The one another commands

Live in Harmony with One Another

A command of Christ for his church · Romans 12:16

Live in harmony with one another is the call to be of the same mind, to lay down pride and pursue unity across every difference. Paul says, be of the same mind one toward another, and warns against high thoughts and self-importance. Harmony is not sameness but a shared heart, many different people moving together toward Christ.

Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits.Romans 12:16 (KJV)

What this command means

To be of the same mind is not to agree on everything but to be united in love and purpose, humble enough to bend toward each other. Paul immediately adds, mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Harmony grows where pride is put down and people stoop to associate with the lowly.

This unity is like music: many different notes held together in one chord. It does not erase our differences but tunes them to a common key, the key of Christ. It asks us to lower our own opinion of ourselves enough to make room for others, so the body moves as one.

Why it matters for the church

Disunity is one of the surest ways a church loses its power and its witness. Jesus prayed that his people would be one, so that the world might believe. A divided church contradicts the gospel it preaches. Harmony, by contrast, is a sign of the Spirit's presence and a magnet to a fractured world.

Harmony also lets the body function. A hand and an eye must work together or the whole is clumsy. When members are of the same mind, the church can act, decide, and grow. When each insists on being right and being first, everything grinds to conflict, and the mission stalls.

The unity we pursue is not something we create but something we keep. Paul urges us to endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, for there is one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism. The oneness is already ours in Christ; our task is to guard it against the pride and pettiness that would tear it. Harmony is less an achievement to build than a gift to protect.

How we fail at it

We fail through pride and self-importance, exactly what Paul warns against. We think our view is best, our preferences are principles, and our comfort comes first. We look down on those of lower estate and gravitate to those who flatter us. High-mindedness is the great enemy of harmony.

We also fail by treating secondary matters as if they were essentials, dividing over style, preference, and opinion. We forget how much we share in Christ and magnify how we differ. A quarrelsome, conceited spirit can wreck the peace of a whole congregation.

How Christ enables it

Christ is our peace, who has broken down the wall between us and made of the many one. On the cross he reconciled hostile people to God and to each other, creating one new humanity. The harmony we pursue is not our achievement but our inheritance in him.

Jesus, being in the form of God, did not grasp at his rights but humbled himself, taking the lowest place. That mind, Paul says, is to be in us. As we let the humble, self-lowering mind of Christ fill us, the pride that divides melts, and we find ourselves able to live at peace with one another.

Christ is our peace, who has made the two one and broken down the middle wall of partition between us. On the cross he reconciled hostile people both to God and to each other, creating in himself one new humanity where there had been division. The harmony we pursue is therefore not our own achievement but our inheritance in him. And the mind that makes it possible is his mind, the humble, self-lowering love of the one who did not grasp at his rights but took the lowest place; as his Spirit forms that mind in us, the pride that divides begins to melt.

How to live it

Put down pride. Hold your opinions on secondary things loosely, and be quick to defer. Associate with the lowly, seeking out those the room overlooks rather than the impressive. Refuse to think of yourself more highly than you ought.

Pursue peace deliberately. As much as lies in you, live peaceably with all. Overlook minor offenses, speak to resolve rather than to win, and keep the main thing central: Christ, whom you all share. Let differences become music rather than discord by tuning every heart to him.

Put down pride wherever it rises, holding your opinions on secondary matters loosely and being quick to defer. Seek out the lowly rather than the impressive, and refuse to think of yourself more highly than you ought. Pursue peace on purpose: as much as lies in you, live peaceably with everyone, overlooking minor offenses and speaking to resolve conflict rather than to win it. When you disagree, keep the main thing central, the Christ you share, and let lesser differences become music rather than discord. Guard the unity the Spirit has already given rather than waiting to manufacture your own. A harmonious church is not one that has erased its differences but one that has tuned every heart to the same Lord.

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