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 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.
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.
Here's the link to commentary on this matter.To mind your own business: This means that the Christian must focus on his or her own life and matters, instead of meddling in the lives of others. “Mind your own business” is a Biblical idea.
“There is a great difference between the Christian duty of putting the interests of others first and the busybody’s compulsive itch to put other people right.” (Bruce)
“Paul, however, does not mean that every individual is to mind his own business in such a way that all are to live apart from one another and have no concern for others, but simply wants to correct the idle triviality which makes men open disturbers of the peace, when they ought to lead a quiet life at home.” (Clarke)
Work with your own hands: We must recognize the dignity and honor of work. Work is God’s plan for the progress of society and the church. We fall into Satan’ snare when we expect things to always come easily, or regard God’s blessing as an opportunity for laziness.
Manual labor was despised by ancient Greek culture. They thought that the better a man was, the less he should work. In contrast, God gave us a carpenter King, fisherman apostles, and tent-making missionaries.
“There is nothing more disgraceful than an idle good-for-nothing who is of no use either to himself or to others, and seems to have been born merely to eat and drink.” (Clarke)
OK... the priests, preachers, elders, teachers and other thugs have built a house on the matter of sexual immorality over the decades. They've preached so much hate.... It's satanic. I thought it might be nice to actually read the whole section before foaming at the mouth over rape and incest.Please, please, remember the rules were not the same back when Paul was writing to the Thessalonians. Women were not equal. Women were possessions. There were laws concerning the ownership of oxen cows and women. Women were sold into marriage. Women were a commodity. If a woman lost her virginity, she was useless. This talk about sexual morality was not about sex... as much as it was about the value of her womb.
Deuteronomy 22:28 If a man happens to meet a virgin who is not pledged to be married and rapes her and they are discovered, 29 he shall pay her father fifty shekels of silver. He must marry the young woman, for he has violated her. He can never divorce her as long as he lives.
The people in Thessalonica of those days had a different mindset about most things. Rape by the rich on the poor was common. It was illegal to spill seed. It was illegal to pull out or jerk off.
Genesis 38:9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from providing offspring for his brother. 10 What he did was wicked in the Lord’s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.
So... with that aside... These verses say we should be busy learning to love our neighbor. If we are busy showing love for our families, friends, neighbors and countrymen, we'll be too busy to be involved in hateful crap. Onan was sleeping with his brother's wife, because his brother died and the wife became Onan's property. He was using her. She was a warm body.
Paul taught the Thessalonians that they should busy themselves by showing love and kindness.... minding their own business... the business of feeding the poor, helping orphans and widows. Paul said... be about the business of helping others... and then in this instance... he says "keep busy, mind your own business... treat others with respect and love."
The online Bible I use titled this section "Living to Please God".
If we keep busy minding our own business, while staying busy helping orphans and widows, and showing love... we will be too busy to get into trouble. Living to Please God will keep us out of trouble.
Mind your own business is Biblical!
