Love (22): Peter gives his fourth imperative:[1] love one another, a resounding theme of Scripture. Love is what characterizes God (1 John 4:8, 16), and what He manifests within His three persons.[2] As the children of God who have been freed from a life of futility, we not only pursue the holiness of God (1:15) and a proper fear of God (1:17), but also a deep love for the church of God (“love one another”). And this is no ordinary love common in this world. This is a divine love (a-ga-pē [ἀγάπη] in 1:22), one that is sincere, fervent and from the heart, a love that is made possible only through a genuine Christian conversion.
The Word (23-25): Christian love is impossible for the impure, sinful and selfish soul. There must first be a true soul conversion before there can be true Christian love.[3] Peter depicts our conversion in terms of purification and spiritual birth (regeneration). Both of these share the one means by which they are wrought: the word of God.[4] The word is what converts the sinner and enables him to cease pursuing self-interest and self-exaltation and to start pouring himself out in real Christian love for the good of others (4:8-10). It is through the word that we have “tasted the kindness of the Lord” (2:1-4), and we have a fullness from which we can draw out Christian love. How precious is the word of God to us? Unlike the perishable things of this world, the word is living and lasting, and it is able to make what would be chaff into a thriving tree. The word converts souls and opens up the floodgates of Christian love.
[1] The first three imperatives were of hope (1:13), holiness (1:15), and the fear of God (1:17).
[2] Cf. Matt. 3:16-17; 12:31-32; John 1:1, 18; 5:20-23; 10:17-18; 16:13-15; 17:23-24.
[3] The end (“goal [te-los (τέλος)]”) of sound doctrine is love (1 Tim. 1:5). Cf. John 13:34; Gal. 5:13; 1 John 3:11.
[4] This is “the truth” (1:22), “the living and enduring word of God” (1:23) and “the pure milk of the word” (2:2).