PAUL'S FIRST EPISTLE TO THE
THESSALONIANS

P A R T   S E C O N D.

EXHORTATIONS, INSTRUCTION AS TO THE
LORD'S COMING, FINAL EXHORTATIONS,
PRAYER AND BENEDICTION.

4:1-5:28.

I.

SUNDRY EXHORTATIONS.

4:1-12.

      1 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, even as ye do walk,--that ye abound more and more. [The first part of this Epistle was retrospective and historical. In it Paul fully revived the spirit of love which had existed between him and these Thessalonians. This he did that this second part, which is prospective and hortatory, might be made more effective. "Finally" is the word with which Paul customarily introduces the closing part of his Epistles (2 Cor. 13:11; Eph. 6:10; Phil. 4:8; 2 Thess. 3:1). The word "then" connects this chapter with the close of the third chapter, showing that what Paul now says is spoken that the Thessalonians may be blameless at the Lord's coming. "In the Lord Jesus" shows that Paul wrote as the organ or instrument of the Lord. In the phrase "ye do walk" Paul concedes their virtue that he may water it and increase it.] 2 For ye know what charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus. [The commandments were given by Paul through the inspiration of the Spirit sent of Jesus. Throughout this chapter Paul asserts his inspiration.] 3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from [15] fornication; 4 that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God [By "will of God" Paul means the divine desire. Not an absolute desire, but one which human perversity may frustrate. "Sanctification" means holiness in its general sense. In all his Epistles to the Gentile churches Paul introduces exhortations to purity of life. He was at this time in Corinth, whose patron goddess was Venus, and where social impurity abounded. "Heathenism," says Whedon, "had made the crime trivial, jocular, rather smart, and even religious and right. All this must Christianity reverse, and place it among the most heinous sins, and subject to the most fearful penalties." There has been much discussion over the phrase "possess himself of his own vessel," some asserting that it means to acquire a wife, and others that it means to control the body and its desires. The problem is surely a difficult one. The verb "possess" is commonly used to indicate the winning or acquiring of a wife, and 1 Pet. 3:7 is cited to prove that the word "vessel" is used to indicate a wife. One other citation is given from the Talmud, where Ahasuerus is represented as calling his wife his "vessel." But the Talmud does not prove Hebrew usage in Paul's day, being written many centuries later, and the citation from Peter proves nothing, for the word "vessel" is there used to indicate the human body, the man's being the stronger, and the woman's the weaker. The human body or personality is elsewhere called a vessel in the Bible (Acts 9:15; Rom. 9:21-23; 2 Cor. 4:7; 2 Tim. 2:21; 1 Sam. 21:5). This Biblical use of the word is strongly against the idea that it could mean a wife. The word "vessel," then, favors the idea that Paul is talking about the body. On the other hand, it is urged that the verb "possess" here used simply means to win or acquire, and never has that ethical use (to possess morally, to subdue, or control) which is claimed for it here. It is true that no classical or Biblical citations can be given of such a use, but that it is used so here is unquestionable, whichever [16] interpretation we put upon "vessel"; for the full phrase is "possess in sanctification and honor," etc., introduced by the phrase "know how." Conceding that Paul is talking about a wife, he certainly does not mean to say that each man should know how to win or acquire a wife; there is nothing moral or spiritual about such knowledge. What he does say is that a man should know how to hold or possess (either his wife or his body) in sanctification and in honor; i. e., in moral cleanliness. We take it that Paul here urges bodily self-control, and that the passage is a parallel rather to Rom. 6:19 than to 1 Cor. 7:2]; 6 that no man transgress [literally, overreach], and wrong his brother in the matter [Because the word "overreach" is usually associated with bargaining, trading, and other business transactions, able commentators have thought that Paul here introduced covetousness, that it might be rebuked together with lust. But Paul's language is not to be so contorted. The thought flows smoothly on to the end of verse 8. Lust has its deceptions, its overreachings, its covetousness, as well as commercialism. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife"]: because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified. [God punishes all such crimes--Rom. 13:4; Eph. 5:5, 6; Col. 3:6.] 7 For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. ["God has not called us under the law that we should be impure, since, indeed, the very cause and condition of our calling is that we should cease to be what we once were."--Erasmus.] 8 Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you. [The "rejecteth" of this verse refers to the forewarning and testifying of verse 6. Those who did not heed the warning and testimony were not rejecting the counsel of Paul, but the counsel of God himself (Luke 13:16; Acts 5:4), and if they were Christians they were doubly guilty, it being sin enough to reject God's warnings even if he had not given his Holy Spirit to strengthen and encourage in heeding those warnings. The Holy Spirit makes us temples not to be [17] defiled. Here again Paul asserts the divine authority of the teaching which came through him.] 9 But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto you [having spoken of that false, unclean, lustful thing which the world called love, and which made them give the title "goddess of love" to Venus, Paul here turns to discuss the true love which Christians bear to Christians--Heb. 13:1; 1 John 3:14]: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another [Concerning this love the whole gospel had instructed the Thessalonians, for when they were born of God by it they became children of God's household, and brethren unto each other. The very framework and structure of Christianity inculcated principles of love and affection]; 10 for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound more and more [Though their love already reached beyond the large confines of Thessalonica, and took in all Macedonia, Paul exhorts them to extend it to even a larger compass. Christian love must embrace the world]; 11 and that ye study to be quiet [The Greeks were naturally mercurial and restless. How much they needed this advice to be quiet, or steady, will be seen in Paul's second Epistle, where he reproves them for their wild fanaticism, built upon false hopes of Christ's immediate coming], and to do your own business [without being meddlesome], and to work with your hands, even as we charged you; 12 that ye may walk becomingly toward them that are without, and may have need of nothing. [Instead of spending their time in restless gadding about or idle meddling with other people's affairs, Paul expected them to heed his warning, and earn their own living. These Thessalonians were mostly of the laboring class. If they were idle, they would quickly be reduced to dependence or beggary, and the unbelieving world without (Col. 4:5) would quickly say of the new religion that it made men idle and worthless. Paul therefore counsels them to that industry that would make them independent, self-respecting and respected.] [18]

II.

THE RESURRECTION AND THE LORD'S COMING.

4:13-5:11.

      13 But we would not have you ignorant [This is Paul's habitual formula, used either negatively or positively, with which to start a new topic (Rom. 1:13; 11:25; Col. 2:1; 1 Cor. 10:1; 11:3; 12:1; 2 Cor. 1:8; Phil. 1:12). It shows us that what he is now about to say has no connection with what precedes. It seems that Timothy brought Paul word that many Thessalonians entertained the crude notion that only the living would participate in the joys of Christ's coming, and that all those who were so unfortunate as to die before that event, would thereby forfeit their share in it. It is not strange that such a doctrine should spring up among those who had been so hastily instructed as the Thessalonians, especially when we may safely surmise that many new converts had been added to their number since Paul's departure], brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest [the pagans], who have no hope. [Paul speaks of the dead as sleeping, employing the beautiful New Testament metaphor (John 11:11; Acts 7:16; 1 Cor. 15:18, 51), in which the grave becomes a couch wherein the body rests until it is wakened at the resurrection. Those grossly pervert the metaphor who use it to prove that the soul also slumbers. The apostle does not forbid sorrow over our departed (Acts 8:2; John 11:35), but that despairing grief which characterized the pagan of that day who had no hope of a resurrection. Alford gives such quotations as these from pagan writers. Theocritus: "Hope goes with life; all hopeless are the dead." Æschylus: "Once dead there is no resurrection more." Cetullus: "Suns may set and may return; we, when once our brief life wanes, have eternal night to sleep." Lucretius: "None ever wake again whom the cold pause of life hath overtaken." To these might be [19] added the pathetic lines of Moschus: "We shall sleep the long, limitless, unawakable slumber," and the citation of Jowett as to "the sad complaints of Cicero and Quintilian over the loss of their children, and the dreary hope of an immortality of fame in Tacitus and Thucydides." The Christian should stand in contrast to all this, assuaging his sorrow by a blessed hope.] 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. [Paul here founds an affirmation on the intimate relation which exists between Christ and his people; a relation which he elsewhere likens to the union between the head and the body (Eph. 4:15, 16); the argument being that if the head enjoys a resurrection, the body must likewise share in it. "With him" does not here mean that Jesus will bring the disembodied spirits from heaven to the resurrection, but that God, who brought Jesus from the grave, will also bring from the grave, in conjunction with Jesus, all those who entered it with their lives spiritually united with Jesus. But the bringing from heaven is taught at 1 Thess. 3:13.] 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. [The facts here set forth were revealed to the apostle by direct revelation, as at 1 Kings 20:35, and he had many such revelations (1 Cor. 11:23; Gal. 1:11, 12; 2:2; Eph. 3:3; 2 Cor. 12:1). Paul declares that the living shall not go before the dead to meet the coming Lord. The "we" in this verse has led many to think that Paul expected to be alive when Jesus came, but conversely the "us" at 2 Cor. 4:14 proves that he expected to be then dead, and the schedule of events which at 2 Thess. 2:1-5 he says must take place before the coming, favors the latter view. The truth is, Paul uses "we" as a mere word of classification, as we might do in a sentence like this: "We of the United States now number eighty odd million; a century from now we will number--" etc. This would not imply that the writer expected to be then alive. [20] 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God ["Himself" shows that the Lord will not come by messenger, or by representative, but in person. Paul does not describe any of the convulsions of nature which accompany the advent (2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 20:11); but he mentions three sounds which will accompany it, for these have to do with the resurrection which he now has under discussion. The shout of Christ the King is the signal that the awful moment has arrived. Immediately after it the voice of the archangel is heard summoning the other angels to the performance of their duty; viz.: the gathering of the saints (Matt. 24:31; Mark 13:27), which are just being roused from the slumber of death by the trumpet of God. The word "archangel" is also used at Jude 9, where we are told that the archangel's name is Michael. It is used nowhere else in Scripture, and there is no hint that there is an order or class of archangels. Michael is the chief or ruler of all the angels (Rev. 12:7). The trumpet is called "trump of God," because it heralds the approach of God, and summons the people to meet him (Ex. 19:16-19). There is no hint as to who blows this trumpet, though it is mentioned several times--1 Cor. 15:52]: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 17 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. [Some, mistaking the spiritual resurrection mentioned at Rev. 20:4, 5, for a literal one, have thought that there are two resurrections, one for the righteous (the first resurrection) and one for the wicked (the second resurrection). Of course such a doctrine is abhorrent to the idea of a single hour of judgment, with the saved upon the right hand and the lost upon the left, but it shall be fully discussed in its own place. Those who hold this theory appeal to this passage in proof of it, reading it thus: "The dead in Christ shall rise first, and the dead out of Christ shall rise second." But in order to make it read thus they have supplied a correlative clause which [21] is totally foreign to the context, and which crowds out the correlative which Paul himself has given; for "shall rise first" is correlative with "then shall be caught up." The apostle has been drawing a comparison, not between the righteous dead and the unrighteous dead, but between the dead and the living at the hour of the advent. He began this comparison at verse 15, and he here completes it by showing that the supposition that the living would precede the dead is so contrary to the facts that, on the contrary, the dead will be raised before any ascension is allowed the living, and then after the resurrection of the dead, the living and the dead shall be caught up together to meet the Lord. That glorious change, wherein the mortal puts on the immortal, as indicated at 1 Cor. 15:51, 55, will no doubt be simultaneous with the resurrection of the dead. The phrase "caught up" implies the sudden and irresistible power of God. We are not to understand that we are to be caught up with clouds, but that we will meet him who comes with clouds (Dan. 7:13; Rev. 1:7; Matt. 24:30). He makes the clouds his chariot (Ps. 104:3). The term "air" is used generally for the region above the earth. No doubt we will be caught up far beyond our atmosphere into the realm of pure space--Eph. 1:3; 2:2.] 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words. [Thus are we commanded to tell all Christians who mourn that they will meet their lost in Christ on the day that Christ appears, and that in sweet union and communion they will ever be with him.]

      V. 1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. [When Christian hopes are thus vividly pictured forth, our human nature naturally asks, "When?" (Luke 21:7). The Thessalonians had been fully taught by Paul that the time of the Lord's coming was unrevealed (Matt. 24:36; Acts 1:7), and that therefore Paul could not enlighten them on this point. The term "times" indicates long eras, and "seasons" the briefer epochs into which they are divided.] 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord [22] so cometh as a thief in the night. [Here is an echo from the lips of Jesus (Matt. 24:36-51; Luke 12:39, 40). See also 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 3:3. The coming of the thief implies our loss, if he catches his asleep and unprepared. How fearful our loss if we are not prepared for the coming of the Lord--Heb. 10:31.] 3 When they [the thoughtless and careless] are saying, Peace and safety [i. e., there is no ground for apprehension], then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall in no wise escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake [surprise] you as a thief: 5 for ye are all sons of light, and sons of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep, as do the rest [the pagans], but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that are drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, since we are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. [The idea that the thief comes in the night as set forth in verse 2 suggests the thought that those that live in the night must find it hard to guard against him. But those who live in a perpetual day are not easily surprised by a thief. Now, the Christians, being enlightened as to the Lord's coming, lived in such a perpetual day; in fact, to use a Hebraism, they were "sons" of the light and of the day; i. e., they belonged to the day. There was no need, therefore, that their spiritual faculties should be asleep. Day is no time for such sleep, and those that dwelt in it should find it easy to watch and be sober and wear their armor as good soldiers, while those who dwelt in the night would find it hard to keep awake, to keep sober, or to wear armor. It was common in the East for people to be drunken in the night-time, as they were ashamed to be seen intoxicated in the daylight (Acts 2:15). The nights of the Greeks and Romans were given to revelry, and it was counted an especial mark of profligacy to be drunken in the daytime (2 Pet. 2:13). Polybius [23] emphasized the abandoned condition of a drunkard by saying, "Even by day he was often conspicuous to his friends, drunk."] 9 For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep [live or die before his coming], we should live together with him. [This verse is suggested by the word "salvation" which precedes it. The hope of salvation may well defend us in the hour of temptation, and it should be strong enough to do so, for God has not appointed us to be lost, but to be saved, and has given his Son to die that we might be saved; and so, whether we remain alive unto his coming, or pass to our rest before that day, we may be assured that we shall live in one company with him.] 11 Wherefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as also ye do. [As Paul closed his main teaching about his Lord's coming with an injunction that the Thessalonians comfort each other with it (chap. 4:18), so he closes this afterpiece to it with a similar injunction that because of it they should exhort and strengthen one another.]

III.

CLOSING ADMONITIONS, PRAYER AND
BENEDICTION.

5:12-28.

      12 But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; 13 and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work's sake. [Paul here admonishes the church as to how it shall treat its elders. He bids the church recognize their leadership, respect them, and hold them in affection because of the blessed and divine work which they were discharging, the work being that enjoined by the third term of the great commission; viz.: admonishing or teaching the church to observe all things whatsoever Jesus [24] commanded (Matt. 28:20). Such teaching is an essential duty of an elder (1 Tim. 3:2; 2 Tim. 2:24; Tit. 1:9). This section is closely connected with the last verse of the preceding one, the instruction of the elders being the chief means of effecting the edification there mentioned.] Be at peace among yourselves. [Mark 9:50. Contempt for the instruction and authority of the elders is the first step toward that strife and faction which is here reproved.] 14 And we exhort you, brethren, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be longsuffering toward all. [The word "disorderly" describes the soldier who does not remain in the ranks; it is the following out of the military figure introduced at verse 8. The whole is an admonition against a too strictly disciplinarian spirit. The disorderly are not to be too hastily considered apostates, nor are the fainthearted to be regarded as cowards, nor the weak called backsliders, nor are any to be hastily cast out; but the church, being slow to condemn, is to bear with offenders, and seek to reclaim them.] 15 See that none render unto any one evil for evil [Christians are repeatedly bidden to return good for evil (Matt. 5:38-48; Rom. 12:19-21; 1 Pet. 2:18-25). "See that" puts the Thessalonians on notice that the practice of retaliation or revenge was apt to creep in unawares, and so it was, for persecution wakens revenge as fire kindles fire, thus making two wrongs out of one]; but always follow after that which is good, one toward another, and toward all. ["Make," says the Cambridge Bible, "the good of your fellow-men your constant pursuit, and let no injury or unworthiness on their part turn you aside from it. Revenge must be cherished neither toward those within nor those without the church, but good must be rendered to all--Gal. 6:10.] 16 Rejoice always [A short time previous to Paul's letter the Thessalonian Christians had all been pagans, and as such, under similar conditions of distress and persecutions, would have been apt to seek escape from their troubles by suicide; but now they are bidden to make their sufferings for Christ a source of new joy, as Jesus [25] had commanded (Matt. 5:10-12), and as Paul, who practiced this teaching, had so often enjoined (Rom. 5:3-5; 2 Cor. 12:10). Confidence in the good providence of God made such joy possible--Rom. 8:28]; 17 pray without ceasing [This not only means to observe habitual seasons of prayer, and to cultivate a disposition to pray, but to be ever in a prayerful spirit, to have constantly a subconsciousness of the presence of God. Compare 1:9; 12:12; Eph. 6:18; Col. 4:2]; 18 in everything give thanks [not for peace and prosperity only, but also for affliction and persecution (Acts 5:41), and as did Paul and Silas at Philippi--Acts 16:25]: for this [the discharge of the three duties just named] is the will [desire] of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward. 19 Quench not the Spirit [as fire may be smothered out by overwhelming it with noncombustible matter, so the Spirit of God in the breast of a man may be quenched by overloading the life with worldly cares]; 20 despise not prophesyings [Prophesyings were instructions given through inspired men, and included moral and spiritual precepts as well as predictions as to the future. Such instructors stood next in rank to the apostles (1 Cor. 12:28). Compare also Eph. 2:20; 1 Cor. 14:1-5, 39. They were neither to neglect to hear nor refuse to obey prophecy]; 21 prove all things; hold fast that which is good [Sift the bad from the good (1 John 4:1-13), and cherish the good. To this corresponds the "unwritten saying" attributed to Jesus, "Show yourselves approved money-changers;" i. e., distinguish between the true coin and the counterfeit. Surely such advice has always been pertinent, when false teaching of every kind abounds]; 22 abstain from every form of evil. [These words close the sentence; the full thought is this: despise no prophecy, but prove it; if it is good, hold fast to it, but abstain from every form of evil teaching or practice.] 23 And the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [May God, who makes peace between himself and mankind, himself prepare [26] you for his judgment-day, making your entire being, in all its threefold nature, fit to be preserved, and wholly above all censure.] 24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who will also do it. [If God were not thus faithful to sanctify and preserve blameless, it would be useless for him to call us; for it is certain that left to ourselves we can not keep ourselves from sin and evil-doing. This faithfulness is elsewhere noted (1 Cor. 1:8, 9; 10:13; 2 Thess. 3:3; 1 John 1:9); and is the basis of the glorious and sublime confidence expressed at Rom. 8:31-39.] 25 Brethren, pray for us. [It was Paul's habit to ask for the prayers of those to whom he wrote (Rom. 15:30; 2 Cor. 1:11; Eph. 6:19; Col. 4:3; 2 Thess. 3:1). Compare Heb. 13:18. 26 Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss. [In the East, a kiss was and still is a common salutation among kindred and near friends. Paul did not, by this command, create a church ordinance or ceremony; nor did he even create a new custom. He merely injected a spiritual virtue into an old-established, time-honored custom. This custom never prevailed among the nations of the West, and we feel that we obey Paul when we shake hands with holiness; i. e., with cordial sincerity and honest good-will. The Bible was not written as a work on etiquette, nor was it intended in this case that the Syrian and Grecian custom should become universal.] 27 I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the brethren. [The importance of the Epistle is shown by the solemnity of the adjuration. The command in this, the first of the Epistles, is fittingly echoed in the last written of the New Testament books. See Rev. 1:3. They suggest that the New Testament writings were to be read in the churches, and by all the people, just as the Old Testament was read in the synagogues. "What Paul commands with an adjuration," says Bengel, "Rome forbids under a curse."] 28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. [This is the benediction with which Paul closes most of his Epistles. It is a prayer that they may have all the blessings which the loving favor of God can bestow.] [27]