What Does the Bible Say About Friendship
Jesus calls you His friend. Think about that for a moment. Jesus is the Eternal God of Heaven and Earth. He made you. He holds everything together with His power. There is nothing about you He does not know. He then calls you friend. It is mindboggling to think about. You really do have a friend in Jesus.
Given this, friendship is an important thing according to the Bible. You are friends with Jesus. He is friends with you. You are known as His disciples by how you treat Jesus’ other friends – the church. You are known by your love for the brethren.
So it is important to know what the Bible says about friendship. It is much more than just knowing someone or attending the same church.
Here are 35 Wonderful Bible Verses on Friendship.
For more read Christianity without Love?
1) John 15:12-15
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
2) Galatians 6:2
“Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.’
3) James 4:4
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
4) Psalm 133
How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!
It is like precious oil poured on the head, running down on the beard, running down on Aaron’s beard, down on the collar of his robe. It is as if the dew of Hermon were falling on Mount Zion. For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.
5) Proverbs 15:22
Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they succeed.
6) Proverbs 27:5-6
Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
7) 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; …
8) 1 John 4:7
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
9) James 2:23
And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.
10) 1 Samuel 18:1-3
As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house. Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul.
11) Job 2:11-13
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
12) Matthew 18:20
For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
13) Proverbs 18:1
Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.
14) Proverbs 18:24
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
15) Colossians 3:12-14
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
15) Romans 12:10
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
16) Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
17) Ephesians 4:1-6
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, …
18) Proverbs 27:17
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
19) Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
20) 1 Corinthians 15:33
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
21) 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
22) Proverbs 27:9
Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.
23) Proverbs 27:6
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.
24) Job 6:14
“He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
25) Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
26) 1 Peter 4:8-10
Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
27) Proverbs 13:20
Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
28) Proverbs 22:24-27
Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts. If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you?
29) Proverbs 27:10
Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.
30) Ruth 1:17
Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”
31) Proverbs 22:11
He who loves purity of heart, and whose speech is gracious, will have the king as his friend.
32) Philippians 1:3-4
I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy,
33) Romans 12:15
Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
34) 1 Samuel 20:42
Then Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord shall be between me and you, and between my offspring and your offspring, forever.’” And he rose and departed, and Jonathan went into the city.
35) 1 John 4:21
And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
