I Thessalonians 4 · The Lantern

For the rest, then, brethren, we beg you and exhort you in [the] Lord Jesus, even as ye have received from us how ye ought to walk and pleaseGod, even as ye also do walk, that ye would abound still more.

"Finally then, brethren, we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that, as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye abound more and more.

After I have told you, he says, about what is fitting to hear, next listen about what is always necessary to hear. "Furthermore" is what this means, that is, always and unceasingly. See what humility: he does not consider himself worthy of belief, even in matters of exhortation, but offers the word from Christ, saying: Christ exhorts you through me.

Earlier, the Apostle Paul commended the faithful for their loyalty in the face of trials and for other good practices; here Paul cautions them to act well in the future. First, Paul presents a general warning; secondly, Paul makes it more specific (4:3). In regard to the first point, Paul does two things.

For ye know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

For this is [the] will ofGod, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication;

For the devil tempting us, knowing what we are, but not knowing if we will hold out, but wishing to dislodge us from the faith, attempts also to bring us into subjection to himself.

This disease of concupiscence is what the apostle refers to, when, speaking to married believers, he says: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; not in the disease of desire, even as the Gentiles which know not God." The married believ…

The precepts are as follows: this is the will of God, your sanctification, as if saying: All the commandments of God are for the purpose of making you holy; for sanctity means purity and constancy, and all of God's precepts lead thereto, so that a person may be cleansed from evil and constant in good: "That you may prove what is the will of God" (Rom.

that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour,

It is quite possible to pass decisive sentences on vessels and on instruments, to the extent that they participate in the merits of their proprietors and employers.… For every vessel or every instrument becomes useful by external manipulation, consisting as it does of material which is quite extraneous to the substance of the human owner or employer.

There are, then, many kinds of lusts for this or that, but when the word is used by itself without specification it suggests to most people the lust for sexual excitement. Such lust does not merely invade the whole body and outward members.

But also with regard to your wife, deny yourself honorably; that each one of you know how to take his vessel, that is his wife, in holiness, denying yourself pleasure for a time, and in honor, not in the passion of lust, that is, do not let passion be the stimulus; like heathen, for it is characteristic of heathens to desire immediate pleasures instead of those of the future li…

(not in passionate desire, even as the nations who know notGod,)

Have no fellowship with such a man, lest ye perish along with him, even should he be thy father, thy son, thy brother, or a member of thy family.

In what way? "Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles." Concupiscence, however, is not ascribed to marriage even among the Gentiles, but to extravagant, unnatural, and enormous sins.

That is, not in desire that contains passion. For there is also dispassionate desire, such as the desire for divine things. Or, that everything which arouses lust he calls a passion of lust, such as luxury, wealth, idleness, and negligence — each of these can be called a passion of lust. Thus, if we wish to be chaste, we must not permit ourselves any passion that arouses lust.

not overstepping the rights of and wronging his brother in the matter, because the Lord [is] the avenger of all these things, even as we also told you before, and have fully testified.

In the first Epistle of Paul to the Thessalonians: "That a man do not deceive his brother in a matter, because God is the avenger for all these."

Above the apostle speaks of fornication in general, but now he speaks of adultery, which he rightly calls covetousness and transgression. For God gave each man a wife and set limits to nature, meaning cohabitation with this one wife. Therefore covetousness applies to this matter, that is, to unlawful cohabitation; and specifically against a brother.

Then when Paul says, that no man transgress, he forbids greed, and insists that no man transgress, that is, no one should exert violence by taking another's property through brute strength. "Is it not the rich who oppress you?" (Jas. 2:6). And wrong his brother through fraud. "Like a basket full of birds, their houses are full of treachery" (Jer. 5:27).

ForGod has not called us to uncleanness, but in sanctification.

"For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification." Because he had said "his brother," and had also added, that God is the avenger, showing that even if an unbeliever has suffered this, he who has done it shall suffer punishment, he says, it is not as avenging him that He punishes thee, but because thou hast insulted Himself.

After having said that you wrong your brother, and having pointed out that God will avenge, he now expands his thought, showing that even if an unbeliever suffered this, the guilty one will still bear punishment.

One reason for this is that God has called us, and a second reason is that such actions are contrary to God's gifts to us. If the Lord calls you to one thing and you do something contrary, then punishment is due. So Paul points out that God has not called us for uncleanness.

He therefore that [in this] disregards [his brother], disregards, not man, butGod, who has given also his Holy Spirit to you.

But if repentance is a thing human, its baptism must necessarily be of the same nature: else, if it had been celestial, it would have given both the Holy Spirit and remission of sins. But none either pardons sins or freely grants the Spirit save God only.

"Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth His Holy Spirit unto you." So that even if thou shouldest defile the Empress, he says, or even thine own handmaid, that hath a husband, the crime is the same. Why? Because He avenges not the persons that are injured, but Himself.

And so Paul concludes: therefore, whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, as if saying: This is the one special reason that I mentioned. The other reason is that these vices are opposed to the Spirit who was given to us. And he who does these things offends the Holy Spirit; so Paul says, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Now concerning brotherly love ye have no need that we should write to you, for ye yourselves are taught ofGod to love one another.

Salvation, accordingly, is the following of Christ: "For that which is in Him is life." "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My words, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into condemnation, but hath passed from death to life." Thus believing alone, and regeneration, is perfection in life; for God is never weak.

The blessed apostle, like a true and spiritual physician, either seeing this disease which springs from the spirit of lethargy already creeping in, or foreseeing through the Holy Spirit that it would arise among monks, is quick to anticipate it by the healing medicines of his directions.

Then when Paul remarks: But concerning love of the brethren you have no need to have any one write to you, he discourages them from remaining idle.

For also ye do this towards all the brethren in the whole of Macedonia; but we exhort you, brethren, to abound still more,

and to seek earnestly to be quiet and mind your own affairs, and work with your [own] hands, even as we charged you,

Again, they say the same apostle has left a precept, according to his own example, "That each one work with his own hands for a living." If this precept is maintained in respect to all hands, I believe even the bath-thieves live by their hands, and robbers themselves gain the means to live by their hands; forgers, again, execute their evil handwritings, not of course with their…

That you are brotherly in love, I know; and we pray about this, that you would advance more in brotherly love and be more generous.

Paul next says: aspire to live quietly. He is correcting the idle. First, he criticises their idleness; secondly, he indicates how they ought to curtail it; and finally, he provides a reason why they ought to curtail it. He says therefore, aspire to live quietly. "...loud and wayward, her feet do not stay at home" (Prov. 7:11).

that ye may walk reputably towards those without, and may have need of no one.

Concerning the resurrection of the righteous, Paul also speaks thus in writing to the Thessalonians: "We would not have you to be ignorant concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him.

First Thessalonians 4: That you desire nothing of anyone: the Gloss says: "That you desire nothing of anyone, much less ask for or take anything." If therefore it is more to ask or petition than to desire, and the first is prohibited as unlawful by the Apostle, namely to desire or covet what belongs to another: therefore much more so to petition.

Now, there are two reasons for this. The first one comes from the duty to set an example for others; so Paul says: so that you may command the respect of outsiders. For the unbelievers see your idle life and they detest you. "He must be well thought of by outsiders, or he may fall into reproach and the snare of the devil" (1 Tim. 3:7).

But we do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are fallen asleep, to the end that ye be not grieved even as also the rest who have no hope.

I suppose, moreover, that he promises to the Thessalonians the integrity of the whole substance of man. So that for the great future there need be no fear of blemished or defective bodies.

Therefore, the Apostle also says: "Concerning those who are asleep, I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, so that you do not grieve as others who have no hope." He did not merely say: "so that you do not grieve;" but, "so that you do not grieve as others who have no hope." For it is necessary that you grieve: but where you grieve, let hope console you.

In what went before Paul aimed at bringing them to the practice of continence in place of their concupiscence, and at curtailing their idleness. Now he urges them to lessen their inordinate sorrow. First, he provides a warning; secondly, he assigns a reason for the warning (4:13b).

For if we believe that Jesus has died and has risen again, so alsoGod will bring with him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

Therefore God discharged the office of a true father. He Himself formed the body; He Himself infused the soul with which we breathe. Whatever we are, it is altogether His work. In what manner He effected this He would have taught us, if it were right for us to know; as He taught us other things, which have conveyed to us the knowledge both of ancient error and of true light.

The apostle's words show with the utmost clarity that there will be a resurrection of the dead when Christ comes; and assuredly the purpose of his coming will be to judge the living and the dead.

Then when Paul says, for since we believe, he provides a reason for the warning he had given. First, he establishes the resurrection; secondly, he rules out the faint suspicion of a delay (4:15); thirdly, he outlines the order of resurrection (4:16).

(For this we say to you in [the] word of [the] Lord, that we, the living, who remain to the coming of the Lord, are in no way to anticipate those who have fallen asleep;

He says that those who "remain unto the coming of Christ," along with "the dead in Christ, shall rise first," being "caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." I find it was in their foresight of all this, that the heavenly intelligences gazed with admiration on "the Jerusalem which is above," and by the mouth of Isaiah said long ago: "Who are these that fly as cloud…

Intending to say something extraordinary, he confirms it with the word of God: for I do not speak of myself, but what I learned from Christ. This, as well as what follows: "it is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35), he clearly heard from his Teacher. The rest he spoke by the inspiration of the Spirit.

Then when he says, for this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, he rules out a delay in regard to the resurrection, as if saying: We know that they shall rise and shall come with Christ; therefore, we ought not to grieve so much. For those who shall be found alive will not achieve the glory of resurrection before those who are dead.

for the Lord himself, with an assembling shout, with archangel's voice and with trump ofGod, shall descend from heaven; and the dead in Christ shall rise first;

Well, then, what difference is there between heathens and Christians, if the same prison awaits them all when dead? How, indeed, shall the soul mount up to heaven, where Christ is already sitting at the Father's right hand, when as yet the archangel's trumpet has not been heard by the command of God, -when as yet those whom the coming of the Lord is to find on the earth, have n…

"For the Lord Himself 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: then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." But wherefore with the trumpet?

Then when he says, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven, he shows the order and manner of the resurrection. First, he discusses the cause of the resurrection; secondly, he presents its order and manner (4:16); thirdly, he ends with a consideration of their mutual consolation (4:18). He proves his first point by saying, the Lord himself.

then we, the living who remain, shall be caught up together with them in [the] clouds, to meet the Lord in [the] air; and thus we shall be always with [the] Lord.

For that which has taken place in Christ's Humanity is a common boon bestowed on mankind generally. For as when we see in Him the weight of the body, which naturally gravitates to earth, ascending through the air into the heavens, we believe according to the words of the Apostle, that we also "shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air," even so, when we hear…

But there is a difference between the good and the evil people, because the evil people will remain on the earth that they loved, while the good people will be taken up to the Christ whom they had sought. "Wherever the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together" (Matt. 24:28).

So encourage one another with these words.)

I Thessalonians4