The one another commands

The Negative One Anothers

What the church must not do to each other · Galatians 5:15

The negative one anothers are the New Testament's warnings about what we must not do to each other: do not judge, do not lie to, do not bite and devour, do not provoke, and do not grumble against one another. They mark the boundaries of love, showing that the family of God is guarded not only by what we do for each other but by what we refuse to do to each other.

The boundaries of love

The New Testament does not only tell the church what to do for one another; it also warns, plainly and lovingly, what we must never do to one another. These negative commands are the guardrails of the family of God, marking the ways that love can be broken. Each one has its real verse, and each one calls us back to the love of Christ, who first loved us.

Do not judge one another

Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.Romans 14:13 (KJV)

Paul writes, let us not therefore judge one another any more. He is not forbidding all discernment, for the church must judge sin honestly. He is forbidding the censorious, condemning spirit that sets itself up over a brother, especially over disputable matters. We are not each other's judge; there is one Lawgiver and Judge. To judge one another is to take a seat that belongs to God alone, and to forget that we too will stand before him. Instead of condemning, Paul says, resolve not to put a stumbling block in a brother's way.

Do not lie to one another

Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;Colossians 3:9 (KJV)

Paul commands, lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds. Lying belongs to the old life we have left behind. The family of God is built on truth, for we serve the God of truth and follow the one who is the truth, and Satan is the father of lies. Deceit, however small, corrodes the trust that fellowship depends on. Where believers cannot trust each other's word, community becomes impossible. So we put away lying and speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.

Do not bite and devour one another

But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.Galatians 5:15 (KJV)

Paul warns, if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. The image is of wild animals tearing at each other, a picture of the vicious quarreling and mutual attack that can seize a church. Such strife does not merely wound; it consumes, destroying both parties and the whole body with them. This is the opposite of serving one another in love, which Paul had just commanded. A church that turns on itself devours itself. The remedy is to walk in the Spirit, whose fruit is love, joy, peace, and gentleness.

Do not provoke one another

Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.Galatians 5:26 (KJV)

Paul writes, let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. To provoke here is to stir up rivalry and irritation, to needle, compete, and antagonize. Its root, Paul says, is vainglory, the empty craving to be admired and to be ahead of others. That craving turns brothers into rivals and fills a community with envy and friction. The cure is to lay down the hunger for our own glory. Where we stop seeking vain glory, we stop provoking each other, and we are freed instead to serve and to honor one another.

Do not grumble against one another

Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door.James 5:9 (KJV)

James commands, grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. To grudge or grumble is to complain and murmur against each other, to nurse quiet resentment and grievance. It is a subtle sin, rarely dramatic, but it sours a fellowship from within and hardens hearts against each other. James gives a sobering reason to stop: the Judge himself is at the door. We answer to him for how we treat each other, even in our muttering. Grumbling is to be replaced by patience, and complaint by gratitude and prayer.

How Christ turns us from these sins

Notice that every one of these warnings names a sin that begins in the heart before it ever reaches the tongue or the hand: judging springs from pride, lying from fear, biting and devouring from anger, provoking from vainglory, and grumbling from ingratitude. No rule can reach that deep. Only Christ can, and he does. He forgave us when we were his enemies, spoke the truth to us in love, bore our attacks without retaliating, laid down his glory rather than grasping for it, and gave thanks even on the night he was betrayed. As his Spirit works his own character into us, the roots of these sins are slowly pulled up, and what the law could only forbid, grace begins to heal.

So these negative commands are not finally about restraint but about love. They clear away what would poison the family of God so that the positive commands, to love, forgive, serve, and honor one another, can flourish. We stop tearing each other down not merely because we are told to, but because we have been loved by the one who was torn down in our place, and his love, once received, will not let us go on wounding those for whom he died.

Related commands: Love one another · Forgive one another · Live in harmony with one another · All the one another commands