The OT and NT alike use only one word for ' brethren ' (o'nx and dSeXepoi respectiveljO> ancl trust to its flexibility to express every needed shade of meaning. d5eX06s is of great frequency (about 40 times in Mt. and still oftener in Acts). In the Gospels the literal use predominates ; in the Acts and Epistles various metaphorical uses. Tlie literal use is especially clear in Mt lO^i 12^« 13''' 22^5, but Mt. tends more than any other Gospel to a metaphorical sense ; cf. 5^-^- ^^-"^ 12*-5o 18^^ 23^ 25^° 28"*, to which only Lk 8'-' 17" provide even a partial parallel. The 'brother' intended is especially
160 BEETHEEl^" OF THE LOED
BKOTHERLY LOVE
one's fellow-Christian, and Mt. in this way leads over from the Gospels to the rest of the NT, much of which is, however, chronologically earlier.
d5e\(p6s in the purely family sense (see (1) above) occurs in Ac 12^ Gal 1^^ 1 Co 9^ and perhaps 2 Co 818 12^8 (A. Souter in ExpT xviii. [190G-07] 285). In its second sense it occurs in Ro 9^ (cf . Ac 22^' ^ 231. 5. 6^ yvheve St. Paul is addressing Jews). Usually, however, ' the brethren ' (cf. ddeXcpoT-rj?, ' the brother- hood ' [1 P 2'^ 5^]) means the Christian community (e.g. Ac 1'^), and this is much more definitely marked off from non-Christians than in jNlt. (cf. 1 Co 5" 6^7^^; the whole spirit of Gal., especially the privileged ' household of the faith,' G^" ; and the alienation from ' the world ' in Jn. and 1 Jn. ).
dde\(f>6s was common at this time in the Greek East as meaning ' member of a community ' (see Deissmann, Bible Studies, Eng. tr,, 1901, p. 82f., Light from the Ancient East'^, do., 1911, p. 107), but it would be a mistake to minimize on that account its fervent tone in the NT, or its import- ance as suggesting a fulfilment of such words of Jesus as Jn 13^^ concerning mutual love. This love is a command (Jn 13^^), a fundamental thing taught directly by God (1 Th 4«), a test of living or not living in God (1 Jn 3" 41-). Denney in HDB (art. 'Brotherly Love') points out that it found expression in two special ways — hospitality and care for persecuted Christians. The word 'bre- thren ' is continually used in exhortation and appeal, sometimes strengthened by dyaTTTjToi (' be- loved'), as in 1 Co 15'^'*; or Kal eTrnrodrjToi ('and longed for ') may further be added (Ph 4'). Again, brethren are called tticttos (' faithful ' or ' believing '), as Col P 49, or dyios ('holy'), as Col 1^ He 3^ Frequently 'brother' has a pathetic tone (1 Co 8'i, Philem 7. iti.2u^ 2 Th 3^^ Ja 2^^). It is often a humble or a humbling word (Gal y^6\ Ph 3i», 1 Th 5-^ 2 Th 31). In Ac 9" 22^3, 1 Co IG^^ (see Com- mentaries) it breathes a fine magnanimity. Gal 6^* is noteworthy in that this most fiery of St. Paul's letters is the only one which has ' brothers ' as its closing note. C. H. Watkins.
BRETHREN OF THE LORD.— See James, Ep, of.
BRIDE, BRIDEGROOM.— See artt. Family and Marriage.
BRIMSTONE.— Brimstone (eeiov)* or sulphur, is scientifically one of the most important of the non-metallic elements, widely distributed in the mineral world, sometimes pure, and sometimes chemically combined with other elements, forming sulphates and sulphides. It is found in greatest abundance in volcanic regions, and is extensively employed in arts and manufactures. Most of what is used in modern Europe is obtained from Sicily, which finds therein one of the sources of its wealth. The ancients used brimstone for ordinary fumi- gations and especially for religious purifications.
'Briiijc hither fire, and hitlier sulphur bring To purge the palace '
(Homer, Od. xxii. 481 f.).
In the Graeco-Roman period the hot sulpliur springs of Palestine, on botli sides of the Dead Sea, at Tiberias, and in the valley of the Yarumk, were used medicinally. At the direction of his physicians, Herod tlie Great 'went beyond the river Jordan, and bathed himself in the warm baths that were at Callirrhoe, which, besides their other general virtues, were also fit to drink ' (Jos. A^it. XVII. vi. 5). But the biblical meaning, which is invariably
* Beiov is a word of uncertain etj-mology. It may be the neut. of 9etos and mean Divine incense, from the supposed purifying and contagion-preventing virtue of burning sulphur ; but Curlius allies it with eOiu and J'umus. Brimstone is the O.E. ' brenston ' and Scot. ' bruntstane.'
determined by Gn 19-'', reflects the ideas of a pre- scientific age, in which the commercial value and domestic utility of brimstone were unsuspected, while electric currents and their sulphurous fumes were regarded as indications of the wrath of heaven. ' Fire and brimstone and a burning wind ' (Ps IP), 'an overflowing shower, and great hail- stones, fire, -and brimstone' (Ezk 38-^), were not the mere symbols, but the actual media of Divine judgment. The association of lightning and brimstone was wide-spread and persistent, the ozonic odour which accompanies electric discharges being ascribed to the presence of sulpliur. ' Ful- mina, fulguraquoque,' says Pliny, ' sulf uris odorem habent, ac lux ipsa eorum sulfurea est' [HN XXXV. 1. [15]). 'Sulfur aethereum' (Lucan, vii. 160) and 'sulfur sacrum' (Pers. ii. 25) are synonyms for lightning, and Shakespeare's 'stones of sulphur' are thunderbolts.