One of the reasons we don\u2019t really understand what the Bible means when it says, \u201cEncourage one another,\u201d is that there are not precise translations for the two words the Bible uses for encourage.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why those words are translated also as comfort, exhort and help.<\/p>\n
So let\u2019s delve into these words a bit more and see if we can summarize what they mean, so we can get a better idea what the Bible mean.<\/p>\n
Parakaleo <\/em>is the more active, forceful of the two words. And that makes sense — To call to one\u2019s side is more active than to speak at one\u2019s side, which is what paramuthia <\/em>means. That also helps explain why paramuthia <\/em>has more of a leaning toward the comfort and console side of the equation, and parakaleo <\/em>leans more toward the exhortation end of things.<\/p>\n That\u2019ll be important as we start looking at passages that exhort us to be encouragers. For now, I\u2019ll just say that 1 Thessalonians 5:11 and Hebrews 3:13 are both the more active, forceful of the two, parakaleo.<\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s what the two terms have in common that I want to focus on for now. Para <\/em>means the same thing in each word, and it\u2019s a concept like \u201calongside.\u201d There\u2019s a togetherness implied there.<\/p>\n They both mean comfort and encourage and exhort. Now, in English we don\u2019t necessarily think of those as \u201ctogetherness\u201d types of things. But it\u2019s a necessary part of the concept that God\u2019s Word is presenting to us. And I think that tying these three concepts together into one will be easier if we think about the end of result we\u2019re aiming for when we encourage or comfort or exhort. What do we want to happen when we encourage someone? What about when we comfort someone? How about when we exhort someone?<\/p>\n Is it safe to say that encouragement \u2013 encouragement as the Bible means it to be \u2013 is helping someone move forward? And what would be a Godly move forward? A biblical exhortation? To help someone move in the direction God has for them?<\/p>\n Let\u2019s make it easier by looking at a secular example first.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say you have a friend whose house is threatened by floodwaters. If I told you that you needed to encourage him, you might think, \u201cWell, I\u2019ll give him a call and tell him I\u2019m praying for him.\u201d Or maybe you\u2019d go over and sing a sea shanty as he filled sandbags. Perhaps you\u2019d send him a card, and write, \u201cGee, I hope this gets to your house before it washes away.\u201d<\/p>\n OK, I\u2019m being sarcastic, but my point is that our view of encouragement is weak and pathetic compared to the biblical concept.<\/p>\n If you were to follow the biblical concept of encouragement, you\u2019d go over and help him fill sandbags. You\u2019d bring him a hot meal and a cold drink. You\u2019d gather up some other friends and move his valuables to higher ground. You\u2019d find ways to actually help address the problem, rather than simply talking about it.<\/p>\n \u201cWith\u201d is a key part of the concept, remember?<\/p>\n So the normal view of encouragement would say that you\u2019re doing a good job if you tell a new Christian to study the Bible. Biblical encouragement might say you ought to start studying the Bible with them, and begin discipling them in the Christian life.<\/p>\n Most folks would probably think you\u2019re doing a good job of encouragement if you tell a missionary you\u2019ll pray for them. Biblical encouragement might say you give toward their ministry and help others get involved in their ministry.<\/p>\n What the Bible is talking about when it says \u201cencourage one another\u201d is to help people move forward in the path God has for them. And that requires us to invest the lives of others.<\/p>\n So how are you going to encourage someone?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of the reasons we don\u2019t really understand what the Bible means when it says, \u201cEncourage one another,\u201d is that there are not precise translations for the two words the Bible uses for encourage. That\u2019s why those words are translated also as comfort, exhort and help. So let\u2019s delve into these words a bit more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1422],"class_list":{"0":"post-4082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-ministry","7":"tag-encouragement","8":"entry"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4082\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/ian-fallis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}