1 Thessalonians 5:11
in 1 Thessalonians 5Therefore encourage and build one another up, just as you are already doing.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do.
KJV
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
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This verse in 1 Thessalonians 5
Commentary
11 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Wherefore comfort yourselves - notes, 1Th 4:18. And edify one another - Strive to build up each other, or to establish each other in the faith by these truths; notes, Rom 14:19. Even as also ye do - Continue to do it. Let nothing intervene to disturb the harmony and consolation which you have been accustomed to derive from these high and holy doctrines.
This site's exposition
Therefore encourage and build one another up
Therefore draws the practical conclusion, encourage and build one another up. It is the command 4:18 gave the resurrection hope, now applied to the whole Day of the Lord. The closing words, just as you are already doing, commend a practice under way.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
You see, I wish and pray that you would all hold fast to right order as teachers, that you would not simply be listeners to what is said by us but also transmit it to others, casting your net for those still in error so as to bring them to the way of truth—as Paul says, "Edify one another," and "With fear and trembling work out your own salvation." In this way we will have the satisfaction of seeing the church grow in strength, and you will enjoy more abundant favor from above through the great care you show for your members. God, you know, does not wish Christians to be concerned only for themselves but also to edify others, not simply through their teaching but also through their behavior and the way they live. After all, nothing is such an attraction to the way of truth as an upright life—in other words, people pay less attention to what we say than to what we do.
Dost thou see how everywhere he puts the common salvation into the hands of each individual? "Exhorting one another daily" (he says) "while it is called To-day." Do not then cast all [the burden] on your teachers; do not [cast] all upon them who have the rule over you: ye also (he means) are able to edify one another. Which also he said in writing to the Thessalonians, "Edify one another, even as also ye do." And again, "Comfort one another with these words." This we also now exhort you.… If ye be willing, ye will have more success with each other than we can have. For ye both are with one another for a longer time, and ye know more than we of each other's affairs, and ye are not ignorant of each other's failings, and ye have more freedom of speech, and love, and intimacy; and these are no small [advantages] for teaching, but great and opportune introductions for it: ye will be more able than we both to reprove and to exhort. And not this only, but because I am but one, whereas ye are many; and ye will be able, however many, to be teachers.
"That, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do." And again, "whether we wake or sleep"; by sleep there he means one thing, and here another. For here, "whether we sleep" signifies the death of the body; that is, fear not dangers; though we should die, we shall live. Do not despair because thou art in danger. Thou hast a strong security. He would not have given His Son if He had not been inflamed by vehement love for us. So that, though thou shouldest die, thou wilt live; for He Himself also died. Therefore whether we die, or whether we live, we shall live with Him. This is a matter of indifference: it is no concern of mine, whether I live or die; for we shall live with Him.
The Medieval Church2 voices
You see? So why do you make excuses, saying "I am not a teacher"? "Exhort one another," he says, since teachers do not have the ability to teach everyone.
Then when he says, therefore encourage one another, he teaches us how we should behave toward special classes of people. And in this regard he makes three points; first, he shows how they should behave towards their equals; secondly, how they should be subject to …
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
We must bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. They must edify one another, by following after those things whereby one may edify another, Rom. xiv. As Christians are lively stones built up together a spiritual house, they should endeavour to promote the good of the whole church by promoting the work of grace in one another.
Wherefore comfort yourselves together,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
comfort yourselves--Greek, "one another." Here he reverts to the same consolatory strain as in 1Th 4:18. edify one another--rather as Greek, "edify (ye) the one the other"; "edify," literally, "build up," namely, in faith, hope, and love, by discoursing together on such edifying topics as the Lord's coming, and the glory of the saints (Mal 3:16).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Comfort - one another - Rest assured that, in all times and circumstances, it shall be well with the righteous; let every man lay this to heart; and with this consideration comfort and edify each other in all trials and difficulties.
The words behind it
11 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Διὸ | dio | Therefore | G1352 → | |
| παρακαλεῖτε | parakaleite | do encourage | G3870 → | 108 times |
| ἀλλήλους | allelous | one another | G240 → | 100 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| οἰκοδομεῖτε | oikodomeite | do build up | G3618 → | |
| εἷς | heis | one | G1520 → | 343 times |
| τὸν | ton | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἕνα | hena | another | G1520 → | 343 times |
| καθὼς | kathos | even as | G2531 → | 182 times |
| καὶ | kai | also | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ποιεῖτε.¶ | poieite | you are doing. | G4160 → | 569 times |
ΔιὸTherefore
dioG1352 →
παρακαλεῖτεdo encourage
parakaleiteG3870 →108 times
ἀλλήλουςone another
allelousG240 →100 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
οἰκοδομεῖτεdo build up
oikodomeiteG3618 →
εἷςone
heisG1520 →343 times
τὸν<the>
tonG3588 →19766 times
ἕναanother
henaG1520 →343 times
καθὼςeven as
kathosG2531 →182 times
καὶalso
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ποιεῖτε.¶you are doing.
poieiteG4160 →569 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ephesians 4:29Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building up the one in need and bringing grace to those who listen.
it leads to
- Colossians 4:6
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.
- Ecclesiastes 10:12
The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool consume him.
- Proverbs 15:7
The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but not so the hearts of fools.
- Colossians 3:8–9
But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.
- Colossians 4:6
Through
Hebrews 10:25Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
it leads to
- Acts 2:42
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
- Matthew 18:20
For where two or three gather together in My name, there am I with them.”
- Hebrews 3:13
But exhort one another daily, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
- Hebrews 10:24
And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.
- Acts 2:42
Where this verse is studied
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About 1 Thessalonians
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 8.4-5; John Chrysostom, Homily on Hebrews 30; John Chrysostom, Homily on 1 Thessalonians 9; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 Thessalonians and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on 1 Thessalonians.