Peter, an apostle of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, not only preached the first sermon on the Day of Pentecost; he also wrote letters to brethren, one of which contains the words, Love the brotherhood (1 Peter 2:17), which is the equivalent of loving the church, the body of Christ. Of course, Jesus taught about love—both for God and one another (Matt. 22:37-40). He even talked about loving one’s enemies, which was something we seldom hear much of even now (Matt. 5:43-48). But Peter spelled out the relationship Christians ought to have with one another—Love the brotherhood.
But what does that mean? First of all, Christians ought to love the church as a whole because Jesus did. He “loved the church and gave Himself for it” (Eph. 5:25). He also nourishes and cherishes His body, the church (Eph. 1:22-23; 5:29). Is the church as dear to us as it is to Him? “Of course,” we answer, but it is easy to love the church in the abstract. Do we love her as much when we realize that individual Christians make up that redeemed body? Was there some sort of animosity between brethren when John wrote his first epistle? Consider these words:
He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now. He who loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes (1 John 2:9-11).
Why did John feel the need to express that idea? Was it just a reminder, or did churches have problems with each other? Shortly after these words were written, John called attention to the three main types of sin—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (15-17). Could pride have had something to do with having an unfavorable outlook on one’s brother? John furnishes a good example of a bad outlook in the next chapter.
For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another, not as Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous. (3:11-12).
To be sure, jealousy has at times existed within the church. Within a congregation, friction has arisen on the part of one or two elders against the others as they vie for “control.” Or perhaps the “contest” occurred between the elders and the preacher—or the deacons and the elders. Certainly, occasions will arise when an honest disagreement exists between earnest brethren. We cannot afford the luxury of thinking of brethren as enemies. Of course, if there is a Diotrephes, as John later addresses (3 John), such a man must be dealt with by the elders—even if (and especially if) he is himself one of the elders.
But sometimes rivalry may exist between preachers or elders in different congregations. Arguments over personalities and methods (provided that they are Scriptural) should fall by the wayside. Of course, if a man’s teaching were seriously flawed doctrinally, he would need to be challenged by all. Some have refused to take a stand in clear-cut instances—to the harm and detriment of the church. Loving the brotherhood not only means that we should be patient and tolerant toward one another, but genuine error must be stopped (Titus 1:9-11). We do not love the church if error is allowed to have free reign, thus subverting the truth. Those who have publicly taught error must humble themselves and repent of it. But John has more to say on the subject of brotherly relationships.
We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death. Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren (1 John 3:14-16).
Not only must Christians refrain from hating their brethren, they must be willing to lay down their lives for them. Whoa! That’s asking a lot. Yes, but our brothers are to be held in high esteem. “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another” (Rom. 12:10). Do we view our brothers and sisters the way Jesus viewed us—in that He was willing to lay down His life for us? Or do we instead view ourselves as worthy but other Christians as less so? In 1 John 3:23, the apostle encourages us to continue to believe in Jesus—and love one another. But he is not done with the subject yet.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:7-11).
The ability to love our brethren is tied to the new birth. Have we truly been born spiritually, or have we retained worldly attitudes and prejudices? John himself had transformed from being a son of Thunder.
Saying something one time is usually sufficient to make a point—especially in a letter, which people can reread as often as they like. So why does John keep returning to this subject? It is not that he desires to be “soft” on those who teach error. He wrote in 4:1: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” We can only conclude that deep-seated problems of some nature were affecting the church. Once more he addresses the issue:
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also (4:20-21).
For whatever reason, John has emphasized this subject greatly. Perhaps Christians need to be reminded of the command to love one another—as Christ has loved us (John 13:34-35; 15:12-13). But again, why?
The reason that conflicts may occur is that all Christians are at different stages of development. As soon as one is baptized, he does not come forth as a mature spiritual person, although he has that as his goal. He comes forth as a babe in Christ, having just been born again (John 3:5; Rom. 6:3-5). So in any congregation one will find brethren at different levels of Christian maturity. Some may be more easily offended, and some may not have yet learned to have a high regard for others. Some may not have moved very far from worldly practices. Some, like the Corinthians, may yet be guilty of thinking carnally.
Sin cannot be ignored, but in correcting some brethren, gentleness, patience, and kindness is needed. Jesus trained twelve men to be apostles. One of them eventually betrayed him. Whatever Judas’ motives were, everyone can agree that he was not thinking properly. Why had he not advanced beyond just thinking about this world’s goods? He used to take money out of the treasury (John 12:6). Had he not heard Jesus teach that no man can serve two masters—that he cannot serve God and Mammon (riches)? Had he not heard about the rich man and Lazarus? Or how about the rich farmer who wanted to build bigger barns? Did he not hear the Lord say that that night his soul would be required of him, and then whose would such material possessions be? Had Judas missed those, or was he simply not convinced? In either case, Jesus knew his struggles with covetousness, but he bore with him.
In fact, Jesus was patient with all of His disciples. Surely, there must have been times when they drove Him to the point of exasperation. The very night He was betrayed by Judas and taken to be crucified the next day, His disciples were showing a tremendous lack of spirituality. They argued about which one would be greatest in the kingdom (Luke 22:24-26). How many of us would conclude, “I see I’ve been wasting my time”? Even after Jesus returned to heaven, Peter’s actions in withdrawing from the Gentiles caused Paul to rebuke him because he was to be blamed (Gal. 2).
We too must exercise patience and not be guilty of making false assumptions. If someone misspeaks concerning a Scripture, he ought to be corrected, of course, but we should not assume he is on the road to apostasy. Love for brethren includes rebuking others when the occasion calls for it, but we should not assign the worst possible motives. Brethren should be considered having honest and sincere motives unless a sufficient reason exists to prove otherwise.
Some brethren need several opportunities to get their behavior to conform to their beliefs as a Christian. Anger, pride, and jealousy may be harder for some to conquer than others. As long as brethren are willing to keep trying to go on to perfection, more mature brethren ought to continue to encourage them.
One source of problems is that we do not all think the same way. A few may have developed habits of productivity and are focused on outcome. Others may be more concerned about an individual brother’s future potential than a specific task at hand. In other words, some are goal-oriented (get the job done), and some are more people-oriented (the job will eventually get done; the brother is more important). What happened between Paul and Barnabas could be an illustration of this point.
John Mark left the work on the first missionary journey. When they were ready to start out again, Mark desired to accompany them. Paul may have thought having him along would jeopardize the mission. He had left once, already, and Paul may have thought that he needed someone he could count on. Barnabas, on the other hand, always seems to be concerned about people. He had stood up for Paul when the church did not want to have anything to do with him. Now he was standing up for John Mark, that he might have a second opportunity. The different way each Christian was thinking about this matter determined their actions. The contention between Paul and Barnabas was so sharp that they split up the team—both going in different directions.
Who was right and who was wrong? Perhaps neither was. Paul completed the mission he had in mind. John Mark proved that he was the man Barnabas thought he was. Later Paul acknowledged his value. Yes, we must all stand for sound doctrine, but within the parameters of “the faith,” there is room for all who may not think precisely the same way about the way to handle certain people and situations. And that can be a good thing because if all thought the same way on all expedients, some things would never be accomplished that benefit the kingdom. Jesus saw the best in each of us and has treated us patiently though we all have faults and sins to overcome. We too must love the brotherhood.