2. THE WAY GOD’S CHILDREN BEHAVE Studies in 1 Peter

3. God’s children love their brothers and sisters!

4. What makes us family!

5. We have all purified our souls through obedience to the truth. But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. (Romans 6:17-18)

6. We have all been born again of the incorruptible seed of God. In obedience purified your souls Unto a sincere love of the brethren Fervently love one another from the heart For you have been born again

7. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Galatians 3:26-27)

8. What relates us to God relates us to one another. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:10)

9. What makes us family also ought to make us love one another!

10. Our love needs to be unfeigned! Peters uses the Greek word “philadelphos” which the Quakers borrowed to name their city. It means “brotherly love”. Unfeiged means “without pretense”. It is a negative form of the word usually translated “hypocrite” and suggests that this is not merely an “acting” love.

11. Our love needs to be fervent and from the heart! “The love of full intelligence and understanding coupled with corresponding purpose”. From the heart—This is the source of the love. It is not superficial or surface love, but a deep love. Fervently-- stretching out, intense strain, going all out

12. I long to see the day when Christians will learn that “standing for the truth” commits us to loving every person who has obeyed the gospel fervently, unhypocritically, and from their hearts.