1 Thessalonians - Chapter 4

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Think about the people you come in contact with each day and how they view sex. How much of this attitude do you think is influenced by the media? Immorality is still something each of us has to deal with on a daily basis. Humans haven’t changed in all of the years between when this letter was written and today.

1 As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

When he had been there and set up the church, Paul had obviously instructed them on how they should live. The word Paul used for “live” was the Greek word for ‘walk’. Paul often uses this metaphor when speaking of the Christian way. But now he wanted them to strive harder to live right in Jesus’ name. Paul was not being arrogant here, but speaking with the authority from Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:16 tells us “for, who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Paul says through the Lord Jesus’ he has the authority to give these instructions.

3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

‘Sanctification’ is used here to mean sexual purity. Paul would not compromise God’s clear and demanding standards.

Immorality was very common among the heathen people and chastity was considered an unreasonable restriction, just as it is in today’s society. It’s possible in Timothy’s report he had mentioned some cases of moral laxness among the Christians causing Paul to respond with these thoughts in his letter.

We need to have self-control. The Greek words used here seemed to indicate he was speaking of them obtaining their own wife so they would not be lusting after other men’s wives.

The basic idea of this letter is for Christians to set ourselves apart for God and His return by setting ourselves apart from the ungodly by being morally pure. Christians are SUPPOSED TO BE DIFFERENT!!

The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.

‘Wrong his brother’ means to invade the rights of another’s home. Sexual sin harms others. Paul seems to be speaking of adultery here or lusting after other men’s wives. Adultery causes harm or pain to the spouse; premarital sex wrongs the future spouse. By saying the ‘Lord will punish’, Paul is giving them a motive to be chaste.

As Christians, we are to keep ourselves as pure as humanly possible and live holy lives. If we do not do this, we are rejecting God, for he gives us the Holy Spirit which cannot exist where there is sin. So by not living a holy life, we push the Holy Spirit out of our lives, rejecting Him.

9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,

Here Paul speaks of “brotherly love”, or love between believers, men and women. Greek word used here was ‘philadelphia’ which specifically means love between the children of the same Father, male and female. In the Bible, this word is always used to mean love of fellow believers in Christ.

In Acts 17:4, it says “Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a large number of God-fearing Greeks and quite a few prominent women.”

From this verse, we know there were also women among the believers.

It seems there were quite a few within the church who had plenty of money, and they had taken the Christian doctrine of charity very seriously and were dispersing what they could to the poorer brethren of ALL the Macedonian churches. They were becoming very well known for their charity. Paul commends them for this.

11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

But at the same time, their charity had given those who received the money an opportunity to be lazy and not work, so Paul rebukes their laziness. They had the mind-set that ‘God would provide’ until His return. How often do Christians today fall into this inaccurate belief? Being willing to live off your neighbors was contrary to every principle of brotherly love. Able-bodied beggars enjoyed others brotherly love while they themselves practiced the very essence of self-love. This type of life could not win the respect of non-Christians. But if the non-Christians saw them working hard and leading a quiet and moral life, this would be a better witness to them of how God intends His people to live. This reminds me of the Quakers and the Amish people. We look at those people and can’t help but respect them. They are a perfect example of what Paul is speaking of here.

Christians should strive to live a quiet life, mind their own business, and work to support themselves in order to earn the respect of non-Christians.

Is it possible to be a good Christian while being sexually immoral? A good person who loves other people maybe, but not a good Christian. These two things seem to get confused in today’s society.

Paul changes his focus from his concerns about how they are living to their concerns about their loved ones who had passed away.

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

This is the main topic of the entire letter, the Second Coming. It’s mentioned in every chapter, which implies Paul must have given it particular emphasis in his preaching in Thessalonica. The Second Coming is referred to in almost every New Testament book, but the chapters that explain it most fully are Matthew 24, 25, Luke 21, 1 Thessalonians 4, 5, and 2 Peter 3.

1 Thessalonians is among the first of the written books of the Bible and speaks of the Lord coming again. The last of the New Testament books is Revelation, of which the final message is “I come quickly”. So the New Testament, when speaking chronologically, begins and ends with this message.

“Fallen asleep” is a Scriptural expression for the Christian’s death. The Greek word used, as Jesus taught it, did not mean to lapse into a state of unconsciousness until the day of resurrection. It means an intermediate state of conscious bliss.

The Thessalonians were concerned for their loved ones who had already passed away before the Second Coming. These people believed Christ would come back in their lifetime. They honestly thought ‘everlasting life’ meant Christians would not die. They didn’t understand the Second Coming could be thousands of years in the future. Yet some of their fellow Christians had passed away and this confused them. They were worried they might miss the event of the return of Christ if they were to die before it happened. So Paul is trying to set their minds at ease.

Also, in verse 13, Paul is reminding them of the assurance we have of life after death which non-believers don’t have, leaving them with no hope.

Notice Paul did not say Christ ‘fell asleep’. Christ bore the full horror of death and conquered it!

Verse 15 indicates Christ had given this instruction while He was here.

The Lord’s return follows a certain sequence of events. “The Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God.”

This is similar to Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:30-31 “30Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.. The dead in Christ shall rise first."

Archangel: the only archangel mentioned in the Bible is Michael.

Jude 9 “9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

Daniel 10:13 “13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia.”

Compare Acts 1:9 “After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”

& Rev. 1:7 “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all peoples on earth will mourn because of him.” So shall it be! Amen.”

Jesus went away in the “clouds”, and so He will return. “The clouds” will be his triumphal chariot. The angels will be with Him, in all the glory of heaven, as we are told in Matthew 25:31:  “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.”

The saints of past ages will be raised, those still in the flesh will be changed, and the whole Church will rise in joyful welcome to the Returning Savior, to be with Him forevermore.

In verse 17, the words “caught up” is the only CLEAR reference to what has been referred to as the Rapture. The word “rapture” is never used in the Bible. "Rapture", in the context of the end days, is an English noun derived from the Latin verb rapiō, meaning "caught up" or "taken away."

In verse 18, we are told to encourage each other by reminding each other of our eventual triumph. It thrills us through and through to think of it. We need to remind each other of the time when we will be with the Lord forever, to encourage each other in our faith. This last sentence is meant as a comfort for bereaved Christians who have lost a loved one. We know we will see them again when Christ returns.


How timely this particular lesson was for me. As some of you know, I lost my father on March 19. Although I grieve, the knowledge he is with our Lord and Savior has sustained me. I picture my dad's smile and how excited he must be to be with Jesus and the saints who went before him—and it makes me smile. I rejoice that one day I will join him on those golden streets.