1 Thessalonians 4
DOYLYVer. 1.—so ye would abound more and more.] Daily making further improvements in piety and virtue. Dean Stanhope.
1 Thessalonians 4:2
2.—what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.] Hence we may learn, that the instructions and rules for a holy life, which the Apostles gave to the churches, are to be regarded as the commandments of the Lord and as the will of God; they being dictated by His Spirit, and delivered by His authority. See Luke x. 16. Burkitt, Dr. Whitby.
1 Thessalonians 4:3
3.—that ye should abstain from fornication:] That is, all uncleanness contrary to chastity. The language of the Apostle here intimates, that as there are no sins to which human nature is more inclined than the lusts of the flesh, so there are none which a Christian should more guard against, and strive to mortify and subdue, as being contrary to that purity of nature and life, which the Gospel requires, and which the Holy Spirit assists us in attaining. Burkitt.
1 Thessalonians 4:4
4.—his vessel] That is, his body: thus the frail mortal bodies of Christian ministers are called “earthen vessels,” 2 Cor. iv. 7. Parkhurst. The body was called by the Greeks and Romans “a vessel,” because it contains the soul, and is its instrument. The Apostle’s meaning may be, lest every man consider his body as a vessel consecrated to the service of God; and let him dread the impiety of polluting it, by any vile dishonourable indulgence whatever, or by putting it to any base use. Dr. Macknight.
1 Thessalonians 4:5
5.—even as the Gentiles] Among whom these lusts abounded, and by whom they were allowed. See the notes on Eph. iv. 17, 18. These exhortations were particularly fit to be urged upon the Thessalonians, considering the licentiousness and impurity, which are described as prevailing among them in their heathen state. Dr. Whitby.
1 Thessalonians 4:6
- That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter:] Rather, ‘in this matter,’ or ‘in the matter,’ namely, that before mentioned. See the margin. The meaning is, that no man invade another’s right, or transgress the stated bounds, in such things especially as the Apostle has been speaking of. The Bishops of our Church in King Henry the Eighth’s time, in the book named ‘A necessary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian man,’ mentioning this text of Scripture
of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
1 Thessalonians 4:8
- He therefore that despiseth, &c.] And let him, who refuses obedience to these commands, know that the contempt lights upon God; whose Holy Spirit, given to His Apostles, is affronted, when their authority is set at nought; and whose Spirit, given to every Christian at his baptism, is grieved, and resisted, and driven away, when such pollute themselves and profane the dwelling which He came to sanctify.
In the foregoing passage a modest intimation is given, in general terms, of actions that cannot with decency be particularly named. For the same reason the interpreters of the Gospel cannot be expected to enlarge on the several ways, by which the sin of uncleanness pollutes. But the less capable this subject is of being conveniently treated in publick, the more exact it becomes persons to be in private, in the examination of their own consciences concerning it: especially since the Apostle hath used such pressing motives in this Scripture by saying, that our sanctification is the commandment of the Lord Jesus, and the will of God; that the contrary affections are the scandal of the Gentiles, “who know not God;” that Christians “are called, not unto uncleanness, but unto holiness;” and that any of those, who behave themselves unsatisfy to that call, draw down vengeance upon their own heads, and “despise God and the Holy Spirit He hath given us.” The sum of all which passages may be reduced to this, that sins of uncleanness in particular are a high provocation to Almighty God; that they forfeit the privilege, and defeat the ends, and become the greatest scandal and dishonour, of our Christian profession. Dean Stanhope.
1 Thessalonians 4:9
9.—are taught of God] By this new commandment that we “love one another,” 1 John iii. 11, 23; iv. 21; Matt. xxii. 39. We are taught by God, saith Clement of Alexandria, by having the Holy Scriptures, and by the example of Christ who “loved us and hath given Himself for us,” Eph. v. 2. Dr. Whitby. The Apostle alludes to Isai. liv. 13, where the Prophet speaks of the effectual instruction which believers should receive under the Gospel dispensation. Dr. Macknight.
1 Thessalonians 4:11
11.—and to do your own business.] Not meddling with other men’s matters. Drs. Hammond and Whitby.
Let a man, that desires to pass through this world inoffensively, resolve to be very diligent in his particular profession and calling; and if he has none, to make one
Paul exhorteth them to sorrow moderately for the dead. Amo DOMINI 64. work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
Or, of no man. 12 That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack || of nothing.
1 Thessalonians 4:12
- — that ye may have lack of nothing.] He doth not say, that ye may abound in riches, purchase great estates, or advance your families; but “that ye may have lack of nothing;” which is enough in all reason; for he who lacks nothing is as rich as he that hath all things: for he hath all things he lacks. But for this purpose we must “study” first “to be quiet,” to be peaceably with all men: and then we must study likewise “to do our own business,” those things which are proper to ourselves and to our own calling, without meddling with other men’s affairs any farther than to do them all the good we can. So that in short, whatsoever trade, calling, office, or employment a man is of, it is his duty to mind it; and to mind it also with care and diligence, that by God’s blessing upon it he may be able to maintain himself and his family by it. Bp. Beveridge.
1 Thessalonians 4:13
- — that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.] Namely, of a resurrection. Pyle. All sorrow for the death of friends is not unlawful or forbidden by the Christian religion: which does not destroy our natural affections, but teaches us to moderate them, and keep them under the government of reason and religion. Burkitt.
Amongst the temporal evils, to which we are exposed, is the loss of friends and near relations; that tax, which most of us pay for dwelling here any considerable time. In these trials sorrows will arise, and tears will flow. St. Paul sets this matter in its true light, requiring of us no stoical indifference and unconcern. He gives us leave to be sorrowful; and we could not help being so, whether he gave us leave or not. But he says, “Sorrow not” like the Pagans, like those “which have no hope: for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him:—and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” Dr. Jortin.
1 Thessalonians 4:14
- — even so &c.] The sentence is elliptical. “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so” are we to believe that “them also which sleep in Jesus,
1 Thessalonians 4:15
- — that we which are alive] That those, which shall be found alive at the second coming of the Lord to judgment. Bp. Hall. It is well observed by the Greek Scholias, that the Apostle speaks these words not of himself, but of the Christians that were to remain alive at the day of judgment: for he well knew he was not personally to live till the resurrection; nay, he himself expected a resurrection, see 2 Cor. iv. 14; and he laboured that he might “attain unto the resurrection of the dead,” Phil. iii. 11. Dr. Whitby.
In his second Epistle to the Thessalonians, written the same year as this, he cautions them against misunderstanding, as it seems some of them had done, what he said on that head in his first; and mentions things which were to intervene between his own days and the resurrection, and must take up time, 2 Thess. ii. 1, &c. In other epistles too, he speaks of his own dying, first as likely, Phil. i. 20, then as certain to happen soon, 2 Thm. iv. 6. And therefore by “we,” in the places misunderstood, he meant only in general, we, or such of us, Christians: not designing to intimate, that he himself should be one of the number. In this sense he frequently uses both “we,” and even “I,” elsewhere, as many approved authors have done in different nations and ages. Abp. Secker.
— shall not prevent] That is, anticipate, or be before, those who are dead. Parkhurst.
1 Thessalonians 4:16
- — and the dead in Christ shall rise first.] Namely, before those who are alive shall be changed. Burkitt.
1 Thessalonians 4:18
- Wherefore comfort one another with these words.] That is, draw matter of consolation to yourselves from the foregoing considerations, against the loss of your deceased friends: intimating that the best and choicest comforts for supporting the spirits of men under afflictions in general, and the loss of their relations in particular, are drawn from the holy Scriptures, and especially from the assurances which they give us of a resurrection from the grave, and a state of future immortality to the faithful believers in Christ Jesus. Burkitt.
Chap. V. The Apostle represents it to be needless for Christians to know the fixed time of Christ’s judgment; only he observes to them the suddenness and terror of it to wicked men, and exhorts them to such care and purity of conversation, as will prepare them for it, and render it joyful to them. He then admonishes them to entertain due esteem, and to shew