seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Thessalonians 4:1 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.
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[a] 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.[b] 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.
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, 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.
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.
a. 1 Thessalonians 4:4 Or learn to live with your own wife; or learn to acquire a wife
b. 1 Thessalonians 4:6 The Greek word for brother or sister (adelphos) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family.
This is from the easy English site.
In this verse, ‘to rule your own body’ means to control the desire for sex. The use of the body in sex is right only between husband and wife. Even then, it must be an act of love and with the agreement of the other person. This is because a husband and wife must show respect for each other. This is the holy and right use of sex. All other acts of sex are wrong.
The Lord will punish all who do these things. This may well result in problems and pain in this life. But it is more likely that this is for the future time. The Lord Jesus will one day test all who are his. And, in that day, he will punish all who do these sins (2 Corinthians 5:10).
Paul and his friends had warned them about these things. Now again they are writing about the same subject. It seems that there may have been some in that church who had wrong relationships. They had to repent and stop doing these bad things.
These Christians at Thessalonica did love God and they loved each other. They were already doing what the Lord had taught them. They loved all the Christians in Macedonia that they met. They knew that all Christians are in the family of God. If you love the parent, you must also love the child (1 John 5:1). As they loved God, so they loved the children of God. The fame of their love had spread through the whole region.
They lived in difficult times. They had to suffer much from the people who did not believe in Christ. It would have been natural to be angry and to fight back. But that was not how a Christian should act. They should remain calm. It should be their ambition to have a quiet life. They should try to live at peace with all people. They should not be involved in the affairs of other people. But they should mind their own affairs.
There were some among them that were lazy. They did not work to keep themselves. They lived by the kindness of other Christians. Each one is responsible to provide for his or her needs. They are to earn their own living instead of asking the church to support them. If a person cannot work, then the church should try to help them.
The Christians at Thessalonica knew that Jesus would come again one day. When he comes, all his people on the earth will go to be with him in heaven. But the Christians at Thessalonica were worried about those who had died before Jesus came back. They thought that they would not enjoy the same benefit on that day as those who are alive. The writers wanted to make sure that they knew the truth on this subject. Those who have died will have the same benefit from the return of Jesus as those who are still alive then.
It is natural to be sad when someone that we love has died. They have gone from us. But Christians should not be sad as other people are. For other people, there is no hope of seeing the dead person again. Christians believe that death is not the end. Those who have died believing in Jesus have gone to be with him. They are in a better place than those that they have left behind. Those who are still alive will one day meet again with them. That will be when Jesus comes. This is the hope that Christians have. The word hope does not mean that there is a doubt. For Christians it is something that they are sure about. But it is in the future.
He spoke about those who are alive. This means those who are living at that time when Jesus will come again. The writers wrote as if they and the readers would be among those who would be alive then. But it is clear from Paul’s letters that he did not know when Jesus would return. Perhaps he hoped that it would be before he died. No one knows when it will be. But Jesus could come at any time. They taught the believers to live as if Jesus would come soon and to be ready for him.
Those who are alive when Jesus comes will not go to heaven before those who have died. It is not just a question of time. Jesus told them that those who are alive would not have an advantage over those who sleep. They had been worried that those who had died would miss some of the benefits of the Lord’s return. The answer to their question was that both the living and the dead would have the same blessing and at the same time. They will be there when the Lord comes. They will take part in the glory of that day.
OK... this is from bibletrack.org.
As extra-biblical history substantiates, Paul indicates that the Roman-Greek society of the first century was quite hedonistic, even by contemporary standards. Paul goes on to commend them for the love they demonstrate toward their brethren and encourages them to maintain a good testimony before the lost in their conduct and work ethic.
While "sanctification" can sometimes refer to our position in Christ (set apart for Heaven), in this context Paul is referring to lifestyle. The Greek word for fornication there is "pornia" and means any kind of sexual immorality. The phrase "lust of concupiscence" means "passion of lust." Greek and Roman culture each exploited sexual pleasures beyond the imagination of most people. Thessalonica was right there in the midst of a culture that practiced a level of immorality that was reprehensible to Jewish thought. After salvation, Paul mandates ("this is the will of God") that cultural practices be abandoned in lieu of honoring God with one's conduct.
While sanctified conduct does refer to being God-honoring in all aspects of one's Christian life, Paul specifically deals with the abstinence from fornication beginning with verse 3 and going down through verse 8. The word "fornication" (Greek: pornia) is seen in verse 3; the term "lust of concupiscence" (Greek: epithumia and pathos meaning passionate lust) is seen in verse 5; "uncleanness" (Greek: akatharsia) is seen in verse 7. All three of these words support the context of unacceptable sexual conduct. But what about verse 6? Well...to stay in the context of the passage, that verse specifically addresses fornication as well when he writes, "That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter." The Greek definite article is used before "matter" in that verse. Therefore, "the matter" specifically addresses defrauding one's fellow Christian in fornication i.e. stealing the virginity of another's future wife or taking unacceptable liberties with another's current wife. Verse 8 makes it clear that such a violation is against God himself.
Ok... sex and death.... these are two favorite topics. The church can use these two topics to lead people around by the nose... or toss them to the curb.
So I'm going to deal with the dead in Christ first..... Paul also dealt with the matter of the "dead in Christ". These people thought Jesus was coming right back. They were concerned about those who died... that they wouldn't be there to see Jesus when He returned. They figured those people were dead even though they had been promised eternal life. Boy that's a tough one to answer up to.... but.....
Paul says.... they're just sleeping... but don't worry... Jesus is going to wake them up... when the trumpet sounds it will wake the dead.
I remember reading that back in the days of the Crusades... or about that long time ago... the priests in the church were having sex regularly with the nuns. The problems in the church didn't magically disappear with the end of the Crusades. A friend of mine was raped by a priest and then he was told he would never go to heaven because he "liked it". A woman I know was pushed out of her church because she fell in love with the preacher. He claimed it was "innocent enough.".. and then all of a sudden she was out.... they claimed she was having mental problems. He visited her alone.
Back in the days of Paul.... those people weren't goodie two shoes by any stretch of the imagination. Back in those days... women were no better than slaves or even an ox. Women were property. A man could "marry" a woman and then after he slept with her... according to Roman and Greek law [even Jewish traditions] he could then go out in the street and say "I divorce her... I divorce her... I divorce her" and then she was worthless. A woman had to be a virgin to have any worth. Now the "church" would have us all believe that the society that Paul lived in was like our society today. All marriages were perfect... men treated their wives with respect. That was far from the case. There was no #metoo back then.
Paul is saying.... hey.... sex should not be just a back alley moment of banging passion.... it should be an act of respect.
I have to remember.... the letters were circulated. The people in Corinth would be reading those letters too. And... the church in Corinth was meeting in a brothel. A lot of the members of the "church" in Corinth were male and female prostitutes. This was an issue that had to be tread on lightly.
Paul is saying... hey... sex should not be just a back alley moment of banging passion.... it should be an act of respect.
So... what the church today would use to clobber all the ignorant humans into giving everything they have to get their lives clean.... this chapter has been twisted and turned to make a whole group of humans evil. When in truth... even masterbation was a sin. Masterbation was the abortion of those days... the spilling of a man's seed was a horrible crime in those days according to the Jewish traditions. This problem of masterbation would have been right up there in importance with circumcision. Masterbation became the birth control of the day. I doubt the current church would preach that masterbation is sinful.... that might surely affect the offering plate if they sent all the men who masterbated home until they stopped sinning. I can't imagine the church would have a social distancing issue if they treated all the men and women who masterbate as they treat gays, lesbians, transsexuals, or prostitutes.
Paul is saying... hey... sex should not be just a back alley moment of banging passion.... it should be an act of respect.
