A question, read by SIFT
May a Christian keep close friends who do not believe?
Read by SIFT · 6 Nov 2026 About this reading
The short answer
DEVELOPMENT: written up by Claude from an OpenAI reading
Every verse in it is shown whole.
Yes. A Christian may keep a real, lasting friendship with someone who does not believe. A difference of faith, on its own, is not a command to give up the friend.
That permission comes with real limits, and the limits are part of the answer:
- Some companions must be left, because of what their company teaches, even before the Christian has copied what they do.
- A Christian must not join wrongdoing or idolatry, take unbelief as spiritual guidance, or let loyalty to a friend become a reason to disobey Christ.
- A personal friendship is not the same as the fellowship that comes from sharing faith in Christ, and it should not be treated as if it were.
- Being close does not mean trusting a friend without limit, or telling them everything.
Scripture speaks warmly about keeping a friend, and gives no rule that the bond ends when faith differs:
"Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off." ()
The same wisdom also refuses some friendships outright, and gives its reason:
"Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:" ()
"Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul." ()
On the claim that a Christian may keep a real friendship with someone who does not believe, within the limits set out below: Scripture teaches this. No single verse names "close friends who are not Christians" as a category. The answer comes from several passages read together, and each one is shown below so it can be checked.
On whether one particular friendship is wise, and what shape it should take: It depends on something we don't know yet. That turns on what the friendship actually involves. A question about that is at the end.
Nothing here says anything about whether any person, the one asking or any friend, is saved, or what is in their heart. These are conclusions about conduct only.
How it was read, replayed
Here the replay stays still. This is the reading in brief; every step of it is listed below, in order.
"May a Christian keep close friends who do not believe?"
- 30 minutes 25 seconds of reading, by an AI from OpenAI
- 201 searches of Scripture
- 1 word lookup came back marked by the tool as not word-aligned to the sealed text, so no word tags are shown for it
- 2,072 verses opened, from 99 chapters
- 0 false readings struck out
- 6 conclusions handed on
- then the answer, written by Claude in 6 minutes 26 seconds
The readings it struck out, and the verses each would break
Verdicts
- Qualified permission to retain a real personal friendship
- Serious limits belong to that permission
- Personal friendship does not supply shared Christian fellowship
- Love and truthful care extend beyond believers
- Close does not mean unlimited confidence or disclosure
- The permitted conduct remains directed to God and others' good
How it was read, replayed from its own logs in the order it happened, at eight times its real speed (slower through its record, so each part can be read). It pauses once, at the reading's conclusions. The clock is the real time it happened.
What this reading did
Scripture alone. By its words, and by the Greek and Hebrew behind them. Search 4, unbeliev, was the first that found nothing.
In its own context. Whole passages, and 56 whole chapters.
False readings fall. It struck out 0 readings, each by a verse it would make false.
Traceable. Every verse it quotes opens in its chapter, as the reading opened it.
The Greek and Hebrew word searches use data from STEP Bible.
What the question was read as asking
- "May" asks about permission. It does not claim that every such friendship is good.
- "Keep" is about friends a person already has, not only meeting strangers.
- "Close" means more than polite contact. It covers lasting care, counsel, influence, trust and what is shared in confidence. Permission to share one meal would not answer it.
- "A Christian" is read as a disciple of Christ:
"And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." ()
- "Who do not believe" means people outside the faith. It is not quietly swapped for professing Christians under church discipline, which 1 Corinthians 5:10-13 treats as a different case (shown below). Nor is unbelief treated as if it did not matter morally; Psalms 14:1 and John 3:19 (both shown below) do not allow that.
The question tells nothing about any particular friend: nothing about pressure to sin, danger, romance, or anyone's standing before God. None of that has been assumed.
Why the permission stands
The case is built from four strands. None of them alone proves every degree of closeness wise; together they carry the permission.
1. Scripture values friendship, and tells us to keep a friend
Friendship in Proverbs is love that lasts, nearness, honest correction and good counsel:
"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." ()
"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." ()
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." ()
"Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel." ()
Proverbs 27:10 is a command about a friendship that already exists, including a family friend handed down from a father, and about real help in hard times. It sets no condition that the friend must share the faith. This is more than putting up with unavoidable contact. But the same book of wisdom sets moral limits on friendship, and those limits are shown below.
2. Paul allows a Christian to choose to go to an unbeliever's table
"If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake." ()
This is a real permission, freely chosen ("ye be disposed to go"), not just enduring necessary business. The same chapter also sets limits. It forbids sharing in idol worship:
"Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry." ()
"The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?" ()
"Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?" ()
"But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils." ()
"Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." ()
It treats ordinary food differently from idol worship:
"Whatsoever is sold in the shambles, that eat, asking no question for conscience sake:" ()
"For the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof." ()
It limits the permission out of care for someone else's conscience:
"But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:" ()
And it points everything toward God's glory and the good of others:
"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." ()
"Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:" ()
"Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." ()
So sharing a meal with an unbeliever is not, just by happening, sharing their worship or their unbelief. A single invitation does not by itself prove a close friendship, though. That is why this strand is joined with the others.
3. Paul explains that he never meant "avoid everyone outside the church"
The occasion was a reported sexual sin inside the church:
"It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife." ()
Paul then explains his own earlier instruction:
"I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:" ()
"Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world." ()
"But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat." ()
"For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?" ()
"But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person." ()
This is the writer explaining his own words, so it outranks any reading that takes the command alone and makes it total withdrawal. The strict refusal to eat together applies to someone "called a brother" who lives that way. Caring for and spending time with people outside the church is therefore not the same as approving their sins. This explanation does not cancel the warnings and commands to separate found elsewhere.
4. Jesus commands love that reaches beyond those who love back
"But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you," ()
"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise." ()
"For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them." ()
"But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." ()
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;" ()
"And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?" ()
These are commands to do good, not just the absence of a ban. Jesus' own conduct shows that this care can be personal without losing its purpose:
"And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them." ()
"But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?" ()
"And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick." ()
"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." ()
He also loved a man while telling him plainly what he lacked:
"Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me." ()
"And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions." ()
Love for a person and honest truth stand together here. This passage does not describe an ongoing close friendship, and it says nothing about the man's later life.
What the four strands add up to
Together these support keeping a real friendship with someone who does not believe. The extra rules sometimes added, that the friend must believe first, that affection must wait until they convert, that all contact must stay casual, or that every such friendship must be only an effort to convert them, have no support in these passages. They cut against the ordinary personal reach of what the passages say.
Nor is there a promise that staying friends will lead the friend to faith.
A further case: an existing mixed marriage
Paul tells a believer married to an unbeliever who is willing to stay not to leave:
"But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away." ()
"And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him." ()
He treats the case of the unbeliever leaving separately:
"But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace." ()
This shows that a close tie with an unbeliever is not always defiling in itself. It shows only that much. It is not permission to enter any union, because the same chapter says a widow may remarry "only in the Lord" (1 Corinthians 7:39, shown below). It is not a promise that the unbeliever will be saved (1 Corinthians 7:16, shown below). And it does not settle friendship on its own; that needs the friendship passages above.
First Peter gives a similar household instruction: a wife living faithfully beside a husband who does not obey the word.
"Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives;" ()
"While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear." ()
This is about a marriage that already exists, not permission to start one. The verse that follows (1 Peter 3:3) comes up again below in the word checks.
The limits that belong to the permission
Some company must be left, before any wrong is done
The wisdom warnings do not wait until a Christian has actually joined in a wrong act. They reach the choice of company itself, because company teaches.
"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." ()
"Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge." ()
"Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them." ()
"For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief." ()
Proverbs 24:1 forbids even wanting that company, and its next verse gives the reason: destruction and mischievous speech. Proverbs 22:25 (above) gives its reason too: learning the angry man's ways and being snared. The same kind of warning runs through the book:
"Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long." ()
"Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:" ()
"For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags." ()
"Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father." ()
"Whoso loveth wisdom rejoiceth his father: but he that keepeth company with harlots spendeth his substance." ()
Proverbs 28:7 warns against riotous company and 29:3 against company with harlots. Proverbs 1 shows the enticement itself. The father warns his son, and quotes the sinners' invitation:
"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." ()
"My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not." ()
"Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:" ()
"My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:" ()
The words of Proverbs 1:14 are the sinners' words, quoted by the father, not his advice.
"Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men." ()
"Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." ()
"The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit." ()
"The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour: but the way of the wicked seduceth them." ()
So a Christian cannot keep every close friendship just by saying "I don't intend to sin." Some friendships need distance, or need to end, because the chosen company itself is forbidden. This limit is clear enough to obey and wide enough to cover influence. It is not about sorting friends into respectable and unpleasant.
"Fool" here is about refusing God, not low intelligence
The fools in these warnings are people who will not turn from evil:
"The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil." ()
"The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way: but the folly of fools is deceit." ()
"Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous there is favour." ()
"The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going." ()
"A fool hath no delight in understanding, but that his heart may discover itself." ()
"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good." ()
So the warning covers spiritual counsel and resistance to God's truth, not just bad manners. A difference of belief does matter. Keeping a friend is not the same as taking the friend's unbelief as wisdom, or joining a group set on rejecting God's truth. The Christian must actually turn down that direction, and where the company itself is forbidden, withdraw.
No share in works of darkness
"Be not ye therefore partakers with them." ()
"For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:" ()
"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." ()
Being near people does not make their works acceptable. First Peter also says a former way of life must stop, even when old companions think it strange and speak against the believer:
"For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:" ()
"Wherein they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you:" ()
Their surprise and slander are no reason to go back.
A friendship is not shared Christian fellowship
A real personal bond is possible without pretending to share a faith that is not shared. Fellowship with God is tied to the truth declared and to walking in the light:
"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." ()
"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" ()
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." ()
"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." ()
Friendship with Jesus includes obeying Him, and He shares with His friends what He heard from the Father:
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." ()
"Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you." ()
Companionship that strengthens obedience to God is good:
"I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts." ()
This is the psalmist's own confession. It does not say that every other friendship must stop.
Loyalty to a friend can never require disobeying Christ
A friend's company is permitted. A friend's guidance in unbelief, or partnership in wrongdoing, is not. A close friend cannot be taken as a spiritual guide in unbelief, an ally in wrongdoing, or a reason to disobey Christ. How a particular friendship may rightly look depends on what it involves, what counsel and influence it carries, how trustworthy it is, and whether one of Scripture's specific commands to withdraw applies (those are shown below).
Close, but not trusting without limit
When the reading was checked again against the word "close", it found that closeness also raises the questions of trust, whose guidance a Christian follows, and what is shared in confidence. These passages answer that.
When even a friend should not be trusted
"The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net." ()
"That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up." ()
"The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity." ()
"Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom." ()
"For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house." ()
"Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me." ()
The prophet laments a corrupt society of bloodshed, bribes and schemes, then warns against trusting even a friend, a guide or a spouse, and turns to the LORD. This is a real warning about trust and speech, not just about avoiding sinful events. It is not about unbelievers as a label, since it names one's own household. And it does not make all fitting human trust sinful, as Proverbs 31 shows below.
A familiar friend can betray
"Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me." ()
Being close, and sharing bread, does not guarantee faithfulness. This reports that betrayal happens. It does not say every friend will betray.
Caution in confidence, without refusing kindness
"Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another:" ()
"Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint." ()
"If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink:" ()
The same chapter warns against leaning on an unfaithful person, guards secrets, and commands feeding a hungry enemy. Being careful about what to entrust is not the same as refusing care. Nor is it a rule that a Christian may never share their own feelings.
Fitting human trust is good
"The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil." ()
"She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life." ()
"Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised." ()
Trust in someone who has shown faithfulness is commended. So Micah's warning cannot be stretched to every spouse in every setting. This passage does not vouch for any particular unbelieving friend's counsel, though, and it praises a woman who fears the LORD.
Where deceit fills a society
"Take ye heed every one of his neighbour, and trust ye not in any brother: for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbour will walk with slanders." ()
"And they will deceive every one his neighbour, and will not speak the truth: they have taught their tongue to speak lies, and weary themselves to commit iniquity." ()
"Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the LORD." ()
The reason given for distrust is lying and refusing to know the LORD, even among "brothers". A religious label does not make counsel safe.
Trust belongs first to the LORD
"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." ()
"Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is." ()
Jeremiah 17:5 joins relying on human strength with a heart that "departeth from the LORD", and the two belong together.
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." ()
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." ()
"That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee." ()
"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man." ()
"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes." ()
So a friend, however close, cannot become the ground of a Christian's security or direction in place of the LORD. Ordinary confidence in someone who has proved faithful is not forbidden. But counsel that rejects the LORD cannot be given the weight of God's truth, and a friend's not believing cannot be passed over here.
Scripture gives no number here: no rule for how much time to spend together, how many friends to have, or how much to share.
Love still reaches the friend
Avoiding corrupting company must never turn into contempt, coldness, or refusing the good Scripture commands, even toward enemies. Israel's law already required it:
"Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness." ()
"If thou meet thine enemy's ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again." ()
"If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him." ()
Helping someone with a real need is different from joining in their wrongdoing, and the same passage shows both. Love includes truth and honest rebuke:
"Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him." ()
"Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD." ()
"But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." ()
Gentleness is owed to everyone:
"To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men." ()
Kindness and truth belong together. Kindness alone does not make every kind of companionship wise, and neither does a hope of influencing the friend.
Readings that cannot stand
Each claim below would make a verse false, so it is struck. Of each one: this is not what Scripture teaches.
"Every friend who does not believe must be dropped." This would make 1 Corinthians 10:27 false, and Paul's own correction in 1 Corinthians 5:10. A narrower version says meals are fine but no lasting friendship is allowed. The meal verse alone does not answer that, because one invitation is not a close friendship. But the narrower rule adds a faith condition that Proverbs 27:10 does not have, and goes against the commanded love and the freely chosen company already shown.
"Friendship with the world means any affectionate tie to an unbeliever." This would make Jesus' command in Luke 6:27 false. First John 2:16 (shown below) explains what "the world" means there: lust and pride. The world is not an abstraction with no people in it, though. People can embody opposition to God, and a friendship whose loyalty is that opposition is forbidden. The mistake is treating every personal friendship with such a person as sharing their opposition. (More under the hard passages.)
"The unequal yoke is about marriage only," or "it forbids everything done together." "Marriage only" is too narrow, because 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 speaks of unrighteousness, idols and uncleanness of flesh and spirit, and never names marriage as its only subject. "Everything" is too broad, because 1 Corinthians 10:27 allows a chosen meal and 1 Corinthians 7:12-13 commands keeping the existing marriage. (More under the hard passages.)
"Paul's ban on keeping company covers every immoral outsider." This would make 1 Corinthians 5:11-12 false, which apply the ban to someone "called a brother". The reverse is also struck: the outsider exception does not allow joining idolatry, which would make 1 Corinthians 10:21 false. And being inside the professing church does not make someone's company automatically safe either:
"Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." ()
"Any close friendship is fine as long as the Christian intends to stay faithful." This would erase Proverbs 22:24-25, 13:20, 14:7 and 24:1-2, and the warnings in Proverbs 23:20-21 and 28:7. The warning does not wait until the boundary fails.
"'Fools' just means unintelligent or unpleasant people, so belief does not matter." Proverbs 13:19 and Psalms 14:1 will not bear that. The opposite mistake is also struck: treating every kindness or help to someone without faith as forbidden "foolish company" would erase 1 Corinthians 10:27, Luke 6:27 and 6:35, and Proverbs 27:10.
"Loving enemies means unlimited closeness," or "hating God's enemies cancels kindness." Neither keeps all the verses true:
"I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies." ()
Luke 6:35 commands doing good even to enemies, after the pattern of the Father's kindness to the unthankful and evil. Exodus 23:5 requires helping someone who hates you. Love for enemies does not mean agreeing with them, sharing spiritual fellowship, or taking them as close advisers. What is ruled out is both standing with anyone in hostility to God, and refusing the good that is commanded. The reading does not try to describe everything the psalmist felt inside.
"General permission for friendship cancels the specific commands to avoid or withdraw." It does not. Romans 16:17, 2 Thessalonians 3:14-15 and 2 John 1:10-11 (shown below) stay binding in their own cases. They also cannot be stretched into a ban on all contact with every unbeliever, which would make 1 Corinthians 10:27 false. And nothing in the question shows that any friend belongs to one of those cases.
"Jesus was called a friend of sinners, so approving their conduct is fine." His actual conduct came with His stated purpose: repentance (Luke 5:32). His company with sinners was not indifference to sin, and having a mission does not make taking part in sin acceptable. (More under the hard passages.)
"Staying in a mixed marriage proves every close tie may be entered, or must be kept, or will lead to conversion." That would set aside these two verses:
"For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?" ()
"The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord." ()
"All human trust is sinful," or "a close friend must always be trusted." Proverbs 31:11 commends fitting trust. Proverbs 25:19 warns against trusting the unfaithful. Neither total distrust nor unguarded confidence keeps both true.
"A friendship recorded in Scripture is automatically approved." Scripture records friendships in evil settings, as the stories of Jonadab and of Herod and Pilate below show. A record of what happened is not a command or an endorsement.
The hardest passages, read whole
James 4:4: "the friendship of the world"
"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." ()
This stays fully binding. James writes to the scattered twelve tribes, whom he addresses as brethren:
"James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting." ()
The verses around it are about envy, strife, selfish desire, pride and a divided heart:
"But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth." ()
"This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish." ()
"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." ()
"From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?" ()
"Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts." ()
"Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?" ()
"But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." ()
James's remedy is submitting to God and cleansing the heart, not drawing up a list of acquaintances:
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." ()
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." ()
Earlier in the same letter, caring for the afflicted and staying unstained by the world stand side by side:
"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." ()
First John explains the forbidden love of the world in the same moral terms:
"He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." ()
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." ()
"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." ()
"And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." ()
The world is also the object of God's saving love, and it is where people love darkness:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ()
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." ()
The world can hate disciples:
"If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." ()
"But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause." ()
Yet Jesus does not ask for His disciples to be taken out of it. He sends them into it:
"I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world." ()
"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." ()
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth." ()
"As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." ()
"Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;" ()
Being among people is different from belonging to their opposition to God. John 17 is a prayer and a sending, though, not a promise that every friendship is safe.
The friendship James forbids is a loyalty set against God: lust, pride, a divided heart. It is not care for people. People can embody that opposition, and a friendship built on it is forbidden.
One limit: the searches did not identify which Scripture James is quoting in 4:5, and did not settle that verse's detailed meaning. Nothing here rests on it. The plain rebuke and commands of James 4:1-4 and 4:6-8 carry the point, and the question is not left open because of it.
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1: "Be ye not unequally yoked"
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" ()
"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" ()
"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." ()
"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you," ()
"And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." ()
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." ()
Paul writes to the Corinthians after opening his heart to them, calling them children and dearly beloved. His pairs, righteousness and unrighteousness, light and darkness, Christ and Belial, God's temple and idols, name loyalties that cannot be joined. His conclusion is cleansing of flesh and spirit.
What stands: a Christian must not be bound into the opposed loyalty and uncleanness these verses name, and where that is the case, must actually separate and be cleansed. Closeness can create such a case, and calling it "friendship" does not exempt it. The verse gives no mechanical line measured by hours spent together. It does not forbid every shared meal or every close human tie, since the same writer allows the unbeliever's invitation and commands keeping the existing mixed marriage.
Where Paul's quoted words come from (checked in their own chapters):
- The promise in 6:16 closely matches the LORD's words to Israel, which tie His dwelling to obedience and forbid idols:
"Ye shall make you no idols nor graven image, neither rear you up a standing image, neither shall ye set up any image of stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am the LORD your God." ()
"If ye walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them;" ()
"And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you." ()
"And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people." ()
And Ezekiel, which ties God's dwelling to cleansing from idols:
"Neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God." ()
"My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." ()
So the promise supports holiness, not a blanket rule against contact with outsiders.
- The "come out" and "touch not" language of 6:17 uses Isaiah's words to captive Zion, where those carrying the LORD's vessels must be clean as they leave under God's protection:
"Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD." ()
"For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward." ()
The Christian duty of cleansing rests on Paul's own use of these words, followed by 7:1.
- For 6:18, two related promises were read. They are related texts, and neither is claimed to be the exact source of the whole sentence:
"I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:" ()
"I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;" ()
Paul's sentence states its own promise. Its exact source is not needed to tell ordinary company apart from agreement with idols, and no friendship rule is drawn from a guessed source.
- Earlier in the same chapter Paul quotes Isaiah on the day of salvation:
"(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)" ()
"Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;" ()
There the servant's mission reaches the Gentiles. This is background only, not a separate permission about friendship.
1 Corinthians 15:33: "evil communications corrupt good manners"
"Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?" ()
"If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die." ()
"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." ()
"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." ()
Some among the church's own hearers denied the resurrection. The "eat and drink" line imagines the self-indulgent life that would follow if there were no resurrection. Then comes the warning, and the call to righteousness. So bad talk and company can corrupt even inside a church. The warning is not limited to outsiders, and it is not cancelled by a Christian's intention to be a good influence. Whether "communications" is taken as talk or company, the warning stands.
The "eat and drink" line echoes Isaiah, where feasting refuses God's call to mourn:
"And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:" ()
"And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen, and killing sheep, eating flesh, and drinking wine: let us eat and drink; for to morrow we shall die." ()
These warnings must not be softened into "just don't join in the bad act" while the chosen company itself goes unquestioned.
Psalms 1, 26 and 139
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." ()
"But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." ()
The blessed life turns down ungodly counsel and delights in God's law.
"For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth." ()
"I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers." ()
"I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked." ()
"Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:" ()
"In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes." ()
The psalmist's refusal of deceitful, wicked and violent company is real.
"Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men." ()
"For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain." ()
"Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?" ()
"Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:" ()
"And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." ()
The hatred of God's enemies in Psalms 139:19-22 stands. It does not allow cruelty, and it does not cancel the command to do good to enemies. What both teach together: never stand with anyone in hostility to God, and still do the good that is commanded. The psalm ends by asking God to search the speaker's own heart, and nothing here judges anyone else's heart.
Deuteronomy 13 and Israel's separation from the nations
Moses spoke these commandments to Israel, as the LORD gave them:
"These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab." ()
"And it came to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spake unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the LORD had given him in commandment unto them;" ()
Even the closest friend cannot be followed into other gods:
"Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him." ()
"If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;" ()
"Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:" ()
The whole passage also includes Israel's judicial command, and it must be shown in full:
"But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people." ()
"And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." ()
"And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you." ()
This was a command to Israel in its stated case. It cannot be carried over as a command for Christians to execute unbelieving friends. What carries over is this: no friendship, however close, can make idolatry acceptable.
Israel's commands about the nations name particular peoples, marriages, a covenant and the land, and give their reason, being turned to other gods:
"When the LORD thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;" ()
"And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:" ()
"Neither shalt thou make marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son, nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son." ()
"For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly." ()
Joshua said the same to Israel's assembled leaders:
"That ye come not among these nations, these that remain among you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow yourselves unto them:" ()
"Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, and go in unto them, and they to you:" ()
"Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you." ()
Scripture records that this danger was real:
"For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father." ()
"Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites." ()
"For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass." ()
"But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works." ()
"And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them." ()
These are serious examples of how strong close ties can be, and simply hoping to be a good influence does not answer them. They are not set aside because they say "mingled" or "marriages" rather than "friendship". But their own setting is Israel's covenant and the evils named, and they do not cancel Paul's plain instruction to keep an existing mixed marriage, or his teaching about outsiders.
2 Chronicles 19:2: "love them that hate the LORD"
"And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD." ()
The story before it shows what Jehoshaphat actually did:
"And after certain years he went down to Ahab to Samaria. And Ahab killed sheep and oxen for him in abundance, and for the people that he had with him, and persuaded him to go up with him to Ramothgilead." ()
"And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramothgilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war." ()
"So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramothgilead." ()
He was entertained, persuaded into Ahab's war, pledged himself and his people, and went despite the prophet's warning. The rebuke is about joining that cause. It is not a rebuke of the help Exodus 23:5 requires for an enemy in need, and it does not make every benefit given to a wrongdoer forbidden.
When Scripture commands withdrawal
Some specific cases do require refusing or withdrawing, and the general permission does not cancel them.
A visitor bringing false teaching about Christ:
"And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it." ()
"For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist." ()
"Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son." ()
"If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:" ()
"For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." ()
The elder forbids welcoming this visitor, because the welcome shares in his evil deeds. The word for "God speed" is used elsewhere for ordinary greeting and gladness (see the word checks below), so leaving out a special religious formula does not get around the command. And this visitor's case cannot be stretched into refusing all hospitality to every unbeliever.
People causing division against the teaching received:
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." ()
"For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple." ()
People with a form of godliness who deny its power:
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." ()
"For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts," ()
A heretic, after warnings:
"A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;" ()
A disorderly or disobedient brother:
"For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies." ()
"And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed." ()
"Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." ()
Each of these is a distinct case, described in its own words. None of them simply means "anyone who does not believe". The question gives no reason to put any friend in any of these cases.
Jesus and sinners
"The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!" ()
"And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to meat." ()
Luke 7:34 reports what that generation said about Him. Their charges are not taken as Scripture's verdict, and the reading does not set out to prove each charge false. The point rests on what Jesus actually did, eating with people and receiving them, and on what He said His purpose was: calling sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). One meal does not prove an ongoing close friendship, and the label "sinners" is not a verdict that each person at the table stayed without faith.
Peter at Cornelius's house
"And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and had called together his kinsmen and near friends." ()
"And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean." ()
"Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them." ()
"Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?" ()
Peter goes into a Gentile home and refuses to call anyone common or unclean. His critics object that he ate with uncircumcised men. The account goes on to their receiving the word and the Holy Ghost. This is about shutting people out for their nation, and about hearing the gospel. It is not an example of a lasting close friendship with someone who stayed an unbeliever.
Peter's remembered words were checked against their source:
"Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost." ()
"For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence." ()
Friendships Scripture records, good and bad
Calling someone a "friend" in Scripture does not make them good, or their advice sound.
Jonadab and Amnon. The narrator calls Jonadab a friend, and reports his deceptive plan:
"But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David's brother: and Jonadab was a very subtil man." ()
"And Jonadab said unto him, Lay thee down on thy bed, and make thyself sick: and when thy father cometh to see thee, say unto him, I pray thee, let my sister Tamar come, and give me meat, and dress the meat in my sight, that I may see it, and eat it at her hand." ()
"So Amnon lay down, and made himself sick: and when the king was come to see him, Amnon said unto the king, I pray thee, let Tamar my sister come, and make me a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat at her hand." ()
"And she answered him, Nay, my brother, do not force me; for no such thing ought to be done in Israel: do not thou this folly." ()
"Howbeit he would not hearken unto her voice: but, being stronger than she, forced her, and lay with her." ()
The chapter goes on to later destruction in the household. This adds weight to the warnings about a friend's counsel. Nothing is said here about Jonadab's religious standing, no one in the story is held up to copy, and the advice is not claimed to explain every later act.
Herod and Pilate.
"And Herod with his men of war set him at nought, and mocked him, and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate." ()
"And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves." ()
Their friendship formed on the day Jesus was mocked. Pilate found no capital fault in Him again and again, then gave in to the demand for crucifixion. A friendship being reported is not a friendship being approved. This is not a ban on every friendship with an unbeliever.
Caesar's friend. Here "friend" is political loyalty, pressed by accusers:
"And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him: but the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend: whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar." ()
Hiram and David. The narrator reports Hiram's lasting love for David:
"And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David." ()
"And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name." ()
"And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people." ()
Hiram blesses the LORD, and the chapter never says what he believed. His nation or office cannot make him a proven unbeliever, so his friendship is not used as an example of the exact case asked about. The promise Solomon mentions in 5:5 matches the LORD's word to David:
"And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom." ()
"He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever." ()
That concerns David's son building God's house. It is not a rule about friends.
Job and his friends.
"To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty." ()
"My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;" ()
"Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred." ()
Job asks for pity in his suffering, and for honest correction rather than friendship that fails like a dry stream. It is unclear who "he" is at the end of 6:14. If it is the friend, Job is charging a friend who has abandoned the fear of God, not approving his counsel. If it is the afflicted man, Job is asking for pity toward him, not approving a lack of fear. Either way the answer is the same: care is still owed, and ungodly direction is still refused. This is Job's appeal in the middle of his argument, not a standalone command from God, so nothing is built on that unclear clause, and that does not leave the question unsettled.
Paul's friends in Asia.
"And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre." ()
These friends acted to protect Paul. Their faith is not stated, so their title cannot make them a proven example of the case asked about. The same is true of the centurion's friends in Luke 7:6.
Friends in Jesus' teaching. A friend arriving from a journey, and a friend asked for help at midnight:
"And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;" ()
"For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him?" ()
"I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth." ()
This illustration is about persisting in asking for help. And on hospitality:
"But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee." ()
"Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee." ()
"But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:" ()
"And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just." ()
This turns hospitality toward people who cannot repay. Neither passage says what the friends believed.
Other passages read and set aside: Job 34:1-12 is Elihu's accusation about Job, not a command to end friendships. Psalms 106:18 reports a judgment; the same psalm's verses 35-36 (above) carry the relevant point. Galatians 5:13-26 was read while looking for the source of James 4:5, but it is not claimed as that source and is not used to settle this question.
How the key words were checked
Word meanings were taken from how Scripture uses each word in its own settings. Two places sharing the same original word is only a pointer to where to look, never a definition.
Friend. The Greek word for "friendship" in James 4:4 appears there only. The word for "friend" appears in Luke 11:5-6 (a traveller welcomed), John 15:14-15 (Jesus' friends, who obey and are told what He heard), John 19:12 (political loyalty to Caesar) and Acts 19:31 (friends protecting Paul). "Friendship" is not a bad word in itself. What it is friendship with, and what the relationship is, decides.
The Hebrew word for "friend" in Proverbs 17:17, 18:24 and 27:10 is also translated "neighbour" in Leviticus 19:17-18. The second "friend" in Proverbs 18:24 is the word behind "loveth" in 17:17 and "friend" in 27:6. Both passages are about steady love and honest correction, not mere acquaintance. So the command in 27:10 bears directly on keeping a friend, and it cannot cancel the same book's warnings about some companions.
Companion. One Hebrew word lies behind "companion" in Proverbs 13:20 and 28:7, "friendship" in 22:24, and "company" in 29:3. Its many other uses, about feeding and shepherding, were not treated as defining friendship. The word for "fool" is found at Proverbs 13:19-20, 14:7 ("foolish"), 14:8 ("fools") and 18:2. Those settings, refusing to turn from evil, deceit, and refusing understanding, show what kind of folly is meant. For Psalms 14:1 the original-word report could not be matched to its words, so no exact word claim is built on it.
World. The Greek word for "world" in James 4:4 also appears in John 3:16, 3:19, 15:19, 17:14-18, 1 Corinthians 5:10 and 1 John 2:15-17. It is even the word behind "adorning" here:
"Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel;" ()
That alone shows a shared word cannot dictate one English sense. John 3 shows the world loved by God and also preferring darkness. First John explains the forbidden love of the world as lust and pride. James names selfish lust, pride and a divided heart. What links them is moral opposition to God, not every relationship with a person in the world.
Love. The Greek word for "love" in 1 John 2:15 is also used of God loving the world (John 3:16), people loving darkness (John 3:19), loving enemies (Luke 6:27, Matthew 5:44), and Jesus loving the questioner (Mark 10:21). Because the objects and actions differ, the forbidden love of the world cannot be flattened into a ban on loving people. That does not make unbelief good counsel either.
Unbelief. The Greek word for "unbelievers" and "infidel" in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 is the same word used for the unbelieving spouse in 1 Corinthians 7:12-15 and for the host in 10:27. So "infidel" there is not some more extreme class. And the same writer cannot be read as forbidding every relationship with such people, since he allows the invitation and requires keeping the stated marriage.
Unequal yoke and fellowship. The words for "unequally yoked" and "fellowship" in 2 Corinthians 6:14 appear nowhere else, so nothing wider can be drawn from them. Their meaning comes from the verses that follow and from 2 Corinthians 7:1. The word for "communion" appears in 2 Corinthians 6:14 and 1 Corinthians 10:16, as "fellowship" in 1 John 1:3, 6-7 and 1 Corinthians 1:9, and in these:
"For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem." ()
"But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." ()
Sharing is defined by what is shared. The word does not mean being near someone in every passage.
Company and sharing in works. The word for "company" links 1 Corinthians 5:9, 11 and 2 Thessalonians 3:14. Their subjects differ: outsiders are excepted from total avoidance in the first, and a disobedient brother is disciplined in the second. The word for "have fellowship" in Ephesians 5:11 also appears here:
"Notwithstanding ye have well done, that ye did communicate with my affliction." ()
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." ()
The link is sharing in the named thing, which in the stated case can require leaving people. It is not a claim that someone's company can never itself be forbidden.
Communications. The Greek word in 1 Corinthians 15:33 appears there only. No dictionary definition was used. The verse's own setting, 15:12 and 15:32-34, shows what it opposes: resurrection truth and righteous living.
Greeting. The word behind "God speed" in 2 John 1:10 is used for ordinary greeting and gladness. It is the "greeting" in James 1:1, and appears in these:
"And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia:" ()
"Which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation." ()
"I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father." ()
"And said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they smote him with their hands." ()
So the forbidden greeting is not a special religious formula. The prohibition follows the deceiving visitor and the stated sharing in evil deeds. Greeting others in general is not forbidden, as Matthew 5:47 shows. The prophecy quoted later in Acts 15 is not used for any conclusion here.
Trust and confidence. In Micah 7:5, "trust" is the word behind "believed" here:
"And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness." ()
This is Abram's response to the LORD's promise. It checks how the word is used, and gives no rule about human friendship. "Confidence" in Micah 7:5 is also the word in Psalms 41:9 ("trusted"), Proverbs 31:11 ("trust"), Psalms 118:8-9 ("confidence") and Jeremiah 17:5, 7 ("trusteth"). The word for "confidence" in Proverbs 25:19 also appears as "trust" in Proverbs 22:19 and "hope" in Jeremiah 17:7. These link confidence and reliance while keeping clear whom, or what, is trusted, and on what terms.
Other quoted lines traced to their sources
A few more quotations inside the passages were traced:
- James 4:6 matches Proverbs 3:34, in a chapter where doing good to a neighbour, refusing the ways of oppression, and humility stand together:
"Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly." ()
- 1 Corinthians 10:7 quotes the calf feast:
"Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." ()
"And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play." ()
"They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt." ()
That meal was idol worship. It cannot be used to forbid every meal that includes an unbeliever.
- 1 Corinthians 10:26 and 28 quote the psalm where the LORD's ownership of the earth stands with the call to clean hands and a pure heart:
"The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." ()
"He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." ()
- John 15:25 ("They hated me without a cause") matches two psalms, both about enemies who hate without cause. Which one alone is meant is not claimed:
"Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause." ()
"They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head: they that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully, are mighty: then I restored that which I took not away." ()
- Luke 7:27 quotes Malachi, where the messenger comes before the LORD's purifying judgment. This is background, and nothing here depends on it:
"This is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee." ()
"Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts." ()
- Some other quotations met along the way were not all traced, and nothing here rests on them.
What this answer does not claim
- The exact source of James 4:5, and its detailed meaning, were not found. Nor was the exact source of the whole of 2 Corinthians 6:18. Whatever those sources are, the plain commands nearby keep the same force, and no friendship verdict is drawn from the unidentified wording. This is a limit of the reading, not a claim that Scripture leaves the question undecided.
- Not every passage in Scripture was opened. The searches were wide (by word, by subject, and by original word) and are listed in full in the record, but they are not a complete catalogue of every passage on friendship. So this answer makes no claim that Scripture is silent on anything, and no "nowhere" claim.
- No rule of numbers is given for how often to meet, how many friends to have, or how much to share.
- No particular friendship has been assessed, because none was described. That is a missing fact about the situation, not a conflict between the verses. Proverbs 22:24-25 refuses one kind of friendship and 1 Corinthians 10:27 allows chosen company with an unbeliever. They describe different cases, which is why the circumstances matter.
- The reading was done without seeing any earlier worked answer, by instruction. That independence has not been separately proved.
If this is about a particular friend
Nothing needs to be known to give the general answer above. To weigh one particular friendship against these passages, the question is:
What does being close in that friendship involve, and how do its activities, advice and influence affect following Christ?
Nothing is assumed in advance: no compromise, deception or danger is presumed about any friend.
Every step of the reading
Everything the replay shows, as plain text, in the order it happened. Times are from the moment the reading began.
Every search, in order (201)
- words friend 49 found
- words friendship 2 found
- words companion 13 found
- words unbeliev 0 found
- words fellowship 16 found
- words company 81 found
- words friends 48 found
- words unbelievers 4 found
- words company (page 2) 81 found
- words communications 2 found
- words love the world 1 found
- words sinners 46 found
- word family friendship 145 found
- word family companion 340 found
- words unbelieving 5 found
- words believe not 15 found
- words familiar 17 found
- words love them 8 found
- words consent 15 found
- words unequally 1 found
- words partakers 22 found
- original word G5373 1 found friendship 1
- original word G5384 27 found friends 17 · friend 12
- original word G2086 1 found together 1
- original word G3352 1 found fellowship 1
- original word G3657 1 found communications 1
- original word G571 21 found not 7 · unbelieving 5 · faithless 4 · unbelievers 4 · infidel 2 · incredible 1
- original word H7462 (page 2) 144 found feed 55 · shepherds 33 · shepherd 28 · fed 11 · herdmen 7 · pastors 7 · feedeth 5 · feeding 3 · companion 2 · kept 2 · up 2 · broken 1 · company 1 · devour 1 · eat 1 · entreateth 1 · feedest 1 · friend 1 · friendship 1 · keeper 1 · keepeth 1 · keeping 1 · pastor 1 · shearing 1 · shepherd's 1 · shepherds' 1 · them 1 · wander 1 · waste 1
- original word G2842 18 found fellowship 12 · communion 4 · communicate 1 · communication 1 · contribution 1 · distribution 1
- original word G2889 152 found world 185 · adorning 1 · world's 1
- words God resisteth 2 found
- all of scorneth + lowly 1 found
- words walk among you 2 found
- words my people 217 found
- words touch no unclean 1 found
- words sons and daughters 25 found
- words a father 23 found
- words earth is the 4 found
- words rose up to play 2 found
- words to morrow we 4 found
- all of spirit + envy 1 found
- words will be his father 4 found
- all of bring + sons + daughters 5 found
- all of tabernacle + people + God 3 found
- words no God 16 found
- words run not with 1 found
- words hated me without 1 found
- words send my messenger 4 found
- words succoured thee 1 found
- words with those 6 found
- all of hated + without + cause 1 found
- all of time + accepted + helped 0 found
- words yoke 53 found
- words receive him 8 found
- words love one another 12 found
- original word G2889 (page 2) 152 found world 185 · adorning 1 · world's 1
- original word G2889 (page 3) 152 found world 185 · adorning 1 · world's 1
- original word G2889 (page 4) 152 found world 185 · adorning 1 · world's 1
- words hateth 30 found
- all of time + acceptable 2 found
- all of hate + cause 2 found
- words yoke (page 2) 53 found
- words withdraw yourselves 1 found
- words avoid them 1 found
- words turn away 46 found
- all of sit + wicked 1 found
- all of company + wicked 2 found
- words seduceth 1 found
- words adorn 2 found
- words lusteth 6 found
- words envy 19 found
- original word G4874 3 found company 2 · have 1 · with 1
- original word G4790 3 found be 1 · fellowship 1 · have 1 · partakers 1 · with 1
- original word H3684 69 found fool 34 · fools 22 · foolish 9 · fool's 5
- original word H7453 173 found neighbour 74 · friend 28 · neighbour's 26 · another 21 · friends 14 · fellow 8 · companion 3 · another's 2 · neighbours 2 · other 2 · brother 1 · companions 1 · companions' 1 · fellow's 1 · fellows 1 · husband 1 · lovers 1 · neighbours' 1
- original word H157 195 found love 74 · loved 48 · loveth 38 · lovers 17 · friends 8 · lovest 7 · beloved 5 · friend 4 · lover 2 · i 1 · liketh 1 · lovedst 1 · lovely 1 · loving 1
- original word H157 (page 2) 195 found love 74 · loved 48 · loveth 38 · lovers 17 · friends 8 · lovest 7 · beloved 5 · friend 4 · lover 2 · i 1 · liketh 1 · lovedst 1 · lovely 1 · loving 1
- original word G25 109 found love 72 · loved 39 · loveth 20 · beloved 7 · thou 2 · doth 1 · have 1 · let 1 · lovedst 1 · us 1 · was 1 · ye 1
- words be not among 1 found
- words mingled 52 found
- all of keep + company 2 found
- words evil men 7 found
- words close 11 found
- words closer 1 found
- words Christian 2 found
- words Christians 1 found
- words God speed 2 found
- words go in to them 1 found
- words desire to be with 1 found
- original word G5463 68 found rejoice 25 · glad 14 · rejoiced 8 · hail 6 · rejoicing 5 · greeting 3 · joy 3 · rejoiceth 3 · speed 2 · do 1 · farewell 1 · i 1 · joyfully 1 · joying 1 · we 1 · were 1 · ye 1
- original word G5463 (page 2) 68 found rejoice 25 · glad 14 · rejoiced 8 · hail 6 · rejoicing 5 · greeting 3 · joy 3 · rejoiceth 3 · speed 2 · do 1 · farewell 1 · i 1 · joyfully 1 · joying 1 · we 1 · were 1 · ye 1
- words greeting 3 found
- words desirest 2 found
- all of peace + prosperity 4 found
- words baptized with the Holy Ghost 2 found
- words friend 49 found
- words friendship 2 found
- words companion 13 found
- words unbeliev 0 found
- words fellowship 16 found
- words company 81 found
- words friends 48 found
- words unbelievers 4 found
- words company (page 2) 81 found
- words communications 2 found
- words love the world 1 found
- words sinners 46 found
- word family friendship 145 found
- word family companion 340 found
- words unbelieving 5 found
- words believe not 15 found
- words familiar 17 found
- words love them 8 found
- words consent 15 found
- words unequally 1 found
- words partakers 22 found
- original word G5373 1 found friendship 1
- original word G5384 27 found friends 17 · friend 12
- original word G2086 1 found together 1
- original word G3352 1 found fellowship 1
- original word G3657 1 found communications 1
- original word G571 21 found not 7 · unbelieving 5 · faithless 4 · unbelievers 4 · infidel 2 · incredible 1
- original word H7462 (page 2) 144 found feed 55 · shepherds 33 · shepherd 28 · fed 11 · herdmen 7 · pastors 7 · feedeth 5 · feeding 3 · companion 2 · kept 2 · up 2 · broken 1 · company 1 · devour 1 · eat 1 · entreateth 1 · feedest 1 · friend 1 · friendship 1 · keeper 1 · keepeth 1 · keeping 1 · pastor 1 · shearing 1 · shepherd's 1 · shepherds' 1 · them 1 · wander 1 · waste 1
- original word G2842 18 found fellowship 12 · communion 4 · communicate 1 · communication 1 · contribution 1 · distribution 1
- original word G2889 152 found world 185 · adorning 1 · world's 1
- words God resisteth 2 found
- all of scorneth + lowly 1 found
- words walk among you 2 found
- words my people 217 found
- words touch no unclean 1 found
- words sons and daughters 25 found
- words a father 23 found
- words earth is the 4 found
- words rose up to play 2 found
- words to morrow we 4 found
- all of spirit + envy 1 found
- words will be his father 4 found
- all of bring + sons + daughters 5 found
- all of tabernacle + people + God 3 found
- words no God 16 found
- words run not with 1 found
- words hated me without 1 found
- words send my messenger 4 found
- words succoured thee 1 found
- words with those 6 found
- all of hated + without + cause 1 found
- all of time + accepted + helped 0 found
- words yoke 53 found
- words receive him 8 found
- words love one another 12 found
- original word G2889 (page 2) 152 found world 185 · adorning 1 · world's 1
- original word G2889 (page 3) 152 found world 185 · adorning 1 · world's 1
- original word G2889 (page 4) 152 found world 185 · adorning 1 · world's 1
- words hateth 30 found
- all of time + acceptable 2 found
- all of hate + cause 2 found
- words yoke (page 2) 53 found
- words withdraw yourselves 1 found
- words avoid them 1 found
- words turn away 46 found
- all of sit + wicked 1 found
- all of company + wicked 2 found
- words seduceth 1 found
- words adorn 2 found
- words lusteth 6 found
- words envy 19 found
- original word G4874 3 found company 2 · have 1 · with 1
- original word G4790 3 found be 1 · fellowship 1 · have 1 · partakers 1 · with 1
- original word H3684 69 found fool 34 · fools 22 · foolish 9 · fool's 5
- original word H7453 173 found neighbour 74 · friend 28 · neighbour's 26 · another 21 · friends 14 · fellow 8 · companion 3 · another's 2 · neighbours 2 · other 2 · brother 1 · companions 1 · companions' 1 · fellow's 1 · fellows 1 · husband 1 · lovers 1 · neighbours' 1
- original word H157 195 found love 74 · loved 48 · loveth 38 · lovers 17 · friends 8 · lovest 7 · beloved 5 · friend 4 · lover 2 · i 1 · liketh 1 · lovedst 1 · lovely 1 · loving 1
- original word H157 (page 2) 195 found love 74 · loved 48 · loveth 38 · lovers 17 · friends 8 · lovest 7 · beloved 5 · friend 4 · lover 2 · i 1 · liketh 1 · lovedst 1 · lovely 1 · loving 1
- original word G25 109 found love 72 · loved 39 · loveth 20 · beloved 7 · thou 2 · doth 1 · have 1 · let 1 · lovedst 1 · us 1 · was 1 · ye 1
- words be not among 1 found
- words mingled 52 found
- all of keep + company 2 found
- words evil men 7 found
- words close 11 found
- words closer 1 found
- words Christian 2 found
- words Christians 1 found
- words God speed 2 found
- words go in to them 1 found
- words desire to be with 1 found
- original word G5463 68 found rejoice 25 · glad 14 · rejoiced 8 · hail 6 · rejoicing 5 · greeting 3 · joy 3 · rejoiceth 3 · speed 2 · do 1 · farewell 1 · i 1 · joyfully 1 · joying 1 · we 1 · were 1 · ye 1
- original word G5463 (page 2) 68 found rejoice 25 · glad 14 · rejoiced 8 · hail 6 · rejoicing 5 · greeting 3 · joy 3 · rejoiceth 3 · speed 2 · do 1 · farewell 1 · i 1 · joyfully 1 · joying 1 · we 1 · were 1 · ye 1
- words greeting 3 found
- words desirest 2 found
- all of peace + prosperity 4 found
- words baptized with the Holy Ghost 2 found
- original word H157 (page 3) 195 found love 74 · loved 48 · loveth 38 · lovers 17 · friends 8 · lovest 7 · beloved 5 · friend 4 · lover 2 · i 1 · liketh 1 · lovedst 1 · lovely 1 · loving 1
- words trust in man 0 found
- all of heart + trust 6 found
- words confidence in 12 found
- all of trust + friend 1 found
- original word H539 102 found believed 21 · faithful 20 · believe 19 · sure 11 · established 7 · believeth 4 · trust 4 · up 4 · verified 3 · continuance 2 · nurse 2 · stedfast 2 · assurance 1 · be 1 · fail 1 · fast 1 · father 1 · fathers 1 · nursed 1 · trusted 1 · trusty 1
- original word H982 117 found trust 61 · trusted 18 · trusteth 14 · trustest 6 · confidence 4 · secure 4 · trustedst 3 · confident 2 · bold 1 · careless 1 · hope 1 · hoped 1 · ones 1 · sure 1 · trusting 1 · women 1
- original word H982 (page 2) 117 found trust 61 · trusted 18 · trusteth 14 · trustest 6 · confidence 4 · secure 4 · trustedst 3 · confident 2 · bold 1 · careless 1 · hope 1 · hoped 1 · ones 1 · sure 1 · trusting 1 · women 1
- original word H982 (page 3) 117 found trust 61 · trusted 18 · trusteth 14 · trustest 6 · confidence 4 · secure 4 · trustedst 3 · confident 2 · bold 1 · careless 1 · hope 1 · hoped 1 · ones 1 · sure 1 · trusting 1 · women 1
- original word H4009 15 found confidence 8 · trust 4 · confidences 1 · hope 1 · sure 1
- words These be the words 1 found
Every time it opened Scripture (24 times, 2,072 verses)
- James 3:13–18 6 James 4 17 2 Corinthians 6 18 2 Corinthians 7 16 1 Corinthians 5 13 1 Corinthians 10 33 1 Corinthians 15:1–34 34 Proverbs 13 25 Proverbs 22 29 Psalms 1 6 Psalms 119:57–64 8 Deuteronomy 13 18 1 John 2 29 Ephesians 5 33 Luke 5:27–39 13 Luke 7:18–50 33 John 15 27 Acts 19:21–41 21 379 verses, 379 new
- Proverbs 13 25 Proverbs 22 29 Psalms 1 6 Psalms 119:57–64 8 Deuteronomy 13 18 86 verses, 0 new
- 1 Corinthians 7 40 Luke 6:12–49 38 Proverbs 1 33 Proverbs 17 28 Proverbs 18 24 Proverbs 27 27 Proverbs 28:1–10 10 Proverbs 29:1–5 5 2 Chronicles 18 34 2 Chronicles 19 11 250 verses, 250 new
- Leviticus 26:1–20 20 Ezekiel 37:15–28 14 Isaiah 52 15 2 Samuel 7 29 Isaiah 43:1–13 13 Proverbs 3:21–35 15 Exodus 32 35 Psalms 24 10 Isaiah 22:1–14 14 1 Peter 4:1–11 11 Psalms 139 24 Psalms 14 7 207 verses, 207 new
- 2 John 1 13 John 3:1–21 21 John 17 26 Luke 11:1–13 13 Luke 14:1–24 24 John 19:1–16 16 Romans 15:22–33 12 Hebrews 13:1–17 17 1 John 1 10 152 verses, 152 new
- James 1 27 1 Corinthians 1 31 2 Thessalonians 3 18 Psalms 35 28 Psalms 69:1–21 21 Isaiah 49:1–13 13 Malachi 2:17–17 1 Malachi 3:1–6 6 1 Peter 3:1–17 17 162 verses, 162 new
- Psalms 26 12 Proverbs 12 28 Romans 16 27 2 Timothy 3 17 Exodus 23:1–9 9 Deuteronomy 7:1–11 11 1 Kings 11:1–13 13 Titus 3:1–11 11 Galatians 5:13–26 14 1 John 2 29 171 verses, 142 new
- Psalms 26 12 Proverbs 12 28 Romans 16 27 2 Timothy 3 17 Exodus 23:1–9 9 Deuteronomy 7:1–11 11 1 Kings 11:1–13 13 Titus 3:1–11 11 Galatians 5:13–26 14 1 John 2 29 171 verses, 0 new
- Proverbs 14 35 Proverbs 23 35 Philippians 4:10–23 14 Revelation 18 24 Leviticus 19:9–18, 30–37 18 Mark 10:13–31 19 Job 34:1–12 12 Luke 7:1–17 17 Exodus 20:1–21 21 195 verses, 195 new
- Proverbs 4 27 Proverbs 24 34 Psalms 106 48 Ezra 9 15 Acts 10 48 Acts 11 30 Joshua 23 16 218 verses, 218 new
- Acts 15:1–35 35 James 1:1–8 8 Acts 1:1–11 11 Deuteronomy 23:1–8 8 Matthew 5:38–48 11 73 verses, 65 new
- James 1 27 James 3:13–18 6 James 4 17 2 Corinthians 6 18 2 Corinthians 7 16 1 Corinthians 5 13 1 Corinthians 7 40 1 Corinthians 10 33 1 Corinthians 15:1–34 34 204 verses, 0 new
- Proverbs 1 33 Proverbs 3:21–35 15 Proverbs 4 27 Proverbs 12 28 Proverbs 13 25 Proverbs 14 35 Proverbs 17 28 Proverbs 18 24 215 verses, 0 new
- Proverbs 22 29 Proverbs 23 35 Proverbs 24 34 Proverbs 27 27 Proverbs 28:1–10 10 Proverbs 29:1–5 5 Psalms 1 6 Psalms 14 7 Psalms 24 10 Psalms 26 12 Psalms 35 28 Psalms 69:1–21 21 224 verses, 0 new
- Psalms 106 48 Psalms 119:57–64 8 Psalms 139 24 Deuteronomy 7:1–11 11 Deuteronomy 13 18 Deuteronomy 23:1–8 8 Joshua 23 16 2 Chronicles 18 34 2 Chronicles 19 11 1 Kings 11:1–13 13 Ezra 9 15 206 verses, 0 new
- Luke 5:27–39 13 Luke 6:12–49 38 Luke 7 50 Luke 11:1–13 13 Luke 14:1–24 24 John 3:1–21 21 John 15 27 John 17 26 John 19:1–16 16 Mark 10:13–31 19 Matthew 5:38–48 11 258 verses, 0 new
- Acts 1:1–11 11 Acts 10 48 Acts 11 30 Acts 15:1–35 35 Acts 19:21–41 21 Ephesians 5 33 1 John 1 10 1 John 2 29 2 John 1 13 2 Thessalonians 3 18 Romans 15:22–33 12 Romans 16 27 2 Timothy 3 17 304 verses, 0 new
- Leviticus 19:9–18, 30–37 18 Leviticus 26:1–20 20 Ezekiel 37:15–28 14 Isaiah 52 15 2 Samuel 7 29 Isaiah 43:1–13 13 Exodus 32 35 Isaiah 22:1–14 14 Exodus 23:1–9 9 Exodus 20:1–21 21 Isaiah 49:1–13 13 Malachi 2:17–17 1 Malachi 3:1–6 6 208 verses, 0 new
- 1 Peter 3:1–17 17 1 Peter 4:1–11 11 Philippians 4:10–23 14 Revelation 18 24 Titus 3:1–11 11 Galatians 5:13–26 14 Hebrews 13:1–17 17 Job 34:1–12 12 120 verses, 0 new
- 1 Corinthians 1 31 31 verses, 0 new
- 2 Samuel 13 39 Micah 7 20 Psalms 41 13 Job 6 30 1 Kings 5 18 Luke 23:1–25 25 145 verses, 145 new
- Proverbs 3 35 Proverbs 25 28 Proverbs 31:10–31 22 Psalms 118 29 Genesis 15:1–6 6 120 verses, 105 new
- Jeremiah 9 26 Jeremiah 17:1–18 18 44 verses, 44 new
- Deuteronomy 1:1–8 8 8 verses, 8 new
The reader's own notes (10)
- The reading will first open the two permitted SIFT files in full, then gather and check Scripture on both sides of the question. The working will be written in
out/RECORD.md, followed byout/HANDOFF.mdafter the required read-back. - The searches have found direct warnings about friendship with the world, unequal yoking, and corrupting company, alongside passages about eating and keeping company with people outside the faith. The next check is whether those passages forbid friendship itself or identify particular kinds of allegiance and participation.
- The distinction needs to account for “close,” not merely occasional contact. The reading is therefore checking passages about lasting friendship, shared counsel, and continuing life with an unbelieving spouse. It has also found a strong rebuke of helping those who hate the LORD; that passage is being read with the alliance that prompted it.
- The passages permit association with unbelievers and require love toward them, while giving serious warnings about companionship that teaches sinful ways or joins in wrongdoing. They also commend lasting, honest friendship. The remaining check is how far those statements support keeping close friends, without turning permission to share a meal into approval of every kind of closeness.
- The gathered warnings reach beyond joining an obviously sinful act: some forbid choosing particular companions because of what their company teaches. The record will preserve that force. It will also distinguish those warnings from a rule requiring every friend who does not believe to be abandoned, and state where applying the distinction needs facts about a particular friendship.
-
out/RECORD.mdhas been written. The required read-back now checks every claim against the complete question, the fetched passages, and the found-but-unopened references. Particular attention will go to the difference between permission for personal friendship and permission to take an unbelieving friend’s direction. - The read-back found a further issue in “close”: trust and confidential speech need checking, as well as shared activities. Additional passages describe betrayal by a familiar friend, harmful advice from a named friend, and a warning against trusting friends in a corrupt setting. These will strengthen the record’s limits on trust; they will also be checked against passages that commend appropriate trust.
- The revised record is complete and has been read back. The added checks address trust, disclosure, and harmful counsel from friends; possible supporting examples whose participants’ belief is unstated have been set aside. The hand-off will now be written from that record, including its qualifications and the changes made during read-back.
- Both files have been written. The final check will confirm that the hand-off matches the completed record, includes every passage added during read-back, and quotes only whole verses fetched through the permitted Scripture tool.
- Completed RECORD.md and HANDOFF.md. The record was read back and revised before the hand-off was written. All quotations were checked against fetched verses.
What its record and its hand-off say, in their order
Status, sources, and the person's words
This record is a blind reading by instruction; independence from any worked answer has not been independently proved. The two permitted method files were read whole, together, before Scripture was gathered:
- /Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/friendship-world/inputs/SIFT-v3-CORE.md — supplied SHA256 b2ac91d629f487c66db1aa7cca2721c17a95420a65d856b3c6c9d3aa46ee89ea.
- /Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/friendship-world/inputs/SIFT-v3-POLICY.md — supplied SHA256 ade7ac06d92b4047529d848767d7589ee1fb2d275d185abdc1c1bf0c6ed4701c.
The hashes are the supplied identifiers, not independently recomputed hashes: no hashing command was permitted. Scripture was obtained only through the specified kjv.py invocation. Search results came only from search.py, original-word locations from tag.py, and unread-result checks from unopened.py. These tool paths were invoked, not opened as source files. No other source file was opened. The output paths are /Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/friendship-world/out/RECORD.md and /Users/Shared/before-god-sift-library-2026-11-03/runs/friendship-world/out/HANDOFF.md. The record is written first; the hand-off follows its required read-back and revision.
The question is exactly:
"May a Christian keep close friends who do not believe?"
This is a question about permission, not an assertion that every such friendship is good. It concerns keeping existing friends, not merely meeting strangers, and close friendship, not only courteous contact. The question reports no particular friend's actions, no pressure to sin, no personal danger, no romantic relationship, and no person's standing before God. None of these facts may be supplied.
The ordinary personal sense of friendship includes lasting love, practical nearness, and honest counsel in Proverbs 17:17; 18:24; 27:6,9-10. Christian is read as a disciple of Christ, following Acts 11:26. Those who do not believe are not silently replaced with professing Christians under discipline: 1 Corinthians 5:10-13 distinguishes them. Nor is nonbelief treated as morally immaterial. Psalms 14:1 and John 3:19 prevent that move.
From its hand-off to the writer
Their words
"May a Christian keep close friends who do not believe?"
May asks about permission. Keep concerns existing bonds. Close must receive an answer about enduring personal care, counsel, influence, confidence and disclosure; permission for an occasional meal alone would not answer it. Who do not believe must not be replaced with a person called a brother under church discipline.
No actual friend's behaviour, any demand to compromise, any danger, or any romantic relationship has been disclosed. No verdict about a present person's heart or salvation belongs in the answer. Christian is read as a disciple of Christ:
"And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." ()
Hard passages
James 4:4 and 1 John 2:15-17
James's world-friendship prohibition remains fully binding. In James 3:13-4:17, its setting is bitter envy, strife, selfish lust, pride and double-mindedness. Its corrective direction is submission to God, resistance to the devil, and cleansing:
"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." ()
"Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded." ()
The other letter states the prohibited love and explains the world's moral character:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." ()
"For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." ()
The world also consists of people who can embody hostility to Christ; the answer must not turn it into a harmless abstraction. The invalid equation is between every personal friendship with one of those people and shared opposition to God. God's saving love toward the world also stands:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." ()
Jesus distinguishes remaining among people from belonging to their opposition:
"I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil." ()
"As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." ()
The latter is a statement within a prayer and mission, not a promise that every friendship is safe. The record did not identify the exact Scripture source or settle the detailed interpretation of James 4:5; no friendship verdict is rested on that sentence. The explicit rebuke and commands already carry the moral distinction. The limit must not be concealed as a claim that the entire question is undecided.
Second Corinthians 6:14-7:1
The unequal-yoking command must be shown, without restricting it to marriage:
"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?" ()
Its own contrasts name incompatible moral and religious loyalties:
"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?" ()
"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." ()
The command to separate cannot be discarded:
"Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you," ()
The stated conclusion concerns holiness of flesh and spirit:
"Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." ()
The record checked the quoted promises against Leviticus 26:1-20 and Ezekiel 37:15-28, which connect God's dwelling with obedience and cleansing from idols, and checked the departure command in the whole Isaiah 52. The source command is:
"Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD." ()
The surviving reading forbids association which binds a Christian into the incompatible allegiance and uncleanness named. It does not forbid every shared meal or every intimate human tie, since the same writer permits the unbeliever's invitation and commands continuing the stated mixed marriage:
"But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away." ()
The marriage case carries only that limited counterexample; a friendship conclusion also needs the positive friendship texts. The precise compositional source for all of 2 Corinthians 6:18 was not established; the related father/son and sons/daughters promises were fetched. No extra friendship rule is inferred from a conjectured source.
First Corinthians 15:33-34 and wisdom's companionship warnings
The corruption warning must retain its force:
"Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." ()
"Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame." ()
In 15:1-34, some among the hearers deny resurrection. The warning follows the indulgent direction of the imagined no-resurrection argument. Its quoted eating-and-drinking line was checked in Isaiah 22:1-14, where the indulgence rejects God's call to mourning. The warning is not confined to outsiders or nullified by a Christian's intention to influence others.
The original-word index gives G3657 only at 15:33; a dictionary definition was not supplied. Proverbs 13:19-20; 14:7-9,15; 22:24-25; 23:17-21; 24:1-2; and 28:7 describe the relevant evil, deceit, learning of ways and snares. In particular:
"Be not among winebibbers; among riotous eaters of flesh:" ()
"Whoso keepeth the law is a wise son: but he that is a companion of riotous men shameth his father." ()
The answer must not soften these into a rule against taking part in a bad act while the same chosen company remains unquestioned.
Psalms 1, 26 and 139
The blessed person's direction is contrasted with ungodly counsel:
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." ()
"But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night." ()
The psalmist's refusal of wicked society is real:
"I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers." ()
"I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked." ()
The hatred of God's enemies is also retained:
"Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men." ()
"For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain." ()
"I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies." ()
These are not permissions to share opposition to God, and Jesus' commanded enemy-love is not permission to make such opposition an intimate allegiance. The record does not invent a full account of the psalmist's inward emotions. It keeps the behaviour required by both: reject solidarity in the hostility, and still do the good that is commanded. The psalm also asks God to examine the speaker's own way, in 139:23-24; no present person's heart is judged by the reading.
Deuteronomy 13, the national separation warnings, and their narrative examples
Intimacy cannot excuse enticement to other gods:
"If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;" ()
"Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him:" ()
The whole passage includes Israel's judicial command, not only a private friendship boundary:
"But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people." ()
"And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you." ()
Deuteronomy 7:1-11 and Joshua 23 name the nations, marriages, covenant, and land in their separation commands. Their reason must not be lost:
"For they will turn away thy son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of the LORD be kindled against you, and destroy thee suddenly." ()
The record does not transplant Israel's execution command into a general Christian command to kill an unbelieving friend. The application carried here is that friendship, even the most intimate, cannot authorize idolatry; Paul's explicit treatment of outsiders and existing mixed marriages must also remain true.
The narrated danger is actual:
"For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father." ()
"But were mingled among the heathen, and learned their works." ()
"And they served their idols: which were a snare unto them." ()
Ezra 9:1-2 similarly concerns marriages and the people's participating in the surrounding abominations:
"Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites." ()
These are not dismissed because their wording differs from friendship. Neither are they made to cancel the stated Christian instructions for a different case.
Second Chronicles 19:2
The rebuke is against helping and loving in the alliance actually narrated:
"And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD." ()
Second Chronicles 18:1-19:11 was read. Jehoshaphat is entertained and persuaded into Ahab's war, pledges his people, and goes despite prophetic warning:
"And Ahab king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Wilt thou go with me to Ramothgilead? And he answered him, I am as thou art, and my people as thy people; and we will be with thee in the war." ()
This is not the help required for an enemy's burdened animal in Exodus 23:5. The distinction covers the actual cause, promise of solidarity and conduct in the narrative; it does not redefine all helping of wrongdoers as prohibited.
Second John, Romans 16, and withdrawal from corrupt associates
Second John's visitor brings contrary doctrine. Its prohibition and reason are:
"If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:" ()
"For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds." ()
The chapter identifies deceivers who do not confess Christ come in the flesh. The original-word check also found ordinary greeting and rejoicing uses, so the answer must not claim the prohibition is avoided merely by omitting a special religious formula. Nor may it expand this visitor's case into a global ban on hospitality toward unbelievers.
Romans' avoidance command identifies people deceiving against received doctrine:
"Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them." ()
The separate warning about corrupt people with a form of godliness remains:
"Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away." ()
Titus retains both gentleness toward all and the specified rejection after admonition:
"To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men." ()
"A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;" ()
Second Thessalonians 3:14-15 requires discipline of a disobedient brother while withholding an enemy classification:
"And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed." ()
"Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother." ()
No described friend can be assigned to any of these categories from the person's general question alone.
Jesus' company with sinners is not approval of sin
The answer must distinguish an accusation from Jesus' actual conduct and explanation:
"The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!" ()
The accompanying gluttony and winebibber accusations are not adopted as the narrator's verdict, and the record no longer assumes a separately demonstrated falsity of each charge. Jesus' actual meal and repentance purpose carry the point. His personal love can also include a summons which the hearer does not then accept:
"Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me." ()
"And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions." ()
The answer must not convert one meal into proof of an ongoing close bond, or convert a sinner label into a verdict that each person at the meal permanently lacks belief.
Ruled out
Total withdrawal from unbelievers
A rule forbidding all voluntary association with unbelievers makes the express permission of 1 Corinthians 10:27 false. The writer also explicitly corrects that total-withdrawal reading:
"Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world." ()
A narrower proposal allowing occasional meals while forbidding every enduring personal friendship is not refuted by the meal alone. The record rejects its proposed universal boundary because the positive continuity instruction in Proverbs 27:10, taken with voluntary association and commanded love, has not been given that faith or casual-contact restriction. The answer must not pretend that the meal directly states the whole closeness conclusion.
Every friendship may remain equally close if personal sin is not intended
That erases the actual friendship prohibition in Proverbs 22:24-25 and the command to leave foolish presence:
"Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge." ()
It also erases the warning against desiring destructive society:
"Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them." ()
"For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief." ()
Some relationships therefore require distance or ending, not merely a verbal assurance of good intent.
Folly means only low intelligence or unpleasant manners
The warning concerns moral and spiritual resistance:
"The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul: but it is abomination to fools to depart from evil." ()
"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good." ()
The answer cannot treat nonbelief as spiritually irrelevant or make the test merely whether the friend is socially agreeable.
Friendship permission authorizes shared idolatry or the world's allegiance
That would make these sentences false:
"Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils." ()
"Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God." ()
Conversely, treating every act of personal love toward an unbeliever as forbidden world-friendship would erase Jesus' command:
"But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you," ()
The positive distinction is explained under Hard passages.
A Christian label makes all company safe, or the disciplinary ban covers all outsiders
The disciplinary sentence specifies someone called a brother:
"But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat." ()
The answer must preserve that subject and the following inside/outside distinction. A person being within the professing community is also no automatic exemption from withdrawal:
"Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us." ()
Hostility to evil permits refusing kindness to enemies
That contradicts Luke 6:35 and this concrete command:
"If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under his burden, and wouldest forbear to help him, thou shalt surely help with him." ()
Love toward enemies also does not require making them intimate advisers or assisting their wrong cause. The answer must distinguish necessary help from solidarity in wrongdoing.
All human trust is sinful, or an intimate friend must always be trusted
Appropriate human confidence is positively commended:
"The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of spoil." ()
But confidence in an unfaithful person is expressly warned against:
"Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth, and a foot out of joint." ()
Neither universal distrust nor unguarded confidence keeps both statements true.
A recorded friendship automatically supplies moral approval
The narrator calls Jonadab a friend while reporting a deceptive plan that precedes Amnon's assault. Pilate and Herod's friendship is reported in a setting of mocking and delivering Jesus. A report is not a command or an endorsement. The whole examples and verses appear under the read-back additions below.
Staying in a relationship guarantees conversion, or proves every new union permissible
These would discard the question about the outcome and the stated marriage restriction:
"For what knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O man, whether thou shalt save thy wife?" ()
"The wife is bound by the law as long as her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only in the Lord." ()
The existing mixed marriage is a limited counterexample to universal defilement by intimate contact; it is not the whole positive proof about friendship.
Verdicts
Qualified permission to retain a real personal friendship
The record reaches a qualified permission: a Christian may retain real, enduring personal friendship with someone who does not believe. A difference of faith alone is not established as a command to abandon the friend. This is a synthesis with positive support, not a claim that a single verse expressly names the modern category close non-Christian friends.
The positive continuity instruction is:
"Thine own friend, and thy father's friend, forsake not; neither go into thy brother's house in the day of thy calamity: for better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off." ()
The personal bond includes lasting love and honesty, rather than only distant courtesy:
"A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." ()
"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." ()
Voluntary company with an unbeliever is expressly permitted:
"If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go; whatsoever is set before you, eat, asking no question for conscience sake." ()
The meal verse does not by itself prove emotional intimacy. The conclusion joins that express permission with the positive friendship instruction and commanded love beyond the believing circle. The answer must preserve that distinction in its reasoning. No requirement that every such friendship be only a conversion project was established. Nor does the record promise that a friend will come to believe.
Serious limits belong to that permission
The answer must state the limits with the permission. It must not endorse every close friendship on the condition that the Christian merely intends to remain faithful. Some chosen company is forbidden because of what it teaches before the Christian has completed the corresponding wrongdoing:
"Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:" ()
"Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul." ()
"He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." ()
The Christian must not join wrongdoing or treat loyalty to a friend as a reason to disobey Christ:
"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them." ()
Keeping an unbelieving friend is distinguishable from adopting the friend's unbelief as spiritual direction or joining an allegiance opposed to God. This is an actual limit on a relationship, not a reassuring label applied to every friendship.
Personal friendship does not supply shared Christian fellowship
A genuine personal bond is possible without falsely claiming a common faith. Fellowship with the Father and the Son is described in relation to the declared truth:
"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." ()
"If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:" ()
The answer should encourage companionship which strengthens obedience to God, without converting this positive confession into an exclusive statement about every personal friendship:
"I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts." ()
Love and truthful care extend beyond believers
Avoidance of corrupting company must not become contempt, indifference, or refusal of the good expressly commanded toward enemies:
"But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." ()
Jesus' actual company with sinners is joined to repentance:
"And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them." ()
"I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." ()
The answer must hold personal care and truth together. Neither kindness alone nor an intention to influence the friend makes every form of companionship wise.
Close does not mean unlimited confidence or disclosure
This is a substantive addition from the record's read-back. The answer must address whom the Christian trusts for direction, whether the friend is faithful, and what can wisely be entrusted or disclosed. Friendship is not a guarantee of trustworthy counsel. Human support must not displace the LORD:
"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." ()
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." ()
"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." ()
The record asserts no numerical rule for time together, number of friends, or amount of disclosure. It gives no assurance about the prudence of an undisclosed particular friendship.
The permitted conduct remains directed to God and others' good
The general permission and its application must keep this purpose:
"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." ()
The restrictions in the same passage concern other people's conscience as well as the Christian's own intentions:
"But if any man say unto you, This is offered in sacrifice unto idols, eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake: for the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof:" ()
Open
No rival universal rule is left affirmed for the ordinary personal sense of friendship. The general permission and its limits are the record's conclusions. Application to any particular friendship remains unassessed because the person's question does not describe its practices, counsel, trustworthiness or influence.
The permission for voluntary company stands in 1 Corinthians 10:27, and the specific refusal of corrupting friendship stands in Proverbs 22:24-25. Those whole verses are quoted above. Their different cases explain the need for circumstances; no contradiction or doctrinal indecision is being asserted.
The exact source of James 4:5 and the complete compositional source of 2 Corinthians 6:18 were not established. The record gives the attempted searches, related fetched texts and reasons that no verdict about friendship rests on those unresolved identifications. No claim that Scripture is silent belongs in the answer. No whole-canon exhaustive claim belongs in it.
Other readings that quote its verses
- Does Scripture teach to hate the sin but love the sinner?46 verses in common
- Should a Christian take part in Halloween?36 verses in common
- Should a Christian celebrate Christmas?36 verses in common
- Does God love everyone?34 verses in common
- Does Scripture forbid marriage between people of different races?32 verses in common
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