Bible Verses About Encouragement
Introduction
Encouragement is one of the most consistently undervalued practices in the Christian community, and one of the most consistently commanded. The New Testament uses the language of encouragement and exhortation so frequently that it becomes difficult to read a single letter without encountering the call to encourage one another, build each other up, spur one another on, or comfort one another with these words. The practice is not incidental to the life of faith. It is one of the primary ways that the community of believers sustains one another through the journey.
The Greek word parakaleo, the verb form of the same root as Paraclete, the name for the Holy Spirit in John 14-16, is the primary word for encouragement in the New Testament. The Holy Spirit is the Great Encourager, the one called alongside to be present with and for the believer. The community that practices encouragement is the community that extends the Spirit's work of coming alongside into the horizontal relationships of the body. The encouragement is not merely the nice thing to say to someone who is struggling. It is the practice that mediates the presence and work of God to the person who needs it.
The encouragement that the Bible describes is both honest and hopeful. It does not require the pretending that the difficulty is not real. It is the speaking of truth about what God has done, what God has promised, and what the person is capable of by the grace of God, into the specific situation the person is facing. The word of encouragement is the word that calls the person forward rather than leaving them where they are.
These verses speak to anyone who needs to be encouraged and anyone who needs to understand the theological weight of being an encourager, anyone whose experience of the church has included more discouragement than encouragement, and anyone in ministry who wants to understand what the Bible actually commands about this practice.
What the Bible Means When It Talks About Encouragement
The Greek word parakaleo describes the calling alongside that the word's root indicates: para (beside) and kaleo (to call). The encourager is the one who comes to where the person is and calls them from that position rather than from a comfortable distance. The word is used both of the comforting of those in grief and of the exhorting of those who need to be stirred to action. Both senses are forms of the same calling alongside.
The Greek word paramutheomai describes the speaking alongside in consolation, the word that comforts by its presence as much as by its content. The Greek word oikodomeo describes the building up, the constructive work that strengthens what is being built rather than leaving it in its current condition. Both words describe the encouragement that the community is called to practice as the work of building rather than the nicety of kind words.
Bible Verses About the Command to Encourage
1 Thessalonians 5:11 — ("Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.")
The encourage one another and build each other up are the two movements of the practice: the calling alongside and the constructive work that strengthens. The just as in fact you are doing is the commendation of the community for the practice they are already maintaining, while the therefore establishes that the encouragement is the response to the hope of the resurrection rather than an independent virtue.
Hebrews 10:24-25 — ("And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.")
The spurring on toward love and good deeds is the active form of encouragement that moves the person toward what they might not reach without the spur. The encouraging one another is the practice that the gathered community makes possible: the encouragement requires the presence that the not giving up meeting together provides. The and all the more as you see the Day approaching adds the urgency that the proximity of Christ's return gives to every form of the community's mutual care.
Romans 15:7 — ("Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.")
The acceptance of one another grounded in Christ's acceptance is the relational form of the encouragement that the community is called to practice. The just as Christ accepted you is both the motivation and the measure: the acceptance is as unconditional as the acceptance that Christ extends, and the person who has been accepted by Christ has the resource to accept others in the same way.
Acts 11:23 — ("When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all their hearts.")
Barnabas's encouragement of the new believers in Antioch is the model of the encourager who sees what God has done, rejoices in it, and then calls the people forward from that recognition toward continued faithfulness. The remain true to the Lord with all their hearts is the specific content of the encouragement: not a general uplift but the specific call toward the sustained faithfulness that the new community needed to hear.
Bible Verses About Scripture as a Source of Encouragement
Romans 15:4 — ("For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.")
The encouragement that the Scriptures provide is one of the primary sources of the encouragement that the community both receives and extends. The endurance and the hope are the fruits of the engagement with Scripture. The person who is steeped in the word has the resources to encourage others from what has encouraged them, which is why the encouragement that flows from the word has a depth that the encouragement of mere sentiment does not.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 — ("All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.")
The thorough equipping for every good work that Scripture provides includes the equipping for the work of encouragement. The teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness are all forms of the encouragement that the word provides to the person willing to receive them. The rebuking and correcting may not feel like encouragement, but the person formed by Scripture knows that all four are expressions of the love that wants the best for the person rather than the management of their comfort.
Psalm 119:50 — ("My comfort in my suffering is this: Your promise preserves my life.")
The promise of God that preserves life in suffering is the content of the encouragement that the word provides. The comfort in suffering that the psalmist testifies to is not a vague feeling of wellbeing but the specific grounding of the life in the reliability of God's promise. The encourager who speaks the promises of God into the suffering of another person is mediating the same comfort.
Bible Verses About Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement
Acts 4:36 — ("Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas — which means 'son of encouragement' —")
The name Barnabas, son of encouragement, given by the apostles to Joseph of Cyprus, is one of the most striking designations in the New Testament. The name is given by the community rather than chosen by the person: it is the recognition of what the community sees in him. The encouragement is so characteristic of his life that it becomes his identity. The encourager who aspires to the quality that Barnabas exemplified is the encourager whose character becomes their name.
Acts 9:27 — ("But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus.")
Barnabas's advocacy for Saul when the Jerusalem church was afraid of him is the encouragement that opened the door for Paul's entire ministry. The brought him to the apostles and told them the story is the encouragement that required the willingness to vouch for the person others were not ready to trust. The encouragement that changes the trajectory of a life is sometimes the advocacy of the person who sees what others cannot yet see.
Acts 15:36-39 — ("Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, 'Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.' Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus.")
Barnabas's insistence on giving Mark a second chance, even at the cost of his partnership with Paul, is the most costly encouragement in the New Testament. The sharp disagreement and the parting of company is the price Barnabas pays for the encouragement of the one who had failed. The subsequent usefulness of Mark, acknowledged by Paul himself in 2 Timothy 4:11, is the fruit of the encouragement that Barnabas provided at significant personal cost.
Bible Verses About God as the Source of Encouragement
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 — ("May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.")
The eternal encouragement that God has given by his grace is the ultimate source of the encouragement that the community extends. The encourage your hearts is the prayer that the eternal encouragement reaches the present experience of the people. The strengthen you in every good deed and word is the purpose of the encouragement: not the feeling of being uplifted but the strengthening for the continued good work.
Isaiah 40:1 — ("Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.")
The doubled comfort that God speaks to his people is the encouragement of the one who knows the weight of what his people are carrying and addresses it directly. The says your God is the relational grounding of the encouragement: it comes from the covenant God who is committed to the people he is comforting. The doubling is the emphasis on the seriousness with which God takes the need for the comfort.
Psalm 10:17 — ("You, LORD, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry.")
The LORD who encourages the afflicted is the direct statement of God's encouragement of those who are carrying what they cannot carry alone. The hear the desire and listen to their cry describe the attentive presence of the God who encourages: the encouragement flows from the hearing and the listening rather than preceding it. The encourager who listens before speaking is following the model of the God who encourages.
Bible Verses About Encouragement in Practice
Proverbs 12:25 — ("Anxiety weighs down the heart, but a kind word cheers it up.")
The kind word that cheers up the anxious heart is the simple and profound gift that the encourager provides. The weighing down of anxiety and the cheering up of the kind word describe the specific effect that encouragement has on the person who carries the weight of anxiety. The kind word is not the solution to the cause of the anxiety but the provision for the person in it.
Proverbs 25:11 — ("Like apples of gold in settings of silver is a ruling rightly given.")
The word rightly spoken in the right context is the encouragement that lands with the precision of the skilled craftsperson's work. The apples of gold in settings of silver describe the beauty of the well-fitted word: not every word in every situation but the word that fits the person, the moment, and the need. The encourager who has learned to speak the right word at the right time is the encourager whose words produce what apples of gold in settings of silver produce.
Ephesians 4:29 — ("Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.")
The only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs is the standard of the community's speech. The according to their needs establishes that the encouragement is fitted to the specific person and situation rather than the generic uplift that serves the speaker's desire to be helpful more than the listener's actual need. The benefit those who listen is the test: the word of encouragement is measured by what it does for the person who receives it.
A Simple Way to Pray These Verses
Encouragement is most honestly sought and practiced from the recognition that the Spirit who is the great Encourager is the source of the encouragement we both need and offer. These verses can become prayers for both the receiving and the giving.
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 — ("God our Father gave us eternal encouragement and good hope. Encourage your hearts.") Response: "Let the eternal encouragement reach the present experience of my heart. I need what you have already given to actually land. Encourage me today."
Hebrews 10:24 — ("Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.") Response: "Show me who needs to be spurred on today. Give me the word that fits the person and the moment rather than the generic kindness that costs nothing."
Acts 4:36 — ("Barnabas, which means 'son of encouragement.'") Response: "Let this be what people experience when they are around me. Not because I am performing encouragement but because I have received enough of it from you to have some to give."
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Bible say about encouragement? The Bible treats encouragement as one of the primary practices of the Christian community rather than an optional nicety. First Thessalonians 5:11 commands building each other up. Hebrews 10:24-25 calls for spurring one another on toward love and good deeds. Romans 15:4 presents the Scriptures as the source of the encouragement and hope that believers extend to one another. Second Thessalonians 2:16-17 describes God himself as the source of eternal encouragement. Acts 4:36 names Barnabas the son of encouragement as the model of the community's encourager. The consistent picture is of encouragement as the shared work of the community in which every member both gives and receives.
Why is encouragement so important in the Bible? Several reasons emerge from Scripture. The life of faith involves sustained difficulty, opposition, and the temptation to give up, which is exactly the condition for which encouragement is the provision (Hebrews 10:24-25). The body metaphor of 1 Corinthians 12 establishes that the members need one another: the discouraged member of the body needs the encouragement of the community the way the struggling part of the body needs the support of the healthy parts. Hebrews 3:13 connects the daily encouragement of one another with the protection against the hardening of heart that unaddressed discouragement produces. And the word parakaleo connects the practice of encouragement to the work of the Holy Spirit who is the Paraclete, the one called alongside.
Who is Barnabas and why is he called the son of encouragement? Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus named Joseph who became one of the significant figures of the early church. The apostles gave him the name Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, because the encouragement was so characteristic of his life and ministry that it became his identity. His encouragements in Acts include his advocacy for the newly converted Paul when the Jerusalem church was afraid of him (Acts 9:27), his ministry to the new Gentile believers in Antioch (Acts 11:23), and his insistence on giving John Mark a second chance after Mark had abandoned the first missionary journey (Acts 15:37-39). Barnabas's encouragement consistently opened doors for people who needed someone to believe in them when others were not ready to.
How do you encourage someone who is struggling according to the Bible? The model of Job's friends sitting with him in silence for seven days before speaking is the beginning: the presence that precedes the words is itself a form of encouragement. Proverbs 25:11's word aptly spoken in the right situation is the standard for when words come: not the generic uplift but the word fitted to the specific person and need. Ephesians 4:29 establishes the test: what is helpful for building up according to the person's needs. Romans 15:4's encouragement through the Scriptures suggests that the specific promises of God spoken into the specific situation is the most substantial encouragement the community can provide. And 2 Corinthians 1:4 establishes that those who have been through the same struggle and have been comforted by God in it are the ones specifically equipped to encourage others in the same difficulty.
What is the gift of encouragement? Romans 12:8 includes the one who encourages in the list of spiritual gifts: if it is to encourage, then give encouragement. The gift of encouragement is the Spirit-given capacity to consistently come alongside others in their need, to speak the words that build up and strengthen, and to do so in the way that specifically addresses the person and situation rather than the generic performance of kindness. The person with the gift of encouragement is the person whose consistent pattern of coming alongside others, speaking the right word at the right time, and advocating for the person who needs someone to believe in them has been recognized by the community as a particular form of the Spirit's equipping for the body's life.
