1 Thessalonians 5:11

Wherefore comfort yourselves together exhort (or encourage) one another same verb as in ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:18 (see note, and on ch. 1 Thessalonians 3:2).

While "encouragement" would be drawn especially from 1 Thessalonians 5:9, as from the closing vv.of ch. 4, the appeal to the Thessalonians to edify, i.e. build up each other, rests on the whole content of the paragraph, from the beginning of the chapter. The warnings of 1 Thessalonians 5:3 tend to edification, promoting as they do seriousness and solidity of Christian life.

The word "edify" a favourite word of St Paul's points to the Church as a house, the "habitation of God in the Spirit" (Ephesians 2:22), each part contributing to the welfare of every other and furthering the life and strength of the whole. In this word lies the germ of the Apostle's conception of the Church, which he unfolded at a later time, in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, and still further in the Epistle to the Ephesians.

even as also ye do Comp. ch. 1 Thessalonians 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10, and notes. These repeated acknowledgements attest the high quality and spirit of this Church. It excelled especially in mutual kindness and helpfulness.

St Paul ascribes the functions of "edification" to the whole body of the Church, and does not regard them as confined to the official ministry, of which he has immediately to speak (1 Thessalonians 5:12). This collective office of edification is powerfully set forth in Ephesians 4:16; "All the Body, jointed together and compacted … each single part operating in its measure, makes its growth, to the end it may build up itself in love."