1 Peter 4 contains two sections, the first labeled in one of my translations as “Living for God,” and the second labeled, “Suffering for Being a Christian.” Between those two sections, Peter outlines a small series of attitudes and actions that are necessary to do both. The first is about prayer, the second is about love. “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” [1 Peter 4:8]
We are to love each other “deeply” or as the NKJV translates it, we are to “have fervent love for one another.”
That means a love that never ceases. It never grows cold. It never diminishes. That kind of love covers sins. That kind of love is agape love … the love God has for us. Just as we are in a covenant relationship with God to forgive (He forgave us; we forgive others), we share a covenant relationship with Him to love (He loves us; we love others).
It is God’s love that covers our sins. God doesn’t display our sins to others, He doesn’t blab them on the evening news or write them across the skies. He could, but He doesn’t. When we repent, in His love He forgives us, then buries our sins in the deepest part of the seas, as far as the east is from the west. He grants us righteousness and dignity in Him to go on “Living for God.”
He expects us to do the same. We are to love each other, forgive each other, protect each other in agape love. Once that sin has been repented of and forgiven, it needs to be forgotten in love.
