Who Is My Brother

[HoneyLamb56]

Ray had written an article wherein he talked about "who is my brother?"; maybe someone can direct me.

The reason I want to reread it is because of  1 Cor. 5:9  "I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people" & 1 Cor 5:10 "I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world etc.... since then you would need to go out of the world".

1 Cor. 5:11 "But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater etc.....not even to eat with such a person".

So in this day and age who is considered a brother?  One can say they believe in God and think they are by today's standard considered a "christian" whether they attend a physical church or not.  I do not attend a church or have friends that believe as I do, so how do I determine who is a brother?  IMO the above verses mean to me that everyone I have contact with is in the world and not a brother; a person can have morals etc. and not be believers.  So is it the person who professes to love God who is a brother but does these things?

Diane

[AwesomeSavior]

Hi Diane:

The Bible is written primarily for God's Elect who are undergoing His Judgment at this time. All the rest of mankind will be judged later in The Lake of Fire.

Understanding this, when Paul wrote 1 Corinthians and he mentions "anyone named a brother", he is referring to anyone who infers that they one of God's chosen few. Therefore, Paul is warning not to fellowship with someone who says they have been called out of Mystery Babylon and her ways, and yet they are practicing sin and are unrepentant about that sin. We are to "deliver such a one unto Satan" for their destruction (1 Corinthians 5:5).

I'll give you a perfect example of this situation. There used to be someone who was a member of this message board, who seemed very knowledgeable about the things of God, and yet was (and as far as I know, still is) living a lascivious lifestyle, and trying to use the Bible to justify it. God is warning us not to fellowship with these people because of their ability to seduce the more weak brethren with their corrupt ways. The whole book of Jude is a great example of why we should avoid fellowshipping with such people.

Dean

[lareli]

If you love your neighbor as yourself, Id probably consider you a brother or sister.

[Dennis Vogel]

Ray has a good talk that includes loving your neighbor:  https://youtu.be/PT7CANf88VY