I read I Thessalonians 5:11 “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” (NKJV)
I sense the Lord has much to say about this verse, so I slow down and dig deeper.
I ask: what is the therefore there for? In other words, what should I bring forward from what has just been written to help understand this verse?
Conclusion: In the verses before, Paul sets our sights on the returning of Jesus, the ending of what is old and the beginning of all things new. This brings a sense of urgency to the verse at hand.
Digging Deeper
Using the Strongs App on my phone ( I highly recommend it if you enjoy digging for hidden treasure), I dig into the words comfort and edify.
Comfort – translated from the Greek word par-ak-al-eh’-o.
Jesus used the same word when he called the Holy Spirit the Comforter. The word literally means to call near or call beside.
The thought comes to me: If I’m going to call someone beside me, I better have something to offer.
For me to be a comforter, I must be being comforted. I must be being aware of and depending upon the true Comforter, who is calling me beside Him, joining in what He is doing. How dare I ever try and comfort someone else without yielding to the Indwelling Holy Spirit. Without Christ, I can do nothing. [1]
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
Conclusion: I can’t comfort others unless I’m allowing myself to be comforted by the Holy Spirit.
Edify – translated from the Greek word oy-kod-om-eh’-o, it literally means to build a house or a dwelling.
As Christians, we have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit and have become dwelling places of Christ by His Spirit. [2]
We are all under construction
What remains is for Christ to be formed in us [3], for us to be made complete in Christ. [4]
For Christ to be formed in us, for us to be made complete in Christ, we are to: (Summarized from Galatians 2:20)
- fully embrace our spiritual death
- always recognize our Indwelling Comforter
- fully depend on Christ to love others through us
Paul calls Christ in us, the hope of glory. He states his aim to be to present every man complete in Christ, striving according to Christ’s power working mightily in him. [5]
Conclusion: Edifying another is aiming at building a dwelling for Christ in that person’s life, regardless of the condition of their spiritual journey. Edifying another is yielding to the Indwelling Christ in you to join God in the construction process of another person’s life.
In Summary
Concluding all conclusions: In light of the certainty of a sudden change from this world to the next, keep in mind that comforting and edifying another must start with us. If we are to call someone near to us; to labor with Christ in the construction process of a another person’s life, we need to be being comforted by the Holy Spirit and be depending upon the indwelling Holy Spirit for our every word and deed, yielding to Christ to love through us.
Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. I Peter 4:11
[1] John 15:5
[2] Ephesians 1:13, I Corinthians 6:19
[3] Galatians 4:19