{"id":97879,"date":"2026-09-10T09:53:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T14:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=97879"},"modified":"2026-09-10T09:53:06","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T14:53:06","slug":"edification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/edification\/","title":{"rendered":"Edification"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<p>by Hugh DeLong<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>Let all things be done for edification<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 14:26 NASB95).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>But what does &#8216;edification&#8217; mean in practical terms? Often it is used to mean educate or teach. While it includes that, it also means simply &#8216;to build up&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>This is said in connection with our association in a local church group, such as the church in Corinth. We see here that Paul repeatedly emphasizes building up the congregation:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Prophecy edifies the church (I Corinthians 14:3-5).<\/li>\n<li>Believers should seek to abound for the church&#8217;s edification (I Corinthians 14:12).<\/li>\n<li>A contribution must edify others, not merely benefit the speaker (I Corinthians 14:17).<\/li>\n<li>Every part of the assembly must serve this goal (I Corinthians 14:26).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In this setting, &#8216;edify&#8217; means to build up in more ways than &#8216;teaching&#8217; or &#8216;knowledge&#8217;. &#8220;<em>But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 14:3). This building up is to help other members of the congregation grow in knowledge of the truth. It would also encourage them toward faithfulness in discipleship and encourage and console those who struggle.<\/p>\n<p>The problems discussed earlier in this letter did <strong>not <\/strong>build up the people; instead, they were divisive and destructive to their faith. Hence the instruction to let all things be done for edification. This is included in your association with the members with whom you are joined. Much of this is done &#8216;when you come together&#8217; (cp. I Corinthians 11 again, and here in I Corinthians 14:23), but much can also be done in our association with them outside of our assemblies. When Paul came to Jerusalem after his conversion, he first &#8216;<em>tried to associate with the disciples.<\/em>&#8216; When he was rebuffed, Barnabas took him to the apostles and explained how Paul had been converted. With that, Paul then was &#8220;with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.&#8221; (Acts 9:28 KJV).<\/p>\n<p>In I Corinthians 14, Paul instructs us to &#8220;<em>seek to abound for the edification of the church<\/em>&#8221; (I Corinthians 14:12). Take an inventory of your association with other disciples. Are you busy edifying them?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Hugh DeLong &#8220;Let all things be done for edification&#8221; (I Corinthians 14:26 NASB95). But what does &#8216;edification&#8217; mean in practical terms? Often it is used to mean educate or teach. While it includes that, it also means simply &#8216;to build up&#8217;. This is said in connection with our association in a local church group,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[1059,728],"class_list":["post-97879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-edification","tag-i-corinthians"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":31874,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-you-support-conscientious-objection\/","url_meta":{"origin":97879,"position":0},"title":"Do you support conscientious objection?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Do you or your church support selective conscientious objection and conscientious objection? Answer: Registering for the draft is a government law that does not violate any teaching of God. \"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-boy-girl-relationships-not-advisable-at-a-young-age\/","url_meta":{"origin":97879,"position":1},"title":"Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why are boy-girl relationships not advisable at a young age Answer: Youth is a time of impatient desires. They want the things available to adults, but adulthood seems so far away. The typical teenage boy enters puberty around the age of 11. The typical teenage girl enters puberty around\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":32196,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-sin-to-take-out-insurance\/","url_meta":{"origin":97879,"position":2},"title":"Is it a sin to take out insurance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 20, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is it a sin to take out medical insurance or legal insurance? Are we rather expected to put our faith in the Lord to take care of those things? Answer: We were taught to pray, \"Give us this day our daily bread\" (Matthew 6:11), but God still commands us\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37138,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/we-lost-the-surprise-somewhere\/","url_meta":{"origin":97879,"position":3},"title":"We Lost the Surprise Somewhere","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I remember watching Mayberry RFD and related shows most of my childhood. Poor ignorant Gomer Pyle who worked as an auto mechanic was a notable character. But I can still recall my shock when I found out that Jim Nabors, who played Gomer, could sing --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Gomer.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":61889,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-book-of-my-life\/","url_meta":{"origin":97879,"position":4},"title":"The Book of My Life","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Job 19:23-27 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Each week the paper publishes its list of top selling books \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sometimes the books are biographies, fictional stories, or fiction placed in historical settings. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They hope that others will also purchase the books, if for no other reason than curiosity. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Many author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Audio&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6988,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-there-passages-that-refer-to-the-lords-supper\/","url_meta":{"origin":97879,"position":5},"title":"Are there passages that refer to THE Lord&#8217;s Supper?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: We have been studying the Lord's supper issues and one of our main concerns is about a second offering in which only a few partake, for the reasons you listed in your article (not doing it together). We have been questioning the idea of everyone taking it a second\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97879"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97882,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97879\/revisions\/97882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}