1 Thessalonians 4

1 Thessalonians 4:1

The apostle addresses several practical exhortations to the Thessalonians suitable to their circumstances, and particularly recommends chastity, justice, charity, and prudence. 1 Thes. IV. 1—12.

SECT. 1 THESSALONIANS IV. 1. v. AS for what remains therefore, my brethren, 1 Thes. in subserviency to this important view, of 1 Thes. being thus presented with all the saints before 1 Thes. IV. 1 FURTHERMORE then we be seech you brethren

exhorts them to abstain from all uncleanness.

the great tribunal, in the perfection of holiness and happiness, *we now beseech you, and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received repeated instructions from us, while we were among you, how you ought to walk,*ᵃ if you desire to adorn your profession, and to please and honour God, who hath bestowed upon you the favour of being called into it, so ye would abound more and more, labouring continually to advance in every amiable quality, and every Christian grace. I will not largely insist on these things now, for ye know what commandments we gave you, in the name and on the part of the Lord Jesus, whose servants we all profess ourselves to be, and whose authority we ought always to account sacred. Bear them constantly in your mind, and often charge on your souls the observance of them, *for this is the will of God concerning you, [even] your sanctification; that, as he hath chosen us from the rest of the world to be a people separate to his honour and service, we should not pollute ourselves with those abominations which are so common among the heathen, and particularly that ye should abstain from fornication, and all other kinds of lewdness so commonly practised among those who are ignorant of the true religion: Whereas it is now the declared pleasure of the great Former of our souls and bodies, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel, this animal frame, in which this immortal soul is lodged, as a rich and invaluable jewel, in sanctification and honour; using his body as an instrument of service to God, to whom it has been solemnly consecrated; not as if it were intended as an organ to debase the mind by sensuality, which would surely be the

ᵃ How you ought to walk, &c.] The phrases of a plainer nature equivalent to French Testament renders the words thus, them: but, as the version I here give, “We entreat and conjure you by the makes a part of a paraphrase, I thought it Lord Jesus, to follow our instructions as more convenient to keep nearer the original, though I have not made a point of in order to pleasing God, and that you giving what should be exactly a verbal would make continual progress in it.” translation. There is a medium between This is one specimen, among many, of the both, which I have at least attempted, and, araphrastic strain of this version, which if I have not hit upon it, I hope it is not for changes the metaphorical expressions for want of diligence and care.

No one shou de raud his brother in any aff.

most dishonourable view in which it can be considered. Walk not therefore any longer in the lust of concupiscence, contriving to indulge yourselves in gross and lascivious gratifications, even as the heathens do, who know not God, and are therefore ignorant of that pure and sublime happiness which arises from contemplating, adoring, and imitating him.

We have also told you, and we now repeat it, as an injunction of the greatest importance, that it is the will of God, that no man should in these, or any other matters, over reach, or defraud his brother in [any] affair. For though the fraud may be conducted in so artful a manner as to evade human conviction and punishment, yet it is most certain, that the Lord himself, the final and universal Judge, to whom we are all ere long to render up an account, [is] the avenger of all such, as we also told you before, and testified with all possible solemnity. For God hath not called us, in so extraordinary a manner, from the rest of the world, merely to a new name, or some different rites of external worship, while we are at liberty to indulge ourselves in uncleanness, as if we were patronized in the practice of it, merely by being numbered among Christians; but, as he is in himself perfectly holy, he hath called us to the love and practice of universal holiness, and would raise from among the degenerate children of men, a society, who, by the purity of their morals, should do an honour to the true religion, and approve themselves to be indeed the offspring of the Most High.

In all these things we have faithfully delivered unto you the charge and message which

The heathens who know not God.] Many have proved, by a variety of learned quotations, how much the politest nations among the ancients, and particularly the Greeks, were addicted to the most infamous kinds of uncleanness; and Dr. Whitby’s note on this place may furnish out a catalogue, not to be read without a mixture of commiseration and horror.

Go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter.] Many interpret this of injuring

their neighbour’s bed, taking the word σφαιρμαι in an ill sense, as Facinus is used in Latin. This, no doubt, is included, but I see no reason for limiting the clause to such a sense. Clean hands in the Old Testament signifies those unpolluted with bribes, and therefore no certain argument against the more extensive signification I have preferred, can be drawn from the next clause.

were taught o God to love one another.

we received upon the highest authority: he therefore who despiseth our testimony and admonitions, despiseth not man alone, but God, who hath also given us his Holy Spirit, and caused it to dwell within us, and to guide us in our discourses and writings, into the certain and infallible knowledge of his will.ᵈ

I have been large on some of the preceding articles, knowing how much you were addicted, in your heathen state, to some of the vices I have exhorted you to avoid. But concerning brotherly love, or that peculiar charity and affection which one Christian owes to another, ye need not that I should largely write to you now, for ye yourselves are divinely taught to love one another. God, dwelling in our nature, hath given you the example and the precept, with all possible advantage, and his Holy Spirit, descending on your hearts, forms and fashions them to this great law of love. And indeed I must do you the justice to say, by what I can learn of you, that ye actually do it to all the Christian brethren which are in all Macedonia, whether at Philippi, Apollonia, Amphipolis, Beræa, or elsewhere. But we exhort you, brethren, that ye abound in this benevolent and amiable disposition yet more and more, not only to those that are your own countrymen, but to all the children of our heavenly Father, however they may be dispersed in one part or another. And, while many indulge to an enterprising temper, and are always undertaking some new design, to make themselves talked of, and to draw the eyes and observation of the world upon them, we advise you, that you make it your ambition to live quietly in the practice of those peaceful and humble virtues which suit the genius of Christianity, and particularly that you do your proper business.ᵉ And, as

ᵈ He therefore who despiseth, &c] I will not here argue at large, how strongly this verse speaks the inspiration of Paul in what he wrote, and consequently that of the sacred writers in general; but I wish what I have said on this subject, in the Essay on the Inspiration of the New Testament, subjoined to the third volume of this work, may be seriously considered, and that the important truth established in it, may be perpetually borne in mind by all my readers ᵉ Do your proper business.] This exhortation was peculiarly proper to the Thessalonians, as there seems to have been a meddling pragmatical temper prevailing among some of them, 2 Thes. iii. 11, which tended much to the reproach of their profession. As to the emphasis of the word φιλοξενία, compare 2 Cor. v. 9, and the note.

They were to live quietly, and do their own

Providence hath placed most of you in such low circumstances of life, that you are obliged to maintain yourselves by your daily labour, we hope you will go on diligently and cheerfully to work with your own hands for that purpose, that you may not as idle drones become the burden of society, but rather may be able to do something for the support of your poorer brethren, as we know we gave it you in charge, during the little time we resided amongst you. Attend to it therefore, that so ye may walk decently towards those that are without the enclosure of the church, and silence the clamours which the enemies of the gospel would be glad to raise against it, as making men idle and irregular; and [that] you may have need of nothing, but, without being under a necessity of asking relief from them or any others, may be preserved from such degrees of extreme poverty as might expose you to their contempt, and into which frugal and industrious persons seldom fall, without some extraordinary Providence, which audibly and effectually bespeaks the compassion of their neighbours.

IMPROVEMENT.

Who would not wish to be instructed in every thing which might conduce to our walking so as to please God? who would not delight in frequent exhortations, to abound in such a conduc 1 more and more, that every day may improve upon the last, till we perfect holiness in his fear? Blessed be God, the rules are 2 plain, and our own conscience must bear witness to the reasonableness and goodness of them. This is the will of God, even our sanctification; that we should be honoured with his amiable image, and, by sharing something of his moral character, may share something of that happiness which in the perfection of holiness he enjoys. He hath indeed given us a compounded nature, an hath appointed us for a time to struggle with its animal powers that by a victory over them we may approve our duty and obedience, and be fitted for a purer happiness above, than this low state of being will admit. Let Christians therefore learn to possess their vessels in sanctification and honour and not be captives to the mean lusts of concupiscence and uncleanness, as the heathens, who, not having the knowledge of God, were more excusable than we in those indulgences for which the knowledge of 5 themselves and of their own nature would nevertheless, in some degree, condemn them.

Reflections on the apostle’s exhortations to purity, &c.

Let us, as we dread the displeasure and vengeance of God, the supreme Guardian of the rights of his creatures, take heed that we do not allow ourselves, when it is most in our power, to go beyond, or defraud our brethren in any matter, but endeavour to shew, that we have indeed been taught of God to love one another, and that we have received into our very hearts that maxim which our gracious Redeemer has given us, That we should do unto others as we would they should do unto us. On this principle likewise, let us diligently employ ourselves in our own proper affairs, that, instead of being the burdens of society, we may in our respective spheres be its supports; and, quietly attending to what lies within our own province, let us leave ambitious schemes and projects to others, thinking ourselves happy enough, if we may be approved by him who hath allotted to the inhabitants of earth their several parts, and will another day accept and reward them, not according to the distinction and elevation of their stations, but according to the integrity with which they have behaved themselves in them. So shall we secure a testimony even in the consciences of those that are without, who would perhaps ungenerously and unrighteously rejoice in an occasion of charging upon the gospel of Christ the follies and irregularities of its possessors.

They will never be able to charge any thing on the gospel itself if they take their ideas of it from the writings of these its authentic teachers. And let it be remembered, that they gave such abundant evidence of the authority with which they taught, that he who despiseth them despiseth not man, but God, from whom they derived the Spirit by which they preached and wrote. His voice let us hear with reverence, his dictates let us humbly obey. The hour is near in which he will assert the honour of his word, and demonstrate to all the world the wisdom of submitting to its dictates.

VOL. 5.

Christians are not to sorrow as those who have not hope;

1 Thessalonians 4:13

The apostle particularly sets himself to comfo friends, with relation to those that were fallen by an animating view of that glory and happi, the general resurrection, they should enter persons. 1 Thes. IV. 13, to the end.

1 THESSALONIANS IV. 13.

I HEAR it with concern, that since I have been separated from you, it hath pleased God to remove some dear and valuable members of your society, and I wonder not that you are tenderly affected with such a stroke. *But I would not have you ignorant,*ᵃ my dear brethren, concerning the true state of them that are thus fallen asleep in the faith of Jesus, that ye may not lament with such unbounded transports and excessive forms of mourning, as are practised by others, even by your heathen neighbours, who are ignorant of God, and have no well grounded hopeᵇ of an happy immortality, like that which in the gospel is imparted to you. For surely, if we do indeed believe those great and important doctrines which that Divine dispensation teaches us, that Jesus, the Son of God, died to expiate our sins, and that he rose

ᵃ I would not have you ignorant, &c.] Mons. Saurin, in his long and learned criticism on this text, which he thinks one of the hardest in the New Testament, (Saur. Ser. Vol. VI. No. 1.) gives it as his opinion, that the desire which prevailed in Christians to see Christ, when he should appear to judgment, made them lament those of their brethren who died as cut off from that hope. In reference to which, he assures them, that they should be in that respect entirely on a level with those of their brethren who should then be found alive. But it may be queried, even on this hypothesis, why he does not directly tell them, that there was no particular room for such lamentations on this account, as they themselves, and many succeeding generations, were to die before the coming of our Lord. He acknowledges that the apostle did not urge that, because he did not then exactly know whether Christ’s

appearance would be in that age, or at some much more remote distance of time. And this ignorance was certainly consistent with the knowledge of all that was necessary to the preaching of the gospel. Compare Mark xiii. 32

ᵇ As others who have no hope.] Tully says, (Tusc. Disp. i. 13.) “Who would lament the death of a friend, unless he supposed him deprived of all the enjoyments of life, and sensible of the loss of them?” How forcible a remark in the present connection! I see no reason at all to imagine, as some have done, that there is a reference to the notion of some Jewish zealots, that uncircumcised persons had no part in the resurrection. The apostle’s argument is by no means levelled at such an apprehension, nor do I find any evidence that the church at Thessalonica was yet pestered with such corrupters of Christianity.

For at the coming of Christ to the last judgment,

ven so them also again from the dead, that he might secure our sect. which sleep in Jesus, final salvation, we may easily believe, that a vi. ill God bring with scheme thus undertaken and prosecuted, shall 1Thes him. not fail of its effect : but that. in like manner Isaiah 14

also, God shall, by the exertion of that mighty power with which he hath clothed this triumphant Saviour, bring with him, in the train of his magnificent retinue, at his final appearance, all those of his faithful servants who sleep in Jesus.c As they died under the direction of his Providence, and committing themselves to his care, it shall in due time appear, that they are not lost, though they may have waited long for the consummation of their glory. For this we now say to you, by the express word of the Lord,d on the authority of an immediate revelation from Christ himself, and not merely on our own conjecture, or wish, that we, that is, those of us Christians who remain alive e at

c Who sleep in Jesus.] The words δια τυ Ινσυ, which we connect with κοιμηδινις, and render sleep in Jesus, may be considered as making a separate clause, and may imply, that it is by the power and agency of Christ that God will bring with him those of his people that are departed out of this life. The phrase to express sleeping in Christ, is κοιμηδινις τι χριςω; compare ver. 16; 1 Cor. xv. 18. Archbishop Tillotson explains the expression here used, as appropriate to the martyrs, and renders δια τυ Ινσυ, for Jesus’ sake; but it cannot be proved that the grief to which the apostle refers, related only to such, and the force of the argument plainly reaches farther. Tillotson’s Works, Vol. II. p. 184.

d By the word of the Lord.] I think no words can more plainly assert that, in what follows, he speaks by an express revelation from Christ, and consequently there can be no room for any interpretation that can suppose him at all mistaken in any circumstance of the ensuing account.

e We, that is, those of us who remain alive.] This hath been interpreted by many, as an intimation, that the apostle expected to be found alive at the day of judgment; and on that interpretation, some have urged it as an instance of his entertaining, at least for a while, mistaken notions on that head, as if the day of the Lord were nearly approaching. But this is directly contrary to his own ex lication of the mat-

ter, 2 Thes. ii. 1, &c. as well as to other passages in which he expresses his expectation of death. Compare Phil. i 20; and 1 Cor. vi. 14; 2 Cor iv. 14; 2 Tim. iv. 6 Others have pleaded this passage in favour of that doctrine, which teaches the resurrection of some most eminent saints, be fore the main body of believers, and this, as most of the patrons of this scheme have explained it, in order to share with Christ in the glories and felicities of his personal reign upon earth. But to me it seems mos natural to suppose that Paul here speaks as one of the Christian body, though h was not one of that particular number concerning whom he directly asserts what is here said. Thus Hosea says, (Hos. xii. 4,) God spake with us in Bethel; and the Psalmist, lxvi. 6, we rejoiced, that is, a the Red sea when divided; and lxxxi. 5. I heard a language I understood not, that is, in Egypt, though neither were in existence at the times when the facts referred to happened. It is very unjust in Orobio to represent this as an artifice of the apostle to invite people to Christianity, by th expectation of being taken up alive to heaven in a very little time. Lim. Col. p. 75. His explication of this matter in the next epistle is abundantly sufficient to absolve him of all such suspicions, and indeed the sincerity that appeared in his whole conduct, evidently shews him to have been incapable of any such design. Compare Lamothe on Insp. p. 133-141.

The dead in Christ shall rise first.

the coming of the Lord to judgment, shall not so prevent those who are asleep, as to be glorified before them. For the Lord himself, our great and blessed Redeemer, arrayed in all his own glory, and that of his Father, shall in that great day descend from heaven, with a triumphant shout, raised by millions of happy attendant spirits. His appearance shall be proclaimed with the voice of the great archangel, even with the trumpet of God, which shall then sound louder than it did on mount Sinai when the law was given. And the dead in Christ shall all in a moment be awakened by it, and shall rise out of their graves in the first place, springing forth in forms of glory, to the infinite astonishment of the surviving world. And afterwards we, that is, those of us who are left alive at the time when this most awful and important day opens, shall together with them, by a mighty and instantaneous operation of the Divine power, be snatched up into the clouds, in order to our meeting the Lord in the region of the air, where his throne shall then be erected; and we, having been openly acknowledged and acquitted by him, shall be assessors with him in that judgment to which wicked men and angels are there to be brought forth; and, when the final sentence is passed upon them, shall return to heaven, with our reascending Saviour, and so shall we be with the Lord for ever, and all share a blissful eternity in the sight and participation of his glory. There.

c With the voice of the archangel] I cannot think, with Mr. Peirce, that the archangel is Christ himself, so called as the great ruler of angels. There seems an evident impropriety in thus varying the expression, if it be only intended to say, that Christ shall shout as he descends: nor are the scriptures, to which this learned writer refers. (viz. 1 Sam iii. 21; 1 Cor. i. 7, 8.) by any means parallel examples. See Peirce on Phil. ii. 9.

g The dead in Christ shall rise first.] It has generally been inferred from hence, that good men shall rise before the wicked, and 1 Cor. xv. 25, seems to favour it. But this text only asserts their rising, before the saints who are found alive shall be changed.

h Caught up.] Not, says Dr. John Scott, by the ministry of angels, (Christian Life, Vol. III. p. 1204,) but by the vigorous activity of our glorified body, which Mr. Piggot (Serm. ii. p. 67) supposes shall be refined to such a degree of spirituality as to be able to tread air; and Mr. Whiston has a notion analogous to it. (App to Boyle’s Lect.) I pretend not to determine on the nicety of questions like these. Only I cannot think the expression of being caught, or snatched up, suits the exertion of what shall then be a natural power; nor can I suppose that we shall have any thing to do with air in the state which is to succeed the great day, in which the elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the heavens being on fire shall be directed, 2 Pet. iii. 12.

Reflections on the general resurrection.

comfort one another fore when your hearts are distressed with grief, sect. with these words. for the loss of your pious friends, or on any oth- vi. er occasion which can arise in this mortal life, 1Thes. comfort yourselves and one another with these iv. 18. words; the tenor of which is so important, and the truth contained in them so certain, as being taught by the infallible dictates of the Spirit of God, and revealed to us by him, from whose fidelity, power, and grace, we expect this complete salvation.i

IMPROVEMENT.

O! WHO can be sufficiently thankful for the strong consolations verse which these Divine words administer! How many drooping 18 hearts have been cheered by them in every age, while successively mourning over the pious dead! How often have we ourselves been driven to them, as to a sacred anchor, when our hearts have been overwhelmed within us, and if God continue us a few years longer, what repeated occasions may arise of flying to them again! Let us charge it upon our hearts, that we do hon- 13 our to our holy profession in every circumstance, and particularly in our sorrows as well as our joys. When Providence is pleased to make such breaches upon us, let us not sorrow as those who have no hope for our deceased friends, or for ourselves. Surely we cannot doubt the very first and most fundamental articles of our faith, the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Son of 14 God; and if we do indeed assuredly believe these, what a blessed train of consequences will they draw after them! and this consequence most apparently, that they who sleep in Jesus shall not finally perish, but shall be brought with him to grace his triumph.

And O what a triumph shall that be! Let us now anticipate the joy with which, if true believers, we shall then lift up our heads, and see our complete salvation drawing nigh. What 15 though we die and moulder in the grave? the saints then alive shall not prevent us: though the last memorial of our names may long have perished from the earth, it shall appear that they are written in heaven. And when the Lord himself descends from 16 heaven with that earth rending shout, when the trump of God shall sound, his dead shall live, like his dead body shall they revive; they that dwell in the dust shall arise and sing, for his dew

i As being taught, &c.] The MSS. of New College in Oxford, and the Barbarine Library, (No 1 of each,) add to λογικ πιτοί the words πι πνευματίες, comfort one another with these words of the Spirit. And though I see no reason to believe that addition authentic, yet, as the sense is just and right, I have expressed it in the paraphrase, as I often do in such cases; that if peradventure any thing that belonged to the original has been omitted in the received copies, (which I hardly suspect,) the reader may one way or another meet with it.

The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night;

vi. is as that falling upon herbs, and the earth shall cast forth its dead. (Isa. xxvi. 19.)

But who can now conceive the rapture with which so many millions shall start up at once from their beds of dust, all arrayed in robes of glory, and, spurning the earth in which they have been so long intombed, and all that is mortal and corruptible, shall soar aloft in one joyful company with those who shall then be found alive, to meet the Lord in the air, forming a mighty host, bright as the sun, clear as the moon, and awful as an army with banners; (Cant. vi. 10;) they shall soar to meet their Lord, attracted by Divine love, and borne on in their flight by an all-mighty power. We shall ascend to him, we shall be owned by him, we shall be seated near him; for Christ who is our life shall appear, therefore shall we appear with him in glory; (Col. iii. 4.) Nor shall it be merely the triumph of one day, or of any limited period, how long soever. It is the promise of his faithfulness and of his love, that so we shall ever be with the Lord. It is a glory that never shall decay, a meeting secure from all danger, from all possibility of future separation. In what circumstance of affliction shall not these consolations be felt? What torrent of tears shall they not be able to stop? What groans of distressed nature shall they not be sufficient to turn into songs of joy? Thanks, everlasting, ever new, ever growing thanks be to God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ, in the views of such a felicity! And let the whole choir of saints, the living and the dead, unite in one joyful Amen.