I was scrolling down on the Rev. Dr. Ray Ortlund’s blog to rewatch the video of Aretha Franklin singing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” at the inauguration (easier than looking it up on YouTube), when this post of his from the same day, which I’d missed, caught my eye; it’s titled “‘One anothers’ I can’t find in the New Testament”:
Humble one another, scrutinize one another, pressure one another, embarrass one another, correct one another, corner one another, interrupt one another, run one another’s lives, confess one another’s sins, disapprove of one another . . . .”Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32
Dr. Ortlund, if your aim’s as good with a deer rifle as it is with a blog post, I can’t imagine it takes you long to fill your quota every year. There actually are biblical senses in which “correct one another” (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and “confess one another’s sins” (Daniel 9) may be appropriate, but in general . . . yeah.