Why One Another

This is part five of a series of the Five W's of One Another. I want to consider the Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How of the one another passages in the New Testament. Please take a look at the first post before reading further.

Part 1: Five W's of One Another - intro and verses showing what the one anothers are
Part 2: Who One Another
Part 3: Where One Another
Part 4: When One Another
Part 5: Why One Another
Part 6: How One Another 

Today I'll consider a why question.


Why should we do these one another actions?
 
Well, I think there are many reasons.  I'll take a quick scan through some of the one another verses and come up with a few reasons.  But I'm sure there are many more.

Reason #1:  If we love one another, the world will recognize us as disciples of Christ (John 13:34 - 35). We can have good theology, get together and listen to great speakers, sing songs together.  But if we don't demonstrate love to each other... I'm sorry, but we really don't look anything like followers of Christ.

Reason #2: Loving one another seems to consistently come up near the top of the list of commands for the way of Jesus. (Matt 22:36-40, Rom 13:8, 1 John 3:11, 1 John 3:23, 2 John 5)

Reason #3: In order to bring praise to God. (Rom 15:7)

Reason #4: So that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. (1 Cor 1:10)  This one is tough to imagine, but it is definitely a good reason to strive to love one another.  When I love and respect someone I find it easier to move past the differences we seem to have.

Reason #5: We are to follow God's example.  (Eph 4:31 - 5:2)

Reason #6:  We should make use of the gifts God has given us by serving others . (1 Pet 4:9-11)

Reason #7: We are members of one another.  (Eph 4:25)   Why not live like it?

Reason #8: So the body of Christ is built up and matures toward unity and becoming more like Christ. (1 Cor 14:26, Eph 4:11-16) Yeah, sorry these passages don't say 'one another', but I think they fit.  I think these passages talk about when believers got together to do these one another actions.

Some of these are big topics, I know my summary here is just scratching the surface.

I hope it is clear that there is good reasons why Christ followers should be living in harmony, not slandering, encouraging, teaching, instructing, admonishing (giving advice), agreeing with, forgiving, submitting to, singing together, showing kindness, being compassionate, bearing with, serving, accepting, showing hospitality, humility and the especially loving one another.

Please feel free to share why you think these one another activities are important (or not).

Related Posts:

• Unity is Essential 
• Love is Essential