One Another?

One of the strongest house church theology principles was the practice of "one anothering." This refers to the numerous ( sixty-six verses by one brother's count) places in the New Testament where we are told to do various things to one another. Examples include love one another in John 13:34-35, encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13, 10:25, 1 Thess 5:11, teach and admonish one another (Colossians 1:28, 3:16) and many more. The idea was that instead of one person teaching or encouraging or exhorting all of the others, that we should all participate in this.
     Several problems arose. One was that in any given group about half of the people never said anything publicly. A second was that many things that were shared were not truly edifying. ( 1 Cor. 14:26) But even in more personal one on one settings our cultural bias towards intense privacy made genuine exhortation improbable.
   If we really don't know what is going on inside a person we can still pray for them and possibly offer general advice but we will not be able to pray specifically and give more in depth exhortation. North Americans and New Englanders in particular have a fierce sense of privacy about what they are willing to share with others.
    Unfortunately this "lone wolf" attitude makes it far too easy for the devil to prowl around like a roaring lion and find someone to devour. ( 1 Peter 5:8) One of the overlooked points in the Ephesians 6:10-20 "armor of God" passage is the word "stand" or "withstand" found four times in verses 11-14. Paul is using the physical reality of ubiquitous Roman soldiers to illustrate a spiritual principle. One of the primary reasons for the usual success of Roman soldiers over many centuries was their discipline. So standing doesn't mean standing around but standing in rank and formation. The tactics used meant that each soldier bore responsibility for protecting part of the next soldier with his shield. They had to rely upon each other. When we isolate ourselves and don't allow anyone into our lives then we are more easily defeated in spiritual warfare.
"Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment." ( Proverbs 18:1 ESV)