Irmãos
A comunhão entre irmãos é marca da igreja verdadeira. A Bíblia nos chama a amar uns aos outros como Cristo nos amou — com perdão, encorajamento e cuidado mútuo.
Amor fraternal
Um novo mandamento vos dou: que vos ameis uns aos outros. Nisto conhecerão que sois meus discípulos — pelo amor entre vós.
Now I am giving you a new commandment: You must love each other. You must love each other in the way that I have loved you. If you keep loving each other, everyone who is aware of that [HYP] will know that you are my disciples."
We must love each other. God shows us what real love is.
Dear friends, we must love each other, because God enables us to love each other, and because those who love their fellow believers have become God’s children and ◄know/have a close relationship with► him.
So those who say "I love God" but hate a fellow believer are lying. Those who do not love one of their fellow believers, whom they have seen, certainly cannot be loving God, whom they have not seen.
But those who love their fellow believers are continuing to conduct their lives like people who are living in the light. They are people who please God [LIT]. So you should love your fellow believers.
Those who believe that Jesus is God’s Chosen One are people who have been caused to live spiritually, and they love their fellow believers. They obey God’s commands and overcome the evils of human society.
All those who believe that Jesus is the ◄Messiah/person God sent to rescue us► are ones who have truly become children of God. And everyone who loves a man who is someone’s father will be expected to love that man’s children as well. Similarly, those who love God, who has caused them to become his children [MET], should love their fellow believers, whom God has also caused to become his children.
Because you have been made pure by obeying the truth, with the result that you sincerely love your fellow believers, continue to love each other earnestly and sincerely/wholeheartedly.
Comunhão e edificação
Não abandoneis a congregação. Encorajem-se mutuamente, cantem juntos e instruam-se na Palavra de Cristo.
We must not stop assembling ourselves to worship the Lord, as some people have done. Instead, each one of us must encourage/exhort other believers. Let us do that even more since we know that the day that the Lord will return [MTY] is near.
And continue to let the message about Christ govern/direct all you think and do, as you very wisely teach and warn one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs (OR, songs that God’s Spirit gives you), while you sincerely and thankfully sing to God.
Sing to each other ◄Psalms/songs with words from the Scriptures►, sing other songs that the congregation knows, and songs that God’s Spirit gives you. Sing these Psalms and other songs sincerely to praise the Lord Jesus.
We can use one iron tool to sharpen another iron tool;
similarly [SIM], when one person shares what he is thinking, it can help other people to think more clearly.
Friends love others all the time,
and relatives are able to help us when we have troubles.
There are some people who only pretend to be friends with us,
but there are some friends who are more loyal than members of our families.
Do not neglect your friends or your parents’ friends;
and at a time when you are experiencing a disaster, do not go to a relative who lives far away to request his help;
someone who lives near you can help you more than relatives who live far away.
Perdão e reconciliação
Se o teu irmão pecar contra ti, vai e repreende-o a sós. O perdão e a reconciliação preservam a unidade do corpo de Cristo.
Jesus taught about what we should do if someone sins against us and about agreeing when we pray.
"If a fellow believer sins against you, go to him, and when you two are alone, reprove him for sinning against you. If that person listens to you and feels sorry that he has sinned against you, you will have restored your friendship with that person. If that person will not listen to you nor feel sorry that he has sinned against you, go get one or two other people who will listen to what you both have to say. Have them go with you so that what is written {Moses wrote} in the Scriptures might happen: ‘When one person accuses another in some matter, it should be confirmed by at least two or three people {at least two or three people should confirm it} before that person can be declared guilty {before they declare that person guilty}.’
Jesus taught about what we should do if someone sins against us and about agreeing when we pray.
"If a fellow believer sins against you, go to him, and when you two are alone, reprove him for sinning against you. If that person listens to you and feels sorry that he has sinned against you, you will have restored your friendship with that person. If that person will not listen to you nor feel sorry that he has sinned against you, go get one or two other people who will listen to what you both have to say. Have them go with you so that what is written {Moses wrote} in the Scriptures might happen: ‘When one person accuses another in some matter, it should be confirmed by at least two or three people {at least two or three people should confirm it} before that person can be declared guilty {before they declare that person guilty}.’ If the one who has sinned against you will not listen to them or does not feel sorry that he has sinned against you, tell that to the congregation so that they can rebuke him. If that person will not listen to the congregation or feel sorry that he has sinned against you, exclude him from being a member of your congregation, just like you would exclude pagans, tax collectors, and others who do not believe in God and sin greatly. Keep this in mind: Whatever you decide on earth about punishing or not punishing a member of your congregation is what has also been decided by God in heaven {what God in heaven has also decided}. Also note this: If at least two of you who live here on earth agree together about something you ask God for [DOU], God, my Father who is in heaven, will give you what you ask for. This is true, because wherever at least two or three of you assemble because you believe in me [MTY], I am spiritually present with you. I will hear what you ask for and I will ask God to do it for you."
Then Jesus continued by saying, "That is what my Father in heaven will do to you if you do not feel merciful and sincerely forgive a fellow believer who sins against you."
I will reply, ‘The truth is that whatever you did for any one of your fellow believers, even an unimportant one, it was as though you did it for me.’
Those who habitually do what God wants are as dear to me [MET] as my brother, my sister, or my mother!"
‘Do not hate anyone. Instead, honestly rebuke those who ought to be rebuked, in order that you also will not be guilty.
I instruct you how to act toward various groups in the church.
Do not rebuke/scold older men. Instead, exhort/advise them respectfully as you would exhort/advise your father. Exhort/advise younger men gently as you would exhort/advise your brothers. Exhort/advise older women respectfully as you would exhort/advise your mother. Exhort/advise younger women gently as you would exhort/advise your sisters; but you must act in a completely proper way as you do that.
If anyone does not take care of those who live in his own house, and especially if he does not take care of his own family, he has ◄denied/quit believing► what we believe and we should consider that he is worse than a person who does not believe in Christ.