Today we are looking at a number of Scripture passages that have to do with how we should treat one another as fellow believers; as sisters and brothers in the Lord. They are sometimes called the “one another” verses. (These are most of the positive exhortations that have to do with two Greek words that mean – “one another” or “each other.” [αλληλων; ῾εαυτου. The latter is marked by an asterisk.])
We will go through them in the order that they show up in the New Testament.I won’t say too much about each verse. It’s not difficult to understand what they mean. The work is in putting them into practice.
1. Mark 9:50 – “Be at peace with one another.” The context here is in part that Jesus’ disciples were arguing with each other about who was the greatest. Not only does he tell them that to be great you must be the servant of all, he tells them to be at peace with one another.
2. John 13:34 – “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.” Jesus not only tells us to love each other he makes clear what love means – we are to follow his example. How did Jesus love us? He laid down his life for us. And so we are to lay down our lives for one another.
3. Romans 12:10 – “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.” Here we have two “one another” admonitions in one verse – 1) we are to love fellow believers as brothers and sisters and 2) we are to honor or lift up one another.
4. Romans 12:16 – “Live in harmony with one another.”
5. Romans 15:7 – “Welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” The context here is that of Jews and Gentiles getting along in the church at Rome. Although from very different backgrounds they are to accept each other as fellow believers.
6. Galatians 5:13 – “Through love serve one another.”
7. Galatians 6:2 – “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” The context here is that of gently correcting each other if we fall into transgression. This is a way of showing our love for one another. But certainly bearing burdens can cover working with all kinds of needs. The law of Christ is the commandment, “love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
8. Ephesians 4:2 – “ . . . with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love . . .”
9. Ephesians 4:32 – “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving *one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”
10. Colossians 3:16 – “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing *one another in all wisdom.”
11. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 – “Encourage one another and build one another up.”
12. 1 Thessalonians 5:13 – “Be at peace *with each other” (own translation).
13. 1 Thessalonians 5:15 – “Always seek to do good to one another.” Paul says just before this that we are certainly not to repay evil for evil, or harm for harm to one another. Rather we are always to do good to each other.
14. Hebrews 3:13 – “But exhort *one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”Again a concern about not letting fellow believers get caught up in a lifestyle of sin.
15. Hebrews 10:24 – “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” The idea is that we can become complacent or lazy and so we are to act to get people focused and on task doing God’s will.
16. James 5:16 – “Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.” I take this to mean that we confess our sins to the one we have wronged. And then we pray for healing for the person from any discipline the Lord may have allowed them to go through because of their sin.
17. 1 Peter 1:22 – “Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”
18. 1 Peter 4:9 – “Show hospitality to one another.”
19. 1 Peter 4:10 – “As each has received a gift, use it to serve *one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”
20. 1 Peter 5:5 – “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.’”
21. 1 John 4:7 – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
So here are 21 verses that give us a number of exhortations for how to treat one another:
And there is power in hearing these verses because this is God’s word to us. And if we open ourselves up to God his word can come into our hearts and change us and empower us to do all these things in our relationships with one another. So let’s all take a moment to look to God and ask – God what would you say to me this morning?
Christian teaching 
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