Lots of scriptures talk about edifying others. The word literally means to “build up,” as in to build a house from the ground up. Building others up has a very specific purpose in the scriptures. In Ephesians 4, the word is used several times in succession. For example, Paul says that God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (vs. 12). This is to take place until everyone attains the unity of faith and grows up into Christ, “from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (vs. 16).
A few verses later, Paul says, “Let no corrupt talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (vs. 29). 1 Thessalonians 5:11 says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” Romans 15:2 says, “Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.” Paul uses the same word when he says that we are God’s fellow workers, God’s field, and God’s building (1 Cor. 3:9). Paul told the Corinthians that the spiritual gifts they seek should be for the building up of one another.
In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul said that “it is in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and all for your upbuilding, beloved” (2 Cor. 12:19). There are plenty more times that this expression is used. The Bible is clear that we are to build each other up with both our words and actions, and when we do, a beautiful house of the Lord emerges!
