1 Thessalonians4
New American Standard
1Finally then, brothers and sisters, we request and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel even more.
2For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;
4that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
5not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
6and that no one violate the rights and take advantage of his brother or sister in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you previously and solemnly warned you.
7For God has not called us for impurity, but in sanctification.
8Therefore, the one who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
9Now as to the love of the brothers and sisters, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
10for indeed you practice it toward all the brothers and sisters who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to excel even more,
11and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we instructed you,
12so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope.
14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.
15For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.
16For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
17Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
18Therefore, comfort one another with these words.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 1 Thessalonians 4.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Exhortations to purity and holiness. (1–8). To brotherly love, peaceable behaviour, and diligence. (9–12). Not to sorrow unduly for the death of godly relations and friends, considering the glorious resurrection of their bodies at Christ's second coming. (13–18).
vv1-8
To abide in the faith of the gospel is not enough, we must abound in the work of faith. The rule according to which all ought to walk and act, is the commandments given by the Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification, in the renewal of their souls under the influences of the Holy Spirit, and attention to appointed duties, constituted the will of God respecting them. In aspiring after this renewal of the soul unto holiness, strict restraint must be put upon the appetites and senses of the body, and on the thoughts and inclinations of the will, which lead to wrong uses of them. The Lord calls none into his family to live unholy lives, but that they may be taught and enabled to walk before him in holiness. Some make light of the precepts of holiness, because they hear them from men; but they are God's commands, and to break them is to despise God.
vv9-12
We should notice in others what is good, to their praise, that we may engage them to abound therein more and more. All who are savingly taught of God, are taught to love one another. The teaching of the Spirit exceeds the teachings of men; and men's teaching is vain and useless, unless God teach. Those remarkable for this or any other grace, need to increase therein, as well as to persevere to the end. It is very desirable to have a calm and quiet temper, and to be of a peaceable and quiet behaviour. Satan is busy to trouble us; and we have in our hearts what disposes us to be unquiet; therefore let us study to be quiet. Those who are busy-bodies, meddling in other men's matters, have little quiet in their own minds, and cause great disturbances among their neighbours. They seldom mind the other exhortation, to be diligent in their own calling, to work with their own hands. Christianity does not take us from the work and duty of our particular callings, but teaches us to be diligent therein. People often by slothfulness reduce themselves to great straits, and are liable to many wants; while such as are diligent in their own business, earn their own bread, and have great pleasure in so doing.
vv13-18
Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those who die in the Lord. Grief for the death of friends is lawful; we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain. Christianity does not forbid, and grace does not do away, our natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows; this is too much like those who have no hope of a better life. Death is an unknown thing, and we know little about the state after death; yet the doctrines of the resurrection and the second coming of Christ, are a remedy against the fear of death, and undue sorrow for the death of our Christian friends; and of these doctrines we have full assurance. It will be some happiness that all the saints shall meet, and remain together for ever; but the principal happiness of heaven is to be with the Lord, to see him, live with him, and enjoy him for ever. We should support one another in times sorrow; not deaden one another's spirits, or weaken one another's hands. And this may be done by the many lessons to be learned from the resurrection of the dead, and the second coming of Christ. What! comfort a man by telling him he is going to appear before the judgment-seat of God! Who can feel comfort from those words? That man alone with whose spirit the Spirit of God bears witness that his sins are blotted out, and the thoughts of whose heart are purified by the Holy Spirit, so that he can love God, and worthily magnify his name. We are not in a safe state unless it is thus with us, or we are desiring to be so.
Key Words
λοιπόν (loipón): something remaining (adverbially)
οὖν (oûn): (adverbially) certainly, or (conjunctionally) accordingly
ἀδελφός (adelphós): a brother (literally or figuratively) near or remote (much like G1 (Α))
ἐρωτάω (erōtáō): to interrogate; by implication, to request
καί (kaí): and, also, even, so then, too, etc.; often used in connection (or composition) with other particles or small words
παρακαλέω (parakaléō): to call near, i.e. invite, invoke (by imploration, hortation or consolation)
ὑμᾶς (hymâs): you (as the objective of a verb or preposition)
ἐν (en): "in," at, (up-)on, by, etc.
κύριος (kýrios): supreme in authority, i.e. (as noun) controller; by implication, Master (as a respectful title)
Ἰησοῦς (Iēsoûs): Jesus (i.e. Jehoshua), the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites
Cross References
1 Thessalonians 4Paul's parallel instruction to work quietly and avoid idleness, echoing his custom.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole, John Calvin, JFB
Parallel description of the resurrection occurring in an instant at the last trumpet sound.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Exhortation to honorable marriage and sexual purity under divine judgment.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The husband-wife relationship framed around honor and the metaphor of the weaker vessel.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Rejecting apostolic instructions equals rejecting God who authorized the messengers.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Allusion to Isaiah's prophecy of believers being directly taught of God.
Supported by JFB
The mystery that those alive at Christ's coming will be changed, not sleep.
Supported by JFB
Parallel description of the Lord Jesus descending from heaven with mighty angels.
Supported by JFB
Jesus' promise to return and take His disciples to be forever with Him.
Supported by JFB
Ignorance of God among the Gentiles directly leads to moral blindness and unchastity.
Supported by JFB
The dishonoring of bodies when people are given up to their own lusts.
Supported by JFB
God is the ultimate avenger of wrongs committed against others.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Christ's command of mutual love as the defining mark of His disciples.
Supported by Matthew Henry
The tragic state of the pagan world: having no hope and without God.
Supported by JFB
The essential connection between Christ's resurrection and the resurrection of believers.
Supported by John Calvin
David refers to physical bodies or instruments as 'vessels' kept holy.
Supported by Matthew Poole