What does the Bible say about true friends?
Bible Topic · WEB
The Bible teaches that true friends reflect God’s faithful love through loyalty, sacrificial care, truthful counsel, and mutual growth in holiness. Proverbs 17:17 says a friend loves at all times, while Proverbs 18:24 points to a friend who stays closer than a brother. Jesus gives the highest pattern of friendship in John 15:12-17, laying down His life for His people and calling them to love one another. Biblical friendship is not mere flattery: Proverbs 27:5-6 values faithful correction, and Proverbs 27:17 describes friends sharpening one another. Christians should seek discerning, peaceable relationships that resist gossip and are shaped by renewed minds (Proverbs 16:28; Romans 12:2).
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Rankings: OpenBible.info Topical Bible (CC BY) · Scripture: World English Bible
- Proverbs 18:24
A man of many companions may be ruined, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
- John 15:13
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
- Proverbs 27:5-6
[5] Better is open rebuke Than hidden love. [6] Faithful are the wounds of a friend; Although the kisses of an enemy are profuse.
- Proverbs 16:28
A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.
- Proverbs 17:17
A friend loves at all times; And a brother is born for adversity.
- John 15:12-17
[12] "This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you. [13] Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. [14] You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you. [15] No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn't know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. [16] You didn't choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. [17] "I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
- Proverbs 27:17-27
[17] Iron sharpens iron; So a man sharpens his friend's countenance. [18] Whoever tends the fig tree shall eat its fruit. He who looks after his master shall be honored. [19] As water reflects a face, So a man's heart reflects the man. [20] Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied; And a man's eyes are never satisfied. [21] The crucible is for silver, And the furnace for gold; But man is refined by his praise. [22] Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with grain, Yet his foolishness will not be removed from him. [23] Know well the state of your flocks, And pay attention to your herds: [24] For riches are not forever, Nor does even the crown endure to all generations. [25] The hay is removed, and the new growth appears, The grasses of the hills are gathered in. [26] The lambs are for your clothing, And the goats are the price of a field. [27] There will be plenty of goats' milk for your food, For your family's food, And for the nourishment of your servant girls.
- 1 John 4:1
Beloved, don't believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
- Proverbs 20:6
Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, But who can find a faithful man?
- Romans 12:2
Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God.
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