Iron Sharpens Iron3 min read

When Solomon writes, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend” (Proverbs 27:17), he’s describing something many of us have experienced in the Church at its best: Friendship that does more than comfort; it forms. Iron doesn’t become sharp through compliments or distance. It is refined through contact. In the same way, faithful friendship involves honest engagement with questions that clarify, counsel that steadies, correction that prevents moral drifting, and encouragement that strengthens resolve. Over time, the Lord uses these relationships to shape a sharpened countenance—a life made more attentive, more discerning, and more ready to walk wisely.

That kind of sharpening requires more than occasional contact. Friends aren’t meant to leave one another spiritually dull. A friendship that only affirms and never refines becomes sentimental and stagnant. Yet refinement without love becomes harshness. “Iron sharpening iron” requires proximity and trust—a bond where truth can be spoken without contempt and received without deterrence. It also requires mutuality. In the Christian life, one person isn’t perpetually the expert and the other perpetually the project. We’re all learners, penitents, and people in need of the Lord’s strengthening. If you’ve ever sharpened two kitchen knives against one another, then you know the point: Both are left sharpened. One isn’t sharpened while another remains dull.

This is part of why regular worship matters for healthy congregations. The Divine Service isn’t only where you “get something” from God, though He certainly and primarily gives His gifts there through His Word and Sacraments. Church is also where He places you near other Christians who can bear your burdens (Galatians 6:2), notice when you’re drifting, and speak a timely word of encouragement or correction. Wisdom calls us to cultivate friendships where growth is possible—to seek people who tell us what we need to hear, not only what we want to hear; to invite critique about our blind spots; and to give one another permission to ask hard questions with humility. In the Church, this means relationships centered on the Word—where Scripture isn’t wielded as a weapon against one another but received together as the double-edged, forever sharpened sword of Law and Gospel (Hebrews 4:12). Many Christians become spiritually dull not because God’s Word is weak, but because they’ve been trying to live the faith with no iron nearby.

Jesus forms His people in community—in His Body, which He calls the Church (1 Corinthians 12:12–27; Ephesians 1:22–23). A member cut off from the Body becomes dead and useless. Thus, He places saints alongside saints so that we may strengthen one another, admonish one another, and carry one another through seasons of fatigue, doubt, grief, or distraction. For active members, this is a reminder not to underestimate the humble power of simply showing up. Your presence may be the “iron” the Lord uses to steady someone else, even your pastor. For inactive members, it’s an invitation to return without shame. The Church isn’t a trophy room for the already-polished; it is Christ’s workshop for sinners, where He forgives, restores, and re-forms.

And when sharpening has been mishandled—when “accountability” has become control, or bluntness has become cruelty—Christ still meets us with mercy. He forgives what was done without love, and He teaches His people again to speak the truth in love, to receive correction without defensiveness, and to become the kind of friend whose presence makes another more fit for faithfulness. In a time when isolation is easy and church attendance can feel optional, Proverbs 27:17 reminds us that God’s ordinary way of sustaining disciples is wonderfully ordinary: Gathering, worshiping, listening, receiving, and being sharpened together.

_{Photo © Maranda Vandergriff/Unsplash}