We should help others do what is right and build them up in the Lord.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, to be building him up.
- KJV Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification.
- BSB Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
- NKJV Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification.
- NASB Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Each of us should please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. Self-giving love that edifies replaces self-pleasing.
Overview
Paul defines a love-shaped pleasing of others, not flattery, but seeking their good and edification. The aim is the neighbor's spiritual growth, not merely his comfort. This positive command counterbalances any misuse of liberty and channels Christian freedom toward building up the body. It echoes the law of love that fulfills the whole law (Romans 13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Cor 10:24Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor’s good.
- Rom 14:19So then, let us follow after things which make for peace, and things by which we may build one another up.
- Phil 2:4–5each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others.
- 1 Cor 10:33even as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of the many, that they may be saved.
- 1 Cor 9:19–22For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.
- 1 Cor 13:5doesn’t behave itself inappropriately, doesn’t seek its own way, is not provoked, takes no account of evil;
- Titus 2:9–10Exhort servants to be in subjection to their own masters, and to be well-pleasing in all things; not contradicting;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 15:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.