6. Strengthening Each Other
"Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves" (Ecclesiastes 4: 12a). "I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith" (Romans 1:11-12). Becoming physically stronger takes a lot of effort – there are no shortcuts and the better the method of strengthening, the more perspiration it tends to require. Just as true, no one else can do it for us. Becoming spiritually stronger also requires determination and regular workouts, as we all know, but there is at least one surprisingly easy method we can incorporate in our training that does enable us to make each other stronger without a lot of work!
The Bible has a lot to say about becoming stronger through the patient application of spiritual disciplines such as prayer, study, meditation, or fasting, but it also gives us important clues regarding other ways we are strengthened. The apostle Paul's words in Romans 1:11-12 (quoted above) regarding encouragement are a good example.
The method of strengthening Paul highlights is so simple it is easy to read over it without considering it seriously, but it can be extremely worthwhile to look at it a little more closely – beneath the surface of our English translations of the Bible.
Notice first that Paul told the Romans he wanted to impart a gift to them to make them strong; it was not a gift that was dependent entirely on the action of God – this was something he had that he could share with them. In fact, the Greek word he uses to say "that I may impart to you" is metadidomi, and it connotes the idea of sharing rather than giving all of something one might have. We see the word in Luke's Gospel when John the Baptist says, "Anyone who has two shirts should share (metadidomi) with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same" (Luke 3:11). The idea of "sharing" is what lies behind Paul's words "that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith," and here we see how closely the two ideas of encouragement and strengthening actually are. The word parakaleo that Paul uses in saying "that you and I may be mutually encouraged" can mean both to encourage and to strengthen. The verse can thus quite legitimately be translated "…that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually strengthened by each other's faith," because the ideas of encouragement and strengthening are both there, in the same word.
But we must remember that Paul isn't saying we will get stronger just by encouraging each other in the sense of exchanging positive remarks. He stresses that the strengthening/encouragement is on account of each other's faith. We do this by exhibiting our faith in our interactions with each other – by living and walking in our faith so that others see us standing firm and are strengthened in turn by our example.
That is the sense of Paul's words to the Corinthian church, also: "… stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong" (1 Corinthians 16:13) – it is as we walk according to the way of faith and stand fast in it that we become spiritually stronger and also help each other to be stronger.