📖Scripture:
“Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth unto sincere brotherly love, love one another fervently out of a pure heart.” 1 Peter 1:22
🔎Examination:
Peter transitions from philadelphia (brotherly affection) to agapē (self-sacrificial love). The imperative “love one another fervently” (agapēsate ektenōs, ἀγαπήσατε ἐκτενῶς) uses the verb agapaō (ἀγαπάω, G25) and the adverb ektenōs (ἐκτενῶς, G1619), meaning “stretched out,” “earnest,” or “without ceasing.” It carries the picture of muscles strained to the limit — love exerted to full capacity... maximum effort!
This is no sentimental suggestion. It is a divine mandate rooted in regeneration: “For you have been born again… through the living and enduring Word of God” (v.23). The saints, having already purified themselves by obedience to the truth, are now commanded to exert divine love. “Out of a pure heart” (katharas kardias, G2513/G2588) reveals the origin and nature of such love. The heart — the seat of will, emotion, and intellect — must be cleansed, not merely outwardly moral but inwardly renewed. As Proverbs 4:23 teaches, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.”
The world manufactures countless versions of impure, counterfeit love arising from within. It gives to receive, affirms to be affirmed, and calls wickedness good if it gains acceptance. But fervent agapē is cruciform — love shaped by the cross. It gives when unreciprocated, blesses when cursed, and forgives when wounded… even unto death.
This command exposes modern heresies and counterfeit “Christianities”. Many “churches” preach a therapeutic love stripped of holiness. They exalt inclusivity while despising truth, confusing acceptance with righteousness. Yet agapē without truth is lust for approval, not love. Paul writes, “The goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith” (1 Timothy 1:5). The three are inseparable — sever love from purity, and it ceases to be in, of, or for Christ. The Corinthian church exemplified this distortion. Their tolerance of sin (1 Cor 5:1–2), divisive pride, and disorderly worship revealed unholy gatherings. Paul rebuked them, not to shame them, but that they might learn what love truly is: “Love rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor 13:6).
The word ektenōs implies perseverance. Fervent love is not emotional warmth that flickers or flounders with mood but disciplined persistence that endures. It is the same word used in Luke 22:44 when Jesus, in Gethsemane, prayed “more earnestly” (ektenesteron). Love that prays through agony is the divine pattern of love that endures offense.
Such fervent love is the very mark of legitimate, Holy Spirit-wrought regeneration. John wrote, “Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). The tense of gegennētai (has been born) indicates perfected past action with continuing results — parallel to Peter’s hēgnikotes. The born-again heart cannot help but love; that is its new nature. When love wanes, the saint returns to the cross, where divine love was poured out (Romans 5:5–8). This perpetual cycle of suiting up with the Armor of God… going into the hostile enemy territory with the truth and love of the gospel… being hated, despised, persecuted, and rejected… only to wake up and do it all over again… requires supernatural regeneration, devotion, humility, surrender, and adoration for Christ. That’s what allowed King David to sing, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.”
This fervent love is also the antidote to Satan’s schemes. The adversary strives to fracture the Body of Christ by sowing malice, envy, and slander (1 Pet 2:1). He persuades saints to isolate themselves under the guise of “boundaries” or “self-care.” Yet Proverbs 18:1 warns, “Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.” Isolation is not protection but the rebellion of leaning on our own understanding. Fervent love pulls the saint toward the Body, toward reconciliation, and toward humble service.
The false systems of the world — the social gospel, Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, and the cults of personality within “church culture” — all cheapen love by detaching it from God’s objective truth and everlasting covenant. Fervent agapē is not merely attractional but cruciform. It builds the Church through humility, service, and mutual submission (Eph 5:21).
To love ektenōs (fervently) is to joyfully labor in holiness for the edification of Christ’s Body & Bride. It refuses gossip, endures offense, and pursues unity (not uniformity) at the cost of pride. This is why Jesus prayed in John 17:23 that His saints “may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know” the authenticity of His ministry and mission. Fervent love is the apologetic/defense that validates the gospel’s supernatural and unrelenting power to save and sanctify.
🤺Action:
Examine your capacity for fervent agapē: do you demonstrate supernatural love as a devoted church member, even when it costs you time, comfort, reputation, or preference? Or are you inclined to take your ball and go home when everything doesn't go your way? See I Am a Church Member, by Thom Rainer
Replace passive attendance with active affection — intentional service, intercession, and forgiveness as a devoted member of a local church that displays the “Nine Marks” of a healthy, Christ-honoring local church.
Ask the LORD to examine you to help identify where your “love” has become worldly, conditional, or self-protective. Repent (literally turn from sin to Christ) and purify your heart by obedience to the objective TRUTH of God's WORD... producing brotherly love that maintains obedience and matures into fervent love for your church family in every season.
🧠Reflection:
Ask the Holy Spirit to stretch your love beyond selfish sensationalism and casual comfort — to make you not merely willing to love, but joyfully surrendered to fervent love as Christ loved, unto forgiveness of enemies and intercession even when misunderstood or wounded. Pray that your obedience to the TRUTH of Scripture would perfectly purify your heart from selfish motives so your love manifests as the unceasing agapē love of the crucified Lamb for His spotless Bride.
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Blessings & love,
Kevin M. Kelley
Pastor
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