As divided in the Revised Version, the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians falls into three paragraphs. The first (vs. 1-8) deals with matters of personal purity; the second (vs. 9-12) exhorts to love and honest work; and the third (vs. 13-18) contains special teaching concerning the coming of the Lord.

ABOUT ADULTERY AND KINDRED VICES

      In pagan cities like Thessalonica, the standard of public morals was unspeakably low. The first chapter of Romans (1:24-32) describes without exaggeration the moral status of the Gentile world. Illicit sexual relationship was hardly considered a wrong, so common and universal was the vice, and was even sanctioned in the name of religion, and practiced in connection with the worship of their vile gods. Would the new converts of the gospel suddenly be turned from age-old sins, which were ingrained in the habits and customs of their people? Yes, they could and would and must. There was power in the gospel to deliver them from the bondage of sin. Jesus died, not only to save them from sin, that is from the guilt of past transgressions, but also to save them from sinning. (Matt. 1:21.) Else what would be the advantage of being forgiven? Would not the dog turn to his own vomit again, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire? But they were redeemed--not with silver or gold, but with precious blood, as of a Lamb without spot or blemish, even the blood of Christ, not only from the guilt of past transgressions, but from the vain manner of life handed down from their fathers (1 Peter 1:18, 19). They were born again, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." And to be born of God means the beginning of a new life, with new abilities, power, hope, purpose, prospect. Let no man despise it. Moreover they were made recipients of the Holy Spirit; and by the indwelling Spirit they can now "put to death the deeds of the body." (Rom. 8:12, 13.) Nevertheless there was need of exhortation, teaching, and warning. [19]

      What the apostle had first in mind was the all too prevalent sin of adultery--so frightfully common in our day also--one of the two greatest crimes that man can commit against a fellow-man, and because of such things cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience. "Let marriage be had in honor among all," he writes to the Hebrews, "and let the bed be undefiled: for fornicators and adulterers God will judge." (Heb. 13:4.) "This," specifically, "is the will of God," he says to the Thessalonians, "even your sanctification"--in this matter particularly you are set apart unto God, and separated from the world and its ways--"that ye abstain from fornication," and (paraphrasing to give the apostle's meaning) "that every man live with his own wife in sanctification and honor; not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God." (For even within the legitimate marriage bond there can be defilement by lust and unclean passions.) And then, especially, "that no man transgress and wrong his brother" in this particular matter. The solemn warning is that "the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified." He will not let such sins go unpunished. And God did not call us to Himself (2 Thess. 2:14) that we should live in uncleanness, but that He might purify and sanctify us unto Himself, a people for His own possession, that we might show forth the excellencies of Him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light. (1 Pet. 2:9.)

      Another warning he adds--one all the more solemn because left somewhat obscure and undefined: "Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man, but God, who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you." What does he mean by that? Surely something very serious. It is no small wrong to "grieve the Holy Spirit of God" (Eph. 4:30); to destroy the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 3:16, 17). For our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, and they are members of Christ; and he that is joined to the Lord is also "one spirit." Shall a man take away a member of Christ and join it to an evil woman? (1 Cor. 6:15-20.) It is not to turn those who have so fallen over to despair--there is healing and forgiveness with the Lord for every penitent soul (1 John 2:1, 2), and a broken and a contrite heart the Lord will not despise (Ps. 51:17)--but that we may shun such sin, and all that may lead to it, as we would fire--even as the Lord Jesus Himself, speaking of this very thing, enjoined and warned. (Matt. 5:27-30.)

ABOUT LOVE ABOUNDING

      Now as to brotherly love, that chiefest and foremost of all the marks of the Christian (John 13:34, 35)--did he need to write to them about that? No--they were themselves taught of God to love one [20] another. And truly they did love; and their love was not confined to the narrow limits of their own congregation in Thessalonica: it embraced all the brethren in all Macedonia (which would include those in Philippi, and those of Beroea, as well as others). We have something to learn here. Also from the fact that Paul exhorts them to "abound more and more" in this. (Note the same sort of exhortation in verse 1.) The Christian life, its virtues and graces, is not a single, simple possession that we get once for all. The Christian faith is a way to walk in. The terms being "in Christ," and "abiding in Christ," do not describe a stationary condition; but, as ye received Christ--"so walk in him." "Let us press on unto perfection." (Heb. 6:1.) Perfection is indeed a far goal. Our growth is toward that; (1 Pet. 2:1f; 2 Pet. 3:18), but not till He comes and we shall see Him as He is, shall we be wholly like Him. (1 John 3:1-3.) Paul counted not himself as having attained or having been made perfect; but forgetting the past; with its achievements and failures alike, he pressed on to the goal of the prize of the high-calling. (Phil. 3:12-15.) But nothing less than that Must be our aim. "More and more" is the watchword of the Christian life. Christians who do not progress retrograde. They lose interest, as any man does in anything in which he does not go forward. There lies the cause of much deadness and backsliding. Do you love the Lord? Do you love the brethren? Then go ahead: do more of it, do it a little better each day, do it more fully, reach out, go on, "abound more and more." For we can never say that we have "arrived," nor can we ever rest content with our attainments.

ABOUT HONEST WORK

      Now follows the exhortation to quiet, humble living, and to honest work "that ye may have need of nothing, and have wherewith to give to him that is in need." Idleness, laziness, the disinclination to work for a living, was a very common vice in heathen communities; as it is among many peoples and in many places today--in some regions more so than others. Travellers tell us of the multitude of beggars and parasites in parts of Europe and the near East; of the Italian "Lazaroni" who love to play and sleep their days away in "dolce far niente." There are communities, districts, yea, whole tribes, among whom hardly a faithful and industrious workman could be found. Such were the Cretans, for instance, of whom one of their own poets declared that they were "always liars, evil beasts, idle gluttons"; and Paul adds, "'This testimony is true." (Titus 1.)

      This is one of the hardest of evils to eradicate. Spurgeon said he had known of all kinds of sinners' being saved, murderers, thugs, drunkards, libertines, but never a lazy man. He who tries to reform a lazy man (he says) is "watering a stake." But Christ is able [21] to save even that kind; and no man needs to despair on any account.

      This same tendency to indolence and inefficiency existed in Thessalonica also. When he was yet with them Paul had exhorted them concerning this, and had commanded that "if any will not work, neither let him eat." (2 Thess. 3:10.) And here he finds it again needful to exhort them to hold by honest, faithful work.

      I mention this particularly because it is the common fancy of many commentators and Bible-expositors (especially of some who are unfriendly to the doctrine of Christ's Second Coming) to account for these conditions in Thessalonica on the supposition that the Thessalonians had become "unduly excited" over the prospect of Christ's imminent return, and had given up their daily work and occupations on the strength of that belief. There is no ground whatever for such a supposition, except that it seemed plausible to the commentators. Some, indeed, may have made the expectation of Christ's coming an excuse for quitting their work; but that disposition was common in Thessalonica, as in many other communities, and existed long before they heard of Christ or of His coming. This is just one of the many instances of jumping at a convenient conclusion. We shall have occasion to notice this again.

CONCERNING CHRIST'S COMING

      This last paragraph of our chapter presents some highly important teaching on the return of our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven. That this theme formed an important part of the apostles' teaching is evident in all the New Testament. Paul had preached it in Thessalonica from the first. It was a part of his gospel to sinners, to the idolaters; for on the strength of it they "turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead." (1 Thess. 1:9, 10.) We may conclude from the two Thessalonian letters that the doctrine of Christ's Coming was stressed with special emphasis in Thessalonica; but we must not infer that it was not so preached elsewhere. Each one of the epistles brings out some special point or points of Christian doctrine; and the Thessalonian letters bring out [22] most prominently teaching concerning the Lord's return. And here we have new teaching concerning this great theme--teaching not found elsewhere.

      That the Thessalonian converts looked forward with intense expectation to the Lord's coming, is evident from Paul's letter to them. But as the days passed some of their number were taken by death. This fact created a perplexing question in their minds. Why did these die? Might it have been because God was not well pleased with them? Would they miss the glorious event of Christ's return? The thought troubled them deeply. So Paul (who must have heard of this through Timothy) writes to re-assure them and to comfort them concerning their departed loved ones.

      "We would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him."

      When the apostle wanted to remind them of something they knew (or ought to have known) he said, "Know ye not?" or "Are ye ignorant?" But when he says "I would not have you ignorant" his purpose is to impart new teaching. Now they needed to know some things as to those who had fallen asleep--things they did not know, and which, when told them, would take the hopelessness out of their sorrow for their departed loved ones. It was first and chiefly this, that if the Lord died and rose again He would not abandon His own as a prey to death, but would bring them forth with Him.

      Two terms in this declaration (quoted above) demand our special attention: (1) the expression "fallen asleep" as applied to the physical death of Christ's people; and (2) the phrase "bring with him."

      Among all peoples and in all the tongues of mankind death has been called "sleep." The analogy justifies the metaphor. The Holy Spirit in the New Testament uses the same figure, but with a deep meaning and with sharp discrimination. When the world calls death "sleep" it is a euphemism meant to cover up a dread and awful reality, which it dare not face. The New Testament also speaks of death as "sleep" but for exactly the opposite reason: it calls death--the death of Christ's redeemed ones--"sleep," because what happens to them is not worthy to be called by the name "death." Death, in the true, full meaning of the word, is a most dreadful and terrible eventuality. Jesus died. 'He tasted to the full all that was contained in it. He drank the cup to the dregs. The darkness, the abandonment, the separation from God, the experience of the utter forsaking was His. But He died "for us"; and what another has done for us, we do not have to do again for ourselves. Because Jesus died, His people fall asleep. The former is a disaster; the latter an interim of blessed rest with Christ.¹ For them it is not an [23] abandonment to outer darkness, nor an expression of the wrath of God. Death for them has lost its venom sting. For them to die is gain; and they depart to be with Christ--to be "at home with the Lord"--which is "very far better." (Phil. 1:21, 23; 2 Cor. 5:8.) But, blissful though this state may be, it is only a temporary condition. The real goal of the Christian hope is "the redemption of our body," when the dead shall be raised incorruptible and the living changed (1 Cor. 15:52. Comp. Phil. 3:20, 21) at the coming of Christ. Until then, it is the happy privilege of those who are Christ's, through Him to "fall asleep."

      Let us also take note of the word "'bring"--"them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him." The word in the Greek is "ago"--generally translated to "bring," or to "lead." The thought is not that Jesus will bring their disembodied spirits with Him from heaven, but that God, "who brought again [Greek, anago] from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep," will also bring those who have fallen asleep in Jesus with Him in that glorious day.

      In the fact that Jesus died and rose again lies the guarantee to all who are Christ's that they will be raised from the dead. He is the First and the Last and the Living One, who was dead and is alive for evermore, and holds the keys of Death and of Hades. (Rev. 1:18.) Not only shall they who have fallen asleep in Jesus be raised but their resurrection will he the very first event in order when Christ returns. We who are alive (says Paul) that are left unto the coming of the Lord shall not by any means have precedence over them that are fallen asleep. And he is careful to tell us that this is a special revelation: "For this, we say unto you by the word of the Lord. It is not (as some have thought) the quotation of words which the Lord had spoken at some time during His earthly ministry: it is a new revelation, called forth by the need of those Thessalonian brethren, to assure them (and all other Christians) as to the hope and prospect of those who had fallen asleep in Jesus. First of all, then, the dead in Christ shall be raised. In 1 Cor. 15 he adds some details. "Behold I tell you a mystery"--that is, a secret, previously unrevealed. What is this new truth? "We all shall not sleep," he says, "but we shall all be changed." (This is spoken of those "who are alive, who are left unto the coming of the Lord.") The Savior returning from heaven shall "fashion anew" the body of our humiliation, to make it like unto His glorious body. (Phil. 3:21.) This change will not be a long process: it will be instantaneous--"in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. For the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." Commenting further on this wondrous fact, the apostle declares that this (present) corruptible body must be clothed with incorruption, and this (present) mortal body must put on immortality; and that so death, before ever it could do its full work upon the bodies of the living Christians, should be swallowed up in victory. (1 Cor. 15:50-54.) [24]

      But in 1 Thess. 4 the apostle tells us something more than he had told the Corinthians--namely that the raised dead and the changed living would together be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and that so they should thenceforth forever be with the Lord. This event has frequently been referred to as "the rapture"--a word of Latin origin, meaning precisely the same as the term "catching up." It is to be noted that the two companies--the dead in Christ, raised incorruptible, and the living Christians, clothed in incorruption and immortality--are caught up together, unitedly and simultaneously, to meet the Lord in the air. At this point this particular revelation ends. Except for the statement that "so shall we ever be with the Lord," he tells us nothing further here. He certainly does not say that we shall stay in the air with the Lord for ever (as some would have it) nor does he say that we shall at once go up or come down with Him; or indeed anything else. All further events, movements, and developments connected with the coming of the Lord for His saints, must in so far as they are revealed and can be known, be learned from other scriptures.

      But for the present purpose--to reassure the troubled saints of Thessalonica and elsewhere--this is enough. "Wherefore comfort one another with these words."

      Shall We Know Each Other? Without referring to any other proofs--the letter to the Thessalonians alone is conclusive on this point. Paul expected to meet and know and to joyfully present before Christ his Thessalonian converts. (1 Thess. 2:19.) This would be unthinkable if there were no "future recognition." And what "comfort" would this teaching of Paul to the Thessalonians concerning the departed loved ones be, unless they would know them when they meet in the light of that morning? [27]

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