Some translations, like the KJV and ESV, will exclusively translate the Greek word adelphoi as either “brethren” or “brothers”. Other translations such as the NET, NRSV and NIV will regularly use a more inclusive translation like “brothers and sisters” or “believers”. This inclusive language is pointed to as evidence of a modern agenda changing some translations to be gender neutral. Is that a fair charge? In short no.

koine Greek used Adelphoi of a mixed group

BDAG provides an extensive list of examples of Adelphoi being used of a brother and sister or brothers and sisters:

The pl. can also mean brothers and sisters (Eur., El. 536; Andoc. 1, 47 ἡ μήτηρ ἡ ἐκείνου κ. ὁ πατὴρ ὁ ἐμὸς ἀδελφοί; Anton. Diog. 3 [Erot. Gr. I 233, 23; 26 Hercher]; POxy 713, 21f [97 a.d.] ἀδελφοῖς μου Διοδώρῳ κ. Θαΐδι; schol. on Nicander, Ther. 11 [p. 5, 9] δύο ἐγένοντο ἀδελφοί, Φάλαγξ μὲν ἄρσην, θήλεια δὲ Ἀράχνη τοὔνομα. The θεοὶ Ἀδελφοί, a married couple consisting of brother and sister on the throne of the Ptolemies: OGI 50 2 [III b.c.] and pap [Mitt-Wilck. I/1, 99; I/2, 103–7, III b.c.]).

In all these cases only one brother and one sister are involved.

Yet there are also passages in which ἀδελφοί means brothers and sisters, and in whatever sequence the writer chooses (Polyb. 10, 18, 15 ποιήσεσθαι πρόνοιαν ὡς ἰδίων ἀδελφῶν καὶ τέκνων; Epict. 1, 12, 20 ἀδ. beside γονεῖς, τέκνα, γείτονες; 1, 22, 10; 4, 1, 111; Artem. 3, 31; Ptolem., Apotel. 3, 6; Diog. L. 7, 108; 120; 10, 18. In PMich 214, 12 [296 a.d.] οἱ ἀδελφοί σου seems to be even more general=‘your relatives’). ^[1]

Louw-Nida notes the literal masculine meaning but provides the following sense:

11.23 ἀδελφός^b, οῦ m: a close associate of a group of persons having a well-defined membership (in the NT ἀδελφός^b refers specifically to fellow believers in Christ)—‘fellow believer, (Christian) brother.’ ἀδελφοί μου, χαίρετε ἐν κυρίῳ ‘my fellow believers, be joyful in your union with the Lord’ Php 3:1. The masculine form ἀδελφός^b may include both men and women^[2]

The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek supports the conclusion that brother and sister is a reasonable possible interpretation.^[3] Liddell agrees^[4]. Bullinger suggests in the plural it should be understood as “a vital community based on identity of origin”^[5].

Contextually it makes sense that Adelphoi includes women

The word adelphoi occurs 342 times. Depending on your presuppositions you might not want to read adelphoi as being inclusive in every occurrence. However, there are general instructions or comments using adelphoi in the New Testament where clearly an inclusive sense is meant.

Below are just some examples drawn from a variety of books. The quotations are all from the NET which translates the word in these instances as “brothers and sisters”. Try reading the quotes with “brothers but not sister”- it doesn’t work….

So the saying circulated among the brothers and sisters that this disciple was not going to die John 21:23
Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice—alive, holy, and pleasing to God—which is your reasonable service Rom 12:1
I beg you, brothers and sisters, become like me, because I have become like you. You have done me no wrong Gal 4:12
For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another Gal 5:13
Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord! To write this again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you Phil 3:1
But you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing what is right 2 Thes 3:13
Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger James 1:19
So by your knowledge the weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed. If you sin against your brothers or sisters in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. For this reason, if food causes my brother or sister to sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause one of them to sin 1 Cor 8:11-13

If Adelphoi does not include women than Paul never wrote to, or specifically included women in any of his epistles and instructions (beyond mention of some specific individuals).

It must be acknowledged that there are instances where adelphoi means a male only grouping. Some clear examples of this are:

Abraham was the father of Isaac, Isaac the father of Jacob, Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers Matt 1:2
After three days Paul called the local Jewish leaders together. When they had assembled, he said to them, “Brothers, although I had done nothing against our people Acts 28:17
Do we not have the right to the company of a believing wife, like the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas? 1 Cor 9:5
For I am expecting him with the brothers. With regard to our brother Apollos: I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the other brothers 1 Cor 16:11b-12a
But those who have believing masters must not show them less respect because they are brothers 1 Tim 6:2

Outside of the gospels and Acts, the epistles have very few examples which are clearly male only. Possibly 2 Cor 8:23 and 2 Cor 9:3-5 and 2 Cor 11:9 could be added to this list.

The writers had alternatives to Adelphoi to indicate men and women

There were theoretically alternatives in Greek which the writers could use.

1. Adelphe – sisters

In English we would say brother and sisters to specifically indicate both genders were present in a group of siblings. There was a Greek word plural sisters – adelphe. There are three passages (fours instances) where adelphe is used in conjunction with adelphoi (the masculine plural).

Each of these examples are in the gospels:

And whoever has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life Matt 19:29
Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, there is no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive in this age a hundred times as much—homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, fields, all with persecutions—and in the age to come, eternal life Mark 10:29-30
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple Luke 14:26

The context and idea of each of these sayings of Jesus are related. The Greek effectively duplicates, using adelphoi which can include sisters and then adding the Greek for sisters as well. Likely this is because the writer was trying to transliterate the actual Aramaic/Hebrew words Jesus spoke rather than using efficient Greek.

The only instance of Paul using the plural “sister” is in 1 Timothy where he is clearly speaking exclusively of a group of women – not to them but rather how they should be treated:

the older women as mothers and the younger women as sisters with complete purity. 1 Tim 2:25

It seems that using adelphoi and then adelphe in the same sentence was just not ideal Greek.

2. Andre (man) and Gyne (woman)

The gender specific plural of these words are used particularly in the Gospels and Acts. The two plurals occur together several times – e.g. around the feeding of the multitudes.

Paul only uses the plural “men” once in 1 Tim 2:8 where he is providing gender specific instructions:

So I want the men to pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without anger or dispute. Likewise the women are to dress in suitable apparel, with modesty and self-control 1 Tim 2:8-9

Paul does use the singular in several places – particularly notably in 1 Cor 11 where he is distinguishing men and women in terms of their respective roles and dress codes.

Conclusions and Christadelphians

The Greek Adelphoi – despite being a male plural – can be and should be understood in most instances as inclusive of females. This reflects contemporaneous use and the context in the New Testament. Alternative words to clearly distinguish male and female existed and were sometimes used by Paul.

A male plural being inclusive of some females is not exclusive to koine Greek. This is a common feature of Romance languages today. It is not a feature of English. Since we don’t use “brothers” to describe male and female siblings collectively in English it follows that translating Adelphoi as brothers is not so much translating as transliterating and failing to accuracy provide the meaning of the text. It follows that translating the word as brothers and sisters, siblings or even as believers is more precise in almost all instances.

My denomination is Christadelphian – a hastily invented name used to register the group during the American Civil War. The word is a mashed up anglicized composite of Christ and Adelphoi and explained as meaning “brethren in Christ”. Alas this replicates the limiting meaning of adelphoi and so should perhaps be revised to siblings in Christ.

by Daniel Edgecombe

^[1] William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 18.

^[2] Johannes P. Louw and Eugene Albert Nida, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 124.

^[3] Franco Montaanari, ed. Madeleine Goh and Chad Schroeder, The Brill Dictionary of Ancient Greek (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2015).

^[4] Henry George Liddell et al., A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996), 20.

^[5] Ethelbert W. Bullinger, A Critical Lexicon and Concordance to the English and Greek New Testament (London: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1908), 117.

Is ‘Adelphoi’ Gender-Neutral? Examining the Greek & the context