1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Holiness
The subjects that Paul deals with in this chapter are connected with three keywords at the end of the previous chapter: holiness, love and the coming. In this chapter Paul speaks about holiness, here called sanctification in 1Thes 4:1-8, in 1Thes 4:9-12 about love and in 1Thes 4:13-18 about the coming of the Lord Jesus. So, in 1Thes 4:1-8 it is about sanctification and in particular regarding marriage. Sanctification is in relation with the triune God. In this section you read about the Lord Jesus, about God and about the Holy Spirit. They are the source that lead to a true life of sanctification. Sanctification is not negative, as if it is only about things that you are not to be doing. It is about what is consecrated to God. That is only possible, since sin is in the world, by consecrating it from what is not consecrated to God. 1Thes 4:1. The section begins with “finally”, which indicates that there is something more added to the letter. The main elements of the faith life have been dealt with, but there are still some things that are also useful for their faith life. It regards the dangers that threatened the Thessalonians as a result of their former habits. The people around them were still living in a way that was fully in contradiction to the heavenly and holy joy that he has spoken about. Like more often, Paul addresses them with “brethren”, in order to emphasize his relationship with them and their relationship with one another. In this way he clearly makes them feel that he is one of them. That creates the right sphere for what he wants to “request and exhort”. In order to make it easier for them to heed his exhortation, he points to the Lord Jesus. In Him his exhortation finds its origin and in Him they find the strength to take heed of his exhortation. In the word ‘request’ confidentiality resonates. He requests something from believers of whom he knows that they are really willing to respond. In the word ‘exhort’, something of his fatherly authority is expressed. With his requesting and exhorting he continues with what he already told them earlier about their walk and the pleasing of God. They not only heard that, but they also received it. “To walk” and “please God” belong together. You also read of Enoch that he “walked with God” (Gen 5:24) and in that way “was pleasing to” Him (Heb 11:5). Here you see how strongly ‘walk’ and ‘please God’ are related to one another. Hebrew 11:5 is a quotation of Genesis 5:24, but from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. What is written in Genesis 5:24 “walked with God” is translated there with “pleasing to God”. The combination ‘walk’ and ‘please God’ is all right with the Thessalonians. The words “just as you actually do walk” are an addition that keeps the Thessalonians from discouragements which could have possibly arisen. Paul wants to prevent that they become sad because of his remark, which could make them consider it as if they did not bother about his serious instructions. Nevertheless they still could possibly increase in their walk with God and pleasing Him and therefore Paul exhorts them. It is dangerous to think that it is all right with you. You want to live with and for the Lord and therefore let yourself be guided by God’s Word and God’s Spirit. You can honestly admit that you do not know what you will still have to confess as a sin. There is nothing wrong with that. Except that it may possibly cause you a feeling of satisfaction, of contentment. Such a feeling may gradually take hold of you, without your realizing it. If you compare your life to that of the Lord, it appears that there is a lot more to increase in. You certainly do not want to claim that you are an accomplished believer in dedication and dependence, do you? Have you ever experienced a situation in which you feel completely powerless? I think you do. It is about spiritual growth, to grow in holiness. As long as you are on earth the process of growing goes on. This growing process only takes place when you absorb God’s Word as your daily food (Mt 4:4) and obey it. You yourself will decrease more and more and the Lord Jesus will increase (Jn 3:30). If you do not feed yourself daily with God’s Word, the old habits will again get foothold. That’s what Paul is warning for. It is also important for you to take that warning to heart.1Thes 4:2. Paul reminds them of the commandments he had given them. It was not just a personal wish or a friendly request. In that way he fulfilled the will of the Lord. The Lord Jesus is the authority behind his commandments. He wants the believers to please God in their walk. In order to fulfill that, every relationship that a believer begins in his life, should happen in sanctification and love. Here you find it focused on sanctification in marriage and brotherly love.1Thes 4:3. When we talk about sanctification, we talk about the will of God. If you bow to God’s will, if you acknowledge His will as authority in your life, you will abstain from sexual immorality or fornication. Fornication is a brutal attack on marriage. Fornication – the Greek word is porneia, from which the word ‘pornography’ known to us, is derived – is unlawful sexual intercourse, both before and outside marriage. Fornication in marriage is also called adultery. In the time of Paul, sexual impureness had such a fixed place in the Greek and Roman life that apparently nobody considered it an awful sin against God and the neighbor. It was part of their ritual religion, like it still is in some parts of the pagan world. Sexual immorality is condemned in many places in the Bible. Whoever does not bother about that, will be judged by God (Heb 13:4).That it is not considered an awful sin anymore applies also to the Western world, which once was Christian. Whether you’re married or not, you live in a society wherein marriage is incredibly being destroyed. It is not on a slippery slope anymore, but it is thrown from the steepness into the abyss. Sexual morality is declining rapidly. There is almost no movie without sexually titillating scenes. Commercials are full of it. And the enormous waves of filthiness that are being offered via internet have no end, both regarding the quantity and the horrendous content. In the light of the developments in our country, this word to the Thessalonians becomes increasingly topical to us. Putting this word about the sanctification of marriage high on the agenda of life standards is by no means a superfluous luxury. The Thessalonians have been freed from this lifestyle, but were surrounded by men who were still living according to the lifestyle. The chance to fall back on an old pattern always remains. In order to prevent that, strong actions are to be taken. It is said that they are to abstain from fornication. That is their responsibility and that goes also for you. An appeal is made on your self-control. Do you feel the urge rising to read sex books or to go ‘online’ and search for porn sites? Don’t give in to it – fill your mind immediately with something of the Lord Jesus. Quote some texts from God’s Word. It doesn’t matter which one. Make sure that you have a number of them in store. Remember that you are subjected to the commands that are given here by the Lord Jesus. God wants your sanctification. He wants you for Himself. In case you’ve gone too far already and have been entangled in it, search for help. Don’t wait too long to do that. Come up with it. Go to someone whom you trust and speak out about it. Confess your sins together with your confidant and make arrangements that help you to get rid of this addiction. Above all things, read God’s Word, for the truth will set you free (Jn 8:32). Now read 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3 again.Reflection: Look up the following Bible verses and take them into your heart, so that you may use them as a defense for your sanctification: Mt 5:3-9; 1Cor 6:13-20.The Will of God
1Thes 4:4. Young believers often ask the question: ‘How could one know the will of God?’ That’s a good question. This question cannot always directly be answered in a particular case. But in the previous verse you have clearly heard about the will of God in a certain aspect of your life. God wants your sanctification with a view to marriage. The concrete application of that will is that you abstain from fornication. Therefore you need to “know how to possess” your “own vessel in sanctification and honor”. The word ‘vessel’ is also used to indicate a person (Acts 9:15; Rom 9:22; 23; 2Tim 2:21) or also your own body (cf. 2Cor 4:7). In this regard it can refer to both your own wife (1Pet 3:7) and your own body. It doesn’t matter as to the power of this Bible word. In both cases the question is whether you deal with it in sanctification and honor. The contradiction to how the nations that do not know God deal with it, makes clear how God’s children ought to practice it. Those who do not know God, do not know how to possess their ‘own vessel’ in the right way. The result of denying the Creator is the degradation of the creature. Degraded man uses the woman for the satisfaction of his own lusts. Paganism has lowered the woman to an object of lusts. Christendom shows that the woman is in the same way an heir of God’s promises like the man (1Pet 3:7). That she is the weaker vessel, gives the man the opportunity to deal with her in a way that fully complies with her for being a woman. He will offer her safety and protection. The phrase “know how to possess” means that you know that you have received your body in order to serve God with it. After all, “in sanctification” means separated for God. And “in honor” means that you value your body as a gift from God in order to use it for His sake. If you value this gift, you will not use it for things in order to serve your lusts in general and your sexual lusts in particular. If you are married you will consider your wife a gift from God. If you appreciate this gift you will not abuse it to fulfill your (sexual) lusts. 1Thes 4:5. If your own body is meant to be a ‘vessel’, it is clear that you should not misuse your body to satisfy your lustful passions. I want to mention masturbation in this context. If in masturbation you often sought an expression for your feelings, then there is a great chance that you will abuse marriage for that as a married person. You should not consider marriage to be a solution for sexual desires. To the unmarried or engaged person (which also means: still unmarried person) sexuality should also be kept in the right place. Therefore it is important to learn how to deal rightly with what God has given in sexuality. 1Thes 4:6.This verse goes still further. Here not only the own body or the own wife is misused, but the wife of the brother. Paul draws a sharp line. The sharing of all possessions may characterize true Christendom, but one must keep his hands off his brother’s wife. She belongs to him. He who ignores that border and steps across that border, does a great injustice to his brother. This injustice cannot be simply wiped away by a quick confession (Pro 6:32-35), often forced after having been caught in the act. A form of fornication that occurs more and more is the digital form. The internet is the means that offers this opportunity plentifully. There is a gigantic offer and it increases daily in number. Many millions of porn sites are dormant present there. Just a simple mouse click brings them to life. This ‘silent’ fornication is committed by a lot of believers. Sometimes it remains to be limited to only once ‘out of curiosity’. There are also cases, and those cases increase, where it has adopted addictive forms. Do not think that it cannot happen to you. Therefore take this serious word that also comes to you, to heart. Do like Job, who says: “I have made a covenant with my eyes” (Job 31:1), which means, be determined not to look at something that defiles you. The Lord will avenge everything that has to do with fornication. Paul has said that to them when he was with them, just like he had spoken then about tribulations (1Thes 3:4). Here he adds to it that he had “solemnly warned” them. These particular things need to be emphasized. An exhortation is not enough. This evil is so general and hooks on to our own corruptive nature in such a way that the threat of the vengeance of the Lord needs to be put as a horrifying sight before us. Maybe that will keep us from committing this deed. I repeat what I said in the previous section: In case it is a fact for you that you have to acknowledge that you have already gone too far, admit it. Do not continue on this path! There is the possibility for you to turn your back on it. Do not let yourself be kept by any whispering voice inside of you from admitting it. Then seek for a person whom you trust and share your need with that person. Let yourself to be helped in order to become free. With the help of the Lord and of others you will succeed. However you have to be willing to, and change your willingness into deeds. If you really trust the Lord, He will make you free to live a sanctified life for Him.1Thes 4:7. God after all “has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification”. In the previous verses you are called to live a sanctified life. That includes the warning that if you do not do that, you will find the Lord as an Avenger on your way. However, doing God’s will is not only determined by the fear for God’s judgment. A positive motive to live a life in purity is to be found in knowing God’s purpose for all of His children. When He called you through the gospel, He did that with the purpose that you would be holy in your whole conduct, like He is holy (1Pet 1:16). The gospel that you have accepted is in sharp contrast to the impurity that surrounds you. By God’s will you have been drawn from it (Gal 1:4). You do not belong there anymore and it does no longer belong to you. God has called you “in sanctification”, which means that you live your life in a holy atmosphere from the moment of your conversion. 1Thes 4:8. With the word “so” Paul introduces the summary of the subject with which he has just dealt. You ought not to reject what God says about sexuality and honor and purity and highness of marriage. ‘To reject’ something is to put it aside, making it invalid, refusing it. That warning comes to you as a professing Christian. That means that you are capable of that. This ‘rejecting’ will actually not directly start with the grossest form. Therefore beware that you abide in these things close to God’s Word. In conversations with people from your environment who do not care about God’s Word, you may get to understand and tolerate relationships that really go against God’s Word. Condemn those thoughts. You reject God in that way if you allow something in your thoughts that He condemns. You’d better reject what people say about that in contradiction to God’s Word. You see that Paul goes back to the highest authority. He is a servant that passes on God’s institutions. Putting those institutions aside does not mean to put him aside, a human, but God Himself (cf. 1Sam 8:7). To anyone who dismisses sexual sins as unimportant, God and His Word have no meaning. That should not be the case with you. God has given you “His Holy Spirit” with the emphasis on ‘Holy’. Through Him you are able to maintain God’s institutions. At your conversion He came to dwell in you (Eph 1:13). In 1 Corinthians 6 you read that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1Cor 6:18-19). There He is mentioned in relation to the same subject that we have before us. The section there concludes with: “For you have been bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1Cor 6:20). When you consider the price that the Lord Jesus was willing to pay for your salvation, you don’t want to live other than for Him, do you?Now read 1 Thessalonians 4:4-8 again.Reflection: Do you know how to possess your own vessel in sanctification and honor? Are there items in which you can do better? In what way can you do that?
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