Romans 15:2 Meaning and Explanation
“Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Each believer should aim to please his neighbor, not to flatter him, but for his genuine good and to build him up.
What Does Romans 15:2 Mean?
Having warned against pleasing ourselves, Paul now turns the instinct outward. The pleasing he commends is not crowd-flattery or people-pleasing for its own sake, but a deliberate seeking of the neighbor's true benefit.
The goal is named plainly: 'for his good to edification' — that the other might be built up. Love here is constructive, laying stone upon stone in another's life. To please a neighbor in this way is to ask not 'what do I want?' but 'what will make him stronger in the things of God?' It is the daily architecture of a community shaped by Christ.
Romans 15:2 in the Original Language
oikodome (οἰκοδομή), 'edification' -- literally the building of a house; the up-building of a person or community.