Yet we have seen that even OT brotherkeeping was not strictly limited to relatives, but also applied to unrelated neighbors and foreigners. In the same way, there are New Testament passages that apply brotherliness to the way we feel and act toward nonChristian neighbors and countrymen as well:
►1 Peter 2:17 says, “Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.” A clear distinction is drawn. We owe love to Christian brothers. The Greek word behind love is agapao, which means to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly. There’s a degree of warmth that is missing from the connotation of honor, which we’re to give everyone else, small and great. Honor means to regard or treat a person with admiration and respect; to give someone special recognition. Elsewhere in scripture we’re told why: we esteem kings or rulers because they’re ordained by God (Romans 13:1); we recognize the worth of all people because they’re made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27, 9:5-6; James 3:8-10).
►Galatians 6:10 echoes the idea: “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Yes, we’re to principally aim our good works at those within the church, but “all people” are mentioned first. We’re not to neglect those outside. The two are not mutually exclusive.
►1 Corinthians 10:32 states the principle negatively: “Do not give offense to Jews or Greeks or to the church of God.” We know that early churches were made up of believing Jews and Greeks, but here Paul is referring to outsiders. He didn’t want nonChristians to be offended by the attitudes of Christians. Their consciences should be as important to us as they are to Him. Often nonbelievers have a proper sense of what God is like, and are aware that Christians should be like Him. When we betray or defile that understanding, it’s not only offensive to God but also to the watching world. In fact, there are numerous passages about the reputation of church leaders, not only within the church but also in their neighborhoods, at work, in the larger community (1 Samuel 2:26; Proverbs 3:4; Luke 2:52; Acts 6:3; Romans 12:17, 14:18; 2 Cor. 8:21; 1 Timothy 3:7, 5:10; 1 Peter 2:12).
►1 Corinthians 10:33 returns to stating the principle positively: “I also try to please everyone in all things. I do not seek my own benefit, but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.”
And this is the main point. Paul’s overarching aim in the larger context was to see people saved (1 Cor. 10: 22-33). God is glorified when we don’t lose sight of His grand purpose. Offensive speech or behavior hinders the gospel project, while doing good to all people enhances the mission.
It needs to be said that Paul did not adopt a “whatever works” approach. He stopped far short of advocating force or coercion to bring about conversions. That was the method he used in persecuting the church, before he trusted Jesus for salvation.
To what extent are we to be brotherly to non-believers?
1 Corinthians 9:1-22 is the apostle Paul’s explanation of how far he would go to win people for Christ. Paul was willing to sacrifice his own pleasure and comfort to this end. He would go without a paycheck, without a wife. He would endure great hardship, relinquish God-given rights, and even give up his freedom. His goal was the salvation of as many unbelievers as possible.
Paul has a real sense of urgency. I suppose in today’s lingo, we’d say he was obsessed. That idea is really borne out in Romans 9:1-4, where he says, “I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites.”
In some respects, the demands of brotherliness in evangelism are more strenuous, urgent, demanding, and all-encompassing than those demands within the body of Christ.
Paul is the example that missionaries follow today. They travel great distances, learn difficult languages, and risk contracting deadly diseases in order to win people for Christ. They do not view the unsaved as enemies, or expect them to exhibit the grace and enlightenment that comes from the Spirit of God. They’re not surprised or put off when the people they want to reach espouse unbiblical worldviews or behave in ungodly ways.
Missionaries must pray for the people they’re trying to reach, and seek to understand them. When explaining why they don’t go along with them into sin, effective witnesses for Christ do so with patience and gentleness. They don’t give in to the impulse to air all the grievances they have with ungodly people, or convey that they pose a danger to their safety and well-being. They know that basic, common courtesy is the foundation of honoring all men.
The missionary mindset
Lori Smith, missionary to Papua New Guinea, closes letters to supporters with words of consecration that are attributed to William Whiting Borden: “No reserves. No retreats. No regrets.” She says this in spite of the pain she feels every time she leaves her children and grandchildren in the States to return to the mission field. Or the grief she experiences when a patient has bad news, or it’s time to turn over to biological or adoptive parents a baby whom she has nurtured in her home for a year.
Get to know the depth of Lori’s commitment to serving the needs of lost people through her own words (YouTube video):
It’s apparent that Lori doesn’t do anything by half-measures, or hold people at arms length. Frankly, she sets herself up for heartbreak, but that pain has led to the establishment and growth of local churches in PNG.
Learn more:
- It All Began With One Baby (blog post)
- Loving Your Enemy (blog post)
- Saving Babies’ Lives in Papua New Guinea: Lori Smith Speaks (podcast)
- Church Planting—One Baby at a Time (book)
Image credit: Apostle St. Paul, by El Greco, 1612 (https://www.wikiart.org/en/el-greco/apostle-st-paul)
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