Provoking One Another to Love and Good Works: Advice or Admonishment?
Some friends and I were discussing the idea of provoking one another to love and good works within the local church. We all have opinions, suggestions, and advice, but are they all necessary to be given? Is there a point in which it becomes my Christian duty to advise strongly? Where do we draw the line between friendly advice and admonishment to love and good works?
The primary passage that probably comes to all of our minds on this topic is Hebrews 10:23–25:
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
The word provoke is a strong word, used to refer to a sharp disagreement. The other time the word is used in the New Testament is to refer to the sharp disagreement that occurred between Paul and Barnabas, causing them to separate. I think the nature of the word provoke gives us a clue as to the substance and purpose of these interactions.
This provoking to love and good works does not seem to merely be advice based on my observations and my opinions of those observations, as well-intentioned and true as they may be. For example, perhaps I notice that someone was very disorganized or cluttered. If we had a good relationship, maybe I could give a friendly suggestion that she read a book on organization. But that would not be my Christian duty to give that advice, and I certainly would not give that advice strongly as an admonishment for the sake of her perseverance.
Let’s take my disorganized friend a step further, however. Let’s say that she was so disorganized that she was constantly messing up her child’s medication for a serious illness. Or perhaps my friend was rarely able to get the kids out the door to be able to get to church. Whereas earlier I may or may not give friendly organizational advice to my friend, I now am aware of a situation in which a child could be harmed or God’s command to meet together is regularly not obeyed. Now I have commands in Scripture upon which I could give not my advice but a strong admonishment based on Scripture: Love your child (by giving them their medication); Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together. (And I imagine some practical organizational help along the way would be helpful as well.)
Another clue in Hebrews 10:23–25 is the immediate context surrounding the command to provoke one another to love and good works. We are commanded in verse 23 to hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering. And then in verse 25, tied to the main command, we are told not to neglect assembling together as some have done. Rather, we are to meet with each other for the purpose of positively provoking each other and encouraging one another, especially in light of the nearness of the Day of the Lord.
Earlier, the author of Hebrews had warned his readers not to fall away from God. Instead, they were to persevere in their faith by exhorting each other daily so they wouldn’t be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end (Hebrews 3:12–14).
Hold fast to your faith. Do not neglect assembling together. Do not be deceived by sin. Christ is coming soon, and we share that fellowship in him, so persevere to the end. This is the kind of good works to which we should be strongly stirring our brothers and sisters.
Besides this positive provocation, there should also be the regular “teaching of good” done by the older women within a church. Their age, holy behavior, godly speech, and self-control qualify them to train, encourage, and advise the younger women in the church for the purpose of not reviling the word of God.
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled (Titus 2:3–5).
Perhaps this passage is where we could fit the “friendly advice”—the practical tips for marriage, child-rearing, and homemaking from an older woman. But even here the goal of the teaching is that the word of God may not be reviled, and at some point the training may have to turn to provocation. Friendly advice on how one could love husband and children might be considered, but it can be set aside in light of one’s own personal considerations. The commands to love one’s husband and children cannot be ignored; the failure to consistently do so should lead to a strong exhortation.
I may have an opinion for others and their various parenting styles, marriage relationships, personal lifestyle choices, and habits. I could give advice (and may if asked), but I prefer to defer to Scripture’s commands. If I have a friend consistently failing or blinded by a sin keeping her from persevering in her faith, then I can strongly (and lovingly) admonish her to love and good works. So, the line between advice and admonishment is the difference between what I myself may deem best (even if based upon biblical principles) and what God has clearly delineated in his word.
Holly Huffstutler serves with her husband David, the pastor of First Baptist Church in Rockford, IL. She blogs with him here, where this article first appeared (used with permission). Holly is a homemaker, raising and schooling her four children.