“Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth with unhypocritical brotherly love as the result, love one another intensely from the heart.

1 Peter 1:22

¹⁷ Consider how Peter’s words applied to Christians in the first century C.E. When those disciples of Jesus Christ absorbed the truth of the “good news,” they were moved to put forth effort to purify themselves, to cast away wrong practices. With the aid of God’s spirit, they obediently conformed to what the truth required of them. As a result, they began displaying real love toward those related to them in the faith. (John 13:34, 35) However, this marvelous transformation in their lives did not come about without personal effort. Only by obediently yielding to the influence of the truth and of God’s spirit could they display unhypocritical brotherly love. For this reason, Peter could urge them: “Love one another intensely from the heart.” (1 Peter 1:22) The Greek word for “intensely” literally means “outstretchedly.” So, this display of love is not to be narrow or confined because of suspicion, envy or jealousy but is to be expressed from a pure heart. It is not a formalistic love lacking in genuine warmth but a love distinguished by intense feeling and affection. Because the God of love, Jehovah, had made such Christian disciples his sons, giving them a new birth, it was only right that they apply themselves diligently in giving proof of their sonship by manifesting intense love for their fellow believers.​—1 John 3:10, 11.