What We Owe Each Other
One of the most basic facts about the Christian faith is that it focuses on our interactions with others – both with people in general, and also with other believers. But it is sometimes all too easy to keep this fact in our minds under the heading of simply “love one another.” Of course, love in its fullest sense is the fulfilling of the law of God as Jesus himself stressed (Matthew 22:34-40) and as the apostle Paul confirmed – giving several of the ten commandments as examples (Romans 13:8-10). But if we are to really apply love in every aspect of life, it can be helpful to break down the principle into smaller areas – specific ways in which we can and should apply love.
The Scriptures actually do this for us in a way that we may sometimes miss or read over. One way they do this is in the New Testament’s frequent use of the Greek pronoun allelon (pronounced al-lay-lone) which means “one another.” The word is used about one hundred times in the New Testament and almost a full third of its occurrences are direct injunctions that are given to us to follow.
In fact, we can get a surprisingly full and clear view of much of what it means to be a Christian by simply looking at, remembering, and obeying (to the best of our ability, and with God’s help) these very commands. The principles themselves hardly need comment – they are all clear and speak for themselves – so here they are in order of their first appearance:
Be at peace with one another – Mark 9:50
Wash one another’s feet – John 13:14
Do not grumble with one another – John 6:43 BLB
Love one another – John 13:34
Comfort one another – 1 Thessalonians 4:18
Serve one another – Galatians 5:13
Encourage One Another – 2 Corinthians 13:11
Be patient with one another – Ephesians 4:2 NLT
Forgive one another – Colossians 3:13
Build up one another – Romans 14:19 NLT
Help one another – Galatians 6:2 CSB:
Be kind to one another – Ephesians 4:32 ESV
Be devoted to one another – Romans 12:10
Honor one another – Romans 12:10
Live in harmony with one another – Romans 12:16
Don’t judge one another – Romans 14:13
Accept one another – Romans 15:7
Greet one another – Romans 16:16
Don’t defraud one another – 1 Corinthians 7:5
Care for one another – 1 Corinthians 12:25
Wait for one another – 1 Corinthians 11:33
Don’t destroy one another – Galatians 5:15
Submit to one another – Ephesians 5:21
Do good to one another – Thessalonians 5:15
Don’t speak evil of one another – James 4:11
Confess to one another – James 5:16
Pray for one another – James 5:16
Show hospitality to one another – 1 Peter 4:9
That these are important injunctions is seen in the fact that many of them are repeated in the New Testament and sometimes by different writers (For example, “submit to one another” is found in Ephesians 5:21 and 1 Peter 5:5). Their importance is also seen even more directly in the way a number of the “one another” verses add a comment such as we find in Galatians 6:2 – “in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” As Christians, we owe it to each other to study, meditate on, and strive to keep every one of these principles because, as the apostle Paul stresses, we are “one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:5 NKJV).
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