Mutual Edification
The following is from Howard A. Snyder, The Community of the King (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1977), 75. Snyder quotes Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1958), IV, 2, 627.
Spiritual growth occurs best in a caring community… The Holy Spirit ministers to us, in large measure, through each other. This is what Paul is talking about when he says “we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work” (Eph. 4:15-16). This interaction of the many members in one body is body life. Karl Barth rightly points out that when the New Testament speaks of upbuilding, it “speaks always of the upbuilding of the community. I can edify myself only as I edify the community.”