ἀδελφός, (οῦ, ὁ (from ἆ copulative and δελφύς, from the same womb; cf. ἀγάστωρ) (from Homer down); 1. a brother (whether born of the same two parents, or only of the same father or the same mother): Mat_1:2; Mat_4:18, and often. That 'the brethren of Jesus,' Mat_12:46-47 (but WH only in marginal reading); f; Mar_6:3 (in the last two passages also sisters); Luk_8:19; Joh_2:12; Joh_7:3; Act_1:14; Gal_1:19; 1Co_9:5, are neither sons of Joseph by a wife married before Mary (which is the account in the Apocryphal gospels (cf. Thilo, Cod. Apocr. N. T. i. 362f)), nor cousins, the children of Alphaeus or Cleophas (i. e. Clopas) and Mary a sister of the mother of Jesus (the current opinion among the doctors of the church since Jerome and Augustine (cf. Lightfoot's Commentary on galatians, diss. ii.)), according to that use of language by which ἀδελφός like the Hebrew ΰΘη denotes any blood-relation or kinsman (Gen_14:16; 1Sa_20:29; 2Ki_10:13; 1Ch_23:2, etc.), but own brothers, born after Jesus, is clear principally from Mat_1:25 (only in R g); Luk_2:7 where, had Mary borne no other children after Jesus, instead of υἱόν πρωτότοκον, the expression υἱόν μονογενῆ would have been used, as well as from Act_1:14, cf. Joh_7:5, where the Lord's brethren are distinguished from the apostles. See further on this point under Ἰάκωβος, 3. (Cf. B. D. under the word ; Andrews, Life of our Lord, pp. 104-116; Bib. Sacr. for 1864, pp. 855-869; for 1869, pp. 745-758; Laurent, N. T. Studien, pp. 153-193; McClellan, note on Mat_13:55.) 2. according to a Hebrew use of ΰΘη (Exo_2:11; Exo_4:18, etc.), hardly to be met with in secular authors, having the same national ancestor, belonging to the same people, countryman; so the Jews (as the σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ, υἱοί Ἰσραήλ, cf. Act_13:26; (in Deu_15:3 opposed to ὁ ἀλλότριος, cf. Act_17:15; Act_15:12; Philo de septen. § 9 at the beginning)) are called ἀδελφοί: Mat_5:47; Act_3:22 (Deu_18:15); ; Rom_9:3; in address, Act_2:29; Act_3:17; Act_23:1; Heb_7:5. 3. just as in Lev_19:17 the word ΰΘη is used interchangeably with ψΕΗςΗ (but, as Lev_19:16; Lev_19:18 show, in speaking of Israelites), so in the sayings of Christ, Mat_5:22; Mat_5:24; Mat_7:3 ff, ἀδελφός is used for ὁ πλησίον to denote (as appears from Luk_10:29 ff) any fellow-man as having one and the same father with others, viz. god (Heb_2:11), and as descended from the same first ancestor (Act_17:26); cf. Epictetus diss. 1, 13, 3. 4. a fellow-believer, united to another by the bond of affection; so most frequently of Christians, constituting as it were but a single family: Mat_23:8; Joh_21:23; Act_6:3 (Lachmann omits); ; Gal_1:2; 1Co_5:11; Php_1:14, etc.; in courteous address, Rom_1:13; Rom_7:1; 1Co_1:10; 1Jn_2:7 Rec., and often elsewhere; yet in the phraseology of John it has reference to the new life unto which men are begotten again by the efficiency of a common father, even god: 1Jn_2:9 ff; ; etc., cf. 1Jn_5:1. 5. an associate in employment or office: 1Co_1:1; 2Co_1:1; 2Co_2:13(12); Eph_6:21; Col_1:1. 6. brethren of Christ is used of, a. his brothers by blood; see 1 above. b. all men: Mat_25:40 (Lachmann brackets); Heb_2:11 f (others refer these examples to d.) c. apostles: Mat_28:10; Joh_20:17. d. Christians, as those who are destined to be exalted to the same heavenly δόξα (which see, III. 4 b.) which he enjoys: Rom_8:29.

ἀδελφός adelphos 343x a brother, near kinsman or relative; one of the same nation or nature; one of equal rank and dignity; an associate, a member of the Christian community brother.

ἀδελφός , -οῦ , ὁ ( <ἀ - copul, δελφύς , womb), in cl ., a brother , born of the same parent or parents. [In LXX (Hort , Ja., 102 f .), for H251 ;] 1. lit, of a brother ( Gen_4:2 , al. ). 2. Of a neighbour ( Lev_19:17 ). 3. Of a member of the same nation ( Exo_2:14 , Deu_15:3 ). In NT in each of these senses (1. Mat_1:2 , al. ;) (2. Mat_7:3 ;) (3. Rom_9:3 ) and also, 4. of a fellow-Christian: 1Co_1:1 , Act_9:30 . This usage finds illustration in Papyri, where ἀ . is used of members of a pagan religious community ( M , Th ., I, 1:4; MM , VGT , s.v. ). The ἀδελφοὶ τ . Κυρίου ( Mat_12:46-49 Mat_13:55 Mat_28:10 , Mar_3:31-34 , Luk_8:19-21 , Joh_2:12 Joh_7:3 ; Joh_7:5 ; Joh_7:10 Joh_20:17 , Act_1:14 , 1Co_9:5 ) may have been sons of Joseph and Mary ( Mayor , Ja., Intr. vi ff .; DB , i, 320 ff .) or of Joseph by a former marriage ( Lft ., Gal., 252 ff .; DCG , i, 232 ff .), but the view of Jerome, which makes ἀ . equivalent to ἀνεψιός , is inconsistent with Greek usage. ( Cremer , 66.)

ἀδελφός [page 8] For the literal and the more general derived sense we may quote Syll 474 .10 ἀδελφοὶ οἷς κοινὰ τὰ πατρῷα , and 276 .26 διὰ τὸ Μεσσαλιήτας εἶναι ἡμῖν ἀδελ [φούς ]. In P Lond 421 (B.C. 168) ( = I. p. 30, Selections p. 9) Ἰσίας Ἡφαιστίωνι τῶι ἀδελφῶ [ι χαί (ρειν )], it seems probable that Isias is addressing her husband , not brother : see Kenyon s note ad l. where Letronne s statement that the Ptolemies called their wives ἀδελφαί even where they were not actually so is quoted. Witkowski Epp. .2 p. 61 maintains this against Wilcken, quoting Wilamowitz ( Gr. Lesebuch I. p. 397), and noting that Isias says ἡ μήτηρ σου , showing that Isias and Hephaestion were not children of the same mother. Cf. also P Par 45 and 48 (ii/B.C.) where men address with τῷ ἀδελφῷ χαίρειν men who are no relation to them. For the use of ἀδελφοί to denote members of the same religious community cf. P Tor I. 1 i. 20 (ii/B.C.) where the members of a society which had to perform a part of the ceremony of embalming bodies are described as ἀδελφῶν τῶν τὰς λειτουργίας ἐν ταῖς νεκρίαις παρεχομένων , and in P Par 42 .1 etc. (ii/B.C.) the same designation is applied to the fellows of a religious corporation established in the Serapeum of Memphis. In P Tebt I. 12 (B.C. 118) Crφnert assumes that one town clerk addresses another as ἀδελφός : Grenfell and Hunt take it literally see their introduction. Crφnert quotes also Syll 607 (iii/iv A.D.), where it is used between two δεκάπρωτοι , and OGIS 257 .2 (B.C. 109), where one king so addresses another. In this last case the kings were the sons of sisters, but Dittenberger warns us against taking ἀδελφός as used loosely for ἀνεψιός . He refers to OGIS 138 .3 (ii/B.C.), where Ptolemy Euergetes II. addresses as brother one Lochus, who in other inscriptions is συγγενής our trusty and well-beloved cousin, as an English king would have put it. Ἀδελφέ as a term of address may be illustrated by P Flor II. 228 (iii/A.D.), where Palas thrice calls Heroninus ἀδελφέ : in four other letters to him, from about the same time, he only calls him φίλτατος . So P Tebt II. 314 .12 (ii/A.D.) ἔρρωσό μοι ἄδελφε , in a letter addressed at the beginning τῷ ] τιμιωτάτῳ . (The voc. survives in Pontic MGr ἄδελφε elsewhere ἀδερφέ́ says Thumb.) A clear case is BGU IV. 1209 .2 (B.C. 23), where Tryphon addresses τῶι ἀδελφῶι , and goes on to write of his correspondent s late brother as his own former friend : τοῦ εὐκλήρου ἀδελφοῦ σου ἡμῶν δὲ φίλου γενομένου Πετεχῶντος . Ἀδελφός as a title of address is discussed in Rhein. Mus. N.F. lv. p. 170. From the Christian papyri we may note P Grenf II. 73 .2 (late iii/A.D.) ( = Selections p. 117) Ἀπόλλωνι πρεσβυτέρῳ ἀγαπητῷ ἀδελφῷ ἐν Κ (υρί )ῳ χαίρειν , P. Lond 417 .1 f. ( c. A.D. 346) ( = II. p. 299, Selections p. 123) τῷ δεσπότῃ μου καὶ ἀγαπητῷ ἀδελφῷ Ἀβιννέῳ πραι (ποσίτῳ ), and P Iand 11 .9 (iii/iv A.D.) τῷ κυρίῳ μου ἀδελφῷ Πέτρῳ (cf. Wilcken, Archiv vi. p. 295). For the Christian use of the word see Harnack Mission and Expansion of Christianity .2 I. p. 405 ff. On ἀδελφός improperly used in the LXX, see a note by Hort The Epistle of St. James , p. 102 f.

ἀδελφός [Etym: α copul. , δελφύς; cf. Lat. couterinus] ἀδελφοί are properly "sons of the same mother": as Subst., ἀδελφός, ὁ, voc. ἄδελφε (not -φέ), ionic ἀδελφεός, epic -ειός:—"a brother", or generally, "a near kinsman", ἀδελφοί "brother and sister", like Lat. fratres, Eur. ; ἀδελφεοὶ ἀπ᾽ ἀμφοτέρων "brothers" by both parents, i. e. not half-brothers, Hdt. "a brother" (as a fellow Christian), NTest. adj., ἀδελφός, ή, όν, "brotherly or sisterly", Trag. , Plat. like Lat. geminus, "gemellus", of anything "in pairs", "twin", Xen. :—then, "just like", c. gen. or dat., ἀδελφὰ τῶνδε, ἀδελφὰ τούτοισι Soph.

ἀδελφός, -οῦ, ὁ (ἀ- copul., δελφύς, womb), in cl., a brother, born of the same parent or parents. [In LXX (Hort, Ja., 102f.), for אָח ;] __1. lit. of a brother (Gen.4:2, al.). __2. Of a neighbour (Lev.19:17). __3. Of a member of the same nation (Exo.2:14, Deu.15:3). In NT in each of these senses (1. Mat.1:2, al.; 2. Mat.7:3; 3. Rom.9:3) and also, __4. of a fellow-Christian: 1Co.1:1, Act.9:30. This usage finds illustration in π., where ἀ. is used of members of a pagan religious community (M, Th., I, 1:4; MM, VGT, see word). The ἀδελφοὶ τ. Κυρίου (Mat.12:46-49 13:55 28:10, Mrk.3:31-34, Luk.8:19-21, Jhn.2:12 7:3, 5 10 20:17, Act.1:14, 1Co.9:5) may have been sons of Joseph and Mary (Mayor, Ja., Intr. viff.; DB, i, 320ff.) or of Joseph by a former marriage (Lft., Gal., 252ff.; DCG, i, 232ff.), but the view of Jerome, which makes ἀ. equivalent to ἀνεψιός, is inconsistent with Greek usage. (Cremer, 66.) (AS)