1 Peter 4:8

And above all things have fervent charity It is to be regretted that the unintelligent desire for variation which the translators of 1611 took almost as their guiding principle, and in this instance, perhaps, their fondness for current theological terms, should have led them to obscure the unity of Apostolic teaching by using the word "charity" instead of "love." The use of the same word in 1 Corinthians 13. helps us indeed to perceive the agreement of St Peter and St Paul, but we lose sight of the harmony between their teaching and that of St John. On the general precept and on the word "fervent" see note on chapter 1 Peter 1:22.

for charity shall cover the multitude of sins The words are probably a quotation from Proverbs 10:12, where our English version, following the Hebrew, gives "Hatred stirreth up strife, but love covereth all sins." It may be noted, however, that the LXX. version gives here an entirely different rendering, "Friendship covers all those who are not lovers of contention," and that St Peter, though he commonly uses the LXX., must, in this instance, either have translated from the Hebrew, or, as seems more probable, have quoted the maxim as a current proverb The use of the same phrase in James 5:20, "He that converteth the sinner.… shall hide a multitude of sins," shews that the thought and the language were common to the two teachers. There remains the question, What is the meaning of the proverb? Whose are the sins that fervent love or charity will cover? (1) As the words meet us in Proverbs 10:12, the context determines its meaning, "Love covers (i.e. forgives and does not expose) the sins of others," and so it is contrasted with the "hatred which stirs up strife." (2) This may be the meaning here, "Love one another, for so only can you forgive freely as you are taught to do." If we adopt this view, or so far as we adopt it, we can scarcely fail to connect it with the lesson which St Peter had once needed, as to the limit, or rather the non-limitation, of forgiveness His "multitude of sins" is the equivalent of the "seventy times seven" of our Lord's teaching (Matthew 18:22). (3) It lies in the nature of the case, however, that a maxim such as this should present different aspects. In James 5:20, e.g., the words "hide a multitude of sins" are equivalent not to forgiving sins ourselves, but to winning God's forgiveness for them. And looking to the connexion between loving and being forgiven in Luke 7:47, we shall not be far wrong if we include that thought also as within the scope of the Apostle's words, "Love above all things, for that will enable you to forgive others, and in so doing ye will fulfil the condition of being forgiven yourselves." So taken, the proverb reminds us in its width of the familiar,

"The quality of mercy … is twice blest;

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."