews 11:4, 7, 8, 17, 24.) (See full sermon
Command of God: The Obedience of
Faith)
Obedience (5218) (hupakoe
from hupo = under + akouo = hear) (Click
in depth word study of hupakoe) literally means to "hear
under" which conveys the picture of attentive hearkening, of
listening and following instructions, of being in compliance or of
listening and submitting to that which is heard.
Hupakoe conveys the picture
of one listening and following instructions. Submitting to that which
is heard involves a change of attitude, forsaking the tendency of the
fallen nature to rebel against Divine instructions and commands and
seeking God's will, not self will.
Someone has said that a
"proof" that we are of the elect is not an empty prating about how
secure we are once we believed, but rather how sensitive we are to the
principle and practice of obedience to Jesus.
Vincent notes that hupakoe was a
"peculiarly New Testament term
unknown in classical Greek."
Here
in 1 Peter "obedience to the truth" refers to subjection to the
saving will of God revealed in Christ. It is notable that this is the
second time Peter describes
saving faith as an act of obedience (see note
1 Peter 1:2).
In Romans, Paul twice uses the
phrase “the obedience of faith.” (Ro 1:5,16:26)
We should not try to separate belief and obedience.
True faith is obeying faith (see
Heb 3:18-19 where you see
unbelief paralleled with
disobedient.)
Illustration - A
missionary translator was endeavoring to find a word for “obedience”
in the native language. This was a virtue seldom practiced among the
people into whose language he wanted to translate the New Testament.
As he returned home from the village one day, he whistled for his dog
and it came running at full speed. An old man, seeing this, said,
admiringly in the native tongue, “Your dog is all ear.” Immediately
the missionary knew he had his word for obedience. (Encyclopedia of
7700 Illustrations by Paul Lee Tan)
Wayne Barber reiterates
this important truth emphasizing that believers have a
"willingness
to obey. That doesn’t mean Christians always obey. But you
cannot habitually live disobedient unto God. You may have an area that
will trip you up. But at some point you will confess, repent and come
back to God. Why? Because Life is inside of you. It is a Person. The
divine Seed of Life is in you, and you can’t be left to do what you
want to do. God will either take you out of here, or He’ll prune you.
He’ll cut you back and cut you back and cut you back until finally He
disciplines. He scourges and chastens those whom He loves. He doesn’t
let us get away with lawless living. You find a person who claims to
know Christ and lives in sin, lives lawlessly as a habitual practice,
that person does not know Christ" (see
1Jn 2:10-11,
3:9-10,
5:2).
You...purified -
Obviously we do not have the power to produce personal purity, but God
it is the Holy Spirit Who purifies our souls when we are saved.
Purified (48)
(hagnizo from hagnos = pure from contamination) means to
make clean and was used to describe external ceremonial purification
(in both the
Septuagint =LXX and the NT) but in
the present
context describes an internal,
supernatural cleansing which occurred when they received the living
and abiding word and were caused to be born
again by God (see discussion of
1 Peter 1:3).
Hagnizo is in the
perfect tense signifying a past act
(the moment we believed the gospel) with ongoing effects (enabled to
sacrificially love others). This tense underscores the
permanence of the once for all transaction of salvation. The point is
that one's salvation cannot be lost. Even the verb tense (perfect)
supports the eternal security of the believer and
counters the tragic false teaching to the contrary.
Matthew Henry comments
that...
To purify the soul supposes some
great uncleanness and defilement which had polluted it, and that this
defilement is removed. Neither the Levitical purifications under the
law, nor the hypocritical purifications of the outward man, can effect
this. The word of God is the great instrument of a sinner’s
purification. The gospel is called truth, in opposition to types and
shadows, to error and falsehood. This truth is effectual to purify the
soul, if it be obeyed, John 17:17. Many hear the truth, but are never
purified by it, because they will not submit to it nor obey it...The
souls of Christians must be purified before they can so much as love
one another unfeigned. There are such lusts and partialities in man’s
nature that without divine grace we can neither love God nor one
another as we ought to do; there is no charity but out of a pure
heart. It is the duty of all Christians sincerely and fervently to
love one another. Our affection to one another must be sincere and
real, and it must be fervent, constant, and extensive.
Our position
(purified) forms the basis for our practice (fervent
love). Note that it is God of course Who purifies our souls when we
are saved for fallen men and women do not have the power to bring about
personal internal moral purity.
FOR A SINCERE LOVE OF THE
BRETHREN: eis philadelphian anupokriton: (1
Peter 2:17;
3:8;
4:8;
John 13:34,35;
15:17;
Romans 12:9,10;
2 Corinthians 6:6;
Ephesians 4:3;
1 Thessalonians 4:8,9;
1 Timothy 1:5;
Hebrews 6:10;
13:1;
James 2:15,16;
2 Peter 1:7;
1 John 3:11,14-19,23;
4:7,12,20,21;
5:1,2
)
a fraternal affection without
hypocrisy (Clarke)
For a sincere love -
literally unto or into a sincere love. And so one of the primary goals
of our salvation is that we might show love to fellow believers.
Why is demonstration of love so
important? For one thing John writes...
We know that we have passed out of
death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love
abides in death. (1 Jn. 3:14)
And in John's gospel Jesus
explains to His disciples...
A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also
love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples,
if you have love for one another. (John 13:34-35).
Sincere (505) (anupokritos
from "a" = without + hupokrinomai = to pretend) 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 goodwill.
In a similar way Paul exhorts the
believers at Rome to...
Let love be without hypocrisy
(anupokritos).
Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good. (See note
Romans 12:9)
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".
Wuest comments that
The world wears a mask. The love
which it shows on the face is only external. That is feigned love.
Ours should be unfeigned. If a saint does not have a love which is
unfeigned, the trouble is with his adjustment to the Holy Spirit who
is the One to provide that saint with that love. The Spirit-filled
saint does not have to play the hypocrite in the matter of love, for
love shines right out of his eyes. It is on his face, in his actions."
(Wuest's word studies from the Greek New Testament: Grand Rapids:
Eerdmans)
Anupokritos is used by the
NT writers to modify
love (Romans 12:9,
2Cor 6:6,
1 Peter 1:22),
faith (present verse and
1Ti 1:5)
and
wisdom (James 3:17).
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".
Hypocrisy is
exceeded in evil only by unbelief. The consummate hypocrite in
Scripture, Judas, was also the consummate egoist. He feigned devotion
to Jesus to achieve his own selfish purposes. His hypocrisy was
unmasked and his self-centeredness was made evident when he betrayed
Jesus for the thirty pieces of silver. Peter's exhortation for us to manifest an
unfeigned love implies that there can be a feigned "love". Don't be
deceived. It is tragic when people try to “manufacture” love, because
the product is obviously cheap and artificial. The love that we share
with each other, and with a lost world, must be generated by the
Spirit of God. It is a constant power in our lives, and not something
that we turn on and off like a radio.
John Calvin says
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 shows 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.
By nature, all of us are selfish
and it therefore took a work of grace to supernaturally give believers
the selfless, sacrificial kind of love that God is and that He
displays undeserving sinners. Because we “obeyed the truth through the
Spirit,” God purified our souls and poured His love into our hearts,
Paul recording that...
hope does not disappoint, because
the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy
Spirit who was given to us. (see note
Romans 5:5).
Love of the brethren
(5360)
(philadelphia
from phílos = beloved, dear, friendly + adelphós =
brother) means "fraternal love" or brotherly love (kindness).
Brotherly love normally referred to the love members of a family held
for each other (this was the way it was used in secular Greek) and
would not normally be used to describe the love between members of
different families. However, in the NT philadelphia is used to
describe the love that believers possess for one to another, for even
though they were members of different natural families, they were
united in Christ and were recipients of family love originating from
the Father Who had bestowed His great love on His spiritual
children...
See how great a love the
Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of
God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us,
because it did not know Him
(1John 3:1)
Peter uses philadelphia
in his second epistle describing one aspect of their growth in grace
exhorting the believers to apply all diligence in their faith...
and in your godliness, brotherly
kindness, and
in your brotherly kindness, love. (See note
2 Peter 1:7)
Philadelphia describes a
love which calls for an affection for one another like that one
expressed between natural family members (see note
Romans 12:10
where devoted
or "loving warmly" = philostorgos from philos = beloved, dear + storge
= family love, the love of parents and children).
Remember that Christianity
forged a radical relationship in Christ wherein believing Greeks and
Jews, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarians, Scythians, slaves and
freemen, men and women were now all one in their Lord (cp Galatians 3:28,
see notes
Col 3
:11,
Eph 4:3ff).
Such a diverse cultural community would have continual need for
emphasis on love of the brethren.
As Christians we have become
brothers and sisters in the community of faith and Paul refers to them
as brothers (sisters is clearly implied) some nineteen times in
his first letter to the Thessalonians (and most of these believers had
been rank idol worshippers so for a Jew to call them brothers requires
a supernatural work). Our love is not just a passive disposition of
fondness but manifests itself in overt acts of kindness toward the
brethren.
Love for the brethren is an
evidence that we truly have been born of God, as John explains in his
first epistle...
Beloved, let us love one another,
for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows
God. 8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His
only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent
His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so
loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has beheld God
at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is
perfected in us. (1Jn 4:7-21).
Now as obedient children
(see note
1 Peter 1:14)
we are no longer to live in the selfish desires of our old nature, for
believers are partakers of His divine nature and have a new to love.
FERVENTLY
LOVE ONE ANOTHER FROM THE HEART: ek (katharas) kardias allelous
agaphesate (2PAAM) ektenos:
(Philippians
1:9;
1 Thessalonians 3:12;
2 Thessalonians 1:3;
Revelation 2:4)
KJV (Textus Receptus)
qualifies the NAS from the heart, but adding
love one another with a pure heart
fervently
From the heart (or with
a pure heart) - When we entered the New Covenant by grace through
faith, we received a new heart and God's Spirit (see Ezekiel
36:26-27 which is an OT promise of the New Covenant). Now with our new
heart, enabled by the Spirit, our motive in loving one another is not
to get but to give. The world teaches that if you give to others, you
will be able to manipulate them and ultimate fulfill your selfish
desires. Love from the (pure) heart never seeks to use others to its
advantage.
Because of our new position
(purified souls) we are commanded to a new practice (sincere
love of the brethren). In other words, our position in Christ
forms the basis for our practice in the power of His Spirit (cf
notes
Galatians 5:22;
Galatians 5:23). The principle that doctrine determines duty
permeates the Scriptures, for as James said...
if anyone is a hearer of the
word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in
a mirror for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has
immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. (James 1:23-24)
Fervently love one another -
Matthew Henry writes that this exhortation...
supposes that the gospel had
already had such an effect upon them as to purify their souls while
they obeyed it through the Spirit, and that it had produced at least
an unfeigned love of the brethren; and thence he argues with them to
proceed to a higher degree of affection, to love one another with a
pure heart fervently
Paul's prayer for the saints
at Philippi was to manifest and experience an abounding love
for one another...
And this I pray, that your
love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all
discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in
order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ (see notes
Philippians 1:9;
1:10)
Paul gives a similar
charge to the saints in Thessalonica who have come out of
paganism and idol worship exhorting them...
Now as to the love of the
brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you
yourselves are taught by God
to love one another; for indeed you do practice it toward all the
brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel
still more. (See note
1Thessalonians 4:9;
4:10)
Fervently
(1619)
(ektenos
from ek = out + teíno = stretch; English = tension, etc)
literally pictures one "stretching out" to love others! It pictures
"an intense strain" and unceasing activity which normally involving a
degree of intensity and/or perseverance.
Ektenos is from the verb
ekteino which means to “stretch out the hand.”, thus it means
to be stretched out—earnest, resolute, intense. The fundamental idea
is earnestness, zealousness -- not doing something lightly and
perfunctorily but straining as it were to do it!
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. We must make the choice and be earnest,
resolute, even intense in our practice of agape love, always in
complete dependence of God's indwelling Spirit and His living and
abiding Word.
Peter is saying in essence
Stretch to the limits in your loving others sacrificial and
selflessly.
Roger Raymer adds that...
This love is to be expressed not
shallowly but “deeply” (ektenos, “at full stretch” or “in an all-out
manner, with an intense strain”...). (Walvoord,
J. F., Zuck, R. B., et al: The Bible Knowledge Commentary. 1985.
Victor or
Logos)
Vincent writes that
ektenos is a compound work
with the verb teino, to
stretch, and (signifies) intense strain; feeling on the rack (an
instrument of torture on which a body is stretched)
Vine says...
The idea suggested is that of not
relaxing in effort, or acting in a right spirit.
In the only other NT use, ektenos describes the church's prayer for Peter in prison
So Peter was kept in the prison,
but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to
God. (
Acts 12:5) (Note that the Textus
Receptus - used to translate the KJV - actually has the closely
related word ektenes not ektenos as does the Nestle-Aland which
is used for the NAS translation.)
The comparative form of the
closely related adjective ektenes (ektenesteron) is used to describe the
intensity of our Lord's prayer in Gethsemane
And being in agony He was
praying very fervently (ektenesteron); and His sweat became like drops of
blood, falling down upon the ground. (Luke 22:44) (Comment:
what a picture of the passion of Jesus in prayer!)
Note that ektenos is used
only here and in some manuscripts (Nestle-Aland) in Acts 12:5. As
mentioned above, Acts 12:5 in the Textus Receptus uses the closely
related adjective ektenes., which is also used in chapter 4 of
first Peter...
Above all, keep fervent
(ektenes) in your love for one another, because love covers a
multitude of sins. (See note
1 Peter 4:8)
Fervently love one another -
MacDonald comments that...
The exhortation to love one another
is especially timely for a people undergoing persecution because it is
well known that “under conditions of hardship, trivial disagreements
take on gigantic proportions.” (MacDonald,
W & Farstad, A. Believer's Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or
Logos)
Love
(25)
(agapao) (Click
study of
agapao) speaks of an unconditionally,
sacrificial love, which is ultimately the love that God demonstrates
and even "is" ("God is love" 1 John 4:8, 16). By
nature, in Adam (see note
Romans 5:12),
all men are are selfish and therefore only a a miracle of God could
give sinners this quality of divine, saintly love.
Agape love is neither a
not sentimental or emotional type love so often depicted in
television, movies and
magazines. Instead, agape love demands an act of
obedience by the lover for the "lovee" and thus represents a
specific volitional choice or act of the lover's will.
Agape love desires the
recipients highest good whether one they deserve it or not or whether
the lover feels like giving it or not. If is not a matter of how one
feels. Feelings can be deceiving and can emanate from our fallen
flesh
nature. Too many marriages
are falling apart because one party doesn't feel like they love the
other party any longer. That is unbiblical for a believer, for we are
commanded to demonstrate a love based on God's truth and we can
carry out this command empowered by God's Spirit as we yield to His
control in every circumstance that might cause us to not "feel" like
loving the other person.
Agape love is not conditional
but is to be given to one's spouse or any other person, believer or
not even if or when it is not received or is not returned!
"Impossible" you protest! Indeed, this supernatural love is not
humanly possible but only possible because God's Spirit is within us
both to give us the "want to" and to give the "power to" carry it out.
(See notes
Philippians 2:12;
2:13)
Note that in this verse, the
verb "love" is not a suggestion but a clear command to be
immediately (even urgently) obeyed each time one encounters a person
or circumstance that might otherwise tempt us to rely on and respond
out of our fallen nature. To grow in grace is to recognize those
circumstances (especially "adverse" circumstances) and those people
(especially "difficult" people) and then surrendered to and empowered
by the Holy Spirit (in other words as you encounter these
circumstances or people, you are already walking in the Spirit, being
controlled by the Spirit) the giving of agape love is your
"supernatural reflex". In other words you act (based on the
truth) don't react (based on your feelings)!
The
aorist tense and imperative mood
commands the believer to carry out
this act of love now and do it effectively. The
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