The Brother of Him

             Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (I John 4:20-21)

I felt the need to check an interlinear Bible, to look at the Greek as well as the word-for-word translation, centering on the words “a brother or sister.” First, of course, “or sister” wasn’t there because brother was understood in a universal sense that took in both male and female. But that wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted to know about the article. The NIV says “a brother.” The interlinear says “the brother of him.” So, the NIV version is “his brother” made politically correct. And I’m not criticizing, just verifying.

So, keeping in mind that the sibling language was used to indicate fellow Christians, it comes down to this: if you hate another Christian, you are hating God. We are directed to love other Christians, even if we don’t agree with them. We are not commanded to agree with them, but we are commanded to love them, even if they are of a different denomination, whether religious, cultural, or political.  

This includes taking the stance that “I don’t need ______ to be a Christian.” Technically, there are a lot of things you could put in that blank that would be true. You don’t need a building, though buildings are handy places to meet other Christians. If you say you don’t need people, or “those people,” you’re not loving those people, which means you’re not loving God. And claiming you don’t hate them when you want to have nothing to do with them doesn’t work.

Jesus said that the greatest commandment was to love God with all our hearts, all our souls, all our minds, and all our strengths, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. (Matthew 22:38-40, paraphrased.) If we reject the greatest commandment God gave, can we claim to be fulfilling it?