Brotherly Love
Through it all with brotherly love.
There is no greater force than love. If two people truly love each other, they will do anything for the other. For, there is no greater bond on earth than true love. And, how much more true is this of the love that is to exist between believers of Christ. When we immerse ourselves into the words of God, we find a love that exists between brethren, which is unlike that which the world knows. And, Peter states that our souls are to be pure so that we can have unfeigned love of each other stemming from a pure heart (1 Pet. 1:22).
This love is Philadelphian love, which is a very special kind of love and rarely ever used in the Bible (12 times). Brotherly love as it is known, is a love that consists of the glow of the heart kindled by the perception of that in the object that affords us pleasure. It is the response of the human soul to what appeals to it as pleasurable. Philadelphian is a word used to speak of a friendly affection. It is a love called out of one in response to a feeling of pleasure or delight which one experiences from an apprehension of qualifies in another that furnish such pleasure or delight. And, it is this love:
- That binds one another together as a family, as a brotherly clan.
- That binds one another in an unbreakable union.
- That holds one another ever so deeply within the heart.
- That knows deep affection for one another.
- That nourishes and nurtures one another.
- That shows concern and looks after the welfare of one another.
Thus, Peter states we are to have this unfeigned love, that is, a love that is genuine, sincere, without pretension, hypocrisy, or play–‐ acting (Rom. 12:9). We are not to pretend, play, and act like we love one another; we are to love one another genuinely and sincerely. This is important that we love in this way because 1 Pet. 1:22 Points out the command to love with a pure heart “fervently”. This word does not mean to just love in warmth, but with full intensity. It literally implies to stretch love fully out or to love one another in an all out manner. And, we love because we have purified our souls (v.22), because we are born again by the Word of God (v.23) and because our flesh withers and falls away (v.24–‐25).
Believers love one another because God has purified our souls and cleansed us of sin. We are forgiven through the majestic blood of Christ. We are free from guilt and the pollutions of the world. And, we stand before God, in a right relationship with him because we have been obedient to him. It is in this spirit that we each have the capability to love people with a clean and pure heart, with no restraint, no hiding behind bushes, and no thought of shame or weakness. Therefore, love one another in the freedom of a pure and clean soul.