2 Peter 1:7

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(7) And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.—And in your godliness [supply] love of the brethren, and in your love of the brethren, charity. In other words, your godliness must not be selfish and solitary, but social and Christian; for he who loveth God must love his brother also (1John 4:20-21). And though “charity begins at home” with “them who are of the household of faith,” it must not end there, but reach out to all men, whether Christians or not. (Comp. 1Thessalonians 3:12; Galatians 6:10.) The translation “brotherly kindness” is a little to be regretted; it obscures the exact meaning of the Word, and also the fact that the very same word is used in 1Peter 1:22. “Love of the brethren” means love of Christians as such, as members of the same great family, as God’s adopted children. “Charity” means love of men as such, as creatures made in the likeness of God, as souls for which Christ died. The word for “charity” is emphatically Christian love; not mere natural benevolence.

Each in this noble chain of virtues prepares the way for the next, and is supplemented and perfected by it. It begins with faith, and it ends (like St. Paul’s list of virtues, Colossians 3:12-14) with charity. But we must not insist too strongly upon the order in the series, as being either logically or chronologically necessary. It is a natural order that is here given, but not the only one. These three verses are the First Epistle condensed. Each one of the virtues mentioned here is represented quite distinctly in 1 Peter: virtue, 1Peter 1:13; knowledge, 1Peter 3:15; self-control, 1Peter 1:14; 1Peter 2:11; patience, 1Peter 1:6; 1Peter 2:21; godliness, 1Peter 1:15-16; 1Peter 3:4; love of the brethren, 1Peter 1:22; 1Peter 3:8; charity, 1Peter 4:8. The list of virtues given in the Epistle of Barnabas 2 runs thus:—Faith, fear, patience, long - suffering, temperance, wisdom, prudence, science, knowledge. The very slight amount of similarity affords no ground for supposing that the writer was acquainted with 2 Peter.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:1-11 Faith unites the weak believer to Christ, as really as it does the strong one, and purifies the heart of one as truly as of another; and every sincere believer is by his faith justified in the sight of God. Faith worketh godliness, and produces effects which no other grace in the soul can do. In Christ all fulness dwells, and pardon, peace, grace, and knowledge, and new principles, are thus given through the Holy Spirit. The promises to those who are partakers of a Divine nature, will cause us to inquire whether we are really renewed in the spirit of our minds; let us turn all these promises into prayers for the transforming and purifying grace of the Holy Spirit. The believer must add knowledge to his virtue, increasing acquaintance with the whole truth and will of God. We must add temperance to knowledge; moderation about worldly things; and add to temperance, patience, or cheerful submission to the will of God. Tribulation worketh patience, whereby we bear all calamities and crosses with silence and submission. To patience we must add godliness: this includes the holy affections and dispositions found in the true worshipper of God; with tender affection to all fellow Christians, who are children of the same Father, servants of the same Master, members of the same family, travellers to the same country, heirs of the same inheritance. Wherefore let Christians labour to attain assurance of their calling, and of their election, by believing and well-doing; and thus carefully to endeavour, is a firm argument of the grace and mercy of God, upholding them so that they shall not utterly fall. Those who are diligent in the work of religion, shall have a triumphant entrance into that everlasting kingdom where Christ reigns, and they shall reign with him for ever and ever; and it is in the practice of every good work that we are to expect entrance to heaven.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And to godliness brotherly kindness - Love to Christians as such. See the John 13:34 note; Hebrews 13:1 note.

And to brotherly kindness charity - Love to all mankind. There is to be a special affection for Christians as of the same family; there is to be a true and warm love, however, for all the race. See the notes at 1 Corinthians 13.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. "And in your godliness brotherly kindness"; not suffering your godliness to be moroseness, nor a sullen solitary habit of life, but kind, generous, and courteous [Alford]. Your natural affection and brotherly kindness are to be sanctified by godliness. "And in your brotherly kindness love," namely, to all men, even to enemies, in thought, word, and deed. From brotherly kindness we are to go forward to love. Compare 1Th 3:12, "Love one toward another (brotherly kindness), and toward all men (charity)." So charity completes the choir of graces in Col 3:14. In a retrograde order, he who has love will exercise brotherly kindness; he who has brotherly kindness will feel godliness needful; the godly will mix nothing stoical with his patience; to the patient, temperance is easy; the temperate weighs things well, and so has knowledge; knowledge guards against sudden impulse carrying away its virtue [Bengel].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Brotherly kindness; a love to those that are of the household of faith. This is joined to godliness, to show that it is in vain to pretend to true religion and yet be destitute of brotherly love.

Charity; this is more general than the former, and relates to all men, even our enemies themselves.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Without which, godliness, or external worship, or a profession of religion, is a vain show; for this is both the evidence of regeneration, and of the truth and power of real godliness; and also the beauty, comfort, and security of Christian society and worship, and without which they cannot be maintained with peace, profit, and honour:

and to brotherly kindness, charity: or "love"; that is, to all men, enemies, as well as to the household of faith; and to God and Christ, to his house, worship, ordinances, people and truths. Charity is more extensive in its objects and acts than brotherly kindness or love. As faith leads the van, charity brings up the rear, and is the greatest of all.

Geneva Study Bible

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

2 Peter 1:7 adds φιλαδελφία and ἀγάπη to the virtues already named. These are to be distinguished thus, that the former applies specially to the Christian brethren, the latter to all—without distinction; 1 Thessalonians 3:12 : ἡ ἀγάπη εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ εἰς πάντας (Galatians 6:10); with φιλαδελφία, cf. 1 Peter 1:22. While the apostle calls the love which is extended to all ἀγάπη, he gives it to be understood that what he means is not the purely natural well-wishing, but Christian love springing from the Christian spirit. Dietlein, without sufficient reason, thinks that φιλαδελφία is only the opposite of that which is forbidden in the eighth and ninth commandments, whilst the ἀγάπη is the complete antithesis to what is forbidden in the tenth commandment. In this way the conception φιλαδελφία is unjustifiably disregarded,—a proceeding to which the language of Scripture gives the less sanction, that where love in all its depth and truth is spoken of, the word φιλεῖν is not unfrequently used; cf. John 5:20; John 16:27, etc.

Although the different virtues here are not arranged according to definite logical order, yet the way in which they here belong to each other is not to be mistaken. Each of the virtues to be shown forth forms the complement of that which precedes, and thus gives rise to a firmly-linked chain of thought. ἀρετή supplies the complement of πίστις, for faith without virtue is wanting in moral character, and is in itself dead; that of ἀρετή is γνῶσις, for the realizing of the moral volition is conditioned by comprehension of that which is needful in each separate case; that of γνῶσις is ἐγκράτεια, for self-control must not be wanting to volition and comprehension; that of ἐγκράτεια is ὑπομενή, for there are outward as well as inward temptations to be withstood; that of ὑπομονή is εὐσέβεια, for only in trustful love to God has the ὑπομονή firm support; that of εὐσέβεια the φιλαδελφία, for “he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20); that of φιλαδελφία the ἀγάπη, for without the latter the former would degenerate into poor narrow-heartedness. Thus, in that the one virtue is the complement of the other, the latter produces the former of itself as its natural outcome; Bengel: praesens quisque gradus subsequentem parit et facilem reddit, subsequens priorem temperat ac perficit.[34]

[34] According to Dietlein, the three first graces, including πίστις, correspond to the first table of the law, the three first petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, the first article of the Creed, and to faith in the Pauline triad; the three following graces to the first half of the second table of the law, the fourth petition in the Lord’s Prayer, the second article of the Creed, and the second grace in the Pauline triad; the two last graces to the second half of the second table of the law, the three last petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, the third article of the Creed, and the third grace of that triad. Certainly there is here a good deal that coincides, but this by no means warrants a consistent parallelism of all the individual points, which can only gain an appearance of correctness by an arbitrary narrowing or extending of the ideas and their applications.—It is worthy of remark that the series begins with πίστις and ends with ἀγάκπ; in that, then, ver. 11 points to the future, ἐλπίς is added, so that the well-known triad is here alluded to (Schott).

Expositor's Greek Testament

2 Peter 1:7. φιλαδελφίαν: “affection towards the brethren,” i.e., of the same Christian community. ἀγάπην: probably love towards all, even enemies; not directed by sense and emotion, but by deliberate choice (cf. Matthew 5:44). Mayor interprets: “Love to God manifesting itself in love to man and to the whole creation, animate and inanimate”.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. and to godliness brotherly kindness] Better, perhaps, love of the brethren. See note on 1 Peter 1:22. The recurrence of the words may be noted as evidence in favour of identity of authorship.

and to brotherly kindness charity] Better, love. See note on 1 Peter 4:8. It is to be regretted, as has been said before, that the varying usage of our translators hinders us from recognising at once the unity of the writers of the New Testament as to the greatness and majesty of “love.”

Bengel's Gnomen

2 Peter 1:7. Φιλαδελφίαν, brotherly affection) towards the saints who are united with you in God.—τὴν ἀγάπην, love) From brotherly affection is deduced love: 1 Peter 1:22.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. The word for "brotherly kindness" (φιλαδελφία) is another link between the two Epistles (see 1 Peter 1:22; 1 Peter 3:8). "In your godliness," St. Peter says, "ye must develop brotherly kindness, the unfeigned love of the brethren;" for "every one that loveth him that begat, loveth him also that is begotten of him" (1 John 5:1). And as God is loving unto every man, and "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good," so Christians, who are taught to be followers (imitators) of God (Ephesians 5:1), must learn in the exercise of love toward the brethren that larger love which embraces all men in an ever-widening circle (comp. 1 Thessalonians 3:12). Thus love, the greatest of all Christian graces (1 Corinthians 13:13), is the climax in St. Peter's list. Out of faith, the root, spring the seven fair fruits of holiness, of which holy love is the fairest and the sweetest (comp. Ignatius, 'Ad Ephes.,' 14. Ἀρχὴ μὲν πίστις, τέλος δὲ ἀγάπη). No grace can remain alone; each grace, as it is gradually formed in the soul, tends to develop and strengthen others; all graces meet in that highest grace of charity, without which whosoever liveth is counted dead before God. Bengel says well, "Praeseus quisque gradus subsequentem parit et facilem reddit, subsequens priorem temperat ac perficit." 2 Peter 1:7