I remember an old story my mentor used to share with me when I would visit him at his home in Houston. He would always fondly remember the old preacher who had taught him about the gospel because of his patience with him. He would tell me about an event he witnessed involving his mentor and how it was in that precise moment his respect and admiration for the old preacher became stronger. A member from the congregation where the old preacher ministered came up to him asking for his advice regarding his marriage. In reality, the brother who had approached the old preacher was seeking advice on how to end his marriage. The old preacher listened carefully as the husband complained that his wife was condescending, negligent, and all sorts of negative things to say about her. After a few minutes of listening to the brother’s complaints about his wife, the old preacher simply replied, “Love her.” Astounded, the husband asked if he was even listening to what he had said. The old preacher nodded and again replied, “Love her.” The brother began again in protest claiming that it was impossible to love his wife because nothing ever made her happy and she was a bitter and ungrateful woman that did not deserve to have a husband such as himself. The old preacher kindly put his hand on the husband’s shoulder and with a gentle, soothing voice he thrice replied, “Love her.” Defeated, the brother decided to cease pleading his case and returned home to his wife. A year later, the husband returned eagerly seeking the old preacher once again. When he found him, he embraced the old preacher in his arms and began to sob. The old preacher inquired about what was wrong and the husband explained the reason for his tears. After he left that day to return home, the words “love her” kept gnawing at the back of his mind because he wanted to know what he was supposed to learn from this advice. So he made a decision; he would change the way he reacted to his wife’s actions. Instead of arguing back, he would listen and try to bring calm to the situation. If she was in need of anything, he would make sure he would get it for her so she would not find herself in that need. If she would fall ill, he would nurse her back to health so that she would see how much he truly loved and cared for her. The husband explained that as he began to make these changes, she began to change as well. She began being more considerate of him and became more aware of his needs. She began to change with him. The husband then replied to the old preacher that he now understood that the answer was not abandoning his wife, but understanding that the one who loves first can teach the other how to love also. The old preacher smiled and congratulated the brother on being able to rescue not only his marriage, but also his sister in Christ from the misery of indifference. To your godliness, add brotherly love. It is true that in most of the English translations of the Holy Scriptures it reads brotherly kindness. However, the original Greek word used here by the apostle Peter better explains the purpose of why it is preceded by godliness. The original manuscripts of the bible contain the Greek word philadelphia. Due to the popularity of the American city with the same name, it has become common to associate this Greek word with the coined phrase “the city of brotherly love” since that is what philadelphia means (Strong, G5360). The word is a combination of the words philos (dear; act. fond) and adelphos (a brother [from the womb]) (Strong, G5384, G80). With this revelation, it is easy to see how Joseph, Jacob’s son, exemplifies his brotherly love when he was established as governor of Egypt by Pharaoh and received his brothers during the great famine (Genesis 42:25). Where they despised and hated him, Joseph loved and cared for them. Where they sold him into slavery to rid themselves of him, he found a way to insure that they would return to Egypt with his younger sibling Benjamin so that he would be reunited with his family once more. His love for his father and his brothers gave him the power to overcome any desire of revenge that could have been present. Let us bring to memory that the reason Joseph reached such an admirable position of power in a foreign country was because Pharaoh acknowledged that there was no “man in whom the Spirit of God is” in all of Egypt (Genesis 41:38-46). It was Joseph’s godliness that allowed him to be deemed worthy to rule Egypt as it’s governor; but it was his brotherly love that made him a righteous man before God. Perhaps, it was a difficult task ridding himself of any vengeful thought or wrathful sentiment toward his envious and jealous brothers; but it is incredible to witness through Divine Scripture how this wonderful man of God was able to justify the wisdom behind the proverb that states, “He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends” (Proverbs 17:9). Anyone may argue that Joseph was in the perfect position to attain justice for the injustice he was served by the hands of his brothers. However, this man foreshadowed the Master in curing his brother’s envy with his love. Our Lord teaches us that we must be willing to become our brother’s keeper (John 15:13). Joseph became his brother’s keeper when he chose to feed them during a time of famine and not execute them over a past transgression. As the apostle Paul puts it, Joseph chose to repay the curse he received with a blessing of his own (Romans 12:14, 17-21). Peter and Paul teach us that true godliness can only become manifest if our brotherly love is “without hypocrisy” (1st Peter 1:22, Romans 12:9). This is why the Master put Himself as the example to follow when it comes to our love for one another (John 15:12). It is curious to note, however, that for the Greeks there are several ways to describe different kinds of love. In their quest for creating a precise language, it has been said that there are four different words they used for describing the different genres of love. Philadelphia, or brotherly love, is only one type of love man is able to reach. As we continue our ascend up this spiritual Everest, the peak begins to come into view. Closer and closer we reach what the apostle Peter has set as the very top of this mountain. It is interesting to see that Peter saw it best to train us in at least two different ways to love. Even more so, that it is love that we must conquer to reach the level of expert mountaineer and leave behind the title of novice. As we have seen very often through this journey, Paul is in complete agreement of Peter’s categorization of love as the peak of this Everest since he believes that it is “the greatest of” all (1st Corinthians 13:13). To be continued…
