I’m continuing my series through 2 Peter 1:5-8.
According to 2 Peter 1:7 we are to provide brotherly love for (or in) our godliness. In other words, our piety is not to be such that separates us and isolates us from our brothers in Christ, but is to provide the foundation for brotherly kindness. Sometimes piety takes on a holier-than-thou attitude which tends to drive a wedge between Christians. How different true piety is from this sort of individualistic false piety.
Romans 12:10 gives us some idea of what’s involved in brotherly love. This passage tells us to “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.” What this tells me is that brotherly love is more than just being friendly. It involves kindness and giving preference toward one another. I Peter 3:8 adds to that by telling us to have compassion, tender hearted and courteous. I Peter 1:22 adds that we should love one another with a pure heart.
Writing about brotherly kindness seems difficult to me because it seems like such an obvious thing to understand. What is there to explain? However, I think we men have difficulty with this. On the one hand we may develop a camaraderie that is kind of a macho guy thing, but lacks depth and courtesy and honesty. On the other hand we may not have developed any sort of brotherly relationship with other men and are attempting to go it alone. What God wants from us is a relationship that is deep, honest, courteous and having some component of tenderness and affection to it.
What’s a challenge to me in this passage is the fact that we are to be diligent in adding to our faith these various dimensions. How then does one go about adding brotherly love? If you have any thoughts or insight, I would enjoy hearing them.
1 comment:
For something that seems so straight forward, brotherly love is difficult to understand. My experience has been that most of us are unwilling to share our true struggles and fears with our brothers. We often feel that we must put on the "macho facade".
The best example of brotherly love that comes to my mind is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He worked, slept, ate, and ministered with His friends and disciples. He shared His deepest concerns with them. He loved them enough to tell them they were wrong (which most people are afraid or unwilling to do now days). I think the proper direction we must take when studying this topic is to review the life of Christ. His example is where the real answer lies.
John Schneider
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