Brotherhood

Brotherhood

Brotherhood. —The word (ἀδελφότης) does not occur at all in the Gospels, and is found only twice in the Nt ( 1 Peter 2:17;  1 Peter 5:9). The idea, however, is common and of very great importance.

1. The natural brotherhood of man is assumed rather than asserted. It probably underlies Christ’s argument about the Sabbath ( Mark 2:27 and parallels), and also such language as is found in  Luke 15:11-32;  Luke 16:25. This is the more likely in view of such Ot passages as  Genesis 1:26-28;  Genesis 9:5-7,  Job 31:13-15, and  Malachi 2:10 (which regard it as a corollary of our creation by the one God and Father), and  Leviticus 19:18;  Leviticus 19:34 (which not only commands love of neighbour, but also explicitly enjoins like love for the stranger). Hillel and other Rabbis gave this law the broadest interpretation, and Philo declares that man must love the whole world as well as God (see Kohler, Jewish Encyc . art. ‘Brotherly Love,’ and Montefiore in the Jq R [Note: Qr Jewish Quarterly Review.] , April 1895). This, however, does not represent the dominant feeling among the Jews in our Lord’s time. They narrowed the term ‘neighbour,’ as His language in  Matthew 5:44 plainly implies. It was the scribe’s suggestion of this narrow view that drew from Jesus the parable of the Good Samaritan, in which the term ‘neighbour’ is made the equivalent of brother-man ( Luke 10:22 ff.).

Into this brotherhood Christ entered when He ‘became flesh.’ That at least is implied in the title ‘Son of Man’ which He so frequently applies to Himself. He was ‘the seed of the woman.’ The Son of Mary, of David, of Abraham, was also Son of Adam ( Luke 3:38) and one of the race.

Yet of natural brotherhood the Nt has surprisingly little to say. Very little importance is attached to it. No hopes are built on it. The reason, doubtless, is that it had been destroyed by sin—a melancholy fact visible in the threshold tragedy of Cain and Abel. Such is St. Paul’s summary of Ot teaching ( Romans 3:9-18). So Jesus found it when He was in the world. Men were dead to brotherhood as to all else that was wholly good ( John 6:53, cf.  Ephesians 2:1). For thirty years He moved among men with a true Brother’s heart, but met no equal response, even among those peculiarly His own ( John 1:10-11). ‘Of the peoples there was no man with him’ ( Isaiah 63:3). He was sorrowfully alone ( Isaiah 53:3), standing among sinful men like one unharmed temple amid a city’s ruins.

2. The new brotherhood. —Under these circumstances nothing short of a new beginning would serve. Anything less radical must fail. A new creation is necessary ( Galatians 6:15). This Jesus states explicitly. Men must be born again ( John 3:5; cf.  Ephesians 2:5). They must be redeemed from sin and given a new life. This was His appointed mission ( Matthew 1:22,  John 10:10). To that work He formally dedicated Himself in His baptism, which also symbolized the means by which the redemption should be effected, namely, His own death (with  Matthew 3:15, cf.  Matthew 20:28;  Matthew 26:28 and  Romans 3:24-26,  1 Corinthians 15:3,  Ephesians 1:7;  1 Peter 1:18-19,  Revelation 1:5). Tempted to swerve from it, He held to that stern, slow path. Meantime He begins to gather about Him a band of brothers on the new basis. They are such as believe or receive Him. In faith they follow Him and forsake all else ( Mark 1:18;  Mark 1:20;  Mark 10:28,  Luke 14:33). That it is no mere external following is manifest. A vital union is established between them and Him, the significance of which is indicated by the figure of the vine and the branches ( John 15:1-8). The new birth is effected ( John 1:12;  John 1:15), the new life received ( John 6:57;  John 10:27-28), and their sins graciously forgiven ( Mark 2:5-11,  Luke 7:47-48; cf.  Colossians 1:14). Thus they become partakers of the Divine nature ( 2 Peter 1:4), children or sons of God τέκνα, υἱοί,  1 John 3:16,  Romans 8:14;  Romans 8:16;  Romans 8:21,  Galatians 3:26;  Galatians 4:7), endowed with a deathless life ( Galatians 3:26,  John 10:28), and Christ becomes the firstborn among many brethren ( Romans 8:29). Elsewhere the change is called a new creation ( 2 Corinthians 5:17,  Galatians 6:15,  Ephesians 2:10), of which Christ is the beginning ( Revelation 3:14,  Colossians 1:18).

It is this profound experience which underlies and accounts for the remarkable statements of  John 1:35-51. St. Peter’s new name is a sign of it ( John 1:42); the ‘Israelite indeed in whom is no guile’ is a condensed description of the new man ( John 1:47; cf.  Psalms 32:2, the first half of which is the germ of  Romans 3:21 to  Romans 5:21, and the second of  Romans 6:1 to  Romans 8:39). These men are nearer to Jesus now than any other persons. Hence the appropriateness of the strong language of this early record in the most spiritual of the four Gospels. St. John had learned meantime the potency of the faith that began so simply, and in the light of that recalls those wonderful early utterances and the steady progress of their faith from strength to strength.

Equally appropriate is the Cana incident which immediately follows ( John 2:1-11). There Jesus breaks with the old order in the words, ‘Woman, what have I to do with thee?’ Addressed as they were to her who represented it in its fondest tie, they show the break to be of the most absolute sort. That is the negative side, the turning from the old; the positive, the turning to the new, is indicated by the place assigned to the disciples in the record. They are identified with Him as others are not, and especially in a growing faith, to which others—even His mother and His brethren—are as yet strangers. What was there taught in the veiled language of sign is taught plainly and explicitly in  Matthew 12:46-50 and  Mark 3:31-35. How far Mary and His brothers were from understanding Him, how wide the gulf was that separated Him from them, is shown by the fact recorded in  Mark 3:21 that they regarded Him as out of His mind. The disciples, on the other hand, are seated about Him drinking in His sayings. Them He declares to be His mother and His brethren ( Matthew 12:49). And looking upon the multitude also sitting around and listening to His words, He generalizes the teaching and declares that ‘Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother’ ( Mark 3:32;  Mark 3:35). Such constitute the new brotherhood.

(1) So the first characteristic of the new brethren is that they do the will of God. They are in right relation to Him. When men are not so, they cannot be rightly related to one another. To be bound together by the tie of brotherhood, they must first be bound by the filial tie to God, their Heavenly Father. Loving obedience is the test and evidence of that ( 1 John 5:3,  John 14:15-21).

It is worth noting that this is the first great law of the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 6, and summarized in  Matthew 6:33). Really the brotherhood and the Kingdom (in one sense of the term) are different aspects of the same thing. As to membership the two are coextensive. God is at once Father and King; the brethren are both subjects and children, ‘fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God’ ( Ephesians 2:19). Both ideas run through the Sermon on the Mount, which is Christ’s proclamation of the nature and principles of the Kingdom.

Doubtless the new brotherhood and the Church may be similarly equated. Their membership too should coincide. This is indicated not only by Christ’s solemn recall of Peter’s new name, and His assertion that His church should be built of such confessors as he ( Matthew 16:18), but also by the uniform practice in the Acts and Epistles of referring to the members of the churches as ‘brethren.’

(2) The second characteristic is that they love one another. Loving God as their Father they instinctively love also His other children, their brothers ( 1 Thessalonians 4:9,  1 John 4:20;  1 John 5:1). This is Christ’s new commandment and the badge of discipleship ( John 13:34 f.). Though an old command, it has been made new in experience by Christ’s death for them. And they in turn make it new afresh when they lay down their life for one another ( 1 John 3:16;  1 John 2:7-11). The love that makes the greatest sacrifice will make the lesser. In the Ot the law of Israel’s brotherhood enjoined kindness, and definitely forbade such sins as contempt, extortion, oppression, etc. ( Deuteronomy 22:1-4;  Deuteronomy 23:7;  Deuteronomy 23:19 f.,  Deuteronomy 24:7;  Deuteronomy 24:14;  Deuteronomy 25:3, and elsewhere). So in the Nt special mention is made of charity ( 1 John 3:17,  James 2:15-16); hospitality ( Hebrews 13:1,  Romans 12:13); forgiveness ( Colossians 3:13); truthfulness ( Ephesians 4:25); mutual admonition ( 2 Thessalonians 3:15); a humility that prefers others and renders even lowly service ( Matthew 18:1-18,  John 13:12-17,  Romans 12:10,  Philippians 2:1-11,  1 Peter 5:5 f.); practical sympathy with the persecuted ( Hebrews 12:3), etc. Brotherly love insists on the essential equality of those who are of the same family. Natural affection exists among them ( Romans 12:10 φιλόστοργοι). There can be no caste among them ( Colossians 3:11); all selfish ambition and striving after pre-eminence must be eschewed, and the way of service chosen ( Matthew 20:20-28). Differences of gifts are recognized. But those who are one in Christ must regard them not as signs of inferiority and superiority, or grounds of pride and servility, but as means of mutual helpfulness, and as all necessary to the general well-being. Different gifts are different functions for the common good. For Christ and His brethren form a body, and each member is necessary to the perfect well-being of the rest. This is developed in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4.

The love the brethren bear each other is special. It is distinguished from that they feel toward those that are without ( 1 Peter 2:17 and  2 Peter 1:7). It is closer, more affectionate, complacent, satisfying. But they must love others—even their bitterest enemies. So do they become like their Father in heaven ( Matthew 5:43-48; cf. St. Paul in  Romans 9:1-5).

Christ calls them His brethren, and is not ashamed to do so ( Hebrews 2:11). Still His position in the brotherhood is unique. He is one of them, yet He transcends them. He is Master and Lord ( John 13:13 f.) as they are not nor should seek to be ( Matthew 23:8-10). For He is Son of God in a unique sense (μονογενής,  John 3:16;  John 1:18, in which the reading θεός is probably correct and explains the uniqueness). That truth He ever guards in the expressions He employs. Examples are seen in  Matthew 11:27 and frequently in the Fourth Gospel; in  Matthew 6:9, where the emphatic ‘ye’ and the character of the prayer exclude Him from the ‘our,’ and in  John 20:17, where distinction, not identity, of relation is intended.

When the law of brotherhood is lived out in sincerity and truth, in justice and righteousness, in courage and faith, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, the solution of social problems will be hastened. These problems are not new. But they are seen to-day as never before. Conditions that once were accepted are accepted no longer as just or right or tolerable. And it is precisely because Christ’s ideas of brotherhood have grown clearer to men’s minds that they feel the inequalities and injustices of the present order. That is the cause of the present discontent. Christ foresaw that such conflicts would be occasioned by His gospel ( Matthew 10:34-39). And nothing but the gospel that has caused the conflict can bring the proper issue. The cause must be the cure. Loyalty to the way of the Cross is the way of salvation. The age waits for Christians to embark in the honest, whole-hearted application of the great principle of brotherly love. It will not do to say with Wernle that Christ’s demands are impractical for any society. They are impractical for any society that lacks the martyr spirit. They are not impractical for the society that is charged with it. Christ’s way was the way of the Cross. That is the only way that leads to victory. Only in the spirit of Jesus can the world’s need be met, and its problems finally solved. For that the new brotherhood has been created. Only the fresh vision of the Father’s love, the surrender to the Saviour’s Cross, and the appropriation of the Spirit’s power will inspire, fit, and equip it for the holy task to which God summons.

Literature.—Material will be found in most Commentaries, Lives of Christ, and books on Biblical Theology and the Teaching of Jesus. But in addition to the references already made, special attention may be called to Seeley’s Ecce Homo  ; Renan’s Life of Jesus  ; Denney’s art. ‘Brotherly Love’ in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible; Westcott’s Social Aspects of Christianity  ; and especially Peabody’s Jesus Christ and the Social Question  ; Mathews’ The Social Teaching of Jesus  ; and Tolstoi, passim .

J. H. Farmer.