1 Peter 1:22

Seeing ye have purified your souls It may be noted that the use of the Greek verb "purify," in this spiritual sense, is peculiar to St Peter, and to his friends St James (James 4:8) and St John (1 John 3:3). In John 11:55; Acts 21:24; Acts 21:26; Acts 24:18, it is found in its ceremonial significance. In Acts 15:9 and Titus 2:14, the Greek verb is different. The purity implied is prominently, as commonly with the cognate adjective, freedom from sensual lust, but includes within its range freedom from all forms of selfishness. The instrument by which, or the region in which, this work of purification is to be accomplished, is found in "obedience to the truth;" the Truth standing here for the sum and substance of the revelation of God in Christ.

unto unfeigned love of the brethren The Greek noun which answers to the last four words is, in its wide range of meaning, almost, if not altogether, a coinage of Christian thought. The names of Ptolemy Philadelphus (the lover of his brother) and of the city of Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7) had probably given a wide currency to the adjective. St Paul uses it in Romans 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9, St Peter here and in 2 Peter 1:7. The general bearing of the passage runs parallel to St Paul's "the end of the commandment is charity (better, love) out of a pure heart and faith unfeigned" (1 Timothy 1:5).

love one another with a pure heart fervently The better MSS. omit "pure" which may have been inserted from a reminiscence of 1 Timothy 1:5. The adverb is strictly "intensely" rather than "fervently." It is noticeable that the only other passage in which it meets us in the New Testament is in Acts 12:5, where it, or the cognate adjective, is used of the prayer offered by the Church for St Peter.