Our common responsibility concerns the "mutual service" of the congregation, to which we are called and for which we are to equip the congregation. The late prof. Dr. J. P. Versteeg made clear that the phrase "each other" in the New Testament gives expression to the structure of the church in the New Testament ¹along the following lines.

1. The phrase: "each other" in the New Testa­ment occurs frequently and in various contexts with reference to the church. The faith that joins us to Christ joins us at the same time to our fellow-believers and our fellow-believers to us. We do not truly experience God's salvation when the word "each other" does not function in that experience.
    
2. The New Testament with regard to "each other" distinguishes between "being with each other" and "being for each other." "Being with each other" refers to being one in Christ and "being for each other" refers to the calling with regard to one another that flows from that. The theological sequence, therefore, is that "being with each other in unity with Christ" comes before "being for each other." At the same time the aspect of "being with each other" cannot be separated from "being for each other." They are two sides of the same coin. "Being with each other" must concretely show up in "being for each other."
    
3. The New Testament spells out the calling with regard to each other in the command­ment to love one another. At this point we need to remember that in the New Testament "love" is never something vague and elusive. According to the New Testament, love always comes through in concrete actions of love. It is, therefore, not surprising that the one, central commandment to love one another breaks up in a multiplicity of commandments in which this one, central commandment is made more concrete. Think only of "forbearing one an­other in love" (Ephesians 4:2), "be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32), "addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs" (Ephesians 5:19), "Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ" (Ephesians 5:21).
    
4. The New Testament does not only show how within the congregation there may and must be the right relationship to one another but also (by way of contrast) how outside the congregation the phrase "each other" functions in a disharmonic and demonic way, "biting and devouring one another" (Galatians 5:15), "provoking one another, envying one another" (Galatians 5:26). To be sure also within the congregation there is the danger to slide back to this. That's why the believers must continu­ally be warned not to live with one another as the world does. That's how the congregation is still in the tension of the "already" and "not yet."
    
5. The following motifs stand out in the New Testament.

• A trinitarian motif. A right relationship to one another flows from the work of the Father for the sake of the Son through the Holy Spirit.
• The motif that coheres with the coming of the new dispensa­tion. It is remarkable that the phrase "each other" stands out precisely in the New Testa­ment. After all, this is the dispensation in which, in accordance with Joel's prophecy, the Spirit has been poured out on all flesh. All in the congregation have their own place and their own charisma. This determines the nature of the special office in the congregation. It has not been given in order to take away from the believers the calling which they have with regard to each other but rather to point to that calling.
• The missionary motif. Outside the congregation the believers are not to be different from the way they are inside the congregation. "...May the Lord cause you to abound and overflow in love toward one another and toward all..." (1 Thessalonians 3:12). "...Always pursue that which is good with reference to one another and with refer­ence to all" (1 Thessalonians 5:15)
• ​The doxological motif. There where one accepts and serves one another in love, there one lives in accordance with the will of the Lord and in this way His name is glorified.

6. ​The usage of the phrase "one another" in the New Testament starts from the presence of unity and the presence of diversity. The unity is indispensable, which is a unity in faith. So is also the diversity. The New Testament does not picture the congregation as a uniform congregation. A congregation with uniforming tendencies, in which one attempts to suppress the diversity instead of trying to do justice to the diversity, is a congregation that comes short of the New Testament congregation.
   
   All our labour in the congregation ought to start from and focus on this New Testament teaching about "one another." For all our labour as officebearers in the congregation we need to thoroughly know the Scriptures but also keep our eyes open to the congregation and apply all that we hear in the preaching for the well-being of the congregation.