Craig T. Owens

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The words we use are important and can be quite revealing of what’s going on in our heart and mind. I often find it quite funny listening to some of our students and their choice of words. For instance, I heard this exchange the other day between some guys: 

“Do you like her?” 

“Yeah, I like her.” 

“But do you like her like her?” 

“No way! I like her as a friend. I don’t like her that way!” 

This may be both cute and confusing for adults relating to young men and women. But I have learned that these young people are setting some clear boundaries about what their relationship with that other person entails. They’re really saying, “I don’t dislike her, but I’m not ready to say that I love her yet either.” 

However, this kind of language and this kind of mindset should never be said about Christians! We are coming to the pinnacle of this progression of virtues that Peter is listing for saints, so let me remind you of what built up to this point (see 2 Peter 1:1-7).

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.) 

I read the words brotherly kindness in v. 7 because nearly every English translation has it rendered that way, and it’s probably the closest to the Greek word philadelphia. 

• The root word (adelphos) is used over 300 times in the New Testament. 
• Adelphos can be literally translated as a biological sibling (Matthew 1:2), but it is most often used in the NT as a spiritual brother or sister (2 Peter 3:15, 1:10). The first Christians recognized that their faith in Jesus—a faith as precious as ours—adopted us all into the same family of God. 
• The prefix philos means the most straightforward, uncomplicated definition of “friend” that come readily to your mind. 

So when we are talking about the precious faith of precious friends, we are talking about something distinctively Christian. 

Last week we saw how Jesus taught us the importance of abiding in Him (see John 15:4-11). Our abiding produces a fruitful harvest. In the next verses, Jesus goes on tell us what this harvest looks like (John 15:12-17).

Notice the word command (v. 12, 17) is singular. Jesus said the same thing in John 13:34-35, and John again highlights this in 1 John 3:23. 

The word for love is agape, which Peter uses in 2 Peter 1:7. He says philos grows into agape. But now Jesus says, when we are abiding in His agape, something amazing happens: We are called friends (philos) of Jesus (John 15:13-15). Unlike my young friends, it appears that Jesus sees no difference between liking (philos) and loving (agape) for those who are called His saints. Lovers of Jesus will love their friends so much that they will like their friends too! 

Solomon describes friendship like this:

• Always loving—Proverbs 17:17, 18:24 
• Speaking truthful, loving words—Proverbs 27:6 
• Giving helpful counsel—Proverbs 27:9 

This growth of philadelphia to agape, which then demonstrates itself by looking like philadephia has some powerful benefits. 

1. It sharpens all of us (Proverbs 27:17). 
2. It adds power to our prayers, which also benefits everyone (John 15:7, 16; James 5:16). D.L. Moody expressed it the opposite way: “If we do not love one another, we certainly shall not have much power with God in prayer.” 
3. It enhances our witness (John 13:35, 17:21). 

My friend T.M. Moore wrote this about a healthy, growing family of saints—

“Oh look: ‘the Lord added to the church daily…’ [Acts 2:42-47]. Now we’re talking. Let’s get those numbers up, shall we? Let’s do, but let’s remember that adding people to our church is the Lord’s work, and He does it His way. And His way is to cause people to respond to the lived and spoken witness of a body of believers who love one another, encourage one another, build one another up, share with one another, and present a united voice, speaking truth in love to their community. When they see our oneness, Jesus insisted, they will believe the Father has sent Him.” 

This whole progression we have seen in 2 Peter becomes a continually growing, continually God-glorifying, Christ-revealing, Spirit-led testimony! Your part in this is invaluable and indispensable! 

So we must ask ourselves: How would Jesus be a friend? Am I friending like Jesus? 

If you have missed any of the previous messages in this series, you can find them all by clicking here. 

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