Brother Among the peoples of Bible times the word ‘brother’ had a wide meaning. Its obvious and most common meaning was to those who were children of the same parents (Genesis 1:25-26; Matthew 1:4-21). It was used also of a person who was more distantly related, such as a cousin or an uncle (Genesis 1:14), a fellow member of the same community or nation (Genesis 19:7; Leviticus 1:25-46; Acts 13:26; Romans 9:3), or one’s fellow human beings in general (Leviticus 19:17; Matthew 7:3). (See also Neighbour.)
Jesus used the expression ‘brother’ to indicate the closeness of the relationship between him and his followers (Matthew 1:12-50; cf. Hebrews 1:2-12). Those who become Christ’s people are therefore brothers to each other (Matthew 18:15,21; Acts 9:17,30; Acts 15:3,22; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-27).
This shared brotherhood should help produce good relations between believers. They should be more tolerant of each other (Romans 1:14-15), more forgiving (1 Corinthians 1:6-8), more concerned (2 Thessalonians 3:15), more self-sacrificing (1 John 3:17) and more loving (Romans 12:10; 1 John 1:2-11). They should realize that to sin against a brother is to sin against Christ (1 Corinthians 1:8-13), and therefore should make every effort to prevent, or correct, such sin (Matthew 1:18-20; Romans 1:14-21).