In 1 Thessalonians 4:9–10 Paul encourages the church at Thessalonica to pursue “brotherly love.” What is brotherly love? The noun used here (φιλαδελφία) was only used for literal family relationships before the Christian community began to use it as a metaphor for members of their community (EDNT, 4:434). The only exception appears to be 2 Macc 15:14, the word appears to refer to a fraternal relationship of all Israel. In 4 Maccabees 13:23, 26, 14:1 the word refers to the mutual love between seven brothers who all suffer instead of reject their Jewish traditions.
The Greeks considered the relationship between brothers to be of primary importance, Plutarch used the term “brotherly love” to describe the proper relationship between brothers.
Plutarch, De fraterno amore 2 …where there is an unanimous accordance amongst brothers, the family thrives and flourishes, and friends and acquaintance, like a well furnished choir, in all their actions, words, and thoughts maintain a delightful harmony. “But jarring feuds advance the worst of men.”
Plutarch, De fraterno amore 15 Brothers should not be like the scales of a balance, the one rising upon the other’s sinking; but rather like numbers in arithmetic, the lesser and greater mutually helping and improving each other.
Plutarch, De fraterno amore 21 Again, it is highly commendable in him to have the highest esteem and honor for his brother’s wife, reputing and honoring her as the most sacred of all his brother’s sacred treasures, and thus to do honor to him
Based on the teaching of Jesus, the earliest believers referred to themselves as “brothers and sisters.” In Mark 3:3 Jesus indicates that his “brothers and sisters” are those who hear and obey his words. If those who followed Jesus faced rejection from their families, it is possible that Jesus intended his followers to be a new “family.” On the other hand, the family of Jesus may be an allusion to the larger theme of a New Israel among the followers of Jesus. In Acts 2:29 Peter addresses a Jewish crowd as “brothers,” meaning “fellow Jews.” So too Paul in Acts 22:1; 23:1.
Paul’s use of the term “brother” and “brotherly love” bears additional theological weight. By accepting Christ, we are adopted into the family of God, God is our father. This makes each person that has accepted Christ as their savior a brother or sister in Christ. This new family in Christ is the foundation for many of Paul’s commands (cf., Rom 12:10; other Christian ethical instruction begins the same way (Heb 13:1; 1 Pet 1:22; 2 Pet 1:7; 1 Clem 48:1). He urges his readers to please God by treating each other like brothers and sisters.
If the church lives in brotherly love, then the father is pleased and honored. For the Greek world, nothing dishonors the parent more that children who do not display proper affection for one another and feud. If Plutarch could say “jarring feuds advance the worst of men,” how might he describe the sort of angry disputes which plague most modern churches?
Reblogged this on James' Ramblings and commented:
Reblogging for future reference.
By the term brotherly love I don’t see it as something that us Christians should do only if the other person loves Jesus. It is something we should live by no matter what the other person believes or if the other person loves Jesus. As Christians we are supposed to show people the love that Christ showed us. Jesus did not die for only those who believed in Him, He died for everyone and everyone’s sins past, present, and future. Yes, loving our family and fellow Christian’s is very important and we should show them all the love we have. But showing those who do not know God is even more important. As Paul states in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (ESV) we are to strengthen and bring people into the kingdom of God. Along with loving others we need not feud with our fellow Christians as this puts stress in the kingdom of God. How would it look to those out of Christ if all of us Christains are feuding and not loving one another? As you said in the blog, “For the Greek world, nothing dishonors the parent more that children who do not display proper affection for one another and feud” (Phil Long) it would not be pleasing to then believe in God if they saw the body of Christ feuding not loving one another as it is such an apparent thing in their culture.
Erika, although I do completely agree with your statement expressing that it is important to show the love of Christ to everyone, I am not sure if it is more important to show the love of Christ to non-Christians than fellow brothers. Rather, love simply needs to be shown differently when it comes to fellow brothers and non-Christians. It seems as if we are called to live at peace with our own brothers in Christ while still creating relationships with non-Christians in hopes to someday see them in eternity. Both tasks are equally important and one without the other would not help advance the kingdom of God. It would be a shame for a church to spend all their time evangelising that they forget their very own relationships between church members–causing their brotherly love to fall to the ground. In the same way, it would be just as useless to a church where individuals are living at peace with one another, yet not going into the world to share the good news.
In response to the initial post, Plutarch would most likely be sick to his stomach after seeing the modern day churches conflict. Internal disputes cannot be forgotten because typically, wounds from within cut deeper than any external conflict. Furthermore, right then is where Satan likes to work.
When looking and deciding or thinking about what brotherly love is I would say it is the love of one another believers and nonbelievers. According to Jesus he addresses everyone as brothers and sisters and according to that then brotherly love would be the love of one another that we are called to do and that is talked about by Paul in Thessalonians and by Jesus before that. Brotherly love is showing love to others and showing love to fellow believers in the body of Christ. While it is still important to show love to nonbelievers I feel that showing brotherly love that is talked about here is very important within the body of Christ. We are meant to show love to all and this brotherly love is included in that.
If Plutarch was to be a part of the modern church he would be disappointed in the modern church and what is going on there. He would be disappointed in the lack of brotherly love within the church as the body of Christ and the sad fact that there has been in recent years more internal conflict and focus upon tearing one another down instead of showing one another the brotherly love that we are meant to and is required of us as believers. We are meant to show brotherly love and that is severely lacking in the modern church as they are caught up with things that are not as important as the mission that Jesus set out for us.
There are two main movements to 1 Thessalonians, in which Paul celebrated the Thessalonians’ faithfulness to Jesus and challenged them to continue to grow as Christians. Paul celebrated the Thessalonians’ because of their faith even through controversy and opposition (1 Timothy 1:9-10) and he told of his time in Thessalonica from Acts 17. Paul talked about how Christian leadership is about relationships and loving service. I believe this might also be a part of “brotherly love” because it relates to serving others with love. Paul told of his mission in Thessalonica and how they were “ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also of our own selves, because you had become very dear to us” (1 Thessalonians 2:8). There is common persecution amongst the different parties. Jesus was persecuted and killed by his own people, Paul was persecuted by his fellow Jews, and the Thessalonians faced hostility from their neighbors (1 Thessalonians 2:13-16). Paul wrote that the suffering is a way of participating in Jesus’ story. There is not a lack of love, but a sort of comradery explained in this that the people of Thessalonica are not alone in their suffering. Paul challenges the believers in chapter four of 1 Thessalonians to make a commitment to love and serve others. The Christians in the city of Thessalonica should be known as reliable people who work hard to provide for themselves and for others in need (1 Thessalonians 4:9-12). Paul urged the assembly to have brotherly love for both their congregation and for those who do not yet believe (TTP, 69).
In terms of brotherly love, I think it is equally important to believers and non-believers. With other Christians, we should hold a higher moral standard that hopefully includes loving them..In the modern church, a lot of the time that is not the case. We want to sit in our own comfortable seat, drink our own coffee, sing the songs we want to sing, and then leave to go back to our comfortable homes. We are in community, but most Christians aren’t active in it. Most Christians are afraid to step out of their comfort zones and to talk to people because there is this sense that all Christians are perfect. I mean, it’s like the end of the world if we don’t answer with “I’m doing well” during the mingle time. But not all churches are that way. There are lots of “community centered” or mission minded churches” who take the time to be intentional with the people in the church. Showing brotherly love to unbelievers is just as important because if we’re spending time in the word, in prayer, and in community..then love should flow out of us naturally because of who God is and what he’s done for us. If not, then one should take a step back and ask themselves what is keeping them from showing love to the people around them who are broken and hurting?
It is no question that modern churches would disgust Plutarch. Unfortunately, even in my home church I have seen countless feuds, sometimes in which families would leave the church for unimportant reasons such as who got the solo in the Christmas choir concert. I believe he would describe the disputes the same way and even add that they advance the destruction of men as well as brining out the worst in them. In 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10, Paul urges the congregation to continue to love even more than they have before. We can certainly learn a few things from this statement. It shows that even though the Thessalonians thought they were doing a pretty good job, there is always room for improvement, especially when it comes to how we treat one another and some times we forget this.
Longennecker says, “ Life in Christ commences in faith, continues in love, and culminates in hope” (65). Faith, hope, and love are the three main pillars of Paul’s writings and as we know, love is the greatest of all (1 Corinthians 13:13), thus if we are not always trying to love even more than before, then we are really missing the point of the gospel. Unresolved and petty feuds bring about the opposite of love, and though we are a broken people and will therefore always struggle with this, we must do our best to follow Paul’s instructions on continually working out love or else we will certainly destroy ourselves and those around us.
Rachel Smith
“If Plutarch could say “jarring feuds advance the worst of men,” how might he describe the sort of angry disputes which plague most modern churches?” (P. Long, blog-What is Brotherly Love?) Plutarch may have many things to say about the angry disputes that most modern churches deal with. In the hypothetical world that would allow Plutarch to live today and comment on the angry disputes, he may say that the children of God have dishonoured their heavenly father to such an extent that they have lost their salvation. I think that Plutarch might think that the angry disputes of the modern churches are advancing evil inside the church; based off his quote “jarring feuds advance the worst of men,” (P. Long, blog). Plutarch would be disappointed in the modern churches for their lack of brotherly love. He would not be happy with the modern churches’ seemingly inability to have ‘unanimous accordance’ with each other. Many modern churches today would not receive a similar response from Plutarch as the church in Thessalonica received from Paul. “With respect to the assembly’s commitment to and practice of philadelphia (lit., “brotherly love”), the apostle is pleased” (TTP, 70).
Brotherly love is so important. I think it is really incredible that we get to look at the church as another family. I think that when the church has a strong form of, “brotherly love,” it reflects on and affects the community that they are in. “Life in Christ commences in faith, continues in love, and culminates in hope,” (TTP 65). When we live in Christ and have that brotherly love, we are going to have more hope. That is a wonderful feeling and that should be a motivator to go and spread the good news. “And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is indeed at work in you who believe,” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Once we accept that the Bible is true and we absorb the words that are being said, we can apply it to our everyday life. If everyone applies having brotherly love, this world would be a brighter place.
I agree with Tasha that love is different when approaching different people, Christian or non Christians. Brotherly love is important in our churches because sometimes we get caught up in the idea that we need to keep building up the church, when we need to start building into our relations with each other. We tend to get caught up in the idea of growing in numbers instead of relationships. I believe that brotherly love can be stronger because you come together with Christ to love each other. We have to use a different love to love those who are lost. That does not mean our love for anyone should be any less. According to 1 Thessalonians 4:9, “Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.”
I think Plutarch would be appalled by how some of our churches act as well. We tend to find ourselves arguing over useless matters instead of growing the brotherly love that we desperately need in our world today. I think we would be ashamed by what Plutarch would have to say.
The idea of brotherly love must come from a community of people that can identify themselves as a “family” otherwise the brotherly aspect of the love loses its meaning. As Christians we are called to love everyone regardless of their beliefs in life. We see this in Matthew 22 verses 34 – 40 where we are, “ to love our neighbor as ourselves.” However, I do think this brotherly love, when used in biblical context, is reserved for those that are already saved by Christ. The love we share to non-believers is a different type of love. The reservation of the brotherly love to those that are faithful can be explained further in Mark 3:3 – where Jesus indicates that his “brothers and sisters” are those who hear and obey his words. Those that are not saved by Christ do not fall under that criterion. A good real-life example of “brotherly or sisterly” love can be seen when dating before marriage. A man can love his girlfriend – enjoy spending time with her, getting to know her, meeting her family, etc. – but he doesn’t love her as if she was as important to his own family, at least not yet. The brotherly/sisterly love comes in when they become married. This forms the community between the two people and their families, and they become a community where they love each other as such. Similarly, when one accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, they become a part of the family and are a part of that “brother and sister” community.
When looking at what goes on in modern day churches, Plutarch would say that it is of upmost disappointment. The idea of Church as a community of brothers and sisters, as explained earlier in the blog post, has been lost over the past few years because of societies shift from the importance of community to the importance of the individual. Because of this shift, people of the church are too busy comparing themselves to others within the church, or disagreeing with others in the church, they lose the ultimate goal of the body of Christ and its end goal.
When I think of brotherly love, I also see it as the way Christians interact with other brothers and sisters in Christ. I think it is important to distinguish this from “loving thy neighbor”, because while both are important, they are not the same thing. I think it can be easy to figure that we should have the same love for all people, and treat everyone with compassion, and while that is true- there is still differences between the love between fellow family in Christ- and our “neighbors. For example, in Matthew 22:39, God commands us to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. However, Romans 12:10 says for brothers and sisters to “Honor one another above yourselves”. It appears from these two examples that the love of a brother goes even beyond that of a neighbor, and is not exactly the same, The best example of brotherly love that I can think of is how Jesus interacts with his brothers and sisters in Christ during his life time, and the type of love he has for them.
Brotherly love is what we know to be to love one another as God loves us. God does not hate and accepts people for who they are. We, as Christians, need to love like God does. Paul preaches the Thessalonians about brotherly and sisterly love. As Long states in the article: “By accepting Christ, we are adopted into the family of God, God is our father. This makes each person that has accepted Christ as their savior a brother or sister in Christ.” (Long, 2017) This is also why we call each other brothers and sisters in the church as we are all under one father which is God. I think it is just equally important to love other people who are not believers of Christ yet. God would do the same thing, so we should as well. We cannot hate but open up with love and kindness. After all, God died for all sin. Not just for the people who believed in Him. Longenecker says: “By urging the fellowship to practice philadelphia “more and more,”.” (Longenecker, 70) Philadelphia is another term for brotherly love. No matter how much we provide for other people, there is always something more that we can do. We can love more and care more. Found in John 13:34 we are given a new commandment to love one another. God would not want us to feud in or outside of the church. The church is a house of worship, not hatred. So this would not be pleasing and unappealing to the Lord. I feel like when you step inside a church and begin to worship and praise God, you can feel the type of environment you are in. You can feel if the church loves each other and see the bond. If the church does not have this feeling then how can we still worship God there? We have to show love to everyone. You never know how you may impact or how.
I think that the love Jesus shows the people he interacts with and prays over is the love we all should look for. It is also important to prepare the church for a place of love. Especially since it is a place to worship God. It is pleasing to Him that we love each other. John 13:34 is a good verse that shows the commandment to be pure with love. It is so important to love people who are not believers as well. Bringing as many people to the Lord is exceptional work. It is also good to know that there is always something more that we can be doing to please God.
When it comes to the term “brotherly love”, I don’t think that the endearment is only meant for those who are followers of Jesus. I think we are called to love everyone and show everyone “brotherly love” regardless of their walk in life. In 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10, Paul says, “Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more…”. When Paul is addressing the Thessalonians he does not say that they are to only show love to those who are walking alongside them in their faith, but “all the brothers throughout Macedonia”. As Christians this can easily be applied to the way we live our lives today. We should always strive to love those around us with no expectation of love in return, because that is what Jesus did. He loved and died to save everyone, sinners and believers alike, even when we did not deserve the sacrifice.
Mark 12:31, tells us to “Love your neighbor as yourself.” I think this correlates well with the 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 verses because it shows to me that community is important, helping each other and being there for one another is vital, and family is imperative. The church is a family and when you choose to become a believer and put your faith in God you gain another important family member along with a wide variety of siblings. Loving those around you isn’t always easy and families tend to argue and fight. But if you act out of love those around you with the same dedication, intentionality, and eagerness as God loves you, helping build the Kingdom of God is second nature. And ultimately that is what we are called to do.
1 Thessalonian 4:9- states, “Now concerning “brotherly love” you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God.” Jesus had a pure love, he showed it through many different ways. For example, sending His Son to die on the cross for our sins, being truth and caring for the helpless, (Romans 5:8, John 14:6). Christians of course cannot die and take on sin but we can care for those around us. As a Christian we are meant to follow in the foot steps of God the best we can, this starts with loving others first. I believe that in the present Christians have forgotten what love really means. As a believer in Christ, we should care for those around us but without going against the Bible. Jesus loved people by telling them the truth and He never made someone else feel comfortable in their sin. Jesus loved without conditions which is remarkable because of how much we sin against Him. Paul was saying Jesus already perfectly made the path to show us how to love others, and that he did not need to tell them again. Also, there is the possibly he was referring to the body of Christ loving each other. The church is divided, especially in the present age. There are so many different church denominations, if we are all reading the same Bible why are Christians divided among themselves? We are supposed to love the body of church and the body has many different parts so that we can all work together and follow Jesus Christ. I believe we are supposed to love the body of Christ and love the unbelievers to show them the power of God.
There is a lot that we can take out of these verses. Here Paul is speaking to the church at Thessalonica about brotherly love. What is Paul saying when he says “brotherly love”? Well, as Long stated in this blog, “By accepting Christ, we are adopted into the family of God, God is our father. This makes each person that has accepted Christ as their savior a brother or sister in Christ.” Which explains this very well, but I don’t think it should stop there. Our God is a loving God and he calls us to love everyone, “And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). This verse tells us that we should treat others equally and follow the golden rule, treat others the way you want to be treated. As believers, we should not bring others down for whatever reason it may be. We should show them love and respect no matter what or who they are. We are called to love like God loves, and bringing people down in any way is not God’s love. We know that we are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). He made each of us intentionally, making all of us His children. We are all brothers and sisters, no matter what beliefs or morals a person may have, they are still our brother or sister. Now, the love you give to some people may be different than the love you give to others. This is why Paul goes on to say “do this more and more” and by that he is telling us that there is always room to do better and be more like God and that is what we should strive to do.
Paul is a picture of leading by example. He writes to the Thessalonians about brotherly love in 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10 and sets the tone of his message by greeting the members of the church with the name “brothers.” This practice of calling one another family in Christ is carried into this day, I have heard the phrase “we are brothers and sisters in Christ” more times than I can count. Paul speaks of the family of believers that are one within Christ on many occasions, just an example being Romans 12:10, which reads, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” Although this concept of showing brotherly and sisterly affection is still a prominent speech among Christians, how often do we see this brotherly affection within the church?
In my current church experience, I see examples of this brotherly and sisterly affection in many ways. At my current church, the community is strong and thriving, the congregation is unified, the worship is inspiring, and the preaching is directional. I also have experience of being in a church where brotherly and sisterly affection was preached, but not carried out. Because of a lack of action, the congregation was full of tension, anxieties were high, bitterness increased due to lack of communication, and love was withheld in moments where it was needed. What a missed opportunity to carry the love of Christ and to dive into Paul’s teaching of brotherly love and unity. God’s picture of the church being a strong body of members, as 1 Corinthians 12 reveals. Without this heart posture and active action of brotherly love and affection, the community and purpose of the church is not meeting God’s desire.
In today’s world, where communication is more accessible than ever, it’s somewhat ironic that we witness some of the most divisive and bitter disputes within the walls of churches. Plutarch might describe these angry disputes in modern churches as breeding grounds for the worst aspects of human behavior. Plutarch would likely argue that angry disputes in churches hinder spiritual growth. When members of a congregation engage in bitter arguments and conflicts, they become preoccupied with their differences rather than their shared faith. This preoccupation can lead to a decline in spiritual development, as the focus shifts from nurturing one’s relationship with the divine to winning personal battles.