Would you care to address the passage WITHIN THE CONTEXT of the passage?
...
You ALWAYS leave out verses 3-21 in which Peter sets up VERSES 22-23 and finishes in chapter 2 verse 9.
Verses 3-21 do not undo the truth revealed in verses 22-23. The context does not nullify purity of heart being the outcome of obedience to the truth through the Spirit.
What is your issue?
Let us look at the text.
Peter opens with...
1Pe 1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
Identifies himself and who he is writing to.
1Pe 1:2 Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.
Recognises election due to the forknowledge of God, manifested through the being set apart by the Spirit unto obedience and touching the blood for cleansing.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Acknowledges God's mercy resulting in the new birth and the hope for being resurrected from the dead.
1Pe 1:4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,
speaks of eternal life.
1Pe 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Acknowledges that the power of God is manifested through our faith unto the full measure of salvation (ie. ultimately eternal life)
Does anything written by Peter above undo the fact that new babes in Christ have had their souls purified by obedience to the truth and that they love one another with a pure heart fervently? Is there?
Let's continue...
1Pe 1:6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
Peter now speaks of the time of testing, the wilderness experience.
1Pe 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
Our faith is put in trial, we are tested.
1Pe 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Here Peter states that we love God. Peter also states that we rejoice in conjunction to believing despite the fact we do not physically see God with our eyes.
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Peter again refers to eternal life as in verse 5, the outcome of an enduring faith.
So far Peter has basically alluded to the power of God working through our faith and how we are to endure a difficult road of testing, the outcome of is eternal life.
Has he said a single word that nullifies that babes in Christ have purified their souls through obedience to the truth or that they love one another with pure hearts fervently? No he hasn't. Peter has not defended that anyone can sin and not surely die anywhere. Peter has not defended any notion that eternal life is a done deal for anyone, he has clearly emphasised the trial of faith and how it is tested for the purpose that we MIGHT be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. This is how Paul explained the same thing in Romans...
Rom 2:6 Who will render to every man
according to his deeds:
Rom 2:7 To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life:
Conduct matters.
Paul writes...
1Co 9:24 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye
may obtain.
We have to run the race and be overcomers. John wrote...
1Jn 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and
ye have overcome the wicked one.
1Jn 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but
he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
Conduct matters, we have to DO the will of God.
Let us continue with Peter...
1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Peter again refers to eternal life as in verse 5, the outcome of an enduring faith.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
The prophets of old sought this salvation and they prophesied of the New Covenant.
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
It is the New Covenant generation who gets to witness the full manifestation of the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ baptises with fire. This was held back under the Old Covenant because the means of remitting past sin, and thus the means of reconciliation, was not active yet, it was something hoped for.
Is there anything is that section which nullifies that new born babes have purified their souls through obedience to the truth by the Spirit? Is there anything there that nullifies loving one another with pure hearts fervently?
Is there anything written by Peter so far which teaches that the new birth is not inclusive of purity of heart? No there is not, not a work. Let us continue...
1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;
Here Peter emphatically admonishes people to endure the time of testing. Gird is a word we don't use much today but it means "surround" or "immerse." We are to immerse our minds in Jesus Christ and be sober minded, we are to remain hopeful to the end for the ultimate manifestation of grace at the final revealing of Jesus Christ.
1Pe 1:14 As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance:
Here Peter plainly states that obedience is an essential aspect of this. We are not to conform ourselves according to the FORMER lusts of when we were ignorant. The OSAS folk ignore this verse too because they don't teach an "escape of the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2Pet 1:4)"
1Pe 1:15 But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
The word translated "conversation" in the Greek is "anastrophē" and it means behaviour or conduct. Deeds matter.
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
Se we have read up to verse 16.
Have I explained anything away, have I twisted any scripture?
Has Peter said a single word which negates that babes in Christ have purified their souls through obedience to the truth and that they are to love one another with pure hearts fervently?
Had Peter said a single word that negates purity of heart being connected to the new birth?
No he hasn't. He has spoken of the outcome of endurance which is eternal life. He has spoken of how we are to emmerse our minds in Jesus Christ and be sober minded, how we are to be holy in ALL MANNER of our conduct. Where is any room for willful sin in that? There is none. These things Peter is speaking of are not optional, they are mandatory and being emphasised by a man who was taught directly by Jesus Christ.
Let us continue...
1Pe 1:17 And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:
Again it is stated that God's judges all men according to their DEEDS, due to this we are to pass our time here in fear.
Why would Peter say this if OSAS is true? You will NEVER hear a proponent of OSAS tell people that GOd will judge them in accordance to their deeds and that therefore they ought to fear God.
Jesus said this...
Mat 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Solomon wrote this...
Ecc_12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Peter wrote...
1Pe 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
Job feared God...
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
The doctrines of OSAS and Penal Substitution destroy a fear of God in people because they become convinced that they can sin and get away with it.
GOD WILL NOT BE MOCKED.
Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Gal 6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, IF WE FAINT NOT. That is a condition. OSAS people deny that. OSAS people completely ignore passages like that. OSAS people do not believe what the Bible actually teaches.
Let us continue...
1Pe 1:18 Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
Here Peter speaks of how Christians have been redeemed from their vain conduct ("conversation" = "anastrophē" = conduct/behaviour) via the blood of Jesus Christ.
1Pe 1:19 But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
1Pe 1:20 Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,
1Pe 1:21 Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.
Peter is speaking of our union with God through Christ here.
1Pe 1:22 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:
Seeing YE HAVE (past tense) purified your souls. This has taken place, and due to this having taken place we are to make sure that we love one another with a pure heart fervently. In other words KEEP THE FAITH AND BE DOERS because we have been purified.
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
Here Peter plainly connects the purification of the soul with the new birth. We are born again of God.
1Pe 1:24 For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
Our flesh and this world is temporary, it will pass away.
1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
God's word will not pass away.
Now let's go into chapter 2...
1Pe 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings,
"Wherefore" is an allusion to what Peter has just written in the last chapter. In other words, "because of these things" laying (an ongoing action) ALL malice, ALL guile, ALL hypoocrisy, ALL envies, ALL evil speakings.
Sarah, do you somehow think that verse 1 is an allusion to purity of heart not being connected to a genuien salvation? Do you somehow thing that because Peter uses the term "laying aside" as an ongoing action that somehow he is meanign that babes in Christ have not yet laid these things aside and have yet to do so in the future? Are you thinking that Peter is teaching that one gets "saved in sin" and is still inwardly wicked and saved at the same time awaiting for some kind of inward transformation down the road? Peter is not teaching any such thing. Just read the verse for what it says and look at the whole context.
(cont...)