One of the more fascinating offerings of history is the record of what earlier pagan Romans thought of this new group of people who called themselves Christians. Many of the Romans’ impressions of the Christians have been preserved and they offer very interesting insights. In general, we might say the Romans were shocked by many Christian beliefs and ways of living. Historian Larry Hurtado points to the words of Lucian of Samosata, a satirist from the late 2^nd century, about Christians as a good example. Here is what Lucian, a pagan, had to say about the Christians.

The poor wretches have convinced themselves, first and foremost, that they are going to be immortal and live for all time, in consequence of which they despise death and even willingly give themselves into custody, most of them. Furthermore, their first lawgiver [Jesus] persuaded them that they are all brothers of one another after they have transgressed once for all by denying the Greek gods and by worshipping that crucified sophist himself and living under his laws.[1]

This is most interesting. Among the beliefs and behaviors that Lucian found strange were:

• The Christian belief in eternal life.
• The Christian disregard for death
• The Christian rejection of all other gods but Jesus.
• The Christian veneration of the crucified Christ
• The Christian adherence to the way of Jesus.
• The Christian belief that followers of Jesus somehow form a new family.

His wording is telling: Jesus “persuaded them that they are all brothers of one another.” Lucian says this scoffingly as if these poor, deluded Christians have been duped into a new conception of family that is purely fictional.

In general, I would like to say that Lucian offers a pretty good description of the Christian faith, whatever his motive, intent, and tone were. We do indeed believe that once you reject all other gods and come to Jesus in faith you are bound together with all other followers of Jesus into a new family, that you do indeed become brothers and sisters of one another.

Joseph Hellerman did a study of the letters of Paul in the New Testament and discovered that Paul makes 139 references to “brothers” in relation to the members of the churches. That is 139 references to “brothers” in 13 letters.[2] The New Testament is fairly saturated with this idea: the church is a family.

Jesus came to create a new and authentic family.

Before we consider entry into the family of God and the character of the family of God, let us establish that Jesus did in fact come to create a new and authentic family.

Even before the earthly ministry of Jesus began, John the Baptist was heralding that an over-reliance on biology and blood could blind us to the reality of what God was doing. In Luke 3 we find John saying this:

⁸ Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

In other words, your ethnicity, your family of origin, your ancestry can only take you so far. You are not better than others by virtue of being born into the right family. You are not worse than others by virtue of being born into the wrong family. What really matters is whether or not you are in the family of God.

When we survey what Jesus said about family, the fact of His coming to create a new and authentic family becomes abundantly clear! For instance, in Mark 3, we read:

³¹ And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him.³² And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” ³³ And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

Here we find:

• the downplaying of blood kin and
• the exalting of the family of God

Family is quite literally redefined here by Jesus. Let me be clear: none of this is to downplay the joy and significance of your earthly family. Thank you Lord for our earthly families, for our moms and dads! The scriptures tell us to honor our fathers and mothers. Furthermore, in 1 Timothy 5, Paul writes:

⁸ But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

So, yes, the scriptures clearly do value your birth family or the family that raised you. It would be odd indeed to accept Jesus as Lord and then suddenly love your family less! What the scriptures are talking about is a new reality and a new perspective. It is also talking about not idolizing your family and not putting them before the Lord and the family of God. Jesus came to create a new and authentic family out of the many families of the earth and the bond of this authentic family is stronger than genetics and blood: it is the blood of Jesus Christ, fully God and fully man, crucified and risen and coming again!

This helps us understand why Jesus sometimes said very surprising things about families! For instance, in Matthew 8, we read:

²¹ Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” ²² And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”

Well, my goodness! Why would Jesus say such a thing? Is it a bad thing for a son to go bury his father? No. But in this context, Jesus knew that the man was using his father’s (a) death or (b) coming death maybe years later (i.e., the text does not say the father was actually dead!) to avoid an immediate and total commitment. The man was putting his family and his familial duties between him and Jesus.

In Matthew 23, Jesus is speaking of the Pharisees and scribes and their pretentiousness and love of titles. In this context, He says:

⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. ⁹ And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

Is the point that referring to your earthly father as “father” is a sin? No. Again, we are told to honor our “fathers” and mothers. Rather, these were people who were lost in their titles and Jesus was shocking them into a recognition of the new reality: that, ultimately, we only have one who is worthy to be called Father!

In Matthew 6, when the disciples ask Jesus how to pray, this redefined authentic family comes out of the very first words Jesus offers in His model prayer:

⁹ Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”

Our Father! The Father of the one family of God!

Family is redefined in Jesus! He came to create a new authentic family! Theologian Stanley Grenz wrote, “According to the Bible, God’s ultimate desire is to create from all nations a reconciled people living within a renewed creation and enjoying the presence of the Triune God.”[3]

Yes! This is most certainly true!

Entry into this authentic family is by being born again.

If Jesus came to establish a new family, how does one gain entry into this family? To answer this, we might ask this question: How did you become a part of your biological family? Answer: You were born into it.

Then how does one who was born enter into this new authentic family of God? Answer: You are born again. Jesus made this abundantly clear in John 3 when speaking to a Pharisee named Nicodemus.

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

So we must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God. That is, we must be saved. Peter will echo this sentiment and note that being born again is a work of God that leads to a most amazing inheritance! In 1 Peter 1, Peter writes:

³ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you

The family of God is characterized here and now by the power of the risen Christ and “the living hope” that it brings. We have an inheritance in heaven that is being “kept” for us, and it will never end: “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” That inheritance is eternal life!

Tellingly, in 1 Peter 1, we are told that we can and should now “love one another earnestly from a pure heart” because we “have been born again.”

²² Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, ²³ since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God

We are born into our biological families. We are born again into the family of God. To be born again is to be saved by the risen Christ “by grace through faith” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

Have you been born again? Have you trusted in Jesus?

This authentic family is to be marked by the community-forming and life-transforming character of Jesus Himself.

This authentic family that Jesus came to create—this family of people the world over who have been born again through the power of the risen Christ accepted by grace through faith—should therefore exhibit the character of the head of our new family: Christ Himself! We should look like what Jesus looks like!

And, at times, the church does indeed look like this. Consider the amazing picture of the early church we find in Acts 2.

⁴¹ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. ⁴² And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵ And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Authentic family! The family of God! Characterized by:

• A shared experience of salvation through Jesus Christ.
• Devotion to the Word of God.
• A commitment to fellowship.
• A sense of awe at the greatness and power of God.
• Spiritual power.
• Radical sharing and generosity.
• Consistent, shared worship.
• Care for those in need.
• A good reputation among “all the people.”
• Genuine growth.

What a family! The family of God! What a picture of life together!

Yes, the church often fails. This is because we do not follow Jesus as we should. But the church is called to be a radical community of love and kindness and generosity.

What are the greatest threats to the church being this kind of family? I would propose four things:

• radical American hyper-individualism (i.e., the belief that you and your interests must be greater than those of the body of Christ)
• consumerism (i.e., the belief that you are essentially a customer and the church is there to please you and meet your desires)
• the church as a marketplace (i.e., the belief that if we become unhappy we should simply shop around until we find something that makes us happy again)
• tribalism (i.e., the exaltation of our small circle within the church to the exclusion of the health and mission of the church at large)

Radical American hyper-individualism keeps us focused on us.

Consumerism keeps us from being truly on mission with the church.

The church as a marketplace short-circuits any possibility of us working through the problems and pain that can arise within relationships in the church.

Tribalism keeps us from connecting to those in the body of Christ with whom relationships might require some effort or cultivation. It essentially creates a lot of little churches within the church.

My point is not that you should not have friends or groups of friends with whom relationships are natural and easy and fun. Fine and good. My point is we must not allow our tribes to overshadow the whole: the community, the church, the family of God.

My call is for us to recognize that God is making us—all of us with all of our wonderful uniqueness and, yes, all of our strange idiosyncrasies—into a family. We are a blood-bought family. We will spend eternity together along with all those around the world and throughout time who have likewise called on the name of Jesus.

The church is a family.

An authentic family.

Around the whole gospel.

For the glory of God.

And the reaching of the nations.

 

[1] Hurtado, Larry. Why on Earth Did Anyone Become a Christian in the First Three Centuries?. (Milwaukee, WI: Marquette University Press, 2016), p.71–72.

[2] Hellerman, Joseph. When the Church Was a Family. (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2009), p.76.

[3] Quoted in Hellerman, Joseph, When the Church Was a Family, p.125.