Paul in Romans 15:2 and I Corinthians 14:3, II Corinthians
10:8 and 13:10 uses the word edification. The root for this word is oikodome
which is the house or building and means building the house. Oikodomos is the
steward who looks after the house. Oikos is the house. Oikos is used in I Peter
2:5 for the spiritual house we are being built into and in I Peter 4:17 for the
house of God.
So when Paul uses the term edify or oikodome in Romans
14:19, I Corinthians 10:23 and I Thessalonians 5:11 is he speaking of the
individual being built up or the church being built up or both? I think
oikodome one another means to build each other into the church, and just not a
spiritual message building the individual in his faith.
This is what is contrasted in I Corinthians 14:3-4, “For he
that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God: for no man
understands him; howbeit in the spirit he speaks mysteries. But he that
prophesies speaks unto men to edification (oikodome), and exhortation, and
comfort. He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself; but he that
prophesies edifies the church.”
The person who prophesies is building the church but he who
speaks in tongues is building himself (in a negative sense i.e. is proud).
Unfortunately the meaning of the word edify has changed from
building a building to building a person so that we miss the impact of what
Paul wrote.
Uncle,
ReplyDeleteI agree with the "negative sense" in Paul's writing in 1 Cor 14:4 as it is directed towards self (build-up of self - hence it is being proud).
However, I do not get the same "negative sense" in the rest of 1 Cor 14 as the text seems to talk about building-up of others in the church. Especially 1 Cor 14:17 seems to imply that all our communication should build-up other individuals. In fact, I get the impression (by reading this chapter) that it is by building other individuals into the church that the church gets built-up. That is, we need to be building-up others as well as the church as a whole - I think these 2 types of edifications go hand in hand and do not think it is possible to have one without the other.
In short, I think edification refers to individuals as well as the church, but we are being advised against edifying self.
I would even argue that the edification of other individuals is not only restricted to building-up of individuals in/into the church (as the original intent of 1 Cor 14), but would be the natural extension of a practicing Christian to those individuals outside the Church itself.
Regards,
- Daniel
Good perspective
ReplyDelete