One Anothering IV

IV. HANDLING FAILURE WITH ONE ANOTHER

“Even failure and sin witness to Christ; not the failure and sin themselves, obviously, but the way the Christian – and the Christian community – handle failure and sin. If they are covered and hid, if we pretend failure and sin are not, if we make excuses rather than acknowledge and confess, we not only
deprive ourselves of forgiving, renewing grace (‘the blood of Christ cannot cleanse excuses, only sin”), we suspend fellowship with God. And we fail to demonstrate to the world the practical remedy for human inadequacy available in the Gospel. Admission of sin and confession open the door to forgiveness, renewal and fellowship with God, and witness to the absolutely unique and life-changing dynamic of the atonement.” Richard C. Harlverson “Community: Key to Evangelism.” Address given at U.S. Congress on Evangelism.

A. James 5:16 Confess your sins to one another

CONFESS: lit. “to speak out the same thing, to assent, accord, agree with, to confess forth, to declare freely and openly admit oneself as guilty of what one is accused of.”

B. Eph. 4:2 -- with patience forbearing one another

C. Eph. 4:32 – And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

D. Col. 3:13 – Forbearing one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.

FORBEAR: lit. means to “hold up”, signifies to bear with, endure, be patient with, to excuse or spare. The noun, used of God’s forbearance with men in Romans 2:4; 3:5 denotes a delay of punishment.

KIND: To be good, gracious, sympathetic

TENDERHEARTED: lit. “well-hearted”, i.e. full of compassion, understanding, sympathy

FORGIVE: lit. “to give grace, or bestow a favor unconditionally, to pardon”

V. THE NEGATIVE ONE ANOTHER COMMANDS

A. Romans 14:13 – Let us no more pass judgment on one another

The context is judging in issues of conscience, where the Bible is silent. Believers are to exercise judgment based upon the Scripture’s clear teaching of right and wrong. (Proverbs 17:15; Is. 7:15; Matt. 7:15-20; John 7:24; I Cor. 5:1-5, 9-13; 6:1-6; II Thes. 5:14-15; Hebrews 5:14; James 5:19-20.)

B. Gal. 5:15, 26 – But if you bite and devour one another take heed that you are not consumed by one another… Let us have no self-conceit, no provoking of one another, no envy of one another.

BITE: used as metaphor for wounding the soul

DEVOUR: to exploit or prey on

CONSUME: to use up, to destroy another person

PROVOKE: to call another person to battle, to start a fight

ENVYING: the feeling of displeasure produced by seeing or learning of the advantage or property of others.

C. Col. 3:9 – Do not lie to one another.

LIE: verb PSEUDO, to deceive by lies, English derived from the Greek root = pseudonym

D. James 4:11: 5:9 – Do not speak evil against one another, brethren… do not grumble, brethren, against one another.

SPEAK EVIL: lit. to speak against, cf. II Cor. 12:20, I Peter 2:1, where the same word is translated SLANDER: (RSV) = speaking against or detracting from another person.

GRUMBLE: to murmur discontent, to express disapproval, or ridicule by groaning.