2 Peter 1:7

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. 'And in your godliness brotherly-kindness;' not suffering your piety to be morose and sullen, but kind to the brethren. 'And in your brotherly-kindness love'-namely, to all men, even to enemies. From brotherly-kindness toward believers, we are to go forward to love to all men. (Compare .) So charity completes the choir of graces in . In 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 patience; to the patient, temperance is easy; the temperate weighs things well, so has knowledge; knowledge guards against sudden impulse carrying away its virtue (Bengel)....

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 cheerf...

Verse 7. _BROTHERLY KINDNESS_] φιλαδελφιαν. _Love of the_ _brotherhood_-the strongest attachment to Christ's flock; feeling each as a member of your own body. _CHARITY_] αγαπην. _Love_ to the whole human race, even to your persecutors: love to God and the brethren they had; love to all _mankind_ they must also have. True religion is neither selfish nor insulated; where the love of God is, bigotry cannot exist. Narrow, selfish people, and people of a party, who scarcely have any hope of the salvation of those who do not believe as they believe, and who do not follow with them, have scarcely any religion, though in their own apprehension none is so truly orthodox or religious as themselves. After αγαπην, _love_, one MS. adds these words, ενδετηαγαπη τηνπαρακλησιν, _and to this love consolation_; but this is an idle and useless addition....

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....

EXPOSITION 2 PETER 1:1 SIMON PETER. "Symeon" seems to be the best-supported spelling in this place. The same form of the name is found in Luke 2:25 and Acts 13:1; it also occurs in Acts 15:14, where St. James refers to St. Peter's speech on the great question of the circumcision of Gentile Christians. It is the form always used in the Septuagint Version of the Old Testament. The old man's thoughts go back to his early years; he describes himself by the familiar name of his youth; he uses that Greek form of it which was most distinctively Jewish. But he joins with the old name, which spoke of Judaism, the

Ver. 7 AND TO GODLINESS, BROTHERLY KINDNESS,.... 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....

2 Peter 1:1. _Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, Peter was pleased to be able to write those words._ There was a time when he had thrice denied his Master, but now he is glad to call himself «a servant of Jesus Christ.» Once he had said, «I know not the man,» but now he claims that he has been sent out by that glorious Lord to be his apostle,-a sent one,-«a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.» Probably he had ringing in his ears, at that moment, those blessed words, «Feed my sheep; feed my lambs;» and he was going to do that work again in this his second general Epistle. 2 Peter 1:1. _To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ._ These Epistles are not written to everybody. Som

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE GRACIOUS PROVISIONS OF GOD CHAPTER 1 _ 1. God's gracious provisions in Christ (2 Peter 1:1)_ 2. The development of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:5) 3. The promises of prophecy (2 Peter 1:12) 2 Peter 1:1 We are not left in doubt who the writer is, not a pseudo Peter, but Simon Peter, the fisherman of Galilee. With this second Epistle he finishes the task given him by the Lord “to strengthen his brethren.” The opening verse of the third chapter shows that the Epistle is addressed to the same persons to whom he wrote the first Epistle. He gives his old name, Simon (or

The author writes to those who possess a faith not less honourable (precious) than that of the apostles themselves, since they, too, possess all things pertaining to life and godliness. But effort on their part is necessary if they would make their calling sure. The lack of such effort involves stumbling and implies forgetfulness of their baptismal cleansing possibly, forgetfulness that the special cleansing of baptism cannot be repeated (Bigg). The Gospel is not a cloke for libertinism. 2 PETER 1:3. HIM THAT CALLED US: _i.e._ Christ: the reference is to the call of the apostolate. In this section we and us refer to the apostles, you to those who have received the apostolic message....

THE MAN WHO OPENED DOORS (2 Peter 1:1) _ 1:1 Symeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, writes this letter to those to whom there has been allotted a faith equal in honour and privilege with our own, through the impartial justice of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ._ The letter opens with a very subtle and beautiful allusion for those who have eyes to see it and knowledge enough of the New Testament to grasp it. Peter writes to "those to whom there has been allotted a faith equal in honour and privilege with our own" and he calls himself Symeon Peter. Who were these people? There can really be only one answer to that. They must once have been Gentiles in contradistinction to the Jews who were uniquely the chosen people of God. Those who had once been no people are now the chosen people of God ...