Edifying Each Other (Part 1)

As I was preparing for the discussion on the purposes of Gospel Doctrine class, I thought a lot about the word "edify". It's something I've never paid much attention to before, to tell you the truth. In the scriptures, it shows up mostly in the Doctrine & Covenants and in Paul's New Testament writings, and it has always seemed pretty straightforward to me. Take this passage from D&C 43:8, for example:

"And now, behold, I give unto you a commandment, that when ye are assembled together ye shall instruct and edify each other, that ye may know how to act and direct my church" (emphasis added).

It seems obvious here that the meaning is something like "teach" or "enlighten" or "uplift". I didn't think much about it until it started showing up in several of the verses I was reading. Being the "word nerd" that I am, I started wondering a little more about what it means and where it comes from. Turns out, this word has a rich history with much to teach us about learning together in the Church.

I'm not sure why I never made the connection before, but the word "edify" is a related form of the word "edifice". Even at this basic level, I love what I learned about the meaning of "edify". An edifice is a building, specifically a large, strong, impressive one--no rickety shacks here. So when we "edify" each other, we build one another up and make each other stronger (see Romans 15:1-2). In a Gospel sense, the building material is truth and knowledge, and the edifice we are building is testimony (see D&C 50:17-24).

If we dig a little deeper into the etymology (word history) of "edify" and "edifice", we find that they both come from the Latin word aedificare. This is made up of two parts, meaning "temple" and "to make". So, in its very roots, the word "edify" carries the meaning of building something holy and sacred. In 1 Corinthians 3:9-16, Paul calls the members of the Church "God's building" (v.9), and later asks, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God[?]" (v. 16). I especially love his statement in verse 9 that "we are labourers together with God" in this work of building each other up. A hugely important part of our responsibility as members of Christ's church is to strengthen and edify one another (see D&C 43:8 and Ephesians 4).

(Topic continued in the next post)