First Letter to the Thessalonians ~ Part 6

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We pause our ongoing story of Sha’ul’s Second Missionary Journey as we dig into his first letter to the Thessalonians while in Corinth.

Sha’ul Prays for the Thessalonians

¹¹ May God our Father and our Lord Yeshua direct our way to you. ¹² And as for you, may the Lord make you increase and overflow in love toward each other, indeed, toward everyone, just as we do toward you; ¹³ so that He may give you the inner strength to be blameless, by reason of your holiness, when you stand before God our Father at the coming of our Lord Yeshua with all His angels.

Sha’ul was praying to see the Thessalonian Believers in person to complete what was lacking in their faith. Verses 11–13 contain a prayer expressing just that desire. The prayer’s request that the church overflow in love toward each other and be blameless, by reason of your holiness is an expression of desire for the Thessalonians’ brotherly love and sanctification addressed explicitly in the following two paragraphs (4:1–8, 9–12).

Call to Sanctification

Abstain from Sexual Immorality

Sha’ul exhorts the Thessalonians, who were relatively young Believers, to continue to grow in the faith. His instructions focus on issues related to sexual immorality, holiness, and manual labor.

4 ¹ Therefore, brothers, just as you learned from us how you had to live in order to please God, and just as you are living this way now, we ask you—indeed, united with the Lord Yeshua, we urge you—to keep doing so more and more. ² For you know what instructions we gave you on the authority of the Lord Yeshua.

These verses do not express a degree of dissatisfaction with the Thessalonians. Instead, it stresses the progressive nature of Messianic life.

³ What God wants is that you be holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality,

In this verse, the Greek word for holy is hagiasmos. Many of the other English translate hagiasmos as sanctification. Here, it refers to the consecration of the Believer to God in holy and proper behavior regarding sexual purity.

⁴ that each of you knows how to manage his sexual impulses in a holy and honorable manner, ⁵ without giving in to lustful desires, like the pagans who don’t know God.

The passage does not say to abstain from sex practiced in the context of marriage but sex that deviates from God’s standards. This would include premarital sex, incest, homosexuality, bestiality, and adultery. God’s standards have not changed, but societies sure have.

⁶ No one should wrong his brother in this matter or take advantage of him because the Lord punishes all who do such things – as we have explained to you before at length. ⁷ For God did not call us to live an unclean life but a holy one. ⁸ Therefore, whoever rejects this teaching is rejecting not a man but God, indeed, the One who gives you the Ruach HaKodesh, which is His.

When a person commits a sexual sin, the result is wrong and takes advantage of one’s brother. Brother, in this context, probably means a fellow Believer. Sexual transgression defrauds one’s brother in the sense that sexual sin is a form of theft: you take something that does not belong to you. It defrauds both the partner of the illicit relationship as well as a spouse or future spouse who alone has rights in sexual matters. This matter points back to the discussion of sexual purity in verses 3–5. Sha’ul gave two reasons for Believers to abstain from sexual immorality. First is that the Lord punishes all who do such things. Second is that sexual impurity violates God’s call to sanctification. The implication of God’s giving us His Ruach is that a person should not mix human sexual impurity with God’s holy nature in the Ruach, who dwells within the Believer (1 Corinthians 6:19).

Practice Brotherly Love

⁹ Concerning love for the brothers, we do not need to write you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other; ¹⁰ and you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do it even more. ¹¹ Also, make it your ambition to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to earn your living by your own efforts – just as we told you. ¹² Then your daily life will gain the respect of outsiders, and you will not be dependent on anyone. ^[1]

The reference to brotherly love (philadelphia) seems to govern the content of these verses in encouraging fellow Believers to live quietly, mind their own business, and earn your living by your own efforts. To do otherwise places a burden of dependence on the faith community and gives a poor testimony to outsiders (1 Thess. 5:14; 2 Thess 3:7–12). Sha’ul demonstrated this work ethic by providing for his needs (1 Thess. 2:9).

 

 

In our next post, we will continue to explore Shaul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians beginning in 1 Thess. 4:13.

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^[1] 1 Thessalonians 3:11 – 4:12.