04 Brotherly Affection and Love: How They Assure Your Faith (2 Peter 1:7–11)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome back to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta, and this is the podcast where we explain not only what scripture means, but how we figure it out. Thanks so much for listening. Lecture notes for today are on the link below this podcast, or you can also find them on the website by going to wednesdayintheword.com slash 2 Peter 4. Because this is our fourth talk in the series on the book of 2 Peter. Today we're gonna look at chapter 1, verses 7 through 11. We are finishing a section today, and it will make a lot more sense if you listened to the two previous podcasts. Two podcasts ago, we set the stage for this section and the context and how we understand what Peter's doing in this section. And then in the last podcast, we looked at verses five through six. I'm gonna assume you've heard them. As always, we'll start with some review. Again, this isn't really a substitute for going back and listening to the previous podcast, but it will give you some idea of what we talked about. Peter is writing to churches who are under the influence of false teachers, and these false teachers are denying the apostolic gospel and they're encouraging people to live an immoral lifestyle. And in this section, chapter one verses five through eleven, Peter is making the connection between believing the apostolic gospel and pursuing a godly lifestyle. He has been giving a list of virtues that follow from faith, and I have argued that the items in this list are not the cause of spiritual maturity, rather they result from spiritual maturity. And I argued from the context that Peter is not giving us a job description, here are the things we should do now that we are believers, rather he is describing the kinds of changes that result in our lives after coming to faith. Once we come to faith, our lifestyles should now be marked by the things on this list in contrast to the lifestyle of the false teachers. And what we've been doing in the last podcast is defining each item on the list and asking how it's connected to saving faith. What is it about that item, that virtue, that makes it a result of coming to faith? Last podcast we covered the virtues in verses five and six, and we're gonna look at the last two in verse seven today, and then look at Peter's summary. I'm gonna go ahead and read five through seven just to set the context. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. So the two we're going to talk about today are brotherly affection and love. Brotherly affection is the Greek word philadelphia. What's the idea behind this word? One thing Peter could mean is that we are to treat everyone we meet as if they're family. And that may be a good idea, but that's not what I think is going on here. I would translate this love of the brothers and sisters. The New Testament teaches that Jesus has called a people for himself, and those of us who follow Jesus are to consider each other as family. We are to see each other as brothers and sisters because we share the most important thing in life in common. We're on this same journey of faith. We are striving for the same kinds of things, we have the same hope, the same savior, the same spirit, the same father, and the same eternal destiny, and therefore we are looking to the same things in this life. So when we look out across the sea of humanity, other believers are the people we should look at and say, Those are my people. And this is a bond that cuts across all the other things that might divide us, things like race, gender, socioeconomic background, national identity, and so forth. We have a lot of things that can pull us apart and divide us, but our faith should be one of the things that unites us regardless of all those other factors. Paul expresses this same idea in First Thessalonians. This is first Thessalonians chapter four verses nine and ten. Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you have been doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. So here Paul is speaking to the church in Thessalonica, and he says they don't need anyone to explain this to them, explain this concept of Philadelphia, and then notice he goes on to explain what he's talking about. You have been taught by God to love one another, and he further clarifies this to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. So again, it's this love for the brothers and sisters, love for people who share the same faith that you have. Now this word could be used in other ways in Greek culture, but we see this word used repeatedly in the New Testament in the context of believers loving one another precisely because they are children of God. And we saw this same connection in Peter's first letter. This is first Peter chapter one verses twenty two and twenty-three. Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God. Brotherly love in in first Peter one twenty-two is the same word Philadelphia, love of my fellow believer, love of broth the brothers and sisters. It's the same word we have in 2 Peter 1 7. He's talking to those who have believed the gospel and he's encouraging them to love one another. And notice Peter makes this connection that this love for your brothers and sisters arises from obedience to the truth. And by truth, I think he's talking about the gospel. So having come to believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, having come to be committed to it, to seek to follow Jesus, then there is a certain kind of lifestyle that results, and that involves loving each other, loving our brothers and sisters. Now to our modern ears, that sounds kind of elitist. It seems, well, a little snobbish and not very seeker friendly. What a what about evangelism? What about reaching out to others? We don't want to be a click when we're a church, do we? It seems like we're playing favorites. Well, I would answer that idea or that objection first. The Bible does teach that we are to love everyone, Christian or non Christian, and that we are to treat everyone with respect as a fellow human being made in the image of God. In fact, I think that's part of what he's going to go on to say with the very next word in the list, and we'll talk about that in a minute. But the New Testament authors teach that believers are called to a unique relationship with each other. The key idea in this teaching is that if I claim to love God, then it follows that I should love the things that God loves, and one of the things He loves is His people. And if God's people mean absolutely nothing to me, then my claim to love God is suspect. Because there are all kinds of things that can tie us together. We can bond over living in the same place, liking the same sports team, having the same kind of job. For instance, I love clog dancing, and when I meet other people who clog and love clogging, we bond over that. We can spend hours teaching each other clogging steps and routines, and we can have a great relationship built around this common thing that we love. And faith ought to be like that only more so. It is the one bond that cuts through and erases all the other lines that might divide us. So we may be different ages, we may like different music, we may have different political beliefs, we may come from very different family backgrounds or educational backgrounds, and we could have trouble talking to each other because we have nothing in common in a worldly sense. But all those are secondary considerations, because you and I may have nothing in common, but if we have our faith in common, that's enough. So even if we have nothing else in common but faith, it is so important to both of us that we have something that draws us together. John puts it this way in his first letter, this is first John chapter three, eleven through fourteen. For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brothers righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brothers. Now in this context, John, I think, is talking about believers loving other believers, and notice he contrasts the love between believers with what happened with Cain and Abel. Cain was not just a grumpy man who had a bad day. He killed his brother Abel because his brother's deeds were righteous. It was Abel's obedience to God that provoked Cain to murder him. Cain resented Abel's values, he resented Abel's way of life because Abel sought to follow God. That's the polar opposite of this concept of Philadelphia, and John's saying, as believers, we're not like Cain. We shouldn't be the kind of people who hate and despise and mock those who are pursuing godliness and righteousness. We should love them because that's the very thing that we want too. And then he says in 313, Don't marvel if the world hates you, implied, because you're believers and you belong to Christ, just like Cain hated Abel because he was pursuing the things of God, so the world is going to hate you for pursuing the things of God. In contrast, one of the ways you know you're a believer is that you now love the things of God, including his people. Then he goes on in verse seven godliness with brotherly affection and brotherly affection with love. And the word love there is the word agape, which you may have heard if you've hung around Christian circles. It's a very common word in the New Testament. The interpretive question here is who are we supposed to love? Who's included under agape? Brotherly affection, Philadelphia has right contained in the basic idea of love for for your fellow brothers and sisters. Well, who's included under agape? Jesus tells us that the two great commandments are love God and love your neighbor as yourself, and it could be that Peter means to include both here, love toward God and love toward your neighbor, or he could mean only love of your fellow human beings. Well generally, in the majority of places where we see this word used in a context of something we're supposed to exercise, it is used of our fellow human beings. And I think the idea of loving God was captured by godliness back in one six, and that here in seven he's emphasizing the more general love of your neighbor. While Philadelphia referred to a particular unique bond that I have with other believers, I think this word refers to love of all mankind, and it is rooted in the Old Testament commandment, love your neighbor as yourself. So what does it mean to love your neighbor or your fellow human beings? The Pharisees would have said, My neighbor is my fellow law-abiding Jew, and they would have said, neighbors do not include Gentiles or other pagans and heathens. Yet if you read the Old Testament laws regarding strangers and you read the Old Testament, you'll see that they were in fact supposed to love the stranger as well. So they're supposed to love the stranger as themselves. And I think the idea was always inclusive, even in the Old Testament. And then, of course, we get the words of Jesus where he says, Love your enemy, which was not a new thought if you were reading the Old Testament scriptures, but it was perhaps a new way of thinking that thought. It was an explicit statement of what I think the Old Testament was always getting at. My neighbor includes other humanity, even those who are against me. And this kind of love is not so much a feeling as it is an action. This is Leviticus 1918. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Notice that here's the golden rule love your neighbor as yourself, and it's in the context of not taking vengeance, not bearing grudges. Those are actions. And I would argue that love your neighbor as yourself is also an action. He's not saying you should have warm, fuzzy feelings for your neighbor. He's saying you should not act against him. You should not take wrong actions against him, like vengeance and bearing grudges. Rather, you should treat him as you would want to be treated. Again, Jesus expressed the same idea in the Golden Rule, which is one place it's found is Matthew 7 12. So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the law and the prophets. He's saying, think about how you would want to be treated and do that. Again, it's an action. This love is all about acting for the good of other people. I'm not even sure if it's possible to feel emotional love for your enemy, but it is certainly possible by the grace of God to treat him with respect or to treat him well. So this kind of love is motivated by accepting my place before God and therefore my place before other people. While it is true that if we all followed the golden rule, life would go much better, life would go smoother, we'd all get along better, and I could expect that showing a kindness might engender kindness in return. And it's true that if everyone loved their neighbor as themselves, the world would be a much better place. That's not the primary reason why we would seek to do that, why we would seek to practice the golden rule. Our actions are not primarily motivated by what we think we'll get in return, rather, we should strive to do right by people without regard for how they treat us back, for any way they might reciprocate. What motivates us to follow the golden rule is that we have recognized we are sinners before God. God is holy, he's my creator and my judge, and other humans are equally significant before God. He is also their creator and their judge, and I have no right to consider myself better or more deserving or more in need. I am one more sinner in need of saving faith. There's no standard by which I can judge my fellow human beings that does not also condemn me. We are in fact equal creations of the same God. I am no more or no less significant than other human beings. So when I recognize my place before God, then it removes this temptation or at least contradicts the temptation to lord it over someone else or to treat them badly. So I learn to fight against my sinful desires to mistreat my neighbor because when I come to faith in the gospel, I realize I'm a sinner. I've accepted my place before God and realize that I'm not the main character in the story, and everyone else is the supporting caste. As much as I would like to think that's true, faith calls me to realize that that's not true. In submitting to the gospel, I come to believe yes, there is a God, and no, I am not it. I'm not the center of the universe. Just like as children, we come to believe that the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa. When I come to faith, I come to realize that I revolve around God and not vice versa. So I accept my place in the created order. I am not God and therefore I am not more important than anyone else. And that's the basis for loving my neighbor as myself. I realize that we are all fellow human beings made in the image of God. So it's a question of understanding what is true and seeking to live it out. It's a part of faith. Believing that I'm a sinner in need of grace, which is one of the essential core beliefs of saving faith, implies this worldview shift to realize that I'm not the sinner of the universe like I used to think I was, and I recognize my neighbor is just like me. Now is that easy? No. But as believers, it's a truth we embrace even if it's still a struggle and something we fall far short of. Like everything else, we trust God to forgive us and to grow us in that area and make us more people who can live that way. Having made his list, Peter now sums it up. Let's look at verses eight through eleven. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall, for in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Notice he starts his summary if these qualities are yours and are increasing. I would argue implied in that is that he would not say and is not teaching that the true believer is perfect in all these qualities. And therefore he is not saying if you're not perfect, then you're not a believer. He's saying these are a result of faith, and over time they will take root in your character and grow and mature. As we live our lives, God puts us in situations that test our faith. The circumstances force us to ask basic questions like who am I really counting on? What am I really trusting in? Do I really believe the promises of the gospel? And as we face those choices and persevere in the faith, we grow more solid and more mature. So it is these qualities growing and increasing in us as we go through the trials and circumstances of life. Notice he ties these qualities to fruit. He says, These qualities keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. This is what we've been talking about all along. These are the qualities that result from being a person of faith. And if we see them in ourselves, however small or fledgling they might be at first, that gives us tangible evidence that our faith is genuine. So they prove that the knowledge we have about Jesus Christ has taken hold and produced the fruit of faith in us. We are in fact believers. So they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the sense that we see the gospel bearing fruit, we see the gospel begin to change us, and we know that we are in fact believers. We know that we have believed the gospel because it's starting to change who we are, the way we live, what we say, how we act, what we value, and these qualities are part of that change. Rather than being idle and unfruitful, rather than the words of the gospel going in one ear and out the other and making no difference, they are in fact beginning to make a difference in our lives and actions. And then nine, for whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Short-sighted or nearsighted is an explanation of what he means by blind. The short-sighted person is not seeing straight. He's not seeing the big picture. I used to think that Peter was talking about non-believers in this verse, saying that the one who lacks these qualities has not yet embraced the central truth of the gospel, that I am a sinner in need of forgiveness. But I've come to think that Peter is talking about immature believers because of what he goes on to say in verses 10 and 11. So the short-sighted or the nearsighted believers have not yet really grasped or really understood the implications of what it means to follow God. So their understanding of the gospel and what the gospel means is myopic. They don't really get it yet. They haven't seen the big picture. And ultimately, God is going to have to open their eyes so that they begin to see and understand the implications of faith. Namely, he says, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. So in the Old Testament, being cleansed from sin was a ritual. You had to go to the temple and make an offering, and there were certain things you could not do while you were unclean. You had to get purified to go before God, and all of this was part of the temple rituals. When we get to the New Testament, we learn that Jesus has cleansed us from the real stain of guilt stamped on us by our sin, and we can go before God because of what Jesus has done for us. So faith in Jesus removes the stain of guilt, but immature believers have forgotten that this is what faith is all about. The gospel is all about freeing us from the slavery to sin, and that means we no longer strive for sin. Think about what the gospel means, and the whole purpose is to make you like God, sharing his moral excellence and his glory in the sense of his holy character. And if none of those qualities are appealing to you, then you've forgotten what your great hope is about, which is being saved from your sins. Then in ten and eleven, therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall, for in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Now one ten is very striking because I believe the Bible teaches that calling and election are things that God does for you. He calls, he elects. So then you get to something like ten, and it's like saying, Be very diligent to make sure that I call you. Well it sounds confusing. How can I make sure that God calls me? It sounds confusing until you stop and think that through. And here's what I think he's getting at. The call and the choosing of God makes itself known in my life not by the words I say, primarily, but by the way I live my life. Ultimately, what I really think is true is going to be revealed in the way I act and react. I may be able to fake it for a while, but eventually the real me is going to come out. And as he has been saying in this section, I am called to earnestly pursue faith in the gospel. It has to become the working premise of my life, affecting what I think, what I value, what I do, what I say. I'm to take the gospel seriously and say, the gospel is true, and therefore this is what I want my life to be about, and it ought to be the things on this list holiness, righteousness, faith, perseverance, and so on. Now ultimately it is up to God how fast or how slowly I grow, which areas I grow in first, which areas I grow in last, which areas I learn easily, which ones I learn kicking and screaming. That's all up to God. But fundamentally, I want to be the kind of person who is open to that learning. I want to ensure that I am listening and paying attention when God gives me the opportunity to grow and learn. And you make that sure by living it out. Now, let me be clear. I am not saying that this is how you earn your salvation. I am not saying that this is what you have to do to get God to bless you. I don't believe that. I think all of this is a gift of God and something He does for us. But the personal critical question we all face is how do I know I am really a believer? How do I make sure that I have, in fact, believed? And one way we can know is if our life begins to change. So I'm not saying make sure you go on mission trips, make a list of good deeds that you'll do by Friday, make a list of ways you'll serve and love the folks in your city or in your neighborhood, and having crossed everything off, then you can be sure of your calling. I am not saying that. It doesn't work like that. The Bible, I think, is clear that faith is a gift of God, maturity is a gift of God, the whole process is a gift of God, but one of the ways we can know that we are in fact believers is that we go through trials and we come out the other side with our faith intact. We learn through hard and difficult circumstances that force us to face into the basic questions of who am I trusting, who am I counting on, what do I believe to be true? And then acting in accordance with that. You don't have to make a list of good deeds and seek out challenges. All you have to do is live your life, and God will put those challenges in your path. And He's saying, pay attention, stay awake, look at your life. Are these the kinds of things that you want out of life? Are these the things you see growing? How do you make sure that you are in fact a believer? Look at the bottom line: who are you trusting? Who are you counting on, and are you living that way? And that can give you tangible evidence. Having gone through these trials and come out the other side with your faith intact, you can look back and say, I made it through that, I must in fact be a believer, and that's how you make your calling sure. I think that's all he's getting at. I think Peter sees this as a process. He's not saying you get all these qualities in full upon praying the sinner's prayer. Rather, believing the gospel means wanting these qualities, valuing them, seeking them, and then by the grace of God growing in them over time and over this journey of faith. If you don't want these things, then it's questionable whether you want the gospel at all, because this is the kind of thing the gospel promises. On the other hand, if you see these qualities increasing in yourself, even if it's only ridiculously small baby steps, then you can take heart, you will gain entrance into the kingdom of heaven. But if these qualities mean nothing to you, or you think they're trivial or misplaced or irrelevant or inconvenient, then your faith is in doubt. Let me give you an analogy. Let's say I'm lost in the jungle, and a native comes along and he says, Oh, I can get you out. I am the greatest guide in the jungle, and we're gonna go north. That is the way out. And you look at him and you say, Oh, great, I believe you're the greatest guide in the jungle, but I think we ought to go south. That puts your faith in doubt. You say you think this guide is the best guide in the jungle, but when he tells you this is right and that's wrong, you say, No, I don't believe it, I'd rather go my own way, that calls into question whether you in fact believe that he is truly the best guide in the jungle. Your actions have to be in line with what you say you believe, and I think that's what Peter is saying. If these qualities mean nothing to you, then it puts your faith in doubt. The people who arrive at the kingdom of God are those who embrace the gospel such that their lives begin to change in these ways, and if you see your life as being about that, then you can take heart. Yes, you will struggle at times, yes, we will we all doubt, we will all fail, but we will persevere. Well, that's one of the qualities on the list, that clinging to faith, standing firm in it, saying, I'm going north, even if it's the hardest path to take, even if all the outward circumstances look like it's wrong, because the guide told me north was the only way to go, it's the only way out, and I believe him, I will persevere and go north. By contrast, if you're running off after the false teachers and pursuing selfish pleasures and self-indulgence or going south to continue my analogy, then you should think again. Peter is not saying you have to be perfect in all this, he's saying these are the kinds of things that mark the Christian life. And the more you see those kinds of things in your life and in your values, the more assurance you can have that you are in fact a child of God. But your job is not to manufacture them in yourselves, your job is to trust God that he will grow them in you as he takes you through life. And trust that he is in control, he has got your best interests at heart, and to trust that when he says north is the way to go, you should go north. Alright, let me summarize the list which I see as the fruit of genuine saving faith. As I have argued, these are the result of coming to belief in the gospel, they are not the cause of spiritual maturity, they're not a job description we are now to go do on our own power. Rather, these are the kinds of things God through his spirit is bringing about in our characters. So the first one, moral excellence. We want to be freed from the corruption of sin and be holy as God is holy. We hate sin and we want to be freed from it. Knowledge. We want to increase our understanding of truth and who God is and what he's all about. We want to know more about him as we seek to follow him. Self-controlled, because we know that we are sinful. We know that we will need to say no to our sinful desires. So when it comes to a point where our sinful desires conflict with what God says is right and good, then we seek to say no to our own sinful desires and to follow what God wants instead. Steadfastness or perseverance, we just talked about. True faith comes from a permanent work of God in our hearts. Ultimately, we will not walk away from God. When we go through trials or hard circumstances, or anything that puts pressure on our faith and tempts us to turn away from God, we will not turn. In fact, we will persevere and remain true to our beliefs and to the gospel. Godliness, our quest for moral excellence, stems from our love for God and our desire to be like Him. This is not something that we do because we want to be the most enlightened pagans or the best human being, but because we want to be like God and we desire to follow Him. Brotherly affection, because we love God, we love the things He loves, like holiness, righteousness, and His people. So we will have this unique bond with other believers because they are they want the same things out of life, they're following the same path, and they love the things of God that we love. And then the last one, love, because we love God, we understand that we are fellow sinners in need of grace, and that we have no basis to lord it over our other fellow human beings, and therefore we love we seek to love everyone as we would love ourselves and treat them as we would want to be treated because we understand that we are sinners before the same God. So these are the qualities that grow in the person God has called and chosen and given the gift of saving faith. As we will see when we get on into chapter two, that Peter is describing this in direct contrast to the kind of lifestyle the false teachers are encouraging, and he is setting the stage for that discussion by saying, If you truly believe, these are the things that should mark your life. And you get them not by manufacturing them, striving harder on your own power, rather by asking God to save you in his grace because of the blood of Jesus Christ and make you a person of faith and grow these qualities in you. Thank you for listening today to the Wednesday in the Word podcast. I really appreciate it. If you've been blessed by this podcast, I have three small favors to ask you. One, subscribe to it, two, rate and review it on your favorite podcast platform, and three, tell a friend. It really does make a difference and it helps others find the podcast. I don't take any money from anyone to bring this podcast to you. I pay for it out of pocket because it's really important to me to get this information to you, and your subscriptions, ratings and reviews, and telling a friend really help. Our theme music is graciously provided by Reggie Coates. You can find more of his amazing music on heartfeltmusic.org. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I will see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.