1 Peter 1:22 is a command for us. It says, “…love one another fervently with a pure heart.” I researched the Greek meaning in several verses. My conclusion? 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in the Amplified gives us a working definition.

As you read it, take your spiritual temperature. Verse 4 says, “Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy, is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.” Boils over speaks of something that was left unattended.

Verse 5 says, “It is not conceited (arrogant and inflated with pride); it is not rude (unmannerly) and does not act unbecomingly. Love (God’s love in us) does not insist on its own right or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it (it pays no attention to a suffered wrong).”

Note that what Paul wrote is only possible when we are extending God’s love that is placed in our hearts at salvation. It is impossible in our flesh.