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Bible Dictionaries
Brotherly Love
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or BROTHERLY LOVE . Philadelphia is not’ brother- like love,’ but ‘brother-love,’ the love one has for brothers or sisters, scil , ‘love of the brethren,’ so AV [Note: Authorized Version.] in 1 Peter 1:22 and RV [Note: Revised Version.] uniformly (add Romans 12:10 , 1 Thessalonians 4:9 , Hebrews 13:1 , 2 Peter 1:7 ). The adjective in 1 Peter 3:8 should be rendered ‘loving your brethren,’ not ‘loving as brethren’ (AV [Note: Authorized Version.] , RV [Note: Revised Version.] ). This adj. appears in classical Gr. in its primary (family) sense, as the epithet, e.g. , of the Græco-Egyptian king Ptolemy Philadelphus , and of Attains II. of Pergamus, founder of Philadelphia ( Revelation 1:11 etc.), named after this king. The term received no wider application in either Greek or Jewish (OT) ethics; Jews called each other ‘brethren’ as being ‘children of the stock of Abraham’ ( Acts 13:26 ). First occurring in its religious use in 1 Thess., Philadelphia looks like a coinage of St. Paul’s; but its elements lie in the teaching of Jesus. ‘Calling no one on earth father’ because they ‘have one Father, the heavenly Father,’ His disciples are ‘all brothers’ ( Matthew 23:8-9; cf. Matthew 6:9 ): the love of the natural household is transferred, with a deepened sense, to ‘the household of faith’ (see Galatians 6:10 , Ephesians 2:19 ). This sentiment is formed in the community gathered around Christ its ‘first-born,’ the family of the ‘sons’ and ‘heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ’ ( Romans 8:14-17; Romans 8:29 ). ‘Go to my brethren,’ the Risen Lord had said, ‘and tell them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father’ ( John 20:17; cf. Matthew 12:49-50; Matthew 28:10 ); He required them to cherish toward each other the love He showed toward them, making this the mark of discipleship ( John 13:34-35; John 15:12-13 , 1 John 2:7-8; 1Jn 3:11; 1 John 4:20-21 , 2 John 1:5 , 1 Corinthians 8:11 etc.). The body to which this love belongs is called ‘the brotherhood’ in 1 Peter 2:17 (also 1 Peter 5:9 ), where ‘love to the brotherhood’ is associated with respect for humanity and fear of God as a fundamental Christian instinct (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:9 , Colossians 3:14 , 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 , etc.). St. Paul describes this affection as the mutual ‘care’ of ‘members’ of ‘one body’ ( 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 ): it forbids envy, unkindness, schism; it animates, and virtually includes, all services and duties of Christians towards each other ( 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 , Galatians 5:13-15 ); it is the first ‘fruit of the Spirit’ ( Galatians 5:22 , cf. Galatians 4:6-7; Galatians 5:6 ), the fruit of God’s love to us and the test of our love to God ( 1 John 4:11-21 ), ‘the fulfilment of the law’ ( Romans 13:8-10 ), and the crown of Christian purity ( 1 Peter 1:22 ); the Cross supplies its model and its inspiration ( Ephesians 4:31 to Ephesians 5:2 , 1 John 3:16 ). When St. Paul speaks of ‘love,’ he means ‘brother-love’ in the first place, but not exclusively ( Galatians 6:10 , 1 Thessalonians 5:15 , Romans 12:18-21; cf. Matthew 5:43-48 etc.). Amongst the manifestations of Philadelphia , hospitality ( philoxenia ) is conspicuous ( Hebrews 13:1-2 , 1 Peter 4:8-10 , 3 John 1:5-8 ); also ‘communication’ or ‘ministering to the necessities of the saints’ ( Romans 12:12-13; Romans 15:25 , Hebrews 6:10; Hebrews 13:16 , 1 John 3:17-18 ). The prominence, and strangeness to the world, of this feature of primitive Christianity are strikingly attested by the Epistle to Diognetus , § 1, Tertullian’s Apol . § 39, and (from outside) Lucian’s de Morte Peregrini , xii. 16, and Julian’s Epist . 49.
G. G. Findlay.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Brotherly Love'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/b/brotherly-love.html. 1909.
