For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue,5 and virtue with knowledge, 6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, 7 and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.
2 Peter 1:5-7
Peter is admirable in his view of things. Every time I read something the apostle has written, I wonder how he can be so simple, yet so wise and accurate in its pondering. Everything we have come up to here seems to be somewhat easy to assimilate since they all seem to be individual aspects of the Christian life.
Our Western culture, directly influenced by humanism and with high doses of individuality, does not naturally accept these exhortations. However, this was not Peter's view, as it is not yet for much of the Eastern world. Understanding life sharing in its entirety is completely natural.
That is why Peter makes the point here: add brotherly affection to your faith. This term may be a lost one in the vocabulary of many people today, but its meaning, not so much. The word used by him, philadelphia, literally means affection to siblings. The focus is on love among the brothers, on family devotion that should characterize the Christian community.
True and lasting friendships take great effort.
The great truth is that any friendship requires a great deal of effort, even when all is well. As I often say, this is probably one of the most costly things in life. It costs money, patience, and among other things, time. And how valuable the latter is! The feeling of lost time is certainly bad when a friendship, for some reason, ceases to exist. I'm sure everyone thinks about time wasted more than anything else.
Friendships arise when there is something in common and there is no friendship that can escape this rule.
It only arises when two people bow to a common affective bond (paraphrasing C.S. Lewis). To us, this link is the Living Christ Himself. Community life, in fellowship, is not only optional but must be added to our faith with effort! Have you ever seen your relationships that way?
For the fisherman, a disciple of Jesus, this is something proper to the Christian faith and a clear exhortation to all of us when we are inclined to live it alone. It is in the walk of faith that we are built on each other and for each other. It's simple: our faith is continually communal, not isolated, and never dormant.
It reminds me of one of the most interesting friendships I've ever seen in the movies. I leave here the words of a rare type of friend. I come to think that the lesson that the Lord of the Rings leaves us, especially in the friendship between these two characters, is an inspiration to us. Not for us to be Frodo for Sam, but Sam for Frodo.
