O BROTHER, WHO ART THOU?
By Richard Burkard
"Love the brotherhood," Peter wrote in I Peter 2:17. "Let brotherly love continue," encourages Hebrews 13:1. "Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss," Paul directed in I Thessalonians 5:26.
Fine instructions, those - but they raise an interesting question. Just as a lawyer once asked Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?" (Lk. 10:29) have you ever bothered to ask who is your brother? I admit I never did, until the question caused a recent spat in a United Church of God congregation.
The Church of God-watching web site Missing Dimension explained the situation this way on April 4, 2002:
UCG minister Frank McCrady surprised some people when he called members of the Church of God Big Sandy "brethren." Although it seems to be stating the obvious, it even made the front page of the February Journal.
"You can call them Havirites or Church of God Big Sandy -ites, but you'd better call them brethren," Mr. McCrady had said Feb. 16 while reading announcements. "Jesus Christ ... died for them just as much as He did for us."
However reasonable these remarks were, they apparently ruffled feathers among the control freaks in the sect's hierarchy, and McCrady backtracked in a written statement that was read out by none other than president-elect Roy Holladay:
"Dear brethren: After considering some of the things that I said during announcements on the Sabbath last week, and hearing Mr. Dean's sermon, I feel that I have said some things that I should not have said and have unnecessarily offended some in the congregation, for which I humbly apologize and ask your forgiveness. Your friend, Frank McCrady."
We admit we have not heard the sermon mentioned in the statement. And we don't know if the congregation or ministers consulted their Bibles in making this adjustment. If they had, it's very possible no apology would have been necessary. This article will explain why, based on an examination of "brethren" and related words in the New Testament.
As we begin, we offer a word of caution: the Greek New Testament uses the same word for practically every definition of "brother" or "brethren." Whether you're talking about your twin in the upper bunk or the man sitting next to you at a church service, the same Greek word is used. So it's vital to consider the context of a comment, to see if it refers to spiritual matters.
Our Elder Brother
Jesus appears to offer a direct answer to our question in Matthew 12. Someone told the Lord his physical mother and brothers were waiting to speak to Him. "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Jesus says in response - then turns a small comment into a big spiritual point. "Pointing to his disciples, he said, 'Here are my mothers and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." (12:48-50; see also Mk. 3:33-35)
Luke's gospel goes farther in clarifying what Jesus meant: "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice." (Lk. 8:21)
Many would consider this plain and straightforward enough. People who practice the Bible's instructions do God's will, and thus are Jesus's brothers -- and only those in "The True Church" (implying the one you attend) do that. But don't close the Bible on this topic quite yet. Jesus didn't stop there.
"....You have only one Master and you are all brothers," the Lord says in Matthew 23:8. Was Jesus only talking to the disciples here? NO! "Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples...." (v. 1) It seems safe to assume these crowds were unconverted, following Christ for who knows how many reasons - yet not only was Jesus their Master, everyone with them (even the disciples in the group) were their brothers! Jesus widens the "family circle" considerably here. So did His apostles, in the years to come.
Acts and Beyond
When Peter and John were used by Jesus Christ to heal a disabled beggar outside the temple, the beggar's celebrating attracted a crowd. Peter uses that miraculous moment to give a seemingly impromptu sermon. "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you?" he says to "all the people" there. (Acts 3:12, 11) Then addressing the death and resurrection of Jesus, he preaches, "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance...." (3:17)
So can any stranger in this world be considered a "brother" to a Christian - no matter what they believe? The book of Hebrews seems to separate people into two groups, with these words: "Keep on loving each other as brothers. Do not forget to entertain strangers...." (Heb. 13:1-2)
Yet consider those instructions in light of what Jesus said at the Mount of Olives, concerning the time of judgment: "....I was a stranger and you took me in.... whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.... whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me." (Matt. 25:35, 40, 45)
Several thoughts come to mind from this: You may encounter a "Church brother" while traveling and never even know it, so he'd be a stranger to you. (Especially if that brother doesn't bring up the gospel until he's asked, as many Church of God spinoff groups teach.) Jesus even drops the "brother" reference at the end of the chapter, implying not showing assistance to ANYONE is taken as not showing it to Christ. "Christ's brethren.... seems to mean all men rather than just Christians...." (New Bible Commentary: Revised, 1970 ed., pg. 846)(1)
Note a couple of other examples from the life of Paul: "Brothers, I did not realize that he was the high priest...." (Acts 23:5) The brothers here seem to refer to the Sanhedrin - and he's on trial before that group! Further, Paul writes later: "I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel." (Rom. 9:3-4) The term "brothers" here seems to be taken in an ethnic community or tribal way.
True or False?
Now that we've seen the Biblical definition of a "brother" can extend outside the Church rolls, we must in fairness examine the opposite side. The Bible also reveals not everyone inside your congregation truly may be a "brother in Christ." Paul offers several identifying signs of this:
"But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat." (I Cor. 5:11) Such a person calls himself a brother, Paul writes - but the implication is that he really isn't. Paul later reveals he faced "danger from false brothers" in his work of the ministry. (II Cor 11:26)(2)
Of all times, this point suddenly hit home to me December 17, 1994 - in the moments after Joseph Tkach, Senior's bombshell "Sabbath is voluntary" sermon in metro Atlanta. It suddenly occurred to me that if God can have Christians in other churches, then the opposite is true: not everyone in a Church of God may be Christian. (The fact that a man came up to me in those moments asking yet another time for a loan reinforced the point.)
I spent years under a false assumption in the Church of God - that the ministry screened everyone coming to services, to make sure they met God's standard of a "brother." After all, I felt I faced that sort of stringent screening before I was baptized. Didn't everybody face that? Truth be told, it varied from minister to minister. In some cases, swindlers were allowed to enter congregations. Whether with malice or from their personal weakness, they wound up running debts to Church members in the hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars -- then went away, debts unpaid. (They even ran up debts to WCG itself, in the form of church assistance loans.)
So how do you respond to someone in a church congregation whose actions are on the wrong list? As difficult as it can be humanly, the Bible instructs us not to seek vengeance against that person.
"Brothers, do not slander one another," James warns. "Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it." (Jms. 4:11) Paul offers a more upright, holy course to take toward the end of II Thessalonians. We might sum it up this way:
> 1. Steer the brother toward right conduct. "....Do not regard him as an enemy, but warn him as a brother." (II Thes. 3:15; see also Gal. 6:1)
> 2. Steer yourself away from that brother, should the problem persist. "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us.... Do not associate with him, in order that he may feel ashamed." (II Thes. 3:6, 14)
We can add a third point from Paul's other Thessalonian letter, especially when it comes to sexual matters: ".... no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins...." (I Thes. 4:6)
Summary
For many years choirs in the Church of God have sung the secularly-based song, "No Man is an Island." The main verse includes these words: "We need one another, so I will defend /Each man as my brother, each man as my friend."
We've hopefully shown from God's word that the "each man as my brother" concept can expand outside the congregation, to the community at large. While several New Testament verses describe being brethren in a spiritual sense, with Jesus Christ as elder brother, others really do not. In fact, Christians need to pray for spiritual discernment to see who's a real brother and who isn't.
Whomever you determine to be your brother, may the relationship be guided by the words of the apostle John: "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers.... Whoever loves God must also love his brother." (I Jhn. 3:14, 4:21)
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© 2002 Richard Burkard/www.LaughLine.com, All Rights Reserved.
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1. The KJV writing in verse 40 raises another possibility: "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Could it be that a comma belongs after these? "My brethren" thus becomes a statement of address, and the parallelism with verse 45 is more precise.
2. Even scarier to consider: Jesus told of a time of persecution when "brother will betray brother to death...." (Mt. 10:21) The context is clearly one of rivalries within physical families. But are we so naive to think this could not happen in a spiritual organization such as a church as well?