One Another is the New Testament’s name for life in the body
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what believers owe to believers because they belong to one Lord.
A new commandment I give to you,
that you love one another:
just as I have loved you,
you also are to love one another.
By this all people will know that you are My disciples,
if you have love for one another.
Bear one another’s burdens.
Forgive one another.
Encourage one another.
The faith is personal.
It is not private.
Allelon
—
one another
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is how a people with one Head treat the other members.
Jesus did not leave a club with a statement of faith and empty chairs. He left a command with His own love as the pattern. The apostles then stack the verbs: be at peace, wash feet, outdo in showing honor, live in harmony, welcome, instruct, wait for one another at the table, have the same care, serve through love, bear burdens, be kind, forgive as God in Christ forgave you, address one another in psalms, submit, encourage, build up, exhort, stir up to love and good works, confess sins, pray, show hospitality without grumbling, clothe yourselves with humility. Some of the list is warm. Some of it cuts. Admonish. Confess. Forgive. You cannot keep these commands at a distance. The devil divides. One another is how the church refuses him a foothold. Unity of the Spirit is maintained with these hands, not with a banner. Do not turn the phrase into a poster and skip the hard verbs. Love one another is first and last. The rest is that love with work clothes on.
- Just as I have loved you is the measure. Sentiment is not.
- All people will know—is a mission verse, not only a fellowship verse.
- Burdens and sins both belong in the one-another room.
- Honor, welcome, and wait at the table kill the celebrity instinct.
- Admonish and forgive have to live in the same house or both die.
- You cannot one-another a feed. Bodies in a room are assumed.
- Christ is not divided. The commands are how that stays visible.
- Love – New commandment; as He loved; the mark of disciples.
- Bear and Forgive – Burdens; debts; as God in Christ forgave.
- Honor and Welcome – Outdo; receive; wait for one another.
- Speak – Encourage; exhort; admonish; psalms and truth.
- Serve – Wash; gifts; through love serve.
- Humble – Submit; confess; hospitality without grumbling.
- Gather – Not neglecting to meet; stir up to love and good works.
- John 13:34-35 – “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 15:12, 17 – “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”… “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
- Romans 12:10, 16 – Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor… Live in harmony with one another.
- Romans 15:7 – Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
- Galatians 5:13; 6:2 – Through love serve one another. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
- Ephesians 4:2, 32 – Bearing with one another in love… Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
- Colossians 3:13, 16 – Bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other… teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11 – Therefore encourage one another and build one another up.
- Hebrews 10:24-25 – Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together.
- James 5:16 – Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.
- 1 Peter 4:8-10 – Keep loving one another earnestly… Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another.
- 1 Peter 5:5 – Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another.
- 1 John 4:11-12 – If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… if we love one another, God abides in us.
- 1 Corinthians 11:33; 12:25 – Wait for one another… that the members may have the same care for one another.
Love one another: just as I have loved you. By this all people will know that you are My disciples.
Through love serve one another. Bear one another’s burdens.
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you. Encourage one another and build one another up.
Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another. Stir up one another to love and good works.
Do not reduce one another to a slogan on a wall. Get in the room. Carry a burden. Tell the truth. Forgive as you have been forgiven. Honor the small. Wait at the table. The world is watching whether the new commandment is still in force.
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