What is a false brother? That’s what Paul calls those Jews in the church in Jerusalem who insisted that Gentiles become Jews in order to become genuine children of Abraham. Paul’s response was a firm “No!” But what does he mean when he calls them “false brothers.”
Some translations read, “false believers,” and it’s easy to think that. But, the literal translation is “false brothers.” Think about it. These guys were on the inside. They weren’t unbelieving Jews who had rejected Messiah. They were Jewish Christians who continued to believe what they had been taught all their lives that Gentiles had to become Jews in order to be true Sons of Abraham.
By the way, did you know that Jews in that day never referred to “daughters of Abraham.” Jesus did. When he healed the woman who had been sick with an issue of blood for twelve years, he called her a “daughter of Abraham.”
Anyway, as I shared in yesterday’s podcast when Gentiles began to trust Jesus Messiah in great numbers, the question arose - Do they still need to become sons of Abraham? Do they still need to adopt Jewish customs and ways? That question was ultimately settled at the Jerusalem Council, and the clear answer was “no.”
But until that issue was settled officially, there was a lot of debate about it. Jews especially had a hard time adjusting to this new way of seeing and treating Gentiles. And when Paul refers to these Jews as false family members, what he is saying is they’re not on board with the family of God. He goes on in Galatians to tell the Gentiles in the churches there that they are indeed children of Abraham. They are spiritual children and no less a part of God’s great family than their Jewish brothers and sisters.
This same attitude is often seen in the church today. I share in the podcast about some of the hardliners in my early years at Seoul International Baptist Church who insisted that to be a part of our church family, everyone needed to be baptized (by immersion). But in our church of multiple Christian denominations and traditions, I refused to make non-Baptist become Baptists in order to be fully accepted into the church.
To be sure, this was a unique situation. There weren’t English-speaking churches for many of our non-Baptist members. It’s a little different back in the States. But the fact is that wherever Christian brothers and sisters insist that belonging mandates a specific form of baptism or a name on some membership role, we find people who don’t understand what it means to be in the family of God.
For we are all baptized by one Spirit into one body, Paul says in I Corinthians. I will always encourage new believers to be baptized, and I’m always willing to baptize a believer who seeks immersion baptism after years of faithful service to the Lord, but it’s no longer a barrier to church family membership in fellowships I lead.
One of my favorite baptisms was of a two-star general and former Air Force Thunderbird pilot who was a Lutheran. He remained Lutheran, but when he shot up from the water after I baptized him, he gave a fist pump, and the congregation exploded with applause. But his baptism didn’t make him a member of our fellowship; he had already been a vital part of the ministry of our church long before he asked to be baptized.
As strongly as we believe and follow certain practices and traditions in our churches, we need to learn to be less rigid in our fellowship and relationships with other believers who differ. I’ve said that part of the reason I began Church on the Edge was that we often let the institution of church guide us instead of relying on the Spirit of Christ.
Let’s learn to be respectful and flexible while being faithful to God’s call in each of our lives.
In Christ,
Dan
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