{13} Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

(13) He commends the practice of obedience, that is, charity: earnestly repeating again, that he speaks not of any common charity, and such as proceeds from that our corrupt nature, but of that whose beginning is the Spirit of God, which purifies our souls through the word laid hold on by faith, and engenders also in us a spiritual and everlasting life, as God himself is most pure and truly living.

People's New Testament

1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls. The Greek verb hagnizo, rendered purified, occurs seven times in the New Testament. In four of these, Joh 11:55 Ac 21:24,26 24:18, it refers to ceremonial purification. In the other three it refers to moral purification; the cleansing of the life from its sins. That seems to be the sense here. It refers not only to the forgiveness of sins but to the pure life that should follow. This purification is obtained

in obeying the truth. That is, by obedience to the gospel.

Through the Spirit. The Spirit is inseparable from the gospel. The gospel dispensation is that of the Spirit. See Ac 15:8,9.

Unto unfeigned love of the brethren. The Spirit of Christ in our hearts is the spirit of brotherly love.

See that ye love one another. How can one profess to follow Christ unless he loves those for whom Christ died?

With a pure heart fervently. With a sincere heart.

Wesley's Notes

1:22 Having purified your souls by obeying the truth through the Spirit, who bestows upon you freely, both obedience and purity of heart, and unfeigned love of the brethren, go on to still higher degrees of love. Love one another fervently - With the most strong and tender affection; and yet with a pure heart - Pure from any spot of unholy desire or inordinate passion.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

22. purified . in obeying the truth-Greek, "in your (or 'the') obedience of (that is, 'to') the truth (the Gospel way of salvation)," that is, in the fact of your believing. Faith purifies the heart as giving it the only pure motive, love to God (Ac 15:9; Ro 1:5, "obedience to the faith").

through the Spirit-omitted in the oldest manuscripts. The Holy Spirit is the purifier by bestowing the obedience of faith (1Pe 1:2; 1Co 12:3).

unto-with a view to: the proper result of the purifying of your hearts by faith. "For what end must we lead a chaste life? That we may thereby be saved? No: but for this, that we may serve our neighbor" [Luther].

unfeigned-1Pe 2:1, 2, "laying aside . hypocrisies . sincere."

love of the brethren-that is, of Christians. Brotherly love is distinct from common love. "The Christian loves primarily those in Christ; secondarily, all who might be in Christ, namely, all men, as Christ as man died for all, and as he hopes that they, too, may become his Christian brethren" [Steiger]. Bengel remarks that as here, so in 2Pe 1:5-7, "brotherly love" is preceded by the purifying graces, "faith, knowledge, and godliness," &c. Love to the brethren is the evidence of our regeneration and justification by faith.

love one another-When the purifying by faith into love of the brethren has formed the habit, then the act follows, so that the "love" is at once habit and act.

with a pure heart-The oldest manuscripts read, "(love) from the heart."

fervently-Greek, "intensely": with all the powers on the stretch (1Pe 4:8). "Instantly" (Ac 26:7).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:17-25 Holy confidence in God as a Father, and awful fear of him as a Judge, agree together; and to regard God always as a Judge, makes him dear to us as a Father. If believers do evil, God will visit them with corrections. Then, let Christians not doubt God's faithfulness to his promises, nor give way to enslaving dread of his wrath, but let them reverence his holiness. The fearless professor is defenceless, and Satan takes him captive at his will; the desponding professor has no heart to avail himself of his advantages, and is easily brought to surrender. The price paid for man's redemption was the precious blood of Christ. Not only openly wicked, but unprofitable conversation is highly dangerous, though it may plead custom. It is folly to resolve, I will live and die in such a way, because my forefathers did so. God had purposes of special favour toward his people, long before he made manifest such grace unto them. But the clearness of light, the supports of faith, the power of ordinances, are all much greater since Christ came upon earth, than they were before. The comfort is, that being by faith made one with Christ, his present glory is an assurance that where he is we shall be also, Joh 14:3. The soul must be purified, before it can give up its own desires and indulgences. And the word of God planted in the heart by the Holy Ghost, is a means of spiritual life, stirring up to our duty, working a total change in the dispositions and affections of the soul, till it brings to eternal life. In contrast with the excellence of the renewed spiritual man, as born again, observe the vanity of the natural man. In his life, and in his fall, he is like grass, the flower of grass, which soon withers and dies away. We should hear, and thus receive and love, the holy, living word, and rather hazard all than lose it; and we must banish all other things from the place due to it. We should lodge it in our hearts as our only treasures here, and the certain pledge of the treasure of glory laid up for believers in heaven.