Deeper Reflection
FELLOWSHIP AMONG CHRISTIANS HAS BEEN FREQUENTLY and unconsciously perceived and practised as a social entity. The test of true Christian fellowship is: Is it marked by one being encouraged and edified, and having encouraged and edified others?Twice in 1 Thessalonians, Paul concludes his teaching on Christ’s Second Coming with a call to action: “encourage one another” (1 Thess 4:18) and “encourage one another and build one another up” (v.11). Two important principles on theology are surfaced here. Proper understanding of theology is necessary, and theology is intended to be applied personally and in the Christian community – to benefit and enhance the spiritual life of one another.We encourage one another “either by verbal or non-verbal means.”⁴⁰ Oikodomeo – “build up” or “edify” – means “to increase the potential of someone or something, with focus upon the process involved – to strengthen, to make more able and to build up”⁴¹.Encouraging and building up one another is to be a key aim and activity in Christian fellowship. It is critical to helping one another to “keep awake and be sober” and not fall into spiritual slumber and spiritual drunkenness, but walk and grow in “faith”, “love” and “hope” (vv.6-8). The last days are “difficult times” (2 Tim 3:1) fraught with spiritual dangers, like being led astray by false teaching, falling away from the faith, increase in lawlessness and “the love of many will grow cold”, that demand “endurance to the end” (Matt 24:10-13). So, the Word of God calls us to “encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Heb 10:25).

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⁴⁰ Johannes P. Louw & Eugene A. Nida, 25.150 ⁴¹ Johannes P. Louw & Eugene A. Nida, 74.15