The ‘One Anothers‘ of the New Testament

 

An annotated list (in order of appearance in the New Testament) of those virtues which the Bible commands us to practice toward our fellow believers.

Ronald J. Frasco

Providence Bible Church

Fort Collins, Colorado

The one anothers – at a glance

be at peace with one another – Mk 9:50

serve one another – John 13:12-17

love one another – John 13:34-35 – 12x!!!

be devoted to one another – Romans 12:10

give preference to one another – Romans 12:10

regard one another as more important than yourselves – Philippians 2:3

be of the same mind toward one another – Romans 12:16

[do] not judge one another – Romans 14:13

encourage one another – Romans 14:19

comfort one another – 1^st Thessalonians 4:18

accept one another – Romans 15:7

admonish one another – Romans 15:14

[affectionately greet] one another – Romans 16:16

[be polite] wait for one another – 1^st Corinthians 11:33

have the same care for one another – 1^st Corinthians 12:25

[do no] challenge one another – Galatians 5:25-26

bear one another’s burdens – Galatians 6:2

be patient with one another – Ephesians 4:1-3

speak truth with one another – Ephesians 4:25

be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving – Ephesians 4:32

speak to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs – Ephesians 5:19

be subject to one another – Ephesians 5:21

seek after that which is good for one another – 1^st Thessalonians 5:15

encourage one another – Hebrews 10:24-25

do not speak against one another – James 4:11

do not complain … against one another – James 5:9

confess your sins to one another … pray for one another – James 5:16

be hospitable to one another – 1^st Peter 4:9

be humble toward one another – 1^st Peter 5:5

Be at peace with one another. 

Mark 9:50  “Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Context: Severe warnings (9:38-50)

“Here we must take salt in the sense of purity.  The ancients declared that there was nothing in the world purer than salt because it came from the two purest things, the sun and the sea.  The very glistening whiteness of salt was a picture of purity.  So this will mean, ‘Have within yourselves the purifying influence of the Spirit of Christ.  Be purified from selfishness and self-seeking, from bitterness and anger and grudge bearing.  Be cleansed from irritation and moodiness and self-centeredness, and then, and then only you will be able to live in peace with your fellow men.’  In other words, Jesus is saying that it is only the life that is cleansed of self and filled with Christ which can live in real fellowship with men.” Wm. Barclay

Romans 14:19  So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Context: Matters of conscience (14:1-23)

“Since Christian love, the example of Christ, the comparative insignificance of the matters in dispute, the honor of the truth, the nature of real religion, all conspire to urge us to mutual forbearance, let us endeavor to promote peace and mutual edification.” Charles Hodge

Serve one another. 

John 13:12-17

12 And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master; neither is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them”.

  Serve others, humble yourself toward them, defer to them!

Context: The Last Supper (13:1-20)

“Surely, if the Lord of glory is willing to be ‘girded around’ with a towel, having taken the form of a servant, actually washing and drying the feet of those who are so very far below him, it ought to be easy for mere disciples to render loving service to one another in the spirit of genuine humility.” Wm. Hendriksen

Galatians 5:13  For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

Context: Legalism, liberty, and license (5:1-26)

“Temper your liberty with this bondage, and it will not degenerate into license.” J.B. Lightfoot

“They should show their love by their service; as by praying one with and for another, by bearing each other’s burdens, sympathizing with and communicating to each other in things temporal and spiritual; in forbearing with and forgiving one another; by admonishing each other when there is occasion for it, in a meek, tender, and brotherly way; by instructing and building up one another on their most holy faith, and by stirring up one another to all the duties of religion, private and public.” John Gill

1 Peter 4:10  As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

Context: Living in view of the last days (4:7-11)

“If the gift be special grace though that itself cannot be imparted from one to another, yet the knowledge of it may; and it becomes such who have an experience of the grace of God upon their hearts to make it known, both to particular friends in private conversation, and to the church of God in public, for the use and edification of others, and the glory of God’s grace: if the gift be a ministerial one, whether it be greater or less, for it is not in all alike, it is not to be wrapped up in a napkin, and hid in the earth, or to lie neglected, but to be stirred up, and used for the benefit of the souls of men: and if it is a temporal one, the good things of this life, according to the measure of them, that a man has, he is to minister to the supply of the poor; and as God has prospered him, he is to distribute to the necessities of others; as men freely receive, be it what it will, they should freely minister it, according to the nature and measure of it.” John Gill

Love one another. 

John 13:34-35  “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Context: Jesus’ final hours with His Apostles (John ch. 13-17)

“Constant, self-sacrificing love … must be the pattern for their attitude and relation toward one another … Genuine, deep-seated, constant, and self-sacrificing love for one another is the distinguishing trait of the Christian.” Wm. Hendriksen

John 15:12; 17

:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 

:17 “This I command you, that you love one another.

“Christian love is not an easy, sentimental reaction.  It demands everything a man has got of mental and spiritual nerve and muscle and sinew.  It means loving the unlovely and the unlovable; it means loving in spite of insult and injury; it means loving when love is not returned, but is spurned.” Barclay

Romans 13:8  Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.

Context: Principles of submission (13:1-14)

“Acquit yourselves of all obligations, tribute, custom, fear, honor, or whatever else you may owe, but remember that the debt of love is still unpaid, and always must remain so; for love includes all duty …” Charles Hodge

“Love is here beautifully represented as a debt that is never paid.  It is a debt that ever remains due.  Christians ought not only to love one another continually, but to abound in love more and more.  The more they pay of this debt, the richer will they be in the thing that is paid.” Robert Haldane

“The task of love is infinite.  The more active love is, the more it sees its task enlarge … it is ever discovering new objects for its activity.  This debt the believer therefore carries with him throughout all his life.” F. Godet

1 Thessalonians 3:12 … and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you …

Context: Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians (3:11-13)

1 Thessalonians 4:9 Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another …

Context: Paul’s commendation of the Thessalonians (4:9-12)

 ‘Brotherly love is enjoined as a distinctive Christian virtue arising out of the relation of believers to each other in ‘the household of faith.’ G. Findlay

“The brother who is the object of love is not the brother by birth, nationality, or alliance, but the brother in Christ.” James Frame

1 Peter 1:22  Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart …

Context: The results of Spiritual rebirth (1:22-23)

“Not only, or not primarily, kind feelings or generous impulses.  Not certainly the sentimentality which breathes itself out in sighs and raptures.  Not merely the fond attachment which clings as the rose against the trellis.  But, above all things, service — self-denial and self-giving.  To put another’s well-being before our own, not because it is pleasant to do it, but because it is right.” F.B. Meyer 

1 John 3:11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another…

3:23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 

4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.

2 John 5  Now I ask you, lady, not as though I were writing to you  a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.

Context: John’s ‘love’ letters

“Those who are the objects of God’s love ought to be the objects of ours; and if God has loved our fellow Christians and brethren to such a degree, as to send his Son to die for them, we ought to love them too … and if God loved them with so great a love, when they did not love him, but were enemies to him, then surely we ought to love them now they are become the friends of God, and ours also; as God loved them freely, and when unlovely, and us likewise in the same manner, and under the same circumstances, then we ought to love, and continue to love the saints, though there may be something in their temper and conduct disagreeable: God is to be imitated in his love; and his love to us, which is unmerited and matchless, should influence and engage us to the love of the brethren, who have a far greater claim to our love than we can make to the love of God; and which indeed is none at all, but what he is pleased to give us.” John Gill

Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. 

 Romans 12:10  Be devoted to one another in brotherly love …

  Affectionate, tender-hearted

Context: Transformed living (12:1-21)

“The word ‘devoted’ used by the apostle, expresses properly the strong natural affection between parents and children but is applied also to tender affection of any kind … Christians should love each other with the same sincerity and tenderness as if they were the nearest relatives.” Charles Hodge

“In brotherly love believers ought to have that affection for one another which nature displays among those who are brothers in the flesh.’  Brotherhood in Christians ought not to be a mere name, but a reality, evinced by the affections of a relationship of kindred.  All Christians are brethren; they are born of one Father …” Robert Haldane

“The bond that unites the members of this spiritual family are far more secure and lasting than those which bind together the members of a purely physical family … the members of this spiritual family should do all in their power to be and remain devoted to each other in tender affection … tender, brotherly affection, implying intimacy, understanding, spiritual unity …” Wm. Hendriksen

Give preference to one another in honor. 

Romans 12:10  … give preference to one another in honor …

Context: see above

“The word ‘preference’ means properly to go before, to lead; and then, figuratively, to set an example.  The sense of the clause may then be, ‘as to respect and kindness going before each other, or setting an example one to another.’  It is not only an injunction of politeness, but that in all acts of respect and kindness we should take the lead.  Instead of waiting for others to honor us, we should be beforehand with them in the manifestation of respect.” Charles Hodge

“The condition and the result of true affection are that no one seeks his own honor or position, and every one is willing to give honor to others.” Sanday & Headlam

Philippians 2:3  Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves …

Context: A call to unity and Christlike humility (2:1-11)

“The virtue itself is founded in a correct estimate of actual littleness conjoined with a sense of sinfulness.” M. Vincent

“[One who is humble-minded] is one so conscious of his dependence on God, and of his own imperfections and nothingness, that his own gifts only remind him that others must have gifts also, while his sense of his own utter nothingness suggests to him that these gifts may well be superior to his own, and higher in nature and degree.” C.J. Ellicott

Be of the same mind toward one another. 

Romans 12:16  Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation.

Context: see above

“There frequently forms in the congregations of believers an aristocratic tendency, every one striving by means of the Christian brotherhood to associate with those who, by their gifts or fortune, occupy a higher position.  Hence small [cliques], animated by a proud spirit, and having for their result chilling exclusiveness … The apostle recommends the members of the church to attach themselves to all alike, and if they will yield to a preference, to show it rather for the humble.” F. Godet

“Be united in feeling, interests, and object, let there be no discord or disagreement.  Ambition and contempt for lowly persons or pursuits, are the states of mind most inconsistent with that union of heart by which all Christians should be united.” Charles Hodge

Romans 15:5  Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus …

  Context: a humble like-mindedness

“The expression ‘to be of the same mind’ does not here refer to unanimity of opinion, but to harmony of feeling.” Charles Hodge

“Christians should labor to effect union of belief in all matters because it is their duty to endeavor to know whatever God has revealed, and not merely for the purpose of union of sentiment, in order to walk together in church fellowship.  It is true that union of belief in all things tends much to harmony; but it is likewise true that difference of sentiment in some things tends more to manifest the degree of advancement in the things of God … Christians are to walk together in the things in which they are agreed, and to differ without condemning each other.” Robert Haldane

Build up / encourage one another. 

Romans 14:19  So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.

Context: Matters of conscience (14:1-23)

“We are not only to live peaceably with all men and especially with the brethren, but we are to pursue peace.  Even should it fly from us, we should follow it … we should follow all things that tend to produce peace, and avoid everything, as far as our duty to God permits, of a contrary tendency.” Robert Haldane

1 Thessalonians 4:18  Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Context: Deceased loved ones (4:13-18)

“The hope here unfolded will not only bear up Christians under bereavement, but under every form and kind of evil which may fall upon them.” John Eadie

1 Thessalonians 5:11  Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.

Context: The Day of the Lord (5:1-11)

“[Encourage one another] by praying together, conversing with each other about the doctrines of the Gospel, and the dealings of God with their souls; abstaining from all corrupt communication, which has a tendency to hurt each other’s principles or practices, or to stir up wrath and contention; attending only to those things which are for the use of edifying, whereby their souls might be more and more built upon Christ, and their most holy faith; and be a rising edifice, and grow up unto an holy temple in the Lord, and for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” John Gill

Hebrews 3:13  But encourage one another day after day, as long  as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Context: The danger of unbelief (3:12-19)

Do not judge one another. 

Romans 14:13  Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. 

 Context: Matters of conscience (14:1-23)

“Instead of judging one another, Christians are to avoid doing anything that will have a tendency to stumble one another, or cause any to fall into sin.  This is peculiarly applicable to the strong, who, by an improper use of their liberty, might ensnare their weak brethren.” Robert Haldane

Accept one another. 

Romans 15:7  Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God.

 Context: the weak and strong

“The glory of God was illustrated and promoted by Christ’s reception of us, so also will it be exhibited by our kind treatment of each other.” Charles Hodge

“All whom Christ has received should, without any distinction, be accepted into His Church.” Sanday

“The compassionate welcome which Christ has given to all the members of the church individually, ought to be perpetually reproduced in the welcome of goodwill and tenderness which they gave one another in all the relations of life.” F. Godet

Admonish / counsel one another.

Romans 15:14  And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also  am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.

Context: see above

“The word in the original signifies to put in mind of duty, especially when it is transgressed.  The apostle undertook to admonish them; but this did not imply that he considered them as unfit to admonish one another.” Robert Haldane

Affectionately greet one another.

Romans 16:16  Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

1 Corinthians 16:20 All the brethren greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

1 Peter 5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace be to you all who are in Christ.

Context: Closing greetings

“Christian salutation is a wishing all temporal, spiritual, and eternal happiness, to one another; and which, as it should be mutual, should be also hearty and sincere, and this is meant by the “holy kiss;” the allusion is to a common custom in most nations, used by friends at meeting or parting, to kiss each other, in token of their hearty love, and sincere affection and friendship for each other; and is called “holy,” to distinguish it from an unchaste and lascivious one; and from an hypocritical and deceitful one, such an one as Joab gave to Amasa … (2Sa 20:9); and as Judas, who cried, hail master, to Christ, and kissed him, and betrayed him into the hands of his enemies (Mt 26:49). I say, it is an allusion to this custom, for it is only an allusion; the apostle did not mean that any outward action should be made use of, only that their Christian salutations should not be mere complaisance, or expressed by bare words, and outward gestures and actions, either of the hand or mouth; but that they should spring from real love and true friendship, and be without dissimulation, hearty and sincere.” John Gill

Be polite to one another.

1 Corinthians 11:33  So then, my brethren, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.

Context: The love feast / Lord’s Supper (11:17-34)

The early church celebrated the Lord’s Supper with what came to be known as the ‘love feast.’  On the occasion of the Lord’s Supper the members would bring their meals to the church to share in one big social meal together – we would simply call it a pot-luck.  After this meal they would celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  Sadly, the Corinthians even managed to mar this joyous occasion (:17-21).

Their motives were false — they were playing church.  What they were doing showed no love or care for one another and this made a true celebration of the Lord’s Supper impossible.  An occasion which was supposed to promote unity degenerated into gluttony.  It was as one man of God said, “a desecration of the Holy Ordinance.”  They were in the church but they were not humbly worshipping the Lord and thus they could not have been eating the Lord’s Supper.

So, in verse :22 Paul says in essence, “By coming to the church and gorging yourselves while others go hungry you are actually revealing what you really think about the Body of Christ — the church.  And if all this were not enough you want a pat on the back?!?!  No way.”

What profound and practical counsel does Paul provide them?  Simple – wait.  Be polite.  Be patient.  Don’t go diving into the dinner that you have brought for everyone to enjoy.  Don’t act like a bunch of selfish animals.  Wait for each other then, when you are all together enjoy the love feast!

Have the same / impartial care for one another. 

1 Corinthians 12:25  … so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

  Literally, ‘be anxious.’

Context: Diversity of gifts and their use (12:1-31)

“That is, that one member should have the same care for another member that it has for itself.  The body is so constituted that the eye is as solicitous for the welfare of the foot as it is for its own well-being.  The consequence is that if one member suffers all the members suffer with it; and if one member be honored, all the members rejoice with it.  This is the law of our physical nature.  The body is really one.” Charles Hodge

Do not provoke or envy one another. 

Galatians 5:25-26  If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.  Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Context: Legalism, liberty, and license (5:1-26)

“‘Slighting,’ or ‘despising one another’ … ‘insulting one another’ vices to which men, and even Christian brethren in the same communion, are too prone … Envying one another; their gifts and abilities, natural and spiritual; their rank and station in the world, or in the church. These were sins the Galatians very probably were subject to; and where they prevail, there is confusion, and every evil work, and are therefore to be watched and guarded against.” John Gill

Bear one another’s burdens. 

Galatians 6:2  Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ.

 Context: A sinning brother’s restoration

“These are the burdens I would have you bear – not the vexatious ritual of the law, but your neighbor’s errors and weaknesses, his sorrows and sufferings.” J.B. Lightfoot

“Which may be understood either of sins, which are heavy burdens to sensible sinners, to all that are partakers of the grace of God; Christ is only able to bear these burdens, so as to remove them and take them away, which he has done by his blood, sacrifice, and satisfaction; saints bear one another’s, not by making satisfaction for them, which they are not able to do, nor by conniving at them, and suffering them upon them, which they should not do, but by gently reproving them, by comforting them when overpressed with guilt, by sympathizing with them in their sorrow, by praying to God for to manifest his pardoning grace to them, and by forgiving them themselves, so far as they are faults committed against them: or else the frailties and infirmities of weak saints, which are troublesome, and apt to make uneasy, are meant; and which are to be bore by the strong, by making themselves easy with them, and by accommodating themselves to their weakness, and by abridging themselves of some liberties, which otherwise might be lawfully taken by them; or afflictions may be designed, which are grievous to the flesh, and are bore by others, when they administer help and relief under them, whether in a temporal or spiritual way; and when they condole them, and sympathize with them, bear a part with them, and make others’ griefs and sorrows their own.” John Gill 

Be patient with one another. 

Ephesians 4:1-3  1 Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

  Context: Walking worthy of Christ (4:1-5:21)

“‘Longsuffering,’ is opposed to irritability, or to what we familiarly name shortness of temper, and is that patient self-possession which enables a man to bear with those who oppose him, or who in any way do him injustice.  He can afford to wait till better judgment and feeling on their part prevail … Retaliation was not to be allowed; all occasionally needed forbearance, and all were uniformly to exercise it.  No acerbity of temper, sharp retort, or satirical reply was to be admitted.” John Eadie 

Do not lie to one another. 

Ephesians 4:25  Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.

Context: Walking worthy of Christ (4:1-5:21)

Here the ‘one another’ is found in the purpose statement of the exhortation to truthfulness: ‘for we are members of one another.’  We are to be truthful with fellow Christians because we are all part of the body of Christ.

Note the order: we are to deal first with falsehood … then truth.  This addresses the sin of pretentiousness: presenting ourself as something we’re not.

“Christians are to speak the whole truth, without distortion, [reduction], or exaggeration.  No promise is to be falsified — no mutual understanding violated.  The word of a Christian ought to be as his bond …” John Eadie

Colossians 3:9  Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices …

Context: Life with a heavenly perspective

“As one of the Greek Fathers says, ‘Falsehood ill became them who avowed themselves disciples of Him who said, ‘I am the truth.’ … his meaning is, in all your communications among yourselves never depart from the truth.” John Eadie

Be kind, tender hearted, and forgiving to one another. 

Ephesians 4:32  Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Context: see above

“So far from being churlish or waspish, Christians are to be noted for their tenderness of heart.  They are to be full of deep and mellow affection … Instead of resentment and retaliation, railing and vindictive abjuration, Christians are to pardon offences — to forgive one another in reciprocal generosity.   Faults will be committed and offenses must come, but believers are to forgive them, are not to exaggerate them, but to cover them up from view, by throwing over them the mantle of universal charity.” John Eadie

Colossians 3:12-13  So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.

Context: Life with a heavenly perspective

“Not only are we to show humility, meekness, and long-suffering as we forbear, but we are also to manifest a heart of mercy and goodness in forgiving … There may be just ground of offense, but it is not to excite to resentment or retaliation.” John Eadie

Sing to one another.

Ephesians 5:19 … speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord …

  Context: Walking worthy of Christ (4:1-5:21)

“‘Speaking to each other,’ signifies the interchange of thoughts and feelings expressed in the psalms and hymns employed.” Charles Hodge              

Be subject to one another. 

Ephesians 5:21  … and be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

Context: see above

“Men are not isolated individuals, each one independent of all others…. It is, therefore, the Christian duty of mutual submission of which this passage treats.  It not only forbids pride and all assumption of superiority, but enjoins mutual subjection …” Charles Hodge

“This Christian virtue is not cringing [subservience]; and while it stands opposed to rude and dictatorial insolence, and to that selfish preference for our own opinion and position which amounts to a claim of infallibility, it is not consistent with that honest independence of disposition and sentiment which every rational and responsible being must exercise.” John Eadie

Seek one another’s good. 

1 Thessalonians 5:15  See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people.

Context: Christian behavior in the fellowship (5:12-22)

“The recency of their conversion made it possible, if not probable, that, on the part of many, the habits of heathen times had not been wholly surmounted … all retaliation is forbidden …” John Eadie

Encourage one another to love and good deeds. 

Hebrews 10:24-25  … and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Context: A ‘new and living way’ in view of the times (10:19-25)

“Christians are not merely to be concerned about their improvement and safety as individuals, but as members of one body they are to seek to promote each other’s best interests.  They are to attend to each other’s wants, infirmities, temptations, and dangers, and to administer suitable assistance, advice, caution, admonition, and consolation.  The word ‘provoke’ is ordinarily used in a bad sense, but here it is just equivalent to ‘excite.’  They are to act the party which is calculated to call forth in one another’s hearts the workings of that particular affection which all Christians have for each other.” John Brown

Do not speak against one another. 

James 4:11  Do not speak against one another, brethren. He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks against the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.

 Context: God is the true Judge of all (4:11-12)

 Speak evil; defame; libel; slander

‘slander’ — ‘the utterance of false charges or 

misrepresentations which defame and damage another’s reputation’

‘disparage’ — ‘to lower in rank or reputation … to speak 

 slightingly about’

‘backbite’ — ‘to say mean or spiteful things about 

 [another person]’

“There are several kinds of evil-speaking — whispering and backbiting.  Whispering is a [private] defamation of our brother among those that think well of him; backbiting is more public … both may be done many ways, not only by false accusations, but by a divulging of their secret evils, by extenuating their graces, by increasing or aggravating their faults, and defrauding them of their necessary excuse and mitigation, by depriving their good actions through the supposition of sinister aims …” Thomas Manton

“Do not give way to it in others — your ears may be as guilty as their tongues; therefore, such whisperings should never be heard without some expression of dislike … our countenancing them draws us into a fellowship of the guilt …” Thomas Manton

“Signifies speaking anything that may hurt or injure another; we must not speak evil things of others, though they be true, unless we be called to it, and there be some necessary occasion for it; much less must we report evil things when they are false, or, for all we know, may be so.…Since Christians are brethren, they should not defile nor defame one another.  It is required of us that we be tender of the good name of our brethren; where we cannot speak well, we had better say nothing than speak evil; we must not take pleasure in making known the faults of others, divulging things that are secret, merely to expose them, nor in making more of their known faults than really they deserve, and, least of all, in making false stories, and spreading things concerning them of which they are altogether innocent.” Matthew Henry

Do not complain against one another. 

James 5:9  Do not complain, brethren, against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

Context: Exhortation to patience in the Lord (5:7-11) 

 Illegitimate grumbling

stenazw — sigh, groan, murmur — used various ways, yet only 6x in NT

It betrays an attitude of heart even if unspoken — as in a roll of the eyes!

“Do not inwardly repine at [any happiness, temporal or spiritual, which another enjoys] or secretly sigh and groan in an envious manner at it, though nothing may be said … ” John Gill 

“Let us imitate God’s patience in our own to others.  He is unlike God [who] is hurried, with an unruly impetus, to punish others for wronging him.  The consideration of divine patience should make us square ourselves according to that pattern … How distant are they from the nature of God, who are in a flame upon every slight provocation from a sense of some feeble and imaginary honor … but to be patient is to … show ourselves acquainted with the disposition of God.” Stephen Charnock

Confess your sins to one another. 

James 5:16  Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.

Context: Sickness and restoration (5:13-20)

“The important point is that the sinner should not keep his guilty secret locked up in his own bosom; to whom he should tell it is left to his own discretion … Tertullian said ‘confession of sins lightens as much as concealment aggravates them.  For confession is prompted by the desire to make amends; concealment is prompted by contempt.'” Alfred Plummer

Be Hospitable to one another. 

1 Peter 4:9  Be hospitable to one another without complaint.

Context: Living in view of the last days (4:7-11)

Literally ‘love strangers’

“The true test of godly, self-giving hospitality … is what we do for others solely out of sincere concern for their welfare.” John MacArthur, Titus

Be Humble toward one another. 

1 Peter 5:5  You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Context: Relationships in the church (5:1-5)

“All the members of the churches should not only submit themselves to their pastors, but to their fellow members … they should submit to the superior judgments of one another, esteeming each other better than themselves, and not be tenacious of their own way of thinking and judging of things; yea, condescend to men of low estates and weaker minds, bear the infirmities of the weak, and take all admonitions and reproofs given in a friendly manner kindly; and cheerfully perform all offices of love, and by it serve one another in things temporal and spiritual; doing the meanest services for the good of each other, such as washing the feet of one another, in imitation of their Lord and master.” John Gill