This morning I will share in my message a key concept as it relates to people living in community with other Christians. Throughout the New Testament, especially in the epistles (letters) the writers use the Greek pronoun allelion, which is a pronoun that marks reciprocation between two or more people or groups, and is most often translated “one another”. This pronoun is used 100 times in the New Testament text, the bulk of them in sentences where the writers are encouraging mutual relationships among the people of God. Ultimately, every one of the “one another” passages requires that followers of Jesus will be in close relationships with other Christians where they both give and receive the elements of the commands. In the message I dealt with a few of these, but I thought I’d post a blog post to show you most of these New Testament passages and the relational activities that we should be doing with some group of people.
- Love one another, John 13:34-35, John 15:12 – Actually the word is used around 15 times encouraging people to have reciprocal love with other believers.
- Wash one another’s feet, John 13:14
- Be devoted to one another, Romans 12:10
- Be of the same mind toward one another, Romans 12:16
- Build up one another, Romans 14:19
- Accept one another as Christ accepted you, Romans 15:7
- Admonish one another, Romans 15:14
- Greet one another with a holy kiss, Romans 16:16 – this one is fun! Actually the word is used three different times with this admonition.
- Eat with one another – 1 Corinthians 11:33
- Care for one another – ! Corinthians 12:25
- Serve one another, Galatians 5:13
- Bear one another’s burdens, Galatians 6:2
- Show tolerance to one another, Ephesians 4:2
- We are members of one another, Ephesians 4:25
- Be kind to one another and forgive one another, Ephesians 4:32
- Be subject to one another, Ephesians 5:21
- Regard one another as more important, Philippians 2:13
- Bear with one another and forgive one another, Colossians 3:13
- Comfort one another (with the hope of Jesus second coming), 1 Thessalonians 4:18
- Encourage and build up one another, 1 Thessalonians 5:11
- Stimulate one another to love and good deeds, Hebrews 10:24-25
- Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, James 5:16
- Be hospitable to one another, 1 Peter 4:9
Look at this list and ask yourself these questions. 1)Where do you have a set of relationships where people do all of these things for you? 2)Where do you have a set of relationships where you are doing these things for others? This is why living in community with other Christians is vital.
