Wierwille, V.P.-The Lords Brethren and Sons of God
The Lord’s Brethren and Sons of God
Another Study in Abundant Living by VICTOR PAUL WIERWILLE This book is in the public domain. For more teachings by V. P. Wierwille, E. W. Bullinger and others, go to: www.eternallyblessed.org The Scripture used throughout this study is quoted from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Any explanatory insertions by the author within a Scripture verse are enclosed in brackets [ ].
Before we study the minute accuracy of the Word of God regarding the Lord’s Brethren I want to give you the historical background to the question. By 300 A.D. there were two great and influential schools in Western Christianity. By Western Christianity I mean that entire area West of the river Euphrates which was under Roman rulership. One school was in Antioch in Asia Minor where Aramaic was the language spoken, while the other school was in Alexandria, Egypt, where Greek was the language.
Nestorius was a graduate of the school at Antioch and he was appointed chaplin to the emperor in Constantinople. Nestorius with all Christendom of the East (East of the River Euphrates) who had the original Scriptures in Aramaic, believed that Mary was the mother of Jesus our Lord and not the mother of God.
Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, proposed a new doctrine which appealed to pagans very much, namely, that Mary was the mother of God. The reason that this appealed to the pagans who became Christian is because their gods had mothers, fathers, sisters and some of them had wives and even concubines. This proposed doctrine that Mary was the mother of God became such a controversy in the Roman Empire because basically there was a political controversy as to which city, Constantinople or Alexandria, was the most prominent and influential. The Alexandrian Bishop argued that since no Apostle (of the original twelve) had ever gone to Constantinople, but that Philip had come to Alexandria, therefore, Alexandria should be considered the more authentic in matters dealing with spiritual truth.
Cyril, Bishop of Alexandria, was a pagan who became a Christian. In his background he had Isis, Osaris and Horas plus other gods.
Nestorius considered Cyril’s doctrine that Mary was the mother of God, a dangerous heresy and the quarrel that ensued split the whole empire.
Because of this controversy the emperor called a general council of all bishops to meet in Ephesus in 431 A.D. The European bishops came by sea, they came by ships from Greece, Rome, Spain and Alexandria. The Eastern bishops, however, had to come by land and the roads were difficult so they arrived late for the meeting. Thus, before Nestorius’ group of bishops arrived the other Bishops of the West had met and condemned Nestorius’ position. So the Western empire was split.
I want you to remember that this controversy took place in the Roman empire, including everything West of the river Euphrates, not East of the Euphrates in the Persian empire. The Christians in Persia and those in Syria, Asia Minor, Antioch and Jerusalem continued to believe with Nestorius, even after the general council in 431 at Ephesus, that Mary was the mother of the Lord but not the mother of God. This controversy continued in the Eastern Roman empire until Justinian the emperor issued an ultimatum stating that any Christian who does not accept the virgin Mary as a goddess and the mother of God should be killed. Thousands of Christians were killed by order of the emperor and more thousands escaped to Iran where the Persian government was hospitable and gave them sanctuary. This controversy has never been reconciled even to this day and the position of Cyril, the Alexandrian bishop, was carried over into the Western World via the Roman Catholic Church for which this doctrinal teaching of Mary, the mother of God, was most fitting because of the pagan gods that were so influential in the Rome area. The matter of the Lord’s brethren would never have been questioned in the Occident had it not been for the corruption which crept into Christian churches via the Roman Catholic teaching which challenged the authenticity of the Sacred Scripture records, namely, of elevating Mary from the position of "Handmaid of the Lord" Luke 1:38 to the exalted THEOTOKOS, mother of God. The Roman Catholic Church’s position of authority is so divergent, from the Protestants, that an agreement is impossible. In the Roman Catholic faith the highest authority for its adherents is the Pope, next the tradition of the church and finally The Bible. For Protestants the only rule of faith and practice is the Bible. So each person must decide for himself if The Bible is the Word of God supreme, over and beyond all traditions and the voice of any man or not. If the Bible is the Word of God then it must of necessity be the will of God, and truth undeniable regarding the brethren of the Lord also.
It is the Egyptian pagan deity Isis who had a divine son known as Horus, IT was propounded, that as Isis was still a virgin after Horus was born so Mary was also a virgin after Jesus was born. Furthermore, it was advocated as a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that Mary had no children other than Jesus our Lord and that His brothers and sisters were the children of Joseph by a former wife or that they were the Lord’s cousins, children of Mary the wife of Cleophas. That Joseph was an old man or married previously before he was married to Mary finds not one "iota" of substantiation in the sacred Scriptures. Had Joseph had older sons, by a former marriage, then the Lord Jesus’ legal rights to the throne of David would have been invalidated. The Roman Catholic Prelate, Jerome, advocated and propounded the "cousin" theory. In reference to this theory, and please note it was only a theory, the word "brother" is used in The Bible in the following ways only:
1. As children of the same parent or parents.
2. As descents of the same common stock, (Abraham as forefather: Acts 7:23,25.) 3. As fellow-man. Matthew 7:3-5; 18 :15.
4. As spiritual children. Acts 9:17; Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:11. In the Bible passages where "The Lord’s Brethren" are referred to, Matthew 12:46,47; 13:55; Mark 3:31; Luke 8:19; John 7:3,5,10; Acts 1:14; I Corinthians 9:5; and Galatians 1:19, only number one above can be applied. Had these brothers and sisters been "cousins" only, the Greek word used would have been sungenes as it is used in Mark 6:4; Luke 1:36,58; 2:44; 14:12; 21:16; John 18:26; Acts 10:24; and Romans 9:3; 16:7,11,21, where it is translated "kinsman", "kinsfolk" or "kin" with the exception of Luke 1:36,58 where it is translated "cousin".
According to Matthew 13:55 our Lord Jesus Christ had four brothers, half brothers as we would call them—same mother but different father. Jesus Christ was the Son of God, by way of Mary, but conceived by The Holy Spirit. James, Joses, Simon and Judas. Furthermore, He had at least three sisters, "His sisters are they not all with us?" Had there been just two sisters the word used would have been both instead of all. The Lord Jesus was Mary’s "firstborn" (Matthew 1:25; Luke 2:7), not "only born" or only "begotten". The word "firstborn" automatically implies "second born" or "later born" children. He was as the Scriptures clearly state the "firstborn" of Mary but the "only begotten of the Father". The word "first born" which in the Greek is PROTOTKOS the meaning of which can be easily ascertained is used only in the above two passages and in Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:15,18: Hebrews 1:6; 11:28; and 12:23 and Revelation 1:5. Had Jesus Christ been Mary’s only son the Greek word they would have used would have been MONOGENES which occurs in Luke 7:12; 8:42; 9:38; John 1:14,18; 3:16,18; I John 4:9; and Hebrews 11:17.
Thus when all the Biblical data is in hand we are left with a plain answer. The Word of God is the will of God, meaning what it says and saying what it means. Regarding the Lord’s brethren we know that He had four — James, Joses, Simon and Judas and that He had at least three sisters, whose names are not given. Beyond this we know nothing but that which would be speculation or theorizing and that is not good enough when dealing with spiritual matters of eternal weight and glory.
SONS OF GOD and DAUGHTERS OF MEN The sons of God in Genesis 6 form the difficulty and are referred to by leading theologians and clergymen as being angels. The "daughters of men" being the daughters of human beings living upon the earth. Out of that cohabitation between angels and humans came the race of giants who are called in the Hebrew "Nephilim".
It is always an error on the part of man when he takes the Scripture and endeavours to read into it what he thinks because there is a very simple principle about the Word of God that no man need to be ignorant regarding the Bible. The Word of God was given by holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and no Scripture is of any private interpretation. When a person is cursed of God he is no longer in the fellowship of God. When a man is cursed of God he is an unbeliever, he is unrighteous before God, he is outside of the fold. In I John 3:12 it says that Cain was of the seed of the devil. That is why his offering was not accepted and he was accursed of God.
Look at Genesis 4:14, "Behold thou hast driven me (Cain talking) out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid;..." Cain was an unbeliever, one who was absolutely unrighteous. That is why he says "...and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth;..." Look at the 16th verse, "And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord,..." Thus Cain represents all the unbelievers in the Bible. (I am speaking now of Old Testament times.) He represents those who are God denying, God rejecting, God hating; those who, when they could, killed the men of God. In other words, Cain represents unsaved sinful man. On the other hand, Seth was the accepted of God. It says in Genesis 4:26, "And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord. " Seth and his son Enos were God fearing men. Abel was righteous before God, but Abel had been killed by Cain, so the only line left in the world was the Cain line, the unbelievers, the devil’s children by nature and life until Seth was born.
Seth and Enos represent the believers, the called of God, the righteous ones. If you will follow through in your Bible the 5th chapter of Genesis, you will find that to Enos there was born a man by the name of Cainan and then to Cainan was born a man by the name of Mahalaleel. The next in line was a man by the name of Jared. These are all righteous men, all believers. Then there was born according to 5:24, a man by the name of Enoch, "And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him." What the principle of God was in taking him, nobody knows because the Bible doesn’t tell. But we know that Enoch was a great man of God. He walked with God. To Enoch was born Methuselah, the oldest man that ever lived, and to Methuselah was born a man by the name of Lamech, and to Lamech was born a man by the name of Noah. It says in the 8th verse of the 6th chapter, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." But before that scripture comes that first section of the 8th chapter, where it says, "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." The sons of God came out of the Seth line, the righteous ones, those whose offerings were accepted. The daughters of men came out of the line of Cain, the unbelievers, the God rejecting. So when people began to multiply upon the face of the earth; the sons and the daughters of Cain and the sons and the daughters of Seth (Enos, Cainan, Jared, Enoch, etc. ), the sons of God (believers) got married to the daughters of men (unbelievers). There were no angels involved in it at all. One group was righteous before God because they believed God. The other group was unrighteous because they did not believe God. Cain and his line represent the unbelievers and Seth and his line represent the believers. The Seth descendants are called the sons of God, who got married to the Cain descendants who are called the daughters of men.
There are two ways of having a son in the world even today: You can have a son by adoption or you can have a son by birth. A son by adoption is one whom you adopt into your family. A son by birth is one who has your seed in him. In the Old Testament no one was a son of God with seed in him, because Christ Jesus, the Bible says in the New Testament, was the "firstborn among many brethren". To be born again is to have the seed of Christ born within you, the nature of God, eternal life spirit born within. In the Old Testament the sons of God refers to those whom God adopted. He adopted them, they didn’t have any seed in them. God in His mercy and His grace saw their believing faith. "...Noah found grace in the sight of God." Noah found divine favor because he believed God. Turn to Romans 9:4, "Who are the Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;" To whom pertaineth the adoption? — to the Israelites. Turn to Hebrews the 11th chapter and begin reading with the 33rd verse. This chapter gives the believers blood line in the Old Testament. The word "faith" in Hebrews 11 must be changed to "believing". The type of "faith" in this 11th chapter was believing action. They believed the promise of God. They believed in God and to that extent they had so called, "faith". "Who through ’believing’ subdued kingdoms, wrought righteous-ness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through ’believing’ received not the promise:"
All these men, because of what they believed, accomplished these things we read about in the Bible, but they received not the promise. They could not receive Jesus Christ for Jesus Christ had not yet been given. They looked forward to the cross. Jesus said of David, "He saw my day". Even though David lived hundreds of years before Jesus came. He saw "the day", to the extent that he believed in the coming of the Holy One. So as they believed in what God promised they were accounted righteous. They were adopted as sons. God adopted them.
Now you and I as we look back and look at the cross we are made righteous, but our righteousness is not in the form of an adoption, it is in the form of the birth of the seed of Christ within. There is the difference. Now if you will take your Bibles and turn to Exodus 4:22 I will share some of these with you from the Word of God. "And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:" Israel represents the believers in the Old Testament days. "...Israel", Jacob "is my son,..." The people represent the believers line — the sons of God. All unbelievers are represented by the daughters of men. Deuteronomy 14:1, 2, "Ye are the children of the Lord your God:... For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth." Here he is talking to the children of Israel, the believers, those who represent Him and His will. Turn to Deuteronomy 32:8, 9, "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." God adopted them and that is why they are called "the sons of God" in the Old Testament. Every Israelite who believed in God, was adopted of Him.
Turn to II Samuel 7:14, talking about Solomon, God says, "I will be his father, and he shall be my son". Again, you all know, Solomon was in the blood line of believers. You will find this same reference in I Chronicles 17:13; 22:10.
Turn to Jeremiah 31:9, "They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk on the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn." God was a father to Israel by adoption. That is why all the believers of the Old Testament represent the "sons of God".
If you will turn to Numbers the 33rd chapter you will find what God says His people are to do. Verses 50 to 55, "And the Lord spake unto Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan; Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places: And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it. And ye shall divide the land by lot for an inheritance among your families: and to the more ye shall give the more inheritance, and to the fewer ye shall give the less inheritance: every man’s inheritance shall be in the place where his lot falleth; according to the tribes of your fathers ye shall inherit." Why did he tell them to cast down their high idols? Why did he tell them to do those things? Because they represented the unbelievers, and God’s people were a peculiar people. They were the righteous ones and they were supposed to get rid of the things that belonged to the unbeliever. Verse 55, "But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell".
If the believers would let any of the unbelieving people remain in the land, their believing sons would get married to daughters of the unbelievers. Thus they would have the same story over again; the sons of God marrying the daughters of men. The unbelievers would again be "pricks in their eyes and thorns in their sides". But you know, those people were just like so many people today, they wouldn’t believe a thing God said and they got married to unbelievers any way. That is exactly what caused the down fall of the Children of Israel. But a few remained loyal like in the days of Noah — Noah and his wife and their three sons and their wives — eight of them. That is all that were saved. All the rest were unbelievers. Sometimes you may think you are hoeing a hard row, you are the only one who stands faithful. Think of the days of Noah! God did such an unusual thing — He told him to build a ship on dry land, there wasn’t even a little old ripple in the creek next to the place. He told Noah to build a big old boat 562 feet and 6 inches long, around 98 feet and 6 inches wide and 56 feet and 3 inches high. How would you have felt to build a big ship like that on dry ground, far away from a body of water. What do you think the neighbors said? They laughed at Noah and everything he did, but Noah was obedient unto the Lord and he built the ship according to God’s Word. Noah found grace in God’s sight because he believed the Word and acted on it. There wasn’t any sense in acting on it either, but Noah did it anyways. There are a lot of things in this Bible that do not make sense. But if you act on the Word, God will prove to you that the Word is true. But you see, people just don’t act upon the Word of God. Noah was accounted righteous because He acted on the Word of God. It is believing in the Word of God that makes you righteous—believing the Word of God, acting on it.
Just a few more scriptures, II Corinthians 6:17, "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you". I used to wonder where that Scripture passage fit. Then I began working on this message, and putting all these scriptures together. I found from the Old Testament that God said that His people, Israel, to whom He was a father, were a peculiar people unto him. They were a separated people unto Him. So in the New Testament we have discovered that those who are God’s people are a separate people. You who are born again are a peculiar people to Him, because He has called you. In the Old Testament they were adopted as sons, but in the New Testament it is seed born within. It is eternal life, the nature of God that is born within and we are then sons of God, not by adoption, but by birth. And being sons by birth, we have a right to what the Father has promised us, even as the Old Testament saints looking forward to the Cross believed God and had a right to what God had promised them. In Galatians 4:7 it says, "Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Now if the believers in the Old Testament days did what Hebrews 11 says they did, then you being a son of God, being born of His Spirit having eternal life, may certainly not do less than an adopted son did.
I John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is". Now we are the sons of God by way of the spiritual birth, which is Christ in us the hope of glory. As God’s children we are the Lord’s brethren, for He was the first born of many brethren (Romans 8:29) and therefore we are "heirs" of God and "joint-heirs" with Christ. (Romans 8:17).