Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents

4:1 Finally (Gk. loipon). Paul is either indicating that he is approaching the end of his letter or simply that he is beginning a new section (cf. Phil. 3:1); clearly, there is much still to come. To walk and to please God is to live a life that is pleasing to God (see note on Col. 1:10). do so more and more. Their process of growth in sanctification and in their ability to "please God" has not yet been completed.

4:2 instructions (Gk. parangelia). Originally a military word, it usually denotes authoritative commands.

4:3-8 Paul commands the Thessalonians to live in sexual holiness. Some converts may have found it a struggle to adjust to Christianity's demanding ethical code.

4:3 that you abstain from sexual immorality. For former pagans, the lure of sexual sins was strong (see 1 Corinthians 5-6). By using the Greek term porneia (which referred to adultery, fornication, or other sexual immorality), Paul forbids any sexual activity outside the bounds of heterosexual marriage (see Eph. 5:3; 1 Pet. 1:15-22).

4:4 control his own body. The Greek could be rendered "take a wife for himself" (see ESV footnote). However, in view of vv. 4-5 and 1 Corinthians 7, sexual self-control is more likely the intended meaning. in holiness and honor. Behavior suitable before God and humans respectively.

4:5 in the passion of lust like the Gentiles. See Rom. 1:24-27. Paul is concerned that some of the Thessalonian Christians may fall back into their former ways.

4:6 wrong (Gk. pleonekteō, "to defraud, exploit, cheat"). Defrauding a fellow Christian through sexual sin. the Lord is an avenger. Those who ignore the Christian sexual ethic will face the wrath of Jesus when he returns, and perhaps even before.

4:7 called. When the Thessalonians embraced Paul's gospel, they were responding to God's effectual call (see note on Rom. 8:30; cf. note on 1 Thess. 1:4). That call did not have as its goal impurity but rather a life of holiness.

4:8 Therefore. In view of v. 7, to reject Paul's teaching on sex is to reject not merely Paul but God, who is the source of Paul's sexual ethic. who gives his Holy Spirit to you. In the OT (e.g., Ezek. 36:26-27) God promised that he would establish a new covenant in which the Holy Spirit would write the law on people's hearts and cause them to obey. This new covenant reality, which has been inaugurated by Christ, makes sexual sin inexcusable. To reject the giver of the Holy Spirit is to cut oneself off from the sanctifying power that enables the Christian to be "blameless in holiness" at the second coming (1 Thess. 3:13).

4:9-12 Paul urges the Thessalonians to continue showing brotherly love and to be financially self-supporting. Some in the church have abandoned gainful employment and are living off the charity of wealthier Christians (see 2 Thess. 3:6-15). It is unclear whether or not this problem was related to the Thessalonians' confusion about the end times.

4:9 taught by God to love one another. Jeremiah 31:33-34 prophesied that God would write his law on the hearts of his people and directly teach them as part of the new covenant. Christians already know this reality (1 John 2:27): by love they fulfill the law (Rom. 13:8-10; cf. Lev. 19:18; John 13:34).

4:11 live quietly. Live peaceably with others (see 2 Thess. 3:11-12), instead of meddling in others' affairs. work with your hands. Paul calls on Thessalonian believers to earn their own living rather than to depend on wealthier Christians, as Paul had instructed them when he was at Thessalonica.

4:12 walk properly before outsiders. For some Christians to be shamelessly exploiting the charity of wealthier Christians would have been disgraceful in a first-century Greco-Roman environment.