Friends, good

Examples of good friends

David and Jonathan

1 Samuel 18:1–3 NASB95

Now it came about when he had finished speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as himself. Saul took him that day and did not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.

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Job’s friends

Job 2:11 NASB95

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him.

Ruth and Naomi

Ruth 1:16–17 NASB95

But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God. “Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me.”

Paul’s friends in ministry

Romans 16:3–5 NASB95

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, who for my life risked their own necks, to whom not only do I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles; also greet the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia.

See also Titus; Epaphroditus; Tychicus; Luke; Timothy; Philemon

Other examples

David and Abiathar; David and Nahash; David and Ittai; David and Hushai; David and Hiram; Elijah and Elisha; Jehonadab and Jehu; the friends who brought the paralysed man to Jesus Christ

The benefits brought by good friends

Comfort and sympathy

Job 2:11–13 NASB95

Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him. When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky. Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

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Support and encouragement

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Sacrificial service

John 15:13 NASB95

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.

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Shared joy and sorrow

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Loving rebuke

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Encouragement in good works

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Challenge

Proverbs 27:17 NASB95

Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another.

Good friendship among believers

Unity in the love and fear of the Lord

Psalm 119:63 NASB95

I am a companion of all those who fear You, And of those who keep Your precepts.

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Worshipping together

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Sharing possessions

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Serving together

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Praying for one another

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Living peaceably

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Covering sins

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Restoring from sin

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Jesus Christ is the friend of sinners

Matthew 11:19 NASB95

“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”