As we move from the gospels to the rest of the New Testament, we see a substantial increase in fictive/surrogate family metaphors. I decided to look up key terms used to signify fictive family in the New Testament. Below is an approximate number (very approximate) of the number of times each term was used in a fictive sense from Acts through Revelation.
- Brother, brothers, brothers and sisters = 161
- Father = 79
- Son, sons = 64
- Child, children = 50
Joseph Hellerman (The Ancient Church as Family) analyzed the content of books widely believed to have Pauline authorship (i.e., Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon) for evidence of family terminology and got the following results (92):
- Sibling terminology = 118
- Father terminology = 40
- Inheritance terminology = 14
In all but a tiny handful of cases, these refer to fictive family metaphors.
Furthermore, Hellerman points out that 1 Thessalonians is widely considered to be Paul's earliest letter. This early book contains nineteen sibling references, reinforced with God as Father metaphors. (92) So it appears that surrogate family was a part of Paul's teaching pattern from the beginning.
We saw how Jesus used family imagery in his parables to convey truth about our relationship with God and Jesus' relationship with God. Paul used the family metaphor in a variety of ways as well. One was to indicate the relationship between Jesus and God, but he also used it to explain theological truths about our relationship with God. He used it to talk about our relationship with each other, occasionally using it to shame some folks into appropriate behavior. On still other occasions, he used it to show affection.
While Paul made the most expansive use of the family metaphor, it was not restricted to him. 1 John uses the sibling language 14 times, James 12, and Hebrews 8. 1 John also uses "father" 12 times, "child" 17 times, and "son" 22 times. Hebrews also use "son" 12 times and "child" 3 times.
But as noted, the most in-depth use of the metaphor was by Paul. To understand Paul's theological use of the family metaphor, we can look at four passages where he makes fictive family his organizing principle. We will look at one passage in each of the following four posts. The passages are:
- Romans 4:1-18
- Romans 8:12-29
- Galatians 3:26-4:7
- 1 Thessalonians 2:7-12
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