The Romance of Romans-Part 116

[Michael]

Romans Chapter 15 cont'd:

I pray that the God of hope will fill you with abundant joy and peace
through your belief in him, and that you will also overflow with this
strong hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. I am confident that you
dear friends are also full of goodness and knowledge and therefore
able to effectively counsel and teach one another.

Comments:

There are over 30 "one another's" in the NT that, when combined, give
us a fairly great list of how to practically live out what it looks
like to "walk in love" within a community of faith. We all need a
network of believing friends in Christ in which our fellowship
experience is "eyeball to eyeball" and with whom we have regular and
ongoing interdependent relationships. One of these relational
responsibilities is to "instruct" or "admonish" one another...the
meaning of the one Greek word used here (nouthesis) that I paraphrase
in the second sentence above: "effectively counsel and teach".

Admonish is a word that, in our culture, has come to have negative
overtones. This seems sad to me because it represents an very needed
element in healthy friendships...it brings some "guts" and "risk" to
the table and adds vital texture to a great friendship. Unless I am
sometimes "challenged" by my friends, loved ones and co-workers by
their pointing out something I am missing, neglecting, overdoing,
falling short in...and/or the like...I tend to settle down into a self-
satisfied "comfort zone" and not put my whole heart into something I
have said I am committed to. Of course, I need to know that such
friends are "for me" and that they are compelled by their love for me
as they present their challenge. The love motive is actually embedded
in the original meaning of this Greek word. Additionally, in the
context of this passage, Paul outlines the qualifications for the
person who can effective "admonish" another...they are to be filled
with goodness and knowledge.
And even more than this...the context indicates that those who are
equipped to teach others well are those who are filled with joyful
hope by the Spirit's power.

In other words: Don't come messing in my personal business, if you
haven't done your homework, don't have a track record of having some
substantial goodness/kindess rooted in your soul, don't have the joy
and peace of Christ humming within you, or...if you've lost all hope
for me. But, if you've got all that...bring it on 'cause I want to
keep growing. Do it with a song in your heart! ;-)

"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom
teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Col
3:16