You’ve Got a Friend in Me: Bible Verses about Friendship

We all need a friend or two. Having great friends makes life richer and more interesting. Being social creatures, our affinity for relationships makes all the sense in the world. Having a good friend is something that you should hold on to because genuinely good friends are a precious and rare commodity, no matter what social media might try to tell us.

While having great friends in your life blesses you, being a great friend for others blesses them. It is more blessed to give than to receive, as Jesus said, so this tracks too.

Making friends is becoming a lost art. The ability of American adults, especially men, to make friends, has been on the decline in recent years for a variety of reasons. Between the busyness of life, being in different phases of life, the awkwardness and risk of putting yourself out there to connect with other people, making friends is challenging.

Bible Verses about Friendship

It’s easy enough to “friend” or “follow” someone on social media, but that’s far from the deep meaningful connection we crave from others. While the Bible doesn’t give us a how-to guide for making friends, it does provide guidance not only for choosing our friends wisely but teaching us how to spot friends that may not be good for us and how to be a good friend to others. It also contains wisdom that helps develop, maintain, and deepen our friendships.

Why friendship matters

The Bible gives us a few reasons why friendship matters. If you need encouragement to invest in friendships, the verses below might just be the push you need. Not only do we need the support of others in life, but those connections can make us better people.

A good friend can challenge you to fulfill your full potential, call you out when you need it, and give you a space to mourn if you’re in such a season. When your friendship is great, that’s a good thing because it also means that strife is absent. Consider these verses:

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10

How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity! – Psalm 133:1

As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. – Proverbs 27:17

Tips to maintain and deepen your friendships

People live together in unity is a wonderful thing that’s worth celebrating and preserving. However, if we’re real with ourselves, we know that arguments spring up even between the best of friends. Misunderstandings, selfishness, anger, not wanting to be held accountable, etc., can undermine a friendship.

To maintain our friendships, we need to protect them both from our unhelpful impulses, but also other people that can come between us and our friends. Sometimes, “stirrers,” gossips, and other people who try to undermine friends do pop up, and that can be challenging for any friendship.

Leaning into the virtues of humility, forgiveness, and the willingness to accept rebuke and carry each other through tough times can help us strengthen our friendships and guard them. Friendships can recover from even the most stressful hardships, but it depends on how far the friends are willing to go for one another. The verses below can help you maintain and deepen your friendships:

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. – Colossians 3:13

Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. – Job 6:14

A perverse person stirs up conflict, and a gossip separates close friends. – Proverbs 16:28

Perfume and incense bring joy to the heart, and the pleasantness of a friend springs from their heartfelt advice. – Proverbs 27:9

Whoever would foster love covers over an offense, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. – Proverbs 17:9

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ. – Galatians 6:2

Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses. – Proverbs 27:5-6

Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—better a neighbor nearby than a relative far away. – Proverbs 27:10

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. – 1 Peter 4:8-10

Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. – Romans 12:10

Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. – 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Choose your friends wisely

The world is filled with a wide assortment of people. Many of them are wonderful, but we need to be open-eyed about the world and the people in it. While you might get along well with someone, you need to be careful who you get close to. We are called to love everyone, but we need to be cautious about who we allow to influence us because some things we encounter in the world are downright dangerous.

Making friends is hard enough and maintaining standards in that process makes it even harder. However, eventually, you’ll be grateful for being discerning in choosing your friends. The people we surround ourselves with influence us, subtly or otherwise, and it’s up to us what influences we allow into our lives.

You can be friendly towards everyone, but not just anyone should be your friend, because the stakes are high. The following Bible verses remind us that the choice of friends has far-reaching consequences and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’ – 1 Corinthians 15:33 

One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. – Proverbs 18:24

Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. – Proverbs 22:24-25

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. – Proverbs 13:20

The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray. – Proverbs 12:26

Glimpses of true friendship

When it’s good, friendship challenges, enriches, elevates, and inspires us to be better people. The Bible challenges us by presenting us with examples of great friendships. Among these are Jonathan and David, who were kindred spirits and great friends. Jonathan stood up for his friend against his own father, King Saul – something that nearly got Jonathan killed.

True friendship can be risky stuff because we sometimes must put ourselves on the line to do what is right for our friends. That may mean sitting with a friend while they are in mourning, or something more dramatic. Jesus is the friend par excellence, a True Friend and the one who showed us what love toward others looks like. Check out the challenging verses below:

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. – John 15:12-13

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. – Proverbs 17:17

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. – Job 2:11

When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:6-8

Jesus went above and beyond for us, doing for us what even our closest friends might hesitate to think about. Having great friends and being a great friend is a great blessing, one which everyone should enjoy. If you find yourself struggling to make or keep your friends, it may be helpful to speak to a professional such as a therapist. With a deep understanding of the dynamics of friendships and relationships, they can provide you with guidance to enrich your life.

We all need a friend or two. Having great friends makes life richer and more interesting. Being social creatures, our affinity for relationships makes all the sense in the world. Having a good friend is something that you should hold on to because genuinely good friends are a precious and rare commodity, no matter what social media might try to tell us.

While having great friends in your life blesses you, being a great friend for others blesses them. It is more blessed to give than to receive, as Jesus said, so this tracks too.

Making friends is becoming a lost art. The ability of American adults, especially men, to make friends, has been on the decline in recent years for a variety of reasons. Between the busyness of life, being in different phases of life, the awkwardness and risk of putting yourself out there to connect with other people, making friends is challenging.

It’s easy enough to “friend” or “follow” someone on social media, but that’s far from the deep meaningful connection we crave from others. While the Bible doesn’t give us a how-to guide for making friends, it does provide guidance not only for choosing our friends wisely but teaching us how to spot friends that may not be good for us and how to be a good friend to others. It also contains wisdom that helps develop, maintain, and deepen our friendships.