What Does 2 Peter 1:7 Mean?
and to awe, brotherly love; and to brotherly love, love.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.THE KEY
The verse treats brotherly affection as a beginning that widens into a love not confined to kinship.
THE MEANING
Your care can move from the closeness of kinship into a love whose reach is wider than familiarity. The verse presents this widening as part of a formed life: affection for those who feel like your own opens toward a larger regard for others.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that love is complete when it stays within the circle of people who already feel like family.
THE ROOT
ἀγάπη
agapē
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
agap-
The Greek word family for loving or holding dear.
Here “charity” carries the broad force of love itself, distinct from the kin-shaped affection named just before it. The verse presents that wider love as an opening of brotherly affection, not merely another name for the same closeness.
ALSO GROWS
agapaō: to love
ἀγαπάω
The verb form shows the same word family at work as a living expression of love.
agapētos: beloved, dearly loved
ἀγαπητός
This branch describes someone held in love, linking the verse’s love to the state of being cherished.
φιλαδελφία
philadelphia
GROWS FROM
φιλ-
phil-
Dearness or affection; in this compound it joins affection to the idea of a brother or sibling.
“brotherly love” in this verse is philadelphia. The word combines φιλ- (phil-, affection) with ἀδελφός (adelphos, brother), naming a love recognizable as kinship affection. Then the verse adds ἀγάπη (agapē, love), letting the circle of care widen beyond what feels familiar.
ALSO GROWS
philos: friend, dear one
φίλος
This branch carries affection expressed as a bond with someone held dear.
phileō: to love, cherish
φιλέω
This verb makes the affectionate quality in “brotherly kindness” visible before the verse opens into its broader word for love.
THE PATTERN
Love begins in recognizable bonds and widens beyond the circle of kinship.
You shall not avenge, nor hold a grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.Be tender toward one another with the affection of kin. Go before one another in honor.Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes out of God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.THE THREAD
Beloved, let us love one another, for love comes out of God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.Peter’s concluding word “charity” and John’s repeated word “love” translate ἀγάπη (agapē, love), from the same ἀγαπ- (agap-, loving) word family. John names the source and expression of that love, opening the movement from brotherly affection into a wider regard for others.
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