What Does The Bible Say About Friendship?

Friendship offers countless benefits to us as human beings. After all, we were created to be social creatures. Most of us feel happy and comfortable when we are with our friends, families, and certain acquaintances. There are great stories of friendship that we can find in the Bible. These stories provide us with lessons that can teach us how to understand and value friendships. Friendships help us experience a full and contented life. However, there are times when friendships can cause us harm, heartache, hardship, grief, and even disappointment. A broken friendship can make us feel downcast. Some individuals even experience depression due to broken friendships. 

On the positive side, the Bible tells us of great friendships, such as the connections between Jonathan and David, Ruth and Naomi, Barnabas and Paul, and Jesus and Peter.  Friendship is a gift from our Heavenly Father and it offers many benefits for Christians to enjoy. One of the best things about friends is that they help and console us during times of troubles (2 Samuel 17:27-29) and (Judges 11:37-38). Apart from helping us, a friend may also rebuke us in love. Keep in mind that a friend who rebukes you in love is more faithful than hypocritical flatterers (Proverbs 27:6). A friendship that is rooted in faith in Christ is deeper and more meaningful. It is more profound and more desirable than any other material thing in this world. The Bible warns us that there are friends who destroy each other, but there are also those who stick closer than a brother (A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24).

Choosing Friendships

Christians must be very careful when building friendships with other people, because friendship in this world has its negative aspects. There are friends who can lead or influence us to sin. Just like the story in 2 Samuel 13:1-6, wherein Jonadab persuades Amnon to rape his half-sister, who is Tamar. The goal of friendship is not to lead us astray in regard to our Christian faith, but rather help us get closer to God. You must also be careful with friends who provide you with bad pieces of advice and false comfort, like Job’s friends. Instead of providing Job comfort and reassurance, his friends made his suffering worse and displeased God (Job 2:11-13, 6:14-27, 42:7-9). As children of God, we need to stay away from false friends who pretend to show love and affection to us, yet deep down in their souls they have evil motives. Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:33 (ESV), “ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”  You need to find friends or companions with whom you can enjoy sweet fellowship in the house of God (Psalms 55:12-14).

God is so gracious to us Christians that He gave us warnings about earthly friends and how we should choose them (Proverbs 1:10-19, 4:14-19). Christians should not associate with people who entice us to commit sinful acts. No matter how appealing or entertaining this “friendship” may be, let us be wise and remember what God has told us. This is why it is better to build friendships inside the church or the Christian community. We are not saying that you shouldn’t be friends with unbelievers, but we want you to understand that friendship rooted and established in the House of God is far sweeter and safer for your soul.

Your True Best Friend

According to the Bible, a friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity (A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17). Remember that there is always a friend whom we can confide and trust in. There is a friend from whom we can receive help, encouragement, and love. There is a friend who can walk beside us in the darkest times, even in death, and that is Jesus Christ. If you are longing for friendship, choose Jesus Christ, for He is a friend for sinners and a lover to our soul. One of the sweetest things that man could ever utter in this world is to say that “Jesus is my friend.” Earthly friends may hurt or fail us, but Jesus stands by us. He is not only our master and redeemer, but also our perfect best friend.

The love of Jesus is unconditional. He befriends us not because of who we are or what we have done. Our Perfect friend is not fickle nor temporary. You won’t hear Him making promises that He cannot fulfill. He is always for us, and if the world hates us, remember that it hated Him first (John 15:18-25). The love of Jesus is the greatest of all things. Our friendship with Him is eternal, extending all the way to eternity, beginning before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-5). His love and friendship endure forever and nothing can ever separate us from His love (Romans 8:38-39). He intercedes before the Father on our behalf. He not only gives us comfort, guidance, peace, joy, contentment, happiness, and satisfaction, but He also gave His life for us. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13). And now we know what real love is, because Jesus gave up his life for us (Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 3:16). Friendship with Jesus Christ is the one connection that we all need and it is always more than enough.