«　WEEK 3　DAY 5　»

　　Mark 12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God from your whole heart and from your whole soul and from your whole mind and from your whole strength.

　　1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten of God, and everyone who loves Him who has begotten loves him also who has been begotten of Him.

　　God will not purify our soul for us. We need to do this ourselves by our obedience to the truth we have heard and received. Suppose a certain brother struggles for a period of time concerning the Lord’s recovery. Eventually, by God’s mercy and the moving of the sanctifying Spirit within him, he declares, “Praise the Lord! My mind is girded up with one goal. My emotion is fully set on one person, the Lord Himself. I have no other object of my love. Therefore, my will follows to make a strong decision: I am for the Lord, and I am for the Lord’s recovery. I don’t care for anything else.” This is obedience to the truth….This truth is conveyed in God’s sanctifying word. (Life-study of 1 Peter, p. 118)

　　In 1 Peter 1:22 Peter says that we purify our souls by obedience to the truth unto unfeigned brotherly love. Since the purification of our souls concentrates our entire being on God that we may love Him with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind (Mark 12:30), it results in unfeigned brotherly love. We love from the heart fervently all those whom God loves. First, God’s regeneration issues in a holy life. Then His sanctification (purification) results in brotherly love.

　　The word unfeigned…means not to pretend or not to be hypocritical….To feign something is to put on a mask to disguise how we really feel….Unfeigned brotherly love is brotherly love that is genuine, without pretense; it is brotherly love without any kind of mask. In 1 Peter 1:22 the adjective unfeigned is very important. It indicates that through the purification of our soul, all the masks have been taken away.

　　If a brother takes in dissenting thoughts concerning the Lord’s recovery, he may still love the brothers, but that love will be feigned. This means that it will be love with a mask…. If he lives with others in a brothers’ house, he may apparently still love those brothers. But he does not have an unfeigned love, a love without a mask, for them. However, if he decides to obey the truth and by that obedience purifies his soul, this purification will result in unfeigned brotherly love.

　　Many times the saints may put on masks in the church life. They may love one another, but it is a love with a mask. The reason for this feigned love is that these saints have not purified their souls. They have not girded up the loins of their mind, concentrated their emotion, and made a strong decision with their will concerning the recovery. Therefore, everything they do is with a mask. They may realize that as long as they are in the church life they need to behave in a loving way. But inwardly they are doubting, and their souls, including the mind, the emotion, and the will, have been polluted. These saints need to purify their souls by obeying the truth.

　　When we have purified our souls by our obedience to the truth, we can love one another from the heart fervently. In verse 22 we have both the purifying of the soul and love from the heart. To love from the heart is to have a love that comes not only from the parts of the soul but also from the conscience. Our conscience testifies that we love the brothers with an unfeigned love. When our conscience has this kind of testimony, we love from the heart. But if our conscience does not confirm our love or testify concerning it, then our love is merely from the soul. It is not a love from the heart, because the conscience is not part of the soul, but is part of the heart. (Life-study of 1 Peter, pp. 118-120)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1953, vol. 3, “The Knowledge of Life,” chs. 13-14