1 Peter 1:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See 1 Pet 1:24. It should be known that the words "unto unfeigned brotherly love" must be read in this order: "Love one another constantly from a pure heart, unto unfeigned brotherly love." For the completion of a work usually follows what was being done for its sake. And since unfeigned brotherly love follows constant love for one another from a pure heart, it is right that the words "from a pure heart" and the rest stand first, and the words "unfeigned brotherly love" after them. It must also be observed that the preposition "unto" (eis) should be taken in place of the preposition "because of" or "for" (dia).

Why did he not say, "having purified your bodies"? Because purity is kept within. Or he means purification from evil deviations from salvation.

This means: prepare yourselves for obedience to the truth through the Spirit. For there is also obedience to wicked and false things, an obedience not through the Spirit, that is, not spiritual. Purification unto obedience, whether preparation, training, or zeal, usually draws many other helpers as well, if this obedience is spiritual and free from envy. Brotherly love consists in this: that one who possesses good things shares them also with his neighbors.

"Having purified your souls in obedience to the truth through the Spirit." The apostle accompanies his exhortation to good conduct, or to holiness, with counsel to purify the souls through obedience to the truth. This means through the unfailing preservation of the truth and the fulfillment of its demands. The apostle considers love for one's neighbors to be both the aim and the means of purifying souls. Yet the purification itself must be accomplished not by man's own powers, but by the Holy Spirit. And brotherly love, one form of love for neighbors, must not be Pharisaic, but in simplicity of spirit, or purity of heart.

"By obedience to the truth through the Spirit, having purified," and so forth. This is a new instruction of the Apostle to his readers, founded on the same thought of Christians' regeneration to new life. It is an instruction about sincere brotherly love. In the mutual brotherly love of Christians appear the essence, power, and fruit of regeneration. "Having purified your souls." To purify the soul means to uproot from it evil and the sins that defile it, both spiritual and bodily sins. Brotherly love is so high and difficult a virtue that one cannot attain it with an impure heart. Sins and passions hinder brotherly love. Therefore the soul must be purified from them.

Redemption by the blood of Christ (1 Pet 1:18-22). "You were redeemed not with corruptible silver or gold from the vain life handed down to you from your fathers," both by inheritance of birth and by worldly customs, "but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a spotless and pure lamb, foreordained" for slaughter "before the creation of the world. But manifested in the last times for you." On the basis of this redemption, the apostle persuades Christians to preserve, as a holy thing and a treasure, Christian faith and hope in God, obedience to the truth, that is, to the Gospel teaching, and to love one another from a pure heart like brothers of one blood.

Cf. Isa 40:6-8. After general motives for a virtuous life, the Apostle now exhorts us to uproot from ourselves everything that defiles our soul. He urges us to be enriched with particular forms of good works. These are wholehearted obedience to the truth, brotherly love, and especially mutual brotherly love, free from every admixture of guile, changeability, and inconstancy. Among other things, the Apostle bases his teaching on love upon the teaching concerning Christians' regeneration. They are not regenerated from earthly human seed, in which self-love is an inborn property, but from the word of God. Through this word man's calling to new life in Christ has been and is accomplished. This life is founded on love, which abides forever.

To the measure that satisfaction is denied to the lusts of the flesh, the flesh dies to sin and the spirit comes alive to righteousness, or virtue. The more willingly and faithfully one follows the good impulses of the reviving spirit, or, in St. Peter's words, "purifies the soul in obedience to the truth through the Spirit" (1 Pet 1:22), the more the sacred fire of the spirit is kindled. Its light shines forth, and it goes from strength to strength. Sometimes, in moments of rapture, it binds not only all fleshly lusts, but every desire of one's own human will. It leaves them inactive, as if captive or in bonds. Then it leads and bears the man who scarcely touches the earth, wherever God and the laws of His Kingdom call him.

"Having purified your souls in obedience to the truth through the Spirit unto sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, being born not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. Through the word of the living God, which abides forever." With faith and hope in God, of which the preceding words spoke, love for one's neighbor must be joined: sincere brotherly love from a pure heart. Christian brotherly love can exist only in souls purified from self-love through obedience to the truth, that is, to the Gospel teaching. This teaching commands us to look upon our neighbors as brethren and to love them as ourselves. Success in assimilating this teaching is achieved with the aid of the grace of the Holy Spirit.