“And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Hebrews 10:24-25
One of the most central features of Christianity is also one of its greatest challenges, especially in western cultures. A bedrock principle of Christianity is that it is a “one another” religion, intended to promote community in Christ. This is where the challenge for western cultures lies, being highly ordered towards individualism. The aim of this series of discussions is to help us cut through that tendency in order to build up the body as we seek to live out the many “one another” commands given in the New Testament. We begin with an overview of the subject to see how critical this endeavor is to faithfulness.
From the outset, we see how prevalent these calls are. At least sixty-five commands and exhortations contain our key phrase. The flow of thought in these is promoting proper attitudes towards one another with the intent to generate proper treatment of one another. When we add them all up and consider the issues we face in society, the Christian system clearly provides for everyone’s benefit like none other. The issue is getting each individual to embrace the “one another” mindset in service to our King. Sadly, selfish desires tend to stop every one of us short of God’s intended blessings. As always, the wisdom of God is vindicated when properly applied to life.
Along the way, we will break these down roughly into five broad categories, covering the full sweep of faithful living. At least eighteen times these will address peace, unity, and harmony among brethren (cf. Mark 9:50; Romans 15:5). At least another seventeen times we will see these commands center on the necessity of loving one another (cf. John 13:34-35; 1 John 4:7, 11-12). Another seventeen times we find various exhortations to help avoid drifting away from God and into sin (cf. Hebrews 3:13; 10:24-25). No less than eight other “one another” passages call us to live lives of mutual service (John 13:14; Romans 12:10; Galatians 5:13; 1 Peter 4:10). Lastly, another five address various moral concerns facing Christians in the world (Colossians 3:9; 1 John 1:7). We will look at each of these categories individually with some depth.
As with any challenge people face, it is very helpful to understand why we are called to live in this way. All the various emphases in these passages are founded upon our being “members of one another” (Romans 12:5; Ephesians 4:25). The term translated “member” in these passages literally means a limb or any part of the body (Mounce). This combined with the common metaphor of the church as the body of Christ shows how deeply we are connected in Christ. In order to be the “one another” people He demands us to be, we must embrace this connection bought with His own blood (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:7).
Over the next several weeks, we will discuss many of these passages to learn how He expects us to treat one another. We must remember that the way we treat one another is the way we treat Him (John 13:34-35; Matthew 25:31-46). So, the real choice we make in these matters is not just how will we treat one another, but how will we treat our Lord?