‘Brothers is more than a metaphor’ SBTS dean of theology says

GRACEVILLE (BCF)–“What Jesus is doing in his resurrection from the dead in His intercession for us right now in the heavenly places is that He is not ashamed to call us brothers. This is a language, a word that means a great deal,” Russell D. Moore told students and visitors at The Baptist College of Florida’s (BCF) annual Powell Lectures.

Moore is dean of the School of Theology, senior vice president for academic administration and associate professor of Christian theology at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) in Louisville, Ky.

Taken from the pages of his book The Kingdom of Christ: The New Evangelical Perspective (Crossway, 2004), Moore, in a lecture series by the same title, called the congregation to a new level of understanding of its position as the Body of Christ.

Christians take the word “brother” in the Christian context too lightly when, in fact, “the word throughout the Bible has a much fuller and specific meaning,” he explained. Citing Romans 8 when Paul says writing to the Romans, “‘I appeal to you brothers,’ he is speaking to them about being brothers and sisters. This is more than a metaphor.”

Moore likened the brotherhood through spiritual adoption into the family of Christ to his family’s adoption of two Russian boys. After visiting the pair in Russia, Moore and his wife were required by Russian law to return to the United States to await the completion of the adoption paperwork.

During their wait the couple proudly showed pictures of the two boys to friends in anticipation of their upcoming adoption. Moore remembered that he was asked many times if the two boys are brothers. He replied repeatedly, “They are now,” referring to their rightful place in his family. The question was often repeated, “But, are they really brothers?” He continued to reply, “They are now.” The questioner continued, “Yes, but you know what I mean.”

“I did know what he meant,” said Moore. “What he meant was, ‘Are they the same blood type, same biological ancestry, do they share the things that after all really matter?’” “I recognized this was the exact same question the Apostle Paul was confronting [between Jews and Gentiles]. Are we brothers?”

“He says you are brethren... because you walk according to the Spirit in this new age of the Spirit that has been realized in Jesus,” Moore explained. “That means you bear the very same Spirit that was anointed upon Jesus, which means you cry out with Jesus, ‘Abba Father.’”

This common fatherhood, explains Moore, unites the people of God together in a family, commonwealth or household – the church. The church is not an encouragement or friendly reminder, but a command.

“The writer of Hebrews is giving a warning: If you walk away, if you have no concern for the church, the problem is not that you are just a lackluster Christian, the problem is that you will find that you are not a Christian at all,” tells Moore. “What it means to be in Christ is that you love the brothers, that you love the people of Christ.”

The emphasis on the church, he explains, is because the church “is a manifestation of the Kingdom” and not something Christians have the option to pick and choose.

“The church is not just something to help you along in your individual salvation,” Moore concludes of the issue. “The church is part of what it means to be saved. The church is what you are saved for.”

This lecture was one of a three-day series in BCF’s Powell Lectures. The annual lecture series features leading Southern Baptist thinkers and theologians who consider contemporary topics of the day.