The necessity for daily obedience to God
Chapter four of Paul’s first letter to the ecclesia in Thessalonian begins with a sudden change in tone from the preceding chapters.
“Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more” (1 Thess 4:1).
Paul is stressing the importance of daily service and obedience to God in every aspect of one’s life. He understands the dangers of the world that could threaten the new believers in the Truth. The standards and morals that they have been taught — which came from none other than the Lord Jesus Christ through Paul his apostle — are still vulnerable to the attacks from the world of unbelievers that surround them (both Jew and Gentile). The word for beseech here in verse 1 is the Greek word “erotao,” which means to ask or intreat. The word is also used in Acts 3:3 (RSV), “Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked for alms”
The word is used there by a beggar begging for alms — a man who was not merely requesting a few extra coins without urgency, but a man who was begging for what he knew to be his only opportunity for survival due to his circumstances. Paul uses this word again
“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand” (2 Thess 2:1-2).
In this instance, Paul’s desire is for the believers in Thessalonian not to lose faith, and remain obedient to God. He knew the urgency of this message and it was his desire that his fellow brethren and sisters heed his warning.
As brethren and sisters in the ecclesia we have the same responsibility to those new to the Truth in our ecclesias and surrounding areas that Paul had to the new believers in Thessalonian. If we are not upholding the standards of the Truth in our ecclesia, what will stop the world from creeping in and attacking those newer and possible weaker members in the Truth? Paul recognized this reality and we should likewise do the same.
Flee fornication; sexual purity.
In verse 3, Paul addresses the will of God towards his servants. The Greek word here for “will” is “thelema” which means purpose or resolve. This is an active purpose that God has for his servants. God’s purpose encompasses both salvation for mankind (1Tim 2:4) as well as specific and foreknown plans for his individual servants (Rom 1:10, 8:28). Not only is this the will of God but “even your sanctification.” The Greek here for sanctification is “hagiasmos” (purification, holiness) and comes from “hagios” which refers to the process of becoming holy. It is made clear to us here that holiness does not come just by being called to be a part of God’s plan with the earth, but with the accompaniment of effort from the believer.
Paul declares that the will of God is “that ye should abstain from fornication.” The Greek word for fornication is “porneia” and is the equivalent of the Hebrew “zanah” which refers to any licentious or sexual act. It is not enough to be pure in mind only. A pure mind requires a pure body. This is where verse 4 picks up: “that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel.” The word here for “vessel” is one that in the figurative sense refers to a person who is being used for a purpose by someone else (Acts 9:15). 1Pet 3:7 tells us that the wife is a “weaker vessel” than the husband. When considering 1Cor 7:2-5, it becomes clear that Paul’s message is that a man is to “possess his vessel (or wife) in sanctification (of himself) and honor (of and for his wife).” Any sexual desire of a man is to be directed towards his wife and no other (and vice versa). That is the standard God set in the beginning (Genesis 2:24) and it is the only acceptable standard. We must not be like the Gentiles who, through their behavior driven by “the lust of concupiscence” (verse 5), have separated themselves from God. A similar metaphor is to be found in Prov 5:15-18.
“That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter” (vs 6) or “that no man cross his boundary and take advantage of his brother in the matter at hand” as the Greek means, because “the Lord is the avenger of all such.” Christ at his return will have the divine wisdom and judgment necessary to avenge those who have wronged others by breaking God’s commands (2Thess 1:8 — notice the repeat of the phrase “them that know not God”).
It has been suggested by many that this letter was written in Corinth because it was known for its worldly vices; one of the most prominent being those of sexual nature addressed in this chapter. Paul would not have written to the believers in Thessalonian if these vices were not a realistic threat to them. The society surrounding Paul was so bad that many became acclimated to the vicious lifestyle that the citizens lived. Even the brethren and sisters living there would have felt little shock for the moral corruption that surrounded them. How similar is this society to the one in which surrounds us today! We live in a time when even churches cannot decide what to call right or wrong. Humanism rules society and allows its members to decide on personal rights and wrongs based on their own standards with no regard for God’s truth at all. The warning given here by Paul is just as applicable to us believers today as it was to the believers in Thessalonian in Paul’s day.
Brotherly love
The believers have been exhorted on daily obedience to God (verses 1-2), purity (verses 3-8), and now brotherly love (verses 9-10). This is fitting, after all, as brotherly love is the foundation by which the believer can achieve a lifestyle of obedience and purity before God. Paul declares (to paraphrase) that the believers “need not that I write unto you (as touching brotherly love): for ye are taught of God to love one another.” Paul is referring to God’s example of love in giving His son as a sacrifice for mankind (1 John 4:7-11). We are known as disciples of Christ if we display this love one to another (John 13:35). Paul mentions that the ecclesia in Thessalonian has displayed this love towards the surrounding ecclesial in Macedonia (verses 10 and 1:7,8) and yet he exhorts them to “increase more and more.” There is always room for improvement by way of brotherly love for the saints in Christ because of the unapproachable example that he set for us. Although we can never be as perfect as the example that Christ has set, we must never stop striving to improve on our efforts.
“And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: To the end he may establish your hearts unnameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints” (1 Thess 3:12,13).
Effect on non-believers
The next section of the chapter deals with the lifestyle of the believer. Paul’s exhortation is that the believer “study to be quiet, and to do your own business.” The NIV translates “study” as: “make it your ambition,” the RSV reads “aspire” (this word is also used in Rom 15:20 — “I have strived to preach the gospel” and 2 Cor 5:9 — “labour that we may be accepted of him”). It must be our ambition to “lead a quiet life and mind your own business” (NIV). This is the opposite of the lifestyle of the busybody addressed in 2 Thess 3:11. There is no room for busybodies in the ecclesia of God; for those who meddle unnecessarily in ecclesial or personal affairs of others, but only for those who are ambitious to share the Truth.
Paul further exhorts the believers to “work with your own hands.” This is in reference to physical labor, which was despised by the Greeks as it was regarded as slave work. Paul’s attitude is quite the opposite (2:9, 1 Cor 4:12, Eph 4:28). The lesson here is that we ought not to adopt the standards of the world, but to live only by God’s standards. God’s own son, after all, was a manual laborer (Mark 6:3).
“That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without.” The Greek here is “walk in good form” not like those who walk disorderly from which we are to withdraw ourselves (2 Thess 3:6). Paul is concerned here with the effect that the believers have on the surrounding unbelievers (cp. Col 4:5, 1 Tim 3:7).
“Do all things without murmurings and disputing: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world” (Phil 2:14-15).
“The dead in Christ shall rise”
“But I would not have you be ignorant, brethren:” This is a phrase often used by Paul (Rom 1:13, 11:25, 1Cor 10:1, 12:1, 2 Cor 1:8) when his purpose is to correct a fallacy. The attached “brethren” shows Paul’s affection towards those to whom he is writing.
“Concerning them which are asleep,” although Paul is addressing the deceased, they are “dead in Christ” (vs16) which makes them so close to life that in God’s eyes they are merely sleeping, awaiting the return of His son. We are not told what question the brethren and sisters in the ecclesia at Thessalonica had that inspired Paul to address this subject, but he gives them explanation and comfort nonetheless.
He begins by encouraging the believers to not sorrow over their dead loved ones as the non-believers do. He reminds them of their belief that God raised Christ himself from the dead and how he will raise those who sleep in Christ as well in vs14 “even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.” This word “bring” in the Greek means to lead or to bring to the point of destination: that destination being the judgment seat of Christ. Paul’s comfort for the Thessalonians is that no experience of those living during the time of Christ’s return will be withheld from those who are asleep in Christ at his return. He explains that “the Lord himself” (that is Christ and none other) “shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first,” that is, before those believers who are still alive. They will be “caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air” (vs 17). The Greek for “caught up” is “harpazo” and signifies to be seized, to be caught away. So the believers will be conveyed from one place to another on the earth (Acts 8:39-40). One possible idea with this word “harpazo” is that there will be an almost instantaneous transport of the saints “in the air” (verse 17) to another place on the earth (the other place being the destination — the judgment seat of Christ).
This chapter concludes on an uplifting and comforting note for the Thessalonian ecclesia: “so shall we ever be with the Lord.” Ever with our Lord Jesus Christ on the earth assisting him in his future work of preaching the Truth, judging the nations of the earth, purging the world of any and all sinful things that occupy it so that “all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD” (Num 14:21).
“Wherefore,” Paul concludes, “comfort one another with these words.” Let us like wise, brethren and sisters, do the same. For we live in a time when we need it more than ever. For:
“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly” Rev 22:20
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One