What Does Romans 15:2 Mean in the King James?
Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
“Edification” is house-building: the neighbor’s good is where your shared life takes shape.
THE MEANING
Your regard for the person near you is directed toward their good, and that good strengthens what is being built in them. Pleasing them has a purpose beyond approval: it serves the forming of a life that can stand.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The lie that a choice is good simply because it satisfies you dissolves here: its direction matters, it turns toward the neighbor’s good and strengthens their life.
THE ROOT
οἰκοδομή
oikodomē
GROWS FROM
οἶκος + δέμω (oikos + demō)
House + build: to build a house.
“Edification” can sound like an abstract improvement, but this Greek word pictures a structure being built. The neighbor’s good is not just a pleasant feeling; it is what helps give shared life strength and form.
ALSO GROWS
oikos: house, household
οἶκος
The building image begins with a dwelling; the verse points toward strengthening life with others.
oikodomeō: build a house, build up, edify
οἰκοδομέω
This verb names the act of building up that the verse expresses as the purpose of seeking the neighbor’s good.
oikodomos: builder
οἰκοδόμος
The same word family pictures care as participation in something being raised, not merely approval given.
THE PATTERN
A choice reaches its full good when it strengthens life shared with someone else.
The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.THE THREAD
Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify another.“Edify” translates the same Greek word family as “edification” here: οἰκοδομέω (oikodomeō), meaning “build up.” The nearby verse makes the image communal: peace is pursued through what helps another person grow stronger.
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