Brotherly affection is used many times in the New Testament. In secular usage this word was used to describe affection between brothers and sisters and other family members. Later on it was used to describe a person’s concern for his or her own nation (for example, Jeremiah in relation to the Israelites, 2 Maccabees 15.14). In the New Testament, and among Christians, the word came to mean affection between fellow believers, including sympathetic concern for others and the care of those in need. Other ways to translate this term are “love and affection for your fellow Christians” or “concern for one another as brothers and sisters ought to have for each other.” Some languages will have a special word for love and affection of brothers and sisters for each other. That is the term to use here.

The last thing on the list is love, which appears also in other New Testament lists (2 Cor 6.6; Gal 5.22; Eph 4.2; 1 Tim 4.12; 6.11; 2 Tim 2.22; 3.10; Titus 2.2; Rev 2.19; and so on). As contrasted with brotherly affection, love is first of all not limited to family members or to fellow believers but is universal in scope and has as its object all people. Secondly, love is unmotivated, that is, it doesn’t expect anything in return, whereas brotherly affection has the element of a mutual love, which will be returned by the other person. Love in this context, then, is not referring to “love for God” but “love for others” and should be translated in this way. In certain languages love will be expressed using bodily parts such as the heart or liver; for example, “heart is warm towards,” “hold other people in one’s heart,” or “stomach moves for others.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on The Second Letter from Peter. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1980. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .