The Lord Calling Us His Brothers

John 20:17 Jesus said to her… go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God. 
1 Pet 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has regenerated us unto a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

Here we come to one of the greatest points in the Gospel of John, a point which not many Christians have seen clearly. Prior to His resurrection, the Lord never called His disciples “brothers.” The most intimate term He used before that time was “friends.” But now, after His resurrection, His “friends” have become His “brothers.” Through His resurrection, His disciples have been regenerated with the divine life released by His life-imparting death.

All His disciples were regenerated in His resurrection. First Peter 1:3 says that we were regenerated through Christ’s resurrection. It was through His resurrection that the Lord imparted Himself as the Spirit into all His disciples. By receiving His life, they were all reborn, regenerated, and became His brothers. By the resurrection of Christ, the disciples became the brothers of the Lord because they now had the same life as the Lord. The Lord regenerated them by His resurrection, and thus they were no longer merely disciples and friends but also His brothers. Before His death, He was only one, unique grain. But after His resurrection that one, unique grain became the many grains. This is the multiplication of life through the death and resurrection of Christ.