Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; Comment: This sentence sounds like one that I write before my wife sorts out the grammar! I think that she would tell me to break it up, which I will do with a couple of word changes marked by colour changes. You have purified your souls by obedience to the truth. Because this should lead to a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart. Don’t forget you have been born again, not from a perishable seed but of imperishable etc. NB the sperm of a human father leads to mortality, the seed of the new birth leads to immortality. This is emphasised by the following quote which comes from Isaiah ch 40: 6-8.
for “All flesh is like grass
and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
And this word is the good news that was preached to you.
So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
Comment: There is a lot in this short passage.
- Five bad things to put away.
- Develop an insatiable desire for spiritual truth as a newborn suckles constantly.
- Salvation is entered into by the new birth but needs to grow up as the newborn baby needs to grow up.
- A warning to check your status before God! Have you really tasted the experience of new birth?
Prayer: Help me to grow in spiritual stature as I drink in Your word, O Father God.
As I read it! 
Thank you Barry for your comments on this passage. Thank you for making it more understandable and easy to read. God bless you.
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