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2Pe_1:7 adds φιλαδελφία and ἀγάπη to the virtues already named. These are to be distinguished thus, that the former applies specially to the Christian brethren, the latter to all—without distinction; 1Th_3:12 : ἡ ἀγάπη εἰς ἀλλήλους καὶ εἰς πάντας (Gal_6:10); with φιλαδελφία , cf. 1Pe_1:22. While the apostle calls the love which is extended to all ἀγάπη , he gives it to be understood that what he means is not the purely natural well-wishing, but Christian love springing from the Christian spirit. Dietlein, without sufficient reason, thinks that φιλαδελφία is only the opposite of that which is forbidden in the eighth and ninth commandments, whilst the ἀγάπη is the complete antithesis to what is forbidden in the tenth commandment. In this way the conception φιλαδελφία is unjustifiably disregarded,—a proceeding to which the language of Scripture gives the less sanction, that where love in all its depth and truth is spoken of, the word φιλεῖν is not unfrequently used; cf. Joh_5:20; Joh_16:27, etc.
Although the different virtues here are not arranged according to definite logical order, yet the way in which they here belong to each other is not to be mistaken. Each of the virtues to be shown forth forms the complement of that which precedes, and thus gives rise to a firmly-linked chain of thought. ἀρετή supplies the complement of πίστις , for faith without virtue is wanting in moral character, and is in itself dead; that of ἀρετή is γνῶσις , for the realizing of the moral volition is conditioned by comprehension of that which is needful in each separate case; that of γνῶσις is ἐγκράτεια , for self-control must not be wanting to volition and comprehension; that of ἐγκράτεια is ὑπομενή , for there are outward as well as inward temptations to be withstood; that of ὑπομονή is εὐσέβεια , for only in trustful love to God has the ὑπομονή firm support; that of εὐσέβεια the φιλαδελφία , for “he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1Jn_4:20); that of φιλαδελφία the ἀγάπη , for without the latter the former would degenerate into poor narrow-heartedness. Thus, in that the one virtue is the complement of the other, the latter produces the former of itself as its natural outcome; Bengel: praesens quisque gradus subsequentem parit et facilem reddit, subsequens priorem temperat ac perficit.[34]
[34] According to Dietlein, the three first graces, including πίστις , correspond to the first table of the law, the three first petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, the first article of the Creed, and to faith in the Pauline triad; the three following graces to the first half of the second table of the law, the fourth petition in the Lord’s Prayer, the second article of the Creed, and the second grace in the Pauline triad; the two last graces to the second half of the second table of the law, the three last petitions of the Lord’s Prayer, the third article of the Creed, and the third grace of that triad. Certainly there is here a good deal that coincides, but this by no means warrants a consistent parallelism of all the individual points, which can only gain an appearance of correctness by an arbitrary narrowing or extending of the ideas and their applications.—It is worthy of remark that the series begins with πίστις and ends with ἀγάκπ ; in that, then, ver. 11 points to the future, ἐλπίς is added, so that the well-known triad is here alluded to (Schott).