<p>1:22- see on 2 Cor. 6:6.</p><p><i>Seeing you have purified your souls</i>- This returns to the theme of :2, that the Spirit has sanctified us, purified us. But we must respond by living in practice according to what we are in status; we must allow the operation of God's desire to purify / sanctify us, and the working of His Spirit to that end. Hence they had &quot;purified your souls... through the Spirit&quot;.</p><p><i>In your obedience to the truth- </i>Peter writes in the RV of &quot;your obedience of the truth unto issuing in unfeigned love of the brethren&hellip; having been begotten again&hellip; of incorruptible seed, through the word of God&quot; (1 Pet. 1:21,22 RV). The purity and truth of the &quot;word of God&quot; - and by this he surely refers to the Gospel message- is what issues in a true love for others, in comparison to the pseudo-love that fills our human experience in this world. Truth leads to true love- that's the message. This is the importance of correct teaching of the word of the Gospel. And yet how often have we used the concept of 'truth' to hate and divide our brethren&hellip;? John's writings reflect many struggles. But in the end they all forge into one ultimate struggle- between light and darkness, love and hatred, truth and error, life and death. Hence the struggle for purity of doctrine becomes parallel with the struggle between love and hatred. Love is therefore and thereby connected with purity of doctrine.</p><p><i>To sincere love of the brothers- </i>We obeyed the truth &ldquo;unto unfeigned love of the brethren&hellip; therefore see that ye love one another&rdquo; (1 Pet. 1:22 AV). Our obedience to the truth of Christ placed us in the status of those who unfeignedly love their brethren; but this means, Peter is saying, that we&rsquo;d better get on and love them in practice.<br />Jonah 2:9 contains the enigmatic statement that those who &quot;hold to empty faiths&quot; (Heb.) &quot;forsake their own <i>hesed</i>&quot;. <i>Hesed</i> basically refers to the capacity a superior has to show mercy, grace and love to someone in an inferior position. For over 20 years I wondered what Jonah was really getting at. I think I then grasped it- those who hold to empty faiths forego the capacity to show <i>hesed</i>, favour to others- the implication being that the result of the one <i>true</i> faith is that we are empowered to show <i>hesed</i>, love, favour, grace, mercy, to others. And this ties in perfectly with 1 Pet. 1:22- we obey the truth <i>unto</i>, with the result that, we show &quot;unfeigned love of the brethren&quot;. This is how and where true doctrine comes to its ultimate term- love of others. Karl Barth put it powerfully: &quot;The best theology would need no advocates: it would prove itself&quot;. If each doctrine of the Gospel had its intended outworking in our lives, there would be no need for the explanation of Gospel doctrine; the doctrines would be lived out in our personalities. Perhaps this was why there was so little 'theology', propositional truths or academic doctrine, on the lips of the Lord Jesus. For He was the word of the Gospel made flesh. To quote Barth again: &quot;Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is Himself the way&quot;.</p><p><i>Fervently love one another from the heart- </i>The experience of the grace which brought about the forgiveness of our sins will make us gentle people, kind hearted, generous, not hard-minded in our judgment of situations; it will make us dedicate ourselves to the work of sharing this superb grace with others through preaching, and will inspire us to work unceasingly to reclaim those who have wandered away from the grace of God, and to build up those who hesitate to fully accept it. As God has reached out into our little world, so we will try to do in the lives of those around us. The end result of obeying the truth is &quot;unfeigned love of the brethren... love (of) one another with a pure heart fervently&quot; (1 Pet. 1:22). &quot;Ye were running well; who did hinder you, that ye should not keep on obey the truth?&quot; (Gal. 5:7) suggests that obeying the Truth is not just in baptism; it is an ongoing motivation to keep running the race of practical life in Christ.</p>