Edification
So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church (1 Corinthians 14:12).
All spiritual gifts are for the edification of the Body of Christ. Instead of arguing about which spiritual gifts are in or out of the Church today, the focus should be on edification. No gift is given just for personal use and private enjoyment. This does not discount the vital ministry of the Holy Spirit in each of our lives. In fact, if the Holy Spirit is not at work in each of us, it is doubtful that He will be able to move among us when we are gathered together. If we are walking in the Spirit individually then we will be able to respond to the Spirit and operate in the gifts when we are gathered together as the Body. But in his discussion of spiritual gifts in Corinthians, Paul’s focus is on the Body of Christ and not the individual Christian. The gifts are given for the Body and are never considered apart from this context by Paul. The modern invention of a private, spiritual prayer language finds no support in Paul’s discussion of the gifts. In fact, Paul would not allow a person to speak in a tongue in the assembly unless there was an interpreter because this would not edify the Body. The focus of the Body must be on edification even if that means a particular gift is not utilized when it does not edify.
The Body meets together in order to edify itself. I know that this is not usually the reason for most Church assemblies today. Many would say the reason the Church gathers is to preach the Gospel to the lost. The Gospel certainly needs to be preached to the lost! No one will argue with this point. And the preaching of the Gospel should be a part of the gathering of believers. But to make the gathering of the Church an evangelistic event for unbelievers is unbalanced at best. The believers must be edified. Edification is a word that belongs to the world of construction and building. From this word we get our English word “edifice.” To edify means to build up and secure something – like the construction of a sturdy, brick wall. Believers need their faith to be built up and reinforced. This is the real purpose behind the gathering of the saints. Some Christian people, with good intentions, will state that the purpose of the Church gathering is to worship. These are probably the folks who enjoy music the most. There is no doubt that God’s people are worshipers. But we worship God at all times and not just when the Church gathers. We can worship God privately at home, but we cannot function as the Body of Christ while we are alone. Edification is a corporate undertaking. This is because as we are edifying each other, building each other up, we are also being built together as a holy Temple for the Lord.
This implies that each member must begin to think about the other members. There is no place for selfishness in the Body of Christ. Each member must have concern for the other members. We all form one Body. Christ is not divided. We are interdependent. Oh how I wish Christians could learn this lesson! We have far too many people who think they can stand on their own without other believers. This kind of thinking has to come from the Devil because I know it did not come from the Lord. It is a serious error to think that you don’t need other believers. If you isolate yourself, you will die, having been severed from the Body of Christ. I have every reason to believe that Satan would love to isolate believers from the Body so that he can devour them! In Western culture we believe in the priority of the individual. We have cultured this kind of private spirituality and personal freedom that actually contradicts the very essence of Christianity, which is belonging to the Body of Christ. You simply cannot have Christ and not also be a part of His Body. When you get Christ you get everyone else who is in Christ. We are all one Body and there is no other Body because Christ is one and is not divided.
So the Church should gather together for the purpose of edification. Each member should be thinking about the whole Body and not himself alone. We do not gather to get something only but to give to the Body. But how do we edify each other? Edification is accomplished primarily through speaking and understanding the truth, particularly the Gospel of Christ. That is why prophecy is the greatest gift, because it edifies the Church. Paul’s primary purpose was the edification of believers. But he wanted the Church at Corinth to be able to edify itself even when he could not be there. It seems the Church at Corinth had plenty of spiritual gifts and they should have been able to edify each other. But they were divided and were competing with each other instead of edifying the whole Body. Paul writes to rebuke them for this in his first epistle to the Corinthians. There seems to have been a particular issue with the gift of tongue there in Corinth. Paul forbade the use of this gift unless there was someone to interpret the tongue so that all could be edified. Paul did not forbid tongues as long as it was interpreted. But he preferred prophecy as the superior gift because a prophet spoke to edify the Church. Trying to understand the gift of tongues and prophecy would require another series of articles. (But prophecy could be similar to what we call the preaching of a sermon today.) The point is that the Church must be edified, that is, the people must understand what is being said so that the mind or the understanding is fruitful.
Edification happens when our minds are enlightened by the spiritual truth of the Word of God. We cannot be edified by what we do not understand, which is why Paul commanded that tongues be interpreted in the Church. The result of edification is stability. Just as a strong building will stand firm, a believer who is edified will be strong, firm, and stable. The purpose of edification is to make people strong, solid, and confident in their faith so they can stand firm in all of the trials and temptations of life in the world. Edification is needed because this world is like a storm that blows against us at all times, seeking to tear down what faith has built in us. People who live near the coasts know how important it is to have a house that is reinforced to withstand the strong gale of hurricane winds. The believer must be reinforced spiritually to withstand life in the world. All kinds of winds crash against the believer. There is the force of the world and all of its carnal pleasures and temptation. There are Satan and his demons and all of their deception and false teaching. And there is the constant opposition that comes from our own Flesh, or the sinful nature, that is still within the believer. To withstand all of these assaults we must be strong. We have been placed in the Body of Christ so that we can be edified!
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