I Thessalonians 5:25-27 – “Family”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

²⁵Brothers, be praying for us. ²⁶Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. ²⁷I adjure you [before] the Lord [that] the epistle be read to all the brothers.

I want to begin by noting what I think are significant features of the grammatical structure of these three verses. I first note that the word “brothers” occurs 3x. The number three is invariably important in Scripture, being often a mark of divinity. Of course my baseball friends consider this an evidence of that sport’s divine origin – 3 bases, 3 strikes, 3 outs, etc., etc. 😏. That, of course may or may not be rue, tbut, in our passage, not only does “brothers” occur 3x, but it is the first word of v25 and the last word of v27, forming “bookends” of sorts.

Then I notice too that the word “brothers” itself occurs a total of 17x in the book of I Thessalonians. Not counting this last 3x, that leaves 14x or 2 sets of 7x. I suspect that is deliberate and that somehow the two sets form some kind of logical units. I have pondered over it and can’t see what might be happening, but I strongly suspect there is some kind of deliberate order there. The word “brothers” might be being used as a sort of bookmarks or perhaps telic dividers – but again, I can’t see it.

As usual someone at this point thinks I’m intrigued with the irrelevant but I beg to differ. I would suggest it highly significant that the word “brothers” appears in the book exactly 2 x 7x’s, then in a final triplet (3x) to conclude the book. I particularly note in this final triplet that, even in hearing it read, the “brothers … brothers … brothers” in short succession would itself leave an impression on the alert listener.  What is Paul saying? Is it not the message of the book itself? “Brothers, brothers, brothers.”

Allow me to digress. This thing of “brotherhood” is monumentally important to the church. Hebrews 2 records, “But we see Jesus … Both the One who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers … For this reason He had to be made like His brothers in every way …” (vv.9-17). As the old saying goes, “The ground is level at the foot of the Cross.” Jesus broke upon a world invariably divided by class, sex, nationality, ethnicity, and whatever other reason people can find to hate each other. Suddenly there was this “church” thing where they all met together and called each other brothers. One early Roman retorted something like, “Their first Law-giver led them to believe they are all brethren!” Yes, that is right. Brothers. Rich met together with poor. Masters met together with slaves. Jews met together with Greeks. It was a marvel of the first century how Christians loved each other.

I should note that we are told in the early church men sat separate from women, and that may or may not be true, but I would suggest if it was true, that was just one of those things that was so culturally dominant (like slavery itself) that the Lord didn’t necessarily challenge it directly. I say that just to acknowledge that possible historical reality but to say I don’t think it detracts at all from this truth of the fraternal essence of Christianity. Anyone who knows their Bible knows that the “brethren” includes the “sisteren.”

This fundamental truth of “the family of God” is extremely important. God is our Father. Jesus is our elder brother. And each of us are brothers and sisters. Jesus was not ashamed to call us brothers, and neither should we be.

I know some churches try to live this out by calling each other “brother” and “sister.” That may be nice, but I wonder if its truth isn’t much larger than that. No doubt we each need to ponder our attitude toward the other Christians in our church. Do we truly in our hearts see them as brothers and sisters (whether we do or do not deliberately call them that)? Do we treat them like brothers and sisters? But then I wonder if the Lord doesn’t want us to go further and see all Christians everywhere as our brothers and sisters. I am particularly thinking at work and in the community. I wonder if we shouldn’t make a bigger deal about our brotherhood all throughout our workaday world? I work with a lot of people I may either know or strongly suspect are believers. I wonder if I shouldn’t make it a habit to actually call them “brother” or “sister” at appropriate times in order to acknowledge their faith and to encourage them that I consider them “special” to me.

I would suggest, based on the grammatical recurrence of the word, the book of I Thessalonians is a “brothers” book.

Lord help all of us to live a “brothers” life.