Loving the Brotherhood

Loving the Brotherhood



1Pet 2: 17  Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God.
Honor the king.
1Pet 1:22  Since you have purified your souls by your
obedience to the truth unto unfeigned brotherly love, love
one another from a pure heart fervently,

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Words of Ministry~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

         Verse 17 says, "Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear
God. Honor the king." Why does Peter say "love the
brotherhood" instead of "love the brothers"?  By using the
word brotherhood Peter indicates that we should not merely
love the brothers [believers] separately, one by one, or
individualistically. Rather, we should love the totality of
the brothers. This means that we should love the universal
family of the brothers.

As believers in Christ, we are not only a community; we are
also a family. A family is much more intimate than a
community is. Because we are in a family, we refer to one
another as brothers. If we were not of the same family, how
could we be brothers to one another? No matter what our skin
color may be--black, white, yellow, brown, or red--we all are
brothers in God's family. Hallelujah for this worldwide,
universal family! This family has been in existence for
nearly two thousand years. The word brotherhood in verse 17
refers to this family.

       We should love the brothers in God's family in the feeling of
brotherliness. This is to love the brotherhood. However, few
Christians today have the sense that in loving the brothers
they are loving the brotherhood. This indicates that today's
Christians do not have the sense of the corporate life.
Nevertheless, the church is altogether a corporate matter. We
need to love the brothers in their totality; that is, we need
to love the brothers in a corporate sense.