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My favorite book by the late Timothy Keller is The Prodigal God (2008). In it, Keller dives into the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32), or as Keller calls it, the parable of the two lost sons. For Keller, both the younger brother and the elder brother in Jesus’ parable are lost, but in different ways. The younger brother is spiritually lost due to his rebellious “wild living” with prostitutes (v. 13). But the elder brother, who says he has never disobeyed his father (v. 29), is also spiritually lost. According to Keller, the younger brother represents the way of self-discovery, while the elder brother represents the way of moral conformity (p. 29). Both are ways by which people try to find happiness and fulfillment in life. But both ways are wrong because they are ultimately projects of self-salvation: “There are two ways to be your own Savior and Lord,” Keller wrote. “One is by breaking all the moral laws and setting your own course, and one is by keeping all the moral laws and being very, very good” (p. 44). Elder brothers obey God’s laws not out of love for God, but because deep down, perhaps unconsciously, they are using God to get what they really want.

Of course, not everyone falls neatly into one way or the other. Some people flip-flop between the two ways. Many more try both ways in different parts of their lives. For example, it is not uncommon for moral elder-brother types to have secret younger-brother behaviors. Likewise, many irreligious people can be morally self-righteous against religious folks.

Here is where Keller’s book really hit home for me: “There is a big difference between an elder brother and a real, gospel-believing Christian. But there are also many genuine Christians who are elder brother-ish. If you came to Christ out of being a younger brother, there is always the danger of partially relapsing into addictions or other younger-brother sins. But if you’ve become a Christian out of being an elder brother, you can even more easily slide back into elder-brother attitudes and spiritual deadness. If you have not grasped the gospel fully and deeply, you will return to being condescending, condemning, anxious, insecure, joyless, and angry all the time” (p. 70).

Elder brother-ish. That’s me. Or at least it was and is an ever present temptation to me. Even this year I have occasionally slid into an elder-brother attitude with God. By God’s grace, I have been more aware and sensitive to this dark, self-righteous side of me. Perhaps because of this, I might be hypersensitive to elder-brother attitudes in the church.

For Keller, though both ways are equally wrong, the elder brother’s lostness is more dangerous because most elder brothers are blind to their condition. Younger brothers’ sinfulness is obvious, but since elder brothers are blind to their lostness, it is “a more spiritually desperate condition” (p. 47).

By ancient Middle Eastern expectations, the elder brother in Jesus’ parable should have been the one to go out in search of his lost younger brother to bring him home. Instead, the elder brother resented his father’s prodigal (recklessly extravagant) grace to the younger brother. Jesus points to himself as the true elder brother who seeks the lost, paying the extreme cost on the cross to redeem them. It is through deeply understanding Christ’s love and grace to us that we will be transformed into his likeness. “Selfless love destroys the mistrust in our hearts toward God that makes us either younger brothers or elder brothers” (p. 88).