Arthur W. Pink

“Let brotherly love continue.” —Hebrews 13:1

Brotherly love we would define as that gracious bond that knits together the hearts of God’s children. More definitely, it is that spiritual and affectionate solicitude¹ that Christians have toward each other, manifested by a desiring and endeavoring after their highest mutual interests…²

The maintenance of brotherly love tends in various ways to the spiritual blessing of the Church, the honor of the Gospel, and the comfort of believers. The exercise thereof is the best testimony to the world of the genuineness of our profession. The cultivation and manifestation of Christian affection between the people of God are far more weighty arguments with unbelievers than any apologetics.³ Believers should conduct themselves toward each other in such a way that no button or pin is needed to label them as brethren in Christ. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (Joh 13:35). It should be made quite evident that their hearts are knit together by a bond more intimate, spiritual, and enduring than any which mere nature can produce. Their deportment⁴ unto each other should be such as not only to mark them as fellow disciples, but as Christ says, “My disciples”—reflecting His love!

The exercise of brotherly love is not only a testimony unto the world, but it is also evidence to Christians themselves of their regeneration: “We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren” (1Jo 3:14). There should be a word of comfort here for those poor saints whose souls are cast down. At present, they cannot “read their title clear to mansions in the sky,”⁵ and are afraid to cry “Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6), lest they be guilty of presumption. But here is a door of hope opened to Christ’s little ones: you may, dear reader, be afraid to affirm that you love God, but do you not love His people? If you do, you must have been born again and have in you the same spiritual nature that is in them. But do I love them? Well, do you relish their company, admire what you see of Christ in them, wish them well, pray for them, and seek their good? If so, you certainly love them.

But not only is the exercise of Christian love a testimony unto the world of our Christian discipleship and a sure evidence of our own regeneration, but it is also that which delights God Himself. Of course it does! It is the product of His own grace: the immediate fruit of His Spirit. “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” (Psa 133:1) is what the Lord Himself declares. This also comes out very sweetly in Revelation 3. There we find one of the epistles addressed to the seven churches that are in Asia, namely, the Philadelphian, the church of “brotherly love,” for that is the meaning of the word Philadelphia. In that epistle, there are no censures⁶ or rebukes: that which refreshed the heart of the Lord was there!

But our text refers not so much to the existence and exercise of brotherly love, as it does to its maintenance: “Let brotherly love continue” or “abide constant” as some render it, for the word includes the idea of enduring in the face of difficulties and temptations. That which is enjoined is perseverance in a pure and unselfish affection toward fellow Christians. Brotherly love is a tender plant that requires much attention: if it be not watched and watered, it quickly wilts. It is an exotic,⁷ for it is not a native of the soil of fallen human nature—“hateful and hating one another” (Ti 3:3) is a solemn description of what we were in our unregenerate state. Yes, brotherly love is a very tender plant and quickly affected by the cold air of unkindness, easily nipped by the frost of harsh words. If it is to thrive, it must needs be carefully protected and diligently cultivated.

“Let brotherly love continue.” What a needful word is this! It was so at the beginning. Therefor word is this! e did the Lord God make it a fundamental in man’s duty: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Lev 19:18). O what strife and bloodshed, suffering and sorrow had been avoided, had this commandment been universally heeded. Alas, sin has domineered and dominated; and where sin is regnant,⁸ love is dormant. If we wish to obtain a better idea of what sin is, then contrast it with its opposite—God. Now God is spirit (Joh 4:24), God is light (1Jo 1:5), God is love (1Jo 4:8); whereas sin is fleshly, sin is darkness, sin is hatred. But if we have enlisted under the banner of Christ, we are called unto warfare against sin, against fleshliness, against hatred. Then “let brotherly love continue.”

Yes, a most needful exhortation is this: not only because hatred so largely sways the world, but also because of the state of Christendom. Two hundred and fifty years ago, John Owen⁹ wrote, “It [brotherly love] is, as unto its luster and splendor, retired to Heaven, abiding in its power and efficacious exercise only in some corners of the earth. Envy, wrath, selfishness, love of the world, with coldness in all the concerns of religion, have possessed the place of it. And in vain shall men wrangle and contend about their differences in faith and worship, pretending to design the advancement of religion by an imposition of their persuasions on others: unless this holy love be again reintroduced among all those who profess the name of Christ, all the concerns of religion will more and more run into ruin. The very name of a brotherhood amongst Christians is a matter of scorn and reproach, and all the consequents of such a relation are despised.”

Nor are things any better today. O how little is brotherly love in evidence, generally speaking, among professing Christians. Is not that tragic word of Christ receiving its prophetic fulfillment: “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold” (Mat 24:12). But, my reader, Christ’s love has not changed, nor should ours: “Having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end” (Joh 13:1). Alas, have not all of us reason to hang our heads in shame! Such an exhortation as this is most needful today when there is such a wide tendency to value light more highly than love, to esteem an understanding of the mysteries of Faith above the drawing out our affections unto each other. Here is a searching question that each of us should honestly face: Is my love for the brethren keeping pace with my growing (intellectual) knowledge of the Truth?

From Studies in the Scriptures, reprinted by Chapel Library.

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Arthur W. Pink (1886-1952): Pastor, Bible teacher, and author of Studies in the Scriptures and numerous books; emigrated to the U.S. from Great Britain and later returned to his homeland in 1934; born in Nottingham, England.

Notes:

1. solicitude – care and concern.
2. “What is this love? I answer briefly, It is a fruit of the Spirit of God, an effect of faith, whereby believers, being knit together by the strongest bonds of affection, upon the account of their interest in one head, Jesus Christ, and participating of one Spirit, do delight in, value, and esteem each other, and are in a constant readiness for all those regular duties whereby the temporal, spiritual, and eternal good of one another may be promoted.”—John Owen
3. apologetics – the branch of theology concerned with the defense of the Christian faith.
4. deportment – conduct.
5. From Isaac Watts’ hymn “When I Can Read My Title Clear,” republished in Christ-centered Hymns, available from Chapel Library.
6. censures – harsh criticisms.
7. exotic – a plant from a foreign place.
8. regnant – ruling.
9. John Owen (1616-1683) – Congregational theologian; called the “Prince of the Puritans.”

Published with permission of Chapel Library.