Admonish One Another

One of the great truths of Scripture is the church is the body of Christ. As the apostle Paul proclaims in Ephesians 1:22-23, the church is His body. We are to live out His teachings while we are walking this earth. We are to love one another, accept each other, and bear others burdens as well. 

However, things do not always go well. When that happens, how do you love those members of the body who are not living as they should? What do we do for them? I know what we usually do. We are like the little girl in Sunday school class who got her memory verse off by one word: “Go into all the world and preach the gossip.” I am not aware of any New Testament command to talk about one another. Unfortunately, we do this far too often, and we don’t do it with biblical authority behind us. Instead, the Bible says in Romans 15:14, “And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another.”i 

Few exercises are more difficult but necessary for the health of the body than to admonish one another. Biblical admonishments seek to correct the mind, to put right what is wrong, and to improve spiritual attitudes. In other words, there is a place in the body for instruction and there is a place in the body for correction and admonishing. There are some well-meaning but misguided people who want to say there is no place for negative teaching in the church. However, admonishment is not negative; it is positive correction. Admonishment is a warning given to a person to remind them of certain principles they should be living out. It is to be used in matters of deliberate sin and not over people’s opinions. Admonishment does not spring from contempt. It springs from a concern for what sin left unchecked can do to the individual member and to the entire body. Admonishment is used for people you love and are concerned about. 

Paul writes in Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” As parents, we know a child needs teaching and correcting. The guidance we provide our kids comes out of love and concern that they be the people God calls them to be. The same is true for the body of Christ. 

Paul practiced what he preached. Anyone who reads the New Testament knows Paul was not afraid to confront anybody about sin. In Galatians 2:11ff, he confronted Peter because he would keep away from Gentiles when Jews were present. Similarly, Paul was not afraid to admonish elders. In Acts 20:31 Paul says, “Therefore, be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears.” 

Paul knew confrontation was essential to the spiritual maturing process, but he also knew it must spring from love and genuine concern for others. It is the right thing to do but there is also a right way to do it. Admonishment must take place in the body of Christ, but it must be brother to brother, and it must take place out of concern and with tears. 

Who Should Admonish? 

The Elders should. In 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 Paul says, “But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Live in peace with one another.” Paul recognizes the difficulty of leading a church. He knows it sometimes involves re-directing members of the body and he charges us to support our leaders when they do. They cannot lead if they turn their head to sin because it destroys their credibility. Leaders cannot lead if they are not supported and respected by the body when they admonish. If a congregation has leaders that care enough to confront, they should be held in the highest regard and esteemed by the members. 

The members of the church should.  Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:14, “We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” The task of admonishment should be shared. Why? Because we are part of the same body. We are not members of a club or organization. We are members of a body, and we are connected to each other. Therefore, there has got to be an accountability that confronts all notions of a detached independent Christian’s experience. Most churches and Christians today are afraid of the word accountability. We have developed the type of Christian experience where nothing related to Christlikeness and service is expected. Instead, far too many have the attitude that I am in charge of my life, and you are in charge of your life, and let’s stay away from each other. That is not what membership is about. When you became a part of the body, you just made your life my business and my life is your business, and we are responsible and accountable to each other. 

In Romans 15:14 referenced above, Paul says those who admonish are filled with two traits. They are full of goodness and knowledge. Paul says if you are going to admonish you should do it out of concern and care. To be filled with knowledge is to be filled with biblical comprehension. The ability to admonish is not from mastering a technique. The people in the body who can admonish are people who walk with Christ, filled with goodness and all knowledge. Admonishment is just a natural overflow of Jesus into the lives of others. No church can remain healthy unless there are some members at this level of maturity. Not everybody in the congregation needs to be an admonisher. There are some people whose own spiritual walk lacks credibility. Also, there are some in the local congregation who are still too ignorant of Christian truths to be admonishers. However, in every church if you don’t have some people mature enough to be admonishers, then the body will never reach the kind of health it was designed to reach. 

Principles to Remember When We Admonish 

Admonish only violations of Scripture. It must always be a scriptural confrontation. Paul has made it clear that on matters of opinion there should be acceptance. Biblical admonishment brings someone face to face with the teachings of Scripture. You may disagree with somebody, but if you can’t bring God’s Word into the matter, then it is not worth bringing up. 

Examine your own life first. The difference between admonishers and judgers is the lives of those who judge give no credibility to what they say. Mature Christians will always be sensitive to their own walk with God. Also, you are not qualified to give admonishment if you cannot graciously accept it. If you cannot handle someone approaching you, then don’t speak to anyone else on the subject. 

Confront the individual personally. Public admonition should never be used to avoid personal confrontation. People like to try that. There are times when people have something against someone else and they say you should preach a sermon on that. It is an abuse of a pulpit to preach a sermon aimed at only one or two people. The purpose of preaching is to speak to the body. It is not the purpose of the pulpit to go after one or two people. This is difficult but people who are members of one another will not run away from the responsibility they owe their brothers and sisters. 

Finally encourage the person who responds to admonishment. When someone responds to your admonishment, get behind them and encourage them. There are few more difficult responsibilities than admonishment, but it is essential for a healthy body. If we don’t care enough to admonish one another, we don’t care enough.