I’ve heard that the English language is very hard to learn, partly, because some words have many different definitions. For example, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word “run” has about 645 meanings/definitions, depending on how the word is used. Likewise, the word “set” has about 430 meanings, and the word “go” has about 360 meanings.

The text that we’re looking at today is used in the NT about 100 times has multiple meanings. The word does not have hundreds of meanings, but it has multiple meanings, all of which are important. That word is “comfort.”

1Th 4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

1Th 5:11  Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

We are continuing with our series on the “one another” passages from the NT, and today we consider what it means to “comfort one another.” Today’s message is basically a word study on this important term.

The word “comfort” (parakaleo) literally means “to call to one’s aid,” but the word means slightly different things in different contexts. As we consider how this word is used in the NT, we find about five main meanings or definitions, and each one of them tells us something about how to relate to other people in the church.

That does not mean that the word means five things in each passage. Often, the context where we find the word helps us understand the meaning. So one of these meanings will be most likely in any given passage that uses the word “comfort.” The word is used in other contexts where it does not pertain to how believers relate to one another—we will not be considering those.

So we are looking at one word that is used in various ways, all of which are important.  What does it mean to comfort one another?