Question: Is there a Bible passage that refers to Christ as our older brother? If so, can you explain what that relationship with Christians is/will be?

Thanks!

Mario

Answer: Dear Mario,

There are no passages, to my knowledge, that explicitly tell us that Jesus is our brother. To specifically refer to Jesus as our elder brother, without definition and clarification, fails to acknowledge him as the One and Only – Unique (John 1). Of course, he was the brother of James, but even in that relationship the technical term would be half brother.

To refer to him as "our elder brother" and claim Biblical support, one must have reference to the fact that we are joint heirs with him (Romans. 8:17 – being co or joint heirs in terms of present suffering and future glory), that we will be like him (1 John 3:2), and that Jesus, in his resurrection body, represents the firstfruits of those who are dead in Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20).

But, we must be careful to remember that Jesus is the son of God by nature – very God – and that we are the children of God by adoption. We are given eternal life by God’s grace, but Jesus, as the second person of the Godhead is God in and through eternity. We will be given immortality and our bodies will be glorified, like Jesus, but he is the Alpha and Omega, knowing neither beginning nor end. We have a beginning, and only by God’s grace will we inhabit eternity.

In short, unless we understand and modify the term, "elder brother" can assume too much on our part, and fail to recognize Jesus as God, as Priest, King, Prophet, Lion of Judah, Lamb of God, Savior, Redeemer, Chief Shepherd of our souls, Advocate, Intercessor, Judge, Prince of Peace, etc. etc. Only by grace can we know him, and be known by him, but the good news is that he wants to know us, and live his life within us!

In His precious name,

Greg Albrecht