«Non si vergogna di chiamarli fratelli» (Eb 2,11). La fraternità nel Nuovo Testamento.

This paper focuses on the meaning of the term adelphos in the New Testament. After some brief considerations on the Hellenistic papyri, the Septuagint and the Qumran literature, in which the proper and metaphorical value of the term is highlighted, an analysis of the Gospel of Matthew will be carried out, showing how adelphos substantially denotes the community member. In particular, it is the Risen One himself who calls his disciples «brothers» (Matthew 28,10), showing how a new relationship between members of the community is established from the victory over death. A second path enhances the title of «firstborn», which refers to the believers who received the filial adoption through the Spirit (Romans 8,29), but it is also linked to the dead (Colossians 1,18; Revelation 1,5), that is to say, all human beings sharing a common destiny; these same mortal human beings are considered as «brothers» (Hebrews 2,11) by the One who shared their extreme limit but freed them from death by virtue of his resurrection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]