ἀδελφός

Summary

ἀδελφός ("brother") in the plural (adelphoi) addresses the entire community of believers regardless of gender throughout the NT (Rom 1:13, 1 Cor 1:10, Gal 3:15). This is standard Greek — masculine-form plurals used as generic inclusives. The principle is important for interpreting "if anyone aspires to the office of overseer" (1 Tim 3:1) as potentially inclusive of women, not restricted by grammatical gender.

In the NT, adelphos is frequently used in the plural (adelphoi) to address the entire community of believers regardless of gender — as in Romans 1:13; 1 Cor 1:10–11; Gal 3:15; Phil 1:12, etc. Article 340 notes that adelphos (like anēr) is a Greek word that "has a primary male meaning" but is used generically and inclusively in NT address and community language. This is relevant to the argument about linguistic gender-inclusivity in Greek: when Paul writes to the "adelphoi," he addresses men and women alike, even though the word's dictionary form is male. This grammatical feature of Greek (masculine-form plurals used as generic/inclusive) is important for interpreting passages where masculine forms appear — they do not necessarily restrict the reference to males only. In the WIM debate, this principle applies to interpreting "if anyone (tis) aspires to the office of overseer" (1 Tim 3:1) as inclusive of women. The generic use of adelphos is one of many examples supporting this hermeneutic. See also: anēr, andres Athēnaioi, gynē.