Berean Studies: Ber06 - Brotherly Kindness (Brotherly Love)

Berean Studies / Ber06 - Brotherly Kindness (Brotherly Love)

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Single Click a triangle below to see the references CT Russell selected for the associated question. The study questions (with the references) are also included as an attached Adobe PDF file at the bottom of this page.

1. What is the ‘new commandment’ given by Christ to his disciples?

2. What is brotherly love?

3. Who are our ‘brethren’?

4. Why is the manifestation of brotherly kindness so necessary ?

5. Is it important that we observe the spirit as well as the form of our Lord's command?
1Pe 1:22; Ro 12:9; R2518 col. 1 ś5( 4) to end; R2213 col. 1 ś2; R2242 col. 1 ś4; R3542 col. 2 ś4, 5; R3233 col. 2 ś4

1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

Romans 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

R2518 [col. 1 ś5(4) to end]:
"Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit [the spirit of the truth] unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart, fervently."-- `1 Pet. 1:22`.

This medicine is for those who have used the other prescriptions and gotten clean. It points out that the purity came not merely through hearing the truth, nor through believing the truth, but through obeying it. And not merely a formal obedience in outward ceremony and custom and polished manner, but through obedience to the spirit of the truth--its real import. All this brought you to the point where the love of the "brethren" of Christ was unfeigned, genuine. At first you treated all with courtesy, or at least without impoliteness; but many of them you did not like, much less did you love them: they were poor, or shabby, or ignorant, or peculiar. But obeying the spirit of the truth you recognized that all who trust in the precious blood and are consecrated to the dear Redeemer and seeking to follow his leadings are "brethren," regardless of race or color or education or poverty or homeliness. You reached the point where your heart is so free from envy and pride and selfishness, and so full of the spirit of the Master, that you can honestly say, I love all the "brethren" with a love that is sincere and not at all feigned.

Now having gotten thus far along in the good way, the Lord through the Apostle tells us what next --that we may preserve our hearts pure,--"See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently [intensely]." Ah, yes, the pure heart must not be forgotten, else it might be but a step from pure love into a snare of the Adversary, carnal love. But the pure love is not to be cold and indifferent: it is to be so warm and so strong that we would be willing to "lay down our lives for the brethren."--`1 John 3:16`.

With such a love as this burning as incense to God upon the altar of our hearts there will be no room there for any selfish, envious thoughts or words or deeds. Oh how blessed would all the gatherings of the "brethren" be, if such a spirit pervaded all of them! Can we doubt that, if it held sway in one-half or one-third or even one-fourth, it would speedily exercise a gracious influence upon all--for righteousness and fidelity and love and peace, and against envy, strife, malice, slanders and backbitings?

Let all the "brethren" more and more take these medicines which tend to sanctify and prepare us for the Master's service, here and hereafter.

R2213 [col. 1 ś2]--"Let love be without dissimulation.":
He had already explained the necessity for love; but he now puts us on guard against a merely feigned love, which would only outwardly appear kind and polite. The true spirit of love, a holy spirit, will not be a dissimulating one, a hypocritical one: the love will be genuine, heartfelt as well as mouth expressed. This love is to be toward God, and toward all in proportion as they are God-like, or striving to be so. It is to be a love of that which is good, right, pure, true.

R2242 [col. 1 ś4]:
While the outward affairs of life are to be regulated and harmonized with the Lord's character and will, as expressed to us in his Word, yet the object sought is to have these good qualities proceed from an inward source, a regenerated heart; a heart from which Selfishness has been dethroned, and in which Love has been enthroned as the moving impulse of life. Love to God will regulate all of our obedience to him, so that it will not be merely outward and formal ceremonies, but worship in spirit and in truth. Love to fellow-men --especially to the household of faith--will guide us in our dealings with them; for love thinks no evil, love slanders not, love backbites not, love bears no false witness, love seeks not her own interests merely, but also the welfare of others, is not proud, but humble, meek, gentle, easy to be entreated, long-suffering and patient.

R3542 [col. 2 ś4, 5]:
It is difficult for us to gage our own hearts thoroughly and hence we should use great charity in measuring the hearts and intentions of others, and should err rather on the side of too great sympathy and leniency than on the side of too strong condemnation. Doubtless had the apostles been inquired of respecting the matter they would have denied any elements of selfishness in their motives and conduct, and would have thought and spoken only of their zeal for the Lord and desire to be near him. This illustrates to us, what the Scriptures declare, that the human heart is exceedingly deceitful-- that it needs scrutinizing carefully lest, under the cloak of something good, it might harbor qualities which without that cloak we would despise or spurn.

As further illustrating this subject, and as helping us each and all to apply the lesson personally, we relate a dream told by a Scotch minister, Horatius Bonar, shortly before his death. He dreamed that his zeal was represented in a package of considerable size and weight, and that some angels came to it and weighed it and assured him that it was full weight, an hundred pounds-- all that was possible. In his dream he was greatly pleased with this report. They next determined to analyze it. They put it into a crucible and tested it in various ways and then reported the result thus: "Fourteen parts selfishness; fifteen parts sectarianism; twenty-two parts ambition; twenty-three parts love to man; twenty-six parts love to God." Awakening he realized that it was but a dream, yet felt greatly humbled, and doubtless was profited by it throughout the remainder of life. That dream may be equally profitable to each of us in leading us to a close inspection of the motives which lie beyond our words and thoughts and doings--especially beyond our service for the Lord and for the brethren.

R3233 [col. 2 ś4]:
As there are nominal Christians and real Christians, so there is a nominal love as well as a real love amongst those who profess the name of Christ, and it should be more and more the aim of the Lord's true people to cultivate his spirit, his character, his disposition, his love, his friendship; and that they may be able to cultivate these he has caused the Apostle to present to our attention a most graphic description o f the love which is from above. This description is given in 1 Cor. 1 3. It must be enjoyed to some extent by all who are New Creatures, for if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is non e of h is; but it will be increasingly enjoyed and appreciatingly understood in proportion as the Lord's people each become stronger in the Lord --copies of God' s dear Son --like him who is the friend above all others.

6. Why do the Lord’s ‘brethren’ need no ‘outward passwords, grips or badges’?

7. How is our love for God measured by our love for ‘the brethren’?

8. Can we fellowship all ‘the brethren’ alike?

9. Should we always expect to have our manifestations of brotherly kindness received in the same spirit?

10. How are the comfort and peace of the Church dependent upon the manifestation of this grace?

11. How should brotherly love exercise itself in seeking opportunities for service?

12. How should brotherly love manifest itself ‘in honor preferring one another’?

13. How should we ‘consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works’?

14. How will brotherly love exercise itself in ‘laying down our lives for the brethren’?

15. How should we manifest brotherly kindness toward the weaker brethren?

16. How will brotherly love sympathize with the more demonstrative brethren?
F134 ś2

F132 [ś2]:
All thus marked by the holy Spirit as prospective members of the New Creation are assured by the Lord, "They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." "I have chosen you [out of the world], and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." "If ye were of the world the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." (John 15:16,19; 17:16) Although these marks of sanctification may, to some extent, be discerned by the world, we are not, therefore, to expect that they will bring the world's admiration or approval; but, rather, that they will consider these evidences of the holy Spirit upon the New Creatures as evidences of weakness and effeminacy. The world appreciates and approves what it would designate a robust and strenuous life--not righteous over-much. Our Lord explains to us why the world would not approve his followers; namely, because the darkness hateth the light--because the standard of his Royal Priesthood for thought and word and action would be higher than the standard of mankind in general, and would, therefore, seem to more or less condemn their course. The world desires rather to be approved, to be flattered; and whatever in any degree casts reflection upon it is to that extent avoided, if not opposed. This disapproval of the worldly-wise of Christendom constitutes a part of the testing of the Royal Priesthood; and if their consecration be not a most hearty one they will so miss the fellowship of the world and so crave its approval that they will fail to carry out in the proper spirit the sacrificing of earthly interests which they have undertaken--fail to be priests; hence, fail to be of the New Creation. However, on account of their good intentions, the Lord may bring them through the fiery trials, for the destruction of the flesh which they had not the zeal to sacrifice: thus they may be counted worthy of a share in the blessings and rewards of the Great Company that shall come up out of great tribulation to serve before the throne, in which the little flock will sit with the Lord.

17. How should brotherly kindness deal with the self-seeking ?

18. How will brotherly kindness deal with brethren who lack self- control?

19. How should brotherly kindness seek to avoid ‘busy- bodying’?

20. How should brotherly love control the tongue?

21. How should brotherly love treat a slanderous report against an elder or other brethren?

22. How should the Church exercise brotherly kindness toward those who ‘walk disorderly’?

23. How should the elders exercise brotherly love in reproving the ‘unruly’?

24. How may we avoid judging one another as individuals ?

25. How should brotherly kindness be exercised toward brethren who have doctrinal ‘hobbies’?

26. What is the relation between brotherly kindness and ‘the unity of the faith’?

27. How should brotherly kindness deal with serious offenders in the Church?

28. By what rules are ‘false brethren’ to be judged?

29. What should be our attitude toward ‘siftings’ among the brethren?

30. What should be the attitude of all ‘true sacrificers’ toward each other and toward those who have left ‘the Holy’?

31. How does brotherly kindness apply ‘the Golden Rule’?

32. How should brotherly love exercise itself toward the special servants of the Church?

33. How should we exercise brotherly love toward our brethren still ‘in Babylon’?

34. How should brotherly kindness consider ‘social obligations’?

35. What course will brotherly love dictate in the matter of ‘borrowing and lending’?

36. How should brotherly love regard visiting, ‘borrowing a neighbor’s time ‘?

37. What is the relation between brotherly love and communism?

38. Do those who have reached ‘the mark’ still have trials along the line of brotherly love?

39. Why is brotherly love ‘one of the final and most searching tests ‘ of the brethren and how may we prepare to meet it?

40. What should be ‘the main- spring back of brotherly kindness’?

41. What does the illustration of ‘the third- quarter mark’ signify?
F188 ś1; F370 ś3; R2754 col. 2 ś3, 4

F188 [ś1]:
The third-quarter mark on this racecourse we will call-- love for the brethren. From the first we recognize a duty-love toward the brethren even as toward the Father, only in a less degree, because the brethren had done less for us; and we recognized them chiefly because such was the Father's will. But as we got to see the principles of righteousness, and to appreciate the Father, and to see that the Father himself loveth us, notwithstanding our unintentional blemishes, our hearts began to broaden and deepen toward the brethren; and more and more we became able to overlook their unwilling imperfections and blemishes and mistakes, when we could see in them evidences of heart-desire to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and in accord with the principles of the divine character. Love for the brethren became distinctly marked in our experiences. Alas! evidently a good many of the Lord's dear people have not yet reached this third-quarter mark on the race course toward the prize of our high calling. There is much need of developing the brotherly kindness, the long-suffering, the patience, which the Scriptures inculcate--and which are necessarily tried and tested more in our connection with the brethren than in our connection with the Father and our Lord. We can see the perfection of the Father and the Son, and that they have no imperfections; we can realize their magnanimity toward us and our own shortcomings toward them: but when we look toward the brethren we see in one this weakness, and in another that weakness; and the temptation is, alas, too common to say to a brother: "Let me pick out the mote from thine eye"--instead of realizing that such a picking and nagging and fault-finding disposition toward the brethren is an evidence that we still have a large beam of impatience and lovelessness of our own to contend with. As we near this third-quarter mark, we gradually get the beam out of our own eyes--we get to see our own blemishes, and to appreciate more and more the riches of our Lord's grace toward us; and the influence of this upon our hearts is to produce in us a greater degree of the spirit of meekness, patience, and gentleness toward all--and this again enables us to overlook or cover a multitude of sins, a multitude of imperfections in the brethren, so long as we realize that they are surely brethren--so long as they are trusting in the precious blood, and seeking to run this same racecourse for this same prize.

F370 [ś3]:
Our Love is growing, and we press along for the third quarter-mark. By the time we reach it, our duty-love, plus love for the principles of righteousness, has extended, not only to the divine character, and included dislike for every wicked thing doing injury to mankind, and contravening the divine character and plan, but at this mark we have attained a position of broader sympathy for others--we begin to share God's sentiment, not only of opposition to sin, but also of love for, and sympathy with, all who are seeking the way of righteousness and holiness. By this time we are able to recognize the brethren in a somewhat different light than ever before. We can now see them as New Creatures, and differentiate between them and their mortal bodies, whose imperfections are obvious to us. We learn to love the brethren as New Creatures, and to sympathize with them in the various weaknesses, misjudgments, etc., of their flesh. So keen becomes our Love for them that we have pleasure in laying down our lives on their behalf--daily, hourly, sacrificing our own earthly interests or pleasures, or conveniences, giving of our time, our influence, or what-not, to assist or serve them.

R2754 [col. 2 ś3, 4]:
Love of God from this latter standpoint as the representative of every grace and every virtue, as the representative of righteousness, and the opponent of every injustice and inequity, led us to seek and to follow out these principles amongst our fellow-men, as well as in our own characters. As we began to love truth, purity, nobility of character, wherever it could be found, we found some of it in a mottled and streaked condition even in the world of mankind: we found that the original law of God, written in the heart of father Adam, altho largely erased and obliterated from the hearts and consciences of his children, is not wholly gone;--that to some extent, especially under the influence of Christianity in the past eighteen centuries, some features of this perfect law may be dimly discerned amongst men.

But our scrutiny, backed by our increasing love of these principles of righteousness, found nothing satisfactory amongst natural men--nor even amongst those professing godliness--professing to be followers in the footsteps of Jesus. We found these all, like ourselves, far short of perfection, far short of the glory of God. But as the true love, of right principles, burned in our hearts more and more fervently, we learned to sympathize with the entire "groaning creation," and to "love the brethren;" for in the latter we perceived a class inspired by the same spirit by which we ourselves had been begotten of God, the spirit of the truth; we saw some of them struggling as we had struggled, with appreciation only of the duty-love; we saw others who had gained a higher conception than this, who had learned to appreciate the principles of righteousness and to love them, and to hate iniquity, and further, to love the God who is the embodiment of these. And the realization that these "brethren," like ourselves, were gradually approximating the divine standard--"pressing toward the mark"--filled us with interest in them and in their battle against sin and its weaknesses, and against the Adversary and his beguilements. We became more and more interested in their welfare and overcoming in proportion as we were striving and making progress in the same "narrow way." This love of the brethren we did not have at the beginning; it marks a distinct progress in our race toward the "mark;" we might term it the third quarter-mile mark. But altho a grand attainment was achieved when this love of the brethren reached the point of willingness to "lay down our lives for the brethren" (`1 John 3:16`), yet it was not the full attainment of the "mark" for which we are running.

42. Why is it important that we manifest brotherly love now ?

43. How may we become members of ‘the Mary class’?

44. How did Jesus show us a grand example of brotherly love and sympathy?

45. How can we fulfill Jesus’ command to ‘wash one another’s feet’?

46. How jealously should we guard and increase this grace of brotherly kindness?

47. How may we cultivate brotherly love?

48. What additional thoughts are found in Topical Index of ‘Heavenly Manna, ‘ under ‘Love One Another‘?