Building You Up in the Word of God
Acts 20:32
32 And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
Acts 20:32 (Contemporary English Version)
32 I now place you in God's care. Remember the message about his great kindness! This message can help you and give you what belongs to you as God's people.
Acts 20:32 (New American Bible)
32 And now I commend you to God and to that gracious word of his that can build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are consecrated.
Acts 20:32 (The Message)
32 Now I'm turning you over to God, our marvelous God whose gracious Word can make you into what he wants you to be and give you everything you could possibly need in this community of holy friends.
The Word of God is able to build us up and give us heritage along with the sanctified, to all the believers.
The Greek word is used to build you up is epoikodomeo that came as means to build on, build you up, build up (epi, upon).
This word is the sum of three: epi meaning above or over; oikos which means a house, and dome, a building. Hence we see that epoikodomeo means building a house over a building.
The People's Bible God gives us the clearest idea when he says "build the building."
The foundations were laid and now we just have to build up.
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;
13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
Jesus Christ is the base or foundation upon which we stand, but our responsibility is to build above Him
1 Peter 2:1-5
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:
3 If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.
4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
We are an spiritual house to be built or constructed, not something that depends on God, but it is something that depends on us.
The Greek word used for desire is epipotheo that means having a very intense desire, a desire very hot.
It is the desire of a young man who falls in love for the first time when you can not wait to see his beloved.
The word to grow is auxano that means growth, increase, increase.
And salvation is soteria that speaks of all the blessings granted to men in Christ through the Spirit. It is the deliverance, preservation and protection from danger and bad material and temporary.
Hence we see that if we receive all the blessings of God and get us crave we deep into the Word of God.
The only way to grow and build up is to deposit the Word of God within us.
