In two articles this month, reference is made to the origin of “Christadelphians” as our community name. Bro. Peter Hemingray (“Scenes from the Truth in America” # 24) documents the historical setting in which the name was adopted and Bro. Jack Robinson (“Notes on the Daily Readings’) draws attention to the only place “adelphos en Christos” occurs in scripture (Col. 1:2).
Bro. Peter notes Bro. John Thomas first interpreted the phrase to mean “Brethren in Christ” but later took it as “Brethren &Christ.” Both “of’ and “in” are appropriate: “brethren of Christ” speaks of the grace in which we rejoice; “brethren in Christ” provides challenging exhortation.
Brethren of Christ
Consider Romans 8:29: The Father loves His Son and has exalted him to be His firstborn of all creation, but He wants him to be “the firstborn among many brethren.” Others, then, will be brethren of Christ.
By necessity they are adopted children. Yet by God’s grace, “if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17, 18).
Is this reasonable, that the adopted children should be joint-heirs with the exalted firstborn? No! it is not reasonable, it is grace –the gracious doing of the firstborn. The firstborn was given by the Father “the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession” (Psa. 2:8). Yet the firstborn has not chosen to keep this inheritance for himself; he has chosen to share it with his adoptive brethren. “He that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations… even as I received of my Father” (Rev. 2:26-27). As he says in another place, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Rev. 3:21). The Father had been generous with the firstborn, and the firstborn will be generous with all his adoptive brethren.
This is grace, by the Father in the first instance and by the Son in the second, all to the benefit of the “brethren of Christ.”
Brethren, not brothers and sisters
Some time ago, a reader pointed out it is not appropriate to speak of “brethren” and sisters. Whenever used in a spiritual sense in the New Testament, “brethren” always means both brothers and sisters. In fact “sister” only occurs seven times in reference to spiritual sisters.
As an editor, we noted the point and ever since consistently used “brethren” when all are included and “brothers” or “sisters” when a distinction is desired. As a child, husband and parent, however, we noted the more significant aspect of the matter. We are “heirs together of the grace of life” with our parents, partners and children if they, being led by the word of God, belong to the family of God. The situation can produce a wonderful closeness in this life and should produce mutual respect as all stand equally related to a wonderfully gracious inheritance.
The natural relationships, however, can result in a familiarity that produces unfortunate misbehavior toward “brethren of Christ.” If our partner, parent, or child is one of the brethren of Christ, we need to treat each as such, for whoever loves one of Christ’s brethren, loves him, and Him who sent His son.
Brethren in Christ
Consider I Peter 1:22: “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love (phileos) of the brethren, see that ye love (agape) one another with a pure heart fervently.” We may not be related to one another in a natural sense, but all those who are adopted by God are one family in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are “Brethren in Christ.” As such, we are fervently to practice love (agape) toward each other. “Fervently,” which is an accurate translation of a word meaning “earnestly, zealously, assiduously” (Liddell-Scott Lexicon), contrasts to the more difficult task of showing agape to our enemies (Matt. 5:44). Loving our enemies may not be done with fervor, but among the brethren in Christ, there is to be an ardent dedication to one another and zealous willingness to sacrifice for one another.
And there is to be phileo between the brethren. Phileo describes the love friends have for each other. This is clearly a significant challenge. It is one thing to treat one another with a sacrificial attitude, expressed in agape, it is quite another to be “friendly” to our brethren in Christ.
Coming from different backgrounds and walks of life, having widely differing personalities and varying interests outside of a mutual commitment to Christ, we can sometimes have real difficulty “liking” some of our brethren in Christ. “I love him, but I don’t like him” can be our attitude. Yet the objective is to have “unfeigned” or “undisguised” (L-S Lexicon) friendly love among the brethren. Surely we need the Lord’s help in developing such an attitude Further, recognizing others are under the same obligation to like us, we should make ourselves as “likeable” as possible How do we do that? We all know people who are easy to like they are friendly, hospitable, generous, caring, considerate, courteous and give us the feeling we are more important than they are.
Humility is surely a key to such behavior, and this particular attribute has not been easy for brethren in Christ to develop.
He’s better than I
The first “brethren in Christ” were Jesus’ disciples of whom the most prominent were the 12 Humility toward others proved difficult for them, as more than once “they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest” (Mk 9 34) We can sympathize with their attitude, however, as we seem to have built into us an exaggerated sense of our own importance which can, unfortunately, be reinforced by our exalted standing as brethren of Christ.
This tendency led the 12 to rebuke one who performed a miracle in the name of Christ As we might anticipate, the Master was less exclusive than they “Forbid him not for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me For he that is not against us is on our part” (Mk 9 38-39).
Jesus’ follow-up comment gives us pause “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe m me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea”(v 42 NRSV) The apostles needed to be far more careful whom they censured lest they thwart the development of a fellow member of the family of God.
They had been greatly blessed to be termed “my brethren” — a brother of Christ The gracious action of the Lord which so benefited them must now be reflected ma humble spirit of sincere love to all the brethren in Christ.
Thus while the word “Christadelphian” is an unusual one, there is in its meaning much to encourage our hearts m the grace of the Father and the Son, and there is much to admonish our spirits to a loving, friendly and humble attitude to all brethren in Christ.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One