Session 5 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
1 THESSALONIANS 4:1-12
MEMORY VERSE: 1 THESSALONIANS 4:7
The often-used statement of “do as I say and not as I do” is a weak excuse for poor behavior. The person making this statement knows what is wrong with his or her behavior and what changes are needed. Paul was confident this attitude would not be true of the believers in Thessalonica. Instead, they consistently demonstrated love to one another as they daily sought to obey God’s Word.
(In PSG, p. 46)
Wherever he traveled, Paul left an indelible impression. People either embraced him or rejected him. Thessalonica had not been an exception. After experiencing persecution in Philippi, he went to Thessalonica, where he faced more of the same (Acts 17:5-9).
While Paul’s opponents made life difficult for him, they could not squelch the message of the gospel. A number of Jews and God-fearing Greeks accepted Christ as their Messiah (17:2-4). Many Gentiles stopped serving idols and surrendered their hearts to Christ. The result was a growing Thessalonian congregation that was making a difference in Macedonia, neighboring Achaia, and the rest of the Roman Empire (1 Thess. 1:7-9).
Wanting more information about the church’s well-being, Paul sent Timothy back to Thessalonica to accomplish two missions (3:1-3). First, Paul’s young friend would disciple the Thessalonians more thoroughly in the ways of Christ. Second, he would report back to Paul on the state of the Thessalonian believers. Once Timothy returned, Paul was thrilled by the good report he received (3:4-13). Despite ongoing persecution, the Thessalonians refused to back down from their faith. Opposition only encouraged them to lean more deeply into Christ. Their faithfulness provided a surge of appreciation and confidence in Paul.
In chapter 4, Paul began a transition toward more practical matters. He challenged the Thessalonians to let their relationship with Christ define their lives (4:1-12). He urged them to give Christ the freedom to impact their actions, attitudes, words, and relationships.
Later in the letter, Paul would focus on the second coming of Christ (4:13-18). But in the meantime, he instructed the Thessalonians to live out their faith in the present by growing where God had planted them.
EXPLORE THE TEXT
1 Additionally then, brothers and sisters, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received instruction from us on how you should live and please God — as you are doing — do this even more. 2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
The word additionally can also be translated “finally,” but it does not mean Paul was concluding his instructions. Instead, it represents a transition point in the letter. Paul’s focus in chapter 4 moved from statements of faith to directions for living out that faith. Since Timothy assured Paul of the congregation’s faithfulness, the apostle turned his attention to helping them understand daily application.
Paul again referred to the Thessalonians as brothers and sisters. This emphasizes position within the family of faith and sets a loving and compassionate tone for Paul’s upcoming instructions. Paul also expressed a sense of urgency and passion in his appeal. He felt the need to ask and encourage the Thessalonians to heed his words. These twin verbs can also be translated as “urge,” underscoring their importance.
The Thessalonians had received instruction about the gospel from Paul and his companions during their stay in Thessalonica. Timothy had shared even more during his return visit to them. But learning was not enough, they had to apply this information if they wanted to live and please God. The Greek word translated and can also mean “in order to.”
Paul already knew about the Thessalonians’ faithfulness but wanted them to apply even more of what Christ had for them. By rejecting spiritual complacency, the Thessalonians could lean into Jesus and become even more like Him. Head knowledge is never a substitute for action in the Christian life, and pleasing God should always be our primary goal.
Paul wasn’t sharing anything new but was challenging them to continue practicing the commands he had shared previously. What’s more, Paul’s commands were given through the Lord Jesus. In verse 1, he had appealed to Christ’s authority as an encouragement. Here, he reinforced that the validity of his instructions was based on Jesus, not some human opinion or philosophy. That being the case, the Thessalonians did not need a new set of rules or spiritual insights. They simply needed to keep obeying the God-ordained principles they had already embraced.
3 For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality,
Many believers struggle with discerning God’s will. But Scripture provides clear instructions for what He expects from His people. Paul stated that God’s will for the Thessalonians—and all believers—was sanctification.
God’s will includes more than the “big” decisions of life. While those are important, His will also involves the daily challenges we face. The apostle also implied that God’s will is not as difficult to discern as we might think. In most cases, living out God’s will simply involves embracing what honors Him—and rejecting what does not.
Theologically, sanctification bridges justification and glorification, the time between first accepting Christ and entering eternity. It involves the Holy Spirit’s daily work in our lives, along with our determination to reject sin and embrace God’s way.
The term Paul used for sanctification (hagiasmos) describes purity and consecration. It also includes the idea of being set apart for a special purpose. By God’s grace, believers are made holy through their new spiritual standing in Christ. They then have a responsibility to live out that holiness through obedience. In the Old and New Testaments, God’s people are called to be holy because He is holy (1 Pet. 1:15-16; Lev. 11:44-45; 19:2; 20:7).
One way we pursue sanctification is by avoiding sexual immorality. This would include all sex outside of a biblical marriage relationship shared by one man and one woman. Violations include premarital sex, extramarital sex, homosexuality, incest, and prostitution. Sexual purity was a primary instruction from early church leaders to Gentile converts in the wake of the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:24-29), and it presented a special challenge for believers in Greek cultures.
Promiscuity was generally accepted in the Roman Empire, including cities like Thessalonica. Priests and priestesses often served as temple prostitutes, engaging in sex with “worshipers.” Christians coming out of that religious context may have struggled to distinguish their new way of life from their old practices. Thus, warnings against sexual sin were relevant if the Thessalonians were committed to holy living.
4 that each of you knows how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not with lustful passions, like the Gentiles, who don’t know God.
The Bible teaches that God created human sexuality to be expressed within limits, and Paul’s instruction was for each believer to control his own body. Such control does not come naturally to human beings. It is a discipline learned through fellowship with God and dependence on His power. It is a fruit of His Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).
Elsewhere, Paul taught that since Jesus paid the price for our sin on the cross, He held authority over our bodies (1 Cor. 6:18-20). In that light, believers have a responsibility to take charge of their bodies instead of giving them up to sinful passions.
As noted earlier, holiness includes being set apart for God’s plans. Sexual immorality contradicts God’s purpose, but holiness reflects His character and His transforming work in the lives of His people. Honor involves proper respect for God and others. In every context, holiness and honor lead us to glorify Him rather than fulfilling our own physical desires.
In contrast, those outside the church place no limits on satisfying their lustful passions. While Paul referred specifically to pagan Gentiles in Thessalonica, the description fits any unbeliever who places personal urges ahead of God. Such individuals don’t know God. In the ancient world, gods were considered as immoral as the humans who served them, so a God who required purity would have been a foreign concept to many Gentiles. But believers enjoy a personal relationship with God through Christ. That intimacy should nurture a commitment to sanctified living, not a surrender to uncontrolled passions.
6 This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you. 7 For God has not called us to impurity but to live in holiness. 8 Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Sexual immorality offends God, but it also leads to human suffering. That’s why Paul warned the Thessalonians to not transgress against or take advantage of another believer. This Greek wording for transgress is used only here in the New Testament and means crossing a boundary that defines proper action. Meanwhile, take advantage of involves cheating others and violating their trust. The first involves breaking the law, and the second deals with hurting others. Both offend the God who gave the law and created all people in His image.
Christians should never demean, manipulate, or exploit another person. While these verses connect to sexual immorality (v. 3), this is not the only possible meaning. When passions take control, concern for others often goes out the window, and selfishness overrides security. But Christians have a responsibility to protect others from mistreatment or abuse in every context.
Salvation does not provide a license for sin and does not eliminate the consequences of our actions. Paul emphasized that God serves as the avenger of the weak in all such situations. God is always the primary offended party when we sin, but He also defends human victims by oppressing their oppressors. Paul already had told the Thessalonians about this, so his warning simply reemphasized an important principle.
The apostle again noted that God expected His people to be set apart from the world around them. Focusing on the negative side of the coin, he reminded the Thessalonians of what God had told them to avoid: impurity. The Greek word for called implies being summoned or moving out from one place to another. God has not just saved us from the devastating punishment of our sins. He also saved us for His glory and honor.
Paul again pointed readers toward holiness. Fear of God’s judgment (v. 6) might motivate someone toward righteous living, but the apostle challenged the Thessalonians to live right because it honored God. He reminded them that sanctification is rooted in the nature of God. This means that ignoring holiness does not reject man but the God who moves us toward Christlike behavior through his Holy Spirit.
Paul wasn’t addressing an occasional lapse but rather people who were determined to ignore God and do their own thing. These lifestyles stood in complete contradiction of God’s expectations and Paul’s instructions.
9 About brotherly love: You don’t need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.
In addition to abstaining from immorality, God’s will includes love. This was a topical shift for Paul’s letter, but it wasn’t new information for the Thessalonian Christians. Jesus emphasized the importance of love. Through love, believers minister to one another and reveal Christ to the world. As Paul told the Corinthians, love is the greatest virtue (1 Cor. 13:13), and it demonstrates the validity of the gospel like nothing else.
The Greek compound word philadelphias is rendered brotherly love here. In most ancient writings, it referred to family relationships, but Paul and other New Testament writers used it to describe love within the family of God. It defines a powerful affection manifested through intentional action.
The Thessalonians already understood love’s power and had woven it into their daily lives. In fact, Paul didn’t have much to say to them about love. He noted that they had been taught by God to love one another. The Greek wording implies that God was always teaching them about love. Like other aspects of the Christian life, love can be learned and practiced but never mastered this side of eternity.
Paul’s words remind us that love is not easy and does not come naturally. Humans are essentially self-centered creatures because of sin’s work in our lives. However, the power of the Holy Spirit transforms our hearts. As we learn more about Christ’s love for us, He replicates that love in us. This makes it possible for believers to follow His example and to love others well.
10 In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers and sisters in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers and sisters, to do this even more,
Paul noted that the Thessalonians’ love was making a difference across the entire region of Macedonia. Grammatically, Paul’s first reference to brothers and sisters in verse 10 is not a direct address (as in v. 1). Instead, it serves as an object affected by action. This means that Christians throughout Macedonia had been on the receiving end of Thessalonian love. The congregation in Thessalonica had refused to turn inward. To the contrary, they embraced fellow believers just as Paul had embraced them.
The second use of brothers and sisters returns to Paul’s normal pattern of direct address. He was speaking to the Thessalonians and providing specific instructions on how to excel even more. (See v. 1.) Paul was probably thinking of the larger topic of growing in love, as he was in 1 Thessalonians 3:12. But the structure also challenges readers toward maturity in other areas. Love was simply one element in a longer list of places they could excel spiritually.
11 to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 so that you may behave properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.
In addition to love, Paul highlighted three more areas for growth. First, he emphasized seeking a quiet life. This does mean believers should pull back from society or from telling the gospel. Instead, Paul encouraged a calm and quiet life while maintaining a “loud” witness for Christ.
Second, Paul told them, mind your own business. Here, he was exhorting the Thessalonians to avoid becoming busybodies, sticking their noses into irrelevant issues. Instead, he urged them to focus on things that really matter, like their own spiritual growth and their witness to the community.
Finally, Paul directed the Thessalonians to reject laziness and work with your own hands. In his second Letter to the Thessalonians, the apostle included an extended lesson on work and laziness, including a reminder that one who doesn’t work shouldn’t expect to eat (2 Thess. 3:5-12). He understood that work was a fundamental part of God’s purpose for humanity (Gen. 2:15). However, many Greeks viewed labor as demeaning and beneath them. Paul commanded the Thessalonians to pursue hard work as a part of their Christian witness and as a key to living a quiet life and minding one’s own business.
By excelling in these basic areas of faith, the Thessalonians would continue to make a difference in the world. Paul noted two specific benefits. First, they would behave properly. Outsiders watch Christ followers. Our lives should point them to Jesus and not give them an excuse to ignore or ridicule Him.
Second, they would not be dependent on anyone. Working hard and refusing benefits from others, Paul rose above accusations of manipulation or greed. He also was free to preach the gospel without worrying about offending any donors. While Paul certainly encouraged generosity among believers, he rejected any hint of Christians making themselves a burden or being obligated to someone else.
Sanctification
Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God’s purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. (See Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:12-14.)
Use a Bible dictionary to learn more about sanctification.
Use a Bible dictionary to dig deeper into sanctification. Find out how God sets His people apart and how sanctification fits into the progressive narrative of salvation and glorification. What makes sanctification so important to the Christian life? What is the relationship between regeneration and sanctification?