2 Peter 1:7 - Exposition

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. 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."