Rescuing an old word

CORA MASON

One advantage of finding out more about words in the King James Version of the Bible is that sometimes you can effect a rescue. Words that have become narrow or negative can be liberated, cleared of grime, seen in all their original depth and power. Often whole passages of the Bible are opened up.

Have you ever been curious over "edify" in the Bible? It's a word that has come on bad times in our secular society. Even a century ago it could give flavor to a joke. "Edifyingly platitudinarian," quipped the British Contemporary Review in 1876 about a dull sermon. Today, if the word is used at all, it has to do with instructing and improving people, especially in a self-consciously moral way.

To Paul, edification was a burning issue, and with good reason. Our English word "edifice" for a building supplies the clue. Paul, great builder of the Christian Church that he was, naturally used as a touchstone of value in his work the practical Greek word for "build."

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