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The first three chapters of this letter focus on looking back at Paul’s visit with the Thessalonians. As a faithful teacher and overseer, Paul was diligent not only to impart truth to his flock but also to apply that truth himself and to motivate his people to apply it in an ever-increasing way.

The final two chapters look ahead to the future of the church—giving advice for certain areas of Christian conduct that he felt needed to be addressed. The end of chapter 3 is a prayer that Christ would make these believers strong, blameless, and holy before God (3:13). That is a process of walking in faith and learning to live to please God. Effective faith should show itself in every area of a believer’s life.

4:1-2 Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, as you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God (as, in fact, you are doing), you should do so more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.^NRSV The word “finally” signals a change in subject as Paul moved on to practical application of faith. Apparently Timothy’s report (3:6) had brought Paul great joy regarding the believers’ faith but also included a few note-worthy concerns, for Paul here gave instructions for right living in some very specific situations.

The believers had learned from Paul and his companions how [they] ought to live and to please God (2:4-12). The missionaries had set an example for them of Christlike living. Evidently they had learned, for Paul said that they were doing just that, but he wanted them to do so more and more. They already knew what instructions Paul and Silas had given them through the Lord Jesus. These instructions were not Paul’s made-up desires for them to follow him; rather, these instructions in right living came “through the Lord Jesus himself.” They are important for every believer of every generation.

Living to please God is every Christian’s priority. Knowing Jesus as Savior brings salvation and should lead every believer to want to live to please him in gratefulness for what he has done. Through obedient believers, God works in the world. Obedience pleases God. People cannot claim to know and love God if they do not seek to please him.

4:3-5 God wants you to be holy, so you should keep clear of all sexual sin. Then each of you will control your body and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion as the pagans do, in their ignorance of God and his ways.^NLT The phrase “God wants you to be holy” is also translated, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified” (NIV). Becoming “holy” involves a process called “sanctification.”

Because God wants his people to become holy, believers need to uphold certain standards here on earth. Christianity is not a list of dos and don’ts but a relationship in which believers desire to please their heavenly Father (2:4; 4:1). To please him requires obedience to his standards. Apparently the area of sexual sin (Greek, porneia) was plaguing the church in Thessalonica, as it was plaguing the Roman Empire as a whole. The many idols worshiped in the regions across the empire often had an emphasis on sex—some temples even employed prostitutes for the pleasure of “worshipers.” In general, people regarded any kind of sexual activity as acceptable. It was quite common for a man not to limit his sexual relationship to his wife. Homosexuality was common. Incest was overlooked. Slaves were kept and used for sex.

God’s standards are the opposite. Paul taught abstinence from sexual immorality. This included any kind of illegitimate sexual intercourse or relationship outside of marriage. He forbade any homosexual activity. In Corinth some of the new Christians had been prostitutes, adulterers, or homosexuals. When they came to Christ out of such perversion, they had to alter their attitude toward this particular area of life. They had to accept God’s standards—which had to be taught to them, as Paul was teaching them here.

We live in a society similar to the one in which Paul lived and taught. Every kind of sexual activity, including violence and abuse of children, has become commonplace. Unbridled expression of all desires has become the norm. As Christians, we must uphold the sanctity of sexual expression within the loving commitment of the marriage relationship.

These believers were not being exhorted to keep clear of (literally, “abstain from”) all sex but of all sexual sin. God created sex to be a beautiful and essential ingredient of marriage, but sex outside the marriage relationship is sin. That is where God drew the line. These believers had to keep clear of all forms of sexual sin—stay away or even run away if need be (see also 1 Corinthians 6:13-20; 2 Corinthians 12:21). Therefore, Paul taught that believers must control their bodies and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion as the pagans do, in their ignorance of God and his ways. Sex should be kept within the context of marriage between a man and woman; sex should be done in “holiness and honor—not in lustful passion.” Honorable conduct is contrasted with an evil, lustful attitude that can contaminate even a marriage. People who live by “lustful passion” are ignorant of God because they have chosen to ignore the knowledge of him that they have been given (Romans 1:19-20, 24-27) and to ignore his messengers who bring the Good News to them.

4:6 And that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.^NIV These words “in this matter” refer to what Paul had just written regarding sexual sin (4:3). Paul focused here on the men among the believers. Not only does sexual sin ruin the holy and honorable living to which Christian men should aspire, but it also is a sin against one’s fellowmen—whether they are Christians or not. To have a sexual affair with another man’s wife or member of his household wrongs that other man. It takes advantage of a trusting relationship. To have premarital sex, or a sexual affair with a woman who is unmarried, also wrongs another man, for the woman cannot bring virginity to her marriage. God does not overlook these sins; instead, he will punish men for all such sins. So important was this that Paul and Silas had already told and warned the new Christians

4:7 God has called us to be holy, not to live impure lives.^NLT The Greek word translated “called” is the exact word Paul used in Romans 8:30: “And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (niv; see also Romans 9:24; 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12; 2 Thessalonians 2:14). The verb means “to call forth” or “to summon.” Paul always made it clear that salvation was God’s initiative and that people are called to be his. “Calling” includes a commitment on the part of believers to be holy, not to live impure lives. Because it is a call, God is part of it, promising to help each believer have wisdom, the ability to resist temptation, and the ability to live as God desires.

4:8 Anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human rules but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.^NLT Clearly, to live in sexual sin is to reject God. God laid down these rules—basically, one rule: Sex is for married people (a man and a woman) only. Anyone who refuses to live by this simple rule, who treats sexual sin lightly, is not disobeying human rules because human rules change (witness the change in “sexual rules” in the American culture over the last fifty years). To go with the flow of the surrounding culture and to disregard God’s rules about sexuality are tantamount to rejecting God.

Why does it matter so much? Paul would later write to the believers in Corinth (another sexually immoral city and, incidentally, where Paul was when he wrote the letter to the Thessalonians): “Run away from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body” (1 Corinthians 6:18 NLT). Sexual sin is a violation of one’s own body. Paul described it as a sin that affects the body like no other, a sin that is against one’s own body, affecting not just the flesh (promiscuous sex can lead to disease) but the whole being and personality. Sexual sin has disastrous effects. What an enticement it can be for all people—believers are not exempt.

Clearly other sins also affect the body, such as gluttony or drunkenness, but no other sin has the same effect on the memory, personality, or soul of a person as sexual sin. Paul argues that in intercourse, people are united (1 Corinthians 6:16). Their spirits are not involved in quite the same way in other sins. Also Paul argues that a believer’s body is the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). In sexual sin, a person removes his or her body from God’s control to unite with another sinner. Thus, those people violate God’s purpose for their bodies. Satan gladly uses sexual sin as a weapon, for he knows its power to destroy. Thus, Paul wrote, don’t walk, but “run away from sexual sin!” (1 Corinthians 6:18). Believers need to exercise alertness and awareness to stay away from places where temptation is strong, and they need to use strong, evasive action if they find themselves entrapped.

To reject God in this area is to despise the wonderful gift of his Holy Spirit and to reject Christ’s ultimate sacrifice on sinners’ behalf. The Thessalonians had received that gift (it was given to you), and they ought to have lived in thankfulness and obedience. In Galatians 5:22-23, Paul describes the fruit of the Holy Spirit in believers’ lives. One fruit is self-control, referring to mastery over sinful human desires and ability to show restraint. When believers surrender to the Holy Spirit, he gives them the strength to follow God’s rules. The Holy Spirit brings out the best in us, not the worst. He reminds us of Christ’s law of love and to treat our neighbors as ourselves.

4:9 But I don’t need to write to you about the Christian love that should be shown among God’s people. For God himself has taught you to love one another.^NLT Paul switched gears here from exhorting the Thessalonian believers about sexual purity to exhorting those who needed to work and not depend on others (4:11-12). He commended them that he did not need to exhort them to love one another, for it seemed that they had learned that lesson from God himself—most likely Paul was referring to the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Paul used a literary device called a paralipsis. By using it, he pretended that he was going to pass over a comment as a means of disarming his audience (see 2 Corinthians 9:1). The Christian love described by Paul is not the Greek word “philadelphia.” This is the kind of love that binds people together (John 13:34-35; 1 John 2:7-8). Normally used for blood relations, the New Testament applies philadelphia to “faith relations” in the family of God. This is a brotherly love that should be shown

With the presence of the Holy Spirit comes his inward teaching. That “God himself has taught you to love one another” means that the Holy Spirit reminds Christians of Christ’s commandment to love one another and then empowers them to do it. Christians need to be reminded daily to love each other. It is a discipline that may not come easily (see also Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22; 1 John 4:21).

4:10 Indeed, your love is already strong toward all the Christians in all of Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we beg you to love them more and more.^NLT The Thessalonian believers did not need instruction about showing God’s love, but Paul urged them forward. Although their love was already strong not only among themselves but also toward all the Christians in all of Macedonia, Paul begged the believers to love them more and more. There is always more to learn about love, always more depth to be plumbed, always more ways to show love. Paul wanted them to understand that love was not an end in itself but a continual process.

4:11-12 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.^NIV Another group of believers in the church needed some warning (see also 5:14). Believers are to be responsible in all areas of life. Some of the Thessalonian Christians had adopted a life of idleness, depending on others for handouts. This did not show love for fellow believers, for these people were taking advantage of others’ hard work (see Ephesians 6:6-7). The reason for their idleness is unknown, however, because a discussion of the Second Coming follows this section. These people may have decided that because Christ could return at any moment, they would just sit around and wait. They may have genuinely thought they should spend all their time working to bring others into the kingdom, but they were being a drain on their fellow believers and therefore were not loving them.

It seems that these people were not quiet about this either, so Paul first exhorted them to focus their ambition on leading a quiet life and minding their own business rather than meddling in other people’s business (see also 5:14; 2 Thessalonians 3:11). The injunction to work with your hands may have been distasteful, for Greeks looked down on manual labor as fit only for slaves. Paul was a tent maker, however, and used his hard, manual labor as an example to all believers (2:9-11).

The reason for Paul’s warning? He wanted the believers to be involved in honest labor so that they might win the respect of outsiders and so that they would not have to be dependent on others (see 1 Peter 2:12). Again, Paul had been working for these same reasons. Those who work hard to support themselves are a positive witness, both outside and inside the church (see also Ephesians 4:28).

Such practical, straightforward living, as embodied in the apostle Paul’s instructions to the Thessalonians, is the foundation of Christian living. Believers who sacrificially love other people, exhibit tranquil lives, conscientiously focus on keeping their own lives in order, and faithfully carry out their daily responsibilities in the workplace —all the while proclaiming the gospel in light of the return of Christ—are the most effective witnesses to their unsaved neighbors and loved ones.

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Sources: Bruce B. Barton et al., Life Application Bible Commentary – 1 & 2 Thessalonians, (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1999), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, Under: “1 THESSALONIANS 4”.

John MacArthur, MacArthur New Testament Commentary – 1 & 2 Thessalonians, (Chicago: Moody Press, 2002), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 114-121.