Shortly before his death Peter wrote a brief letter to encourage Christians to live holy and godly lives. In the introduction to his epistle he gives a list of godly virtues that conclude with the attributes of brotherly kindness and love. Unquestionably love is the apex of all Christian virtues. At the end of Jesus’ earthly ministry he gave his disciples this instruction: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13.34-35). Ironically, many people have difficulty defining exactly what they mean by the word love. Though many struggle to define the word, they know it when they see it and they feel its absence when they are deprived of it. Indeed, love is the foundation of all binding quality relationships. Jesus summarized God’s requirements toward humanity in two statements: first, love God with all your heart and second, love your neighbor as yourself. But just what does this mean in practical terms? Before we answer that question let us consider what Peter says about love.
Peter uses two separate words for love in this passage. The first, philadelphia (filadelfiva), refers to a love for brothers or sisters. The second word, agape (ajgavph - noun), is used in the New Testament to describe God’s love for his Son. Jesus uses the same word to describe how the disciples are to love him and one another. It is a love that has particular reference in the love that the Father has for the Son, but it is also used broadly in Scripture. Peter makes a distinction between these two words for love, and they are never used indiscriminately in the same passage. If they are used with reference to the same objects, each word retains its distinctive and essential character.
Peter stresses the importance of imitating the moral and spiritual character of God as it is uniquely displayed in the life of Jesus. The Christian is able to live this life by the enabling work of the Holy Spirit given to every believer. Brotherly love focuses on the life of the Christian living in community with others. Love is the most important of the spiritual virtues. It is the apex of godly character. Everything the believer may cultivate with respect to his virtuous character must find its ultimate expression within the life of the community.
In an earlier letter Peter summarized the attitude that should be plain to see in all Christians: Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God’s grace in its various forms (1 Peter 4.7-10). Nowhere in Scripture are Christians encouraged to live in isolation from other Christians. The “lone Christian” is an utterly foreign concept to the Bible. Peter requires that the believer be sensitive to the needs of others. Every Christian is obligated to minister to others according to their needs (cp. Ephesians 4.29).
Paul also writes about this kind of brotherly love in Philippians 2.13, If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves (cp. Romans 12.3). Motivation for brotherly kindness is derived from the indwelling Christ who prompts the believer to give deference to the needs of others. Paul writes in Romans 12.10, Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. It is characteristic of the believer to consider the needs of others over his own personal needs. Sacrificial love for others is the biblical norm, not the exception.
The following is a sample of New Testament teaching on the Christian community living together. Serve one another in love (Galatians 5.13b). Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently (Galatians 6.1). Speak the truth, but speak it in love (Ephesians 4.15). Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouth, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen (Ephesians 4.29). Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you (4.32). As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity (Colossians 3.12-14; 1 Peter 4.8). John sums it up well in his letter, if anyone says, ‘I love God’ yet hates his brother he is a liar (1 John 4.20-21). Does not this very small sampling from the New Testament suggest that there is a vitality to the community of faith whereby one Christian’s life is enriched by another? Certainly, we are a tapestry tightly woven together which displays the wonderful work of God’s saving and transforming grace. We are given, as children of God, the dignity of effecting change in the lives of others around us. Thus, the perfecting of the saints is a work of a Spirit-filled community of faith. Developing the spiritual virtues is a primary activity of the faith community; it is cultivated through the practice of brotherly kindness.
There is no theme more powerful or more predominant in Scripture than that of the love (agapē) of God. Among Jesus’ last instructions to the disciples was the command to love one another as he loved them (John 13.34-35). The spiritual virtue of love is the culminating attribute for the believer. And while Peter does not develop the theme of love, it is nonetheless clear that he means for the reader to understand that something more is meant than simply loving the brothers (cp. 1 Peter 2.17; 1 Peter 4.8). It is incumbent upon the Christian to love those he calls brothers (e.g. 1 John 2.10-11). However, Jesus gives his disciples an even greater command: You have heard it said ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven … If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? (Matthew 5.43-46; cp. Luke 6.27-36).
The love of God is an unbounded and unexpected love. The apostle John writes that God the Father loves his Son – this is to be expected. John also writes that the Father loves the world and sacrificed his Son so that all who believe in him will have eternal life – this is unexpected. The immensity of this love is describe by John in his letter: How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure (1 John 3.1-3). There is no greater love than that of Jesus’ love for helpless sinners. Paul writes: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5.6-8).
This is the basis for Christians loving others. They are to love one another indiscriminately. We know that Jesus loved us because He laid down his life for us. The apostle John says you ought to be willing to do the same for your brothers (1 John 3.16). Life is very short: soon after you step out of the cradle, you step into the grave. In this brief span you will have too few opportunities to express your love for God and man. The measure of life will be how well you loved God and others.
It is a great irony that people need to be loved, more than any other single thing, but until they are transformed by love they are unlovable. It is the ability to love that gives life its deepest meaning. Sadly there are more people in this world who wish to be loved than there are people who are willing to love. Most people are confused about what love is. For example, women are taught that if they want to be loved they need to have sex appeal, and men are instructed that women love men with machismo. But, of course, these things do not result in love. There is a general confusion between eros (physical love) and phileo (brotherly love) and there is no general understanding whatever of agape (godly love). Eros is often self-centered and destructive. The English poet T. S. Eliot epitomized self-centered love in the play The Cocktail Party: a mildly intoxicated man whispered into the ear of his psychiatrist, "Please make me feel important." Many individuals feel they are adrift in a sea of people without any means of permanently connecting to another person. C. S. Lewis writes that such people simply want friends and can never make any because the precondition of having friends is that you should want something else besides friends. The world does not care as much about truth and politics as it does about love. True love is attractive to everyone! This love is found in Jesus Christ. It is the limitless and unmerited love of God that truly transforms people’s lives.
We know that if the bud of a flower is injured by unseasonable or severe weather it will not open. So too, a person who is without the warm encouragement of love, who must endure the chilling absence of praise and affection, will remain closed in on themselves. The dynamics of their personality will be jammed. And if the dynamics of the personality are seriously impeded, the result will be what psychologists call neurosis. Although there are many valid descriptions of neurosis, neuroses are commonly recognized in the form of a crippling inability to relate well to others – an emotionally crippled person cannot relate to others without fear of rejection.
It was a brief encounter, but I’ll never forget it. While a graduate student studying for the ministry I was also the pastor of a small church. One winter day as I was visiting one of my parishioners at a hospital in downtown Philadelphia, the wife of the man on whom I was calling mentioned that there was an elderly black pastor who was a patient in a room at the end of the hall. She suggested I might want to visit him before I left the hospital. So on my way out I turned into his room. His name was Nehemiah Gore. What a fitting name it turned out to be. He too, had come to that very hospital to visit one of his parishioners. As he was walking along the sidewalk that cold winter evening a car screeched to a stop next to him and several young men jumped out of the car. They wanted his money. Without a word they severely beat him, took his wallet that contained only a few dollars and left him lying in the gutter with several compound fractures and severely bleeding. He had two broken arms, a broken leg, and gaping wounds from the knife they had repeatedly plunged into his chest. After hearing his story, I wondered to myself how I could I minister a few words of comfort to lift his spirits. But, before I could say anything, he went on to explain that his heart was filled with love and compassion for his assailants and he was praying earnestly for their salvation. His spirit did not need lifting, he was already living on the outskirts of heaven. But my heart was encouraged that day as I witnessed true Christian love in action. I do not know if a prophet named him, but Nehemiah certainly lived up to the meaning of his name – the Compassion of the Lord. But then, this really is how the love of God works in the hearts of his children.
