“Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor” (1 Peter 2:17 ESV).
The second item in our four-point summary of Christian duty from 1 Peter 2:17 is “Love the brotherhood.” This passage draws our attention to the nature of love as defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7…
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Corinthians 13:4-7).
This portion of Scripture tells us that genuine love is not “self-seeking” (NIV) or “self-serving” (NET). In other words, love does not prioritize its interests at the expense of others. Instead, love considers the needs of others and seeks to respond appropriately.
For example, genuine love seeks to determine what is best for everyone in a given situation and willingly defers to others when appropriate. While circumstances may change from person to person, we can often identify a loving response with the following question: “What is in the best interest of those who are involved in this situation from a Biblical perspective?”
Paul the Apostle also expanded upon this idea in his Biblical epistle to the Philippian church…
“Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well” (Philippians 2:3-4 NET).
The New Testament book of Ephesians ties these elements together in the following manner: “Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Try always to be led along together by the Holy Spirit and so be at peace with one another” (Ephesians 4:2-3 TLB).
It has often been said that we can choose our friends but we can’t choose our families. This brings us back to Peter’s exhortation from earlier in this epistle: “…love one another fervently with a pure heart” (1 Peter 1:22). As mentioned previously, the word “fervently” conveys the image of an athlete who stretches to his or her limit in competition. While “fervent love” is not necessarily synonymous with emotional affection, we must also be willing to stretch ourselves to the limit in our efforts to “Love the family of believers” (CEB).