1 Thessalonians 4

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Now, my brethren, by all the kindness which you bear to us, we entreat you, and by all the obligations that the Christian faith lays upon you, and the care of your own eternal welfare, we advise you, in the presence of God, that ye walk exactly by the rule that is set you, and daily improve and grow in that piety which is already in you,

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According to the strict commands to this purpose which we gave you in our first preaching to you.

³ make straight, κατευθύνει.

⁴ holy ones, ἀγίων.

¹ Here the King’s MS. adds,

καθώς και περιπατεύει, even as ye also walk.

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For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

For this is punctually required of you by Christ under the gospel, that ye should preserve yourselves in chastity or perfect purity from the sins of the flesh, of what kind soever:

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Every one by study, and by exercise or practice, to learn and enable himself most strictly to preserve himself in perfect chastity in a married or single life:

[a] his vessel] It is the conceit of a learned man that σκεῦος ἰαυτοῦ, his own vessel, here signifies his lawful or proper wife: but there is no example nor analogy for this interpretation, unless that the wife is elsewhere called the weaker vessel, 1 Pet. iii. 7. But that supposes the man to be a vessel too, and concludes no peculiarity of that title to the woman, but only that she is the weaker. The wives are indeed by some called ἄρουραι ὑμῶν, your fields, in Demetrius Cydonius, by others παετὸς ὑμῶν, your dwelling, in Euthymius Zygabenus; but nowhere σκεῦος, vessel. And indeed the context doth otherwise incline it to denote the man’s own body. For that which is opposed, ver. 5, to this possessing his own vessel with chastity and honour, is πάθος ἐπιθυμίας, the passion of lust, that is, inordinate lust, as the Gentiles, &c. Now those Gentile impious unnatural practices were not peculiarly opposed to conjugal chastity, but simply to chastity or purity, whether in marriage or out of marriage. And to that best agrees the notion of his own vessel, as it signifies his own flesh, his own body. Now the word σκεῦος, signifying simply an utensil, or instrument of use, (see note [b] on Matt. xxi.) the body being the great utensil or instrument of the mind, is fitly so called. Thus Barnabas in his Epistle calls the body of Christ σκεῦος τοῦ Ἰθνεύματος, the vessel or utensil of the Spirit; and so the Jews call the body כוה, an instrument, and the Greek σκεῦος is very near that, only the first σ abundant. This possessing, or (as κτῶσθαι signifies sometimes in the idiom of these writers) preserving, or keeping (Luke xxi. 19.) the body in purity and honour, is the perfect chastity either in celibacy or the conjugal state, in opposition to all those unnatural lusts which are called πάθη ἀτιμίας, Rom. i. 26, dishonourable

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Not in any vile unnatural practices, as for want of knowledge of the true God the Gentiles do.

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Not to yield to irregular inordinate lust, to commit filthiness with his fellow-Christian in those things that are not to be mentioned plainly; for as these are the sins that on Sodom, on the nations, and in all times on those Gentiles God hath punished severely with utter excision, so is the like still to be expected on all that are guilty of such villainies, as I have formerly assured and warned you.

[b] go beyond] Ὑπερβαίνειν is a general word to signify transgressing of the due limits in any thing; ὑπερβαίνειν ὀροθεσία, “to go beyond the bounds,” παρίβασις ὕρκων, “transgressing of oaths and obligations,” saith Hesychius; and when the close of Hesiod’s ἔργα καὶ ἡμ. is

— ὑπερβασίας ἀλειένων,

that is, saith Proclus, ἐκκλίνειν τὰς παραβάσεις τοῦ ὀρθοῦ καὶ καλοῦ σκοποῦ, “to avoid all deviations from the right and good mark,” and so in Phocylides,

— μὴ γὰρ ὑπερβῆς, and — ὑπερβασίη δ’ ἀλεεινή,

mischievous transgressing, this being applied to matters of uncleanness, (as appears ver. 7, and by the modest, civil expression of ἐν τῷ πράγματι, in a matter, and by the addition of πλεονεκτεῖν, which hath formerly been explained to belong to inordinacy or unnatural lusts,) will be concluded most probably to signify those filthinesses which exceed the bounds and law of nature. Hence perhaps it is that Hesychius hath rendered ὑπέρβασις, ὕβρις, contumely, in that notion of the word wherein Clemens in his Pædagogus, l. 2. cites it, οὐδ’ ἐπ’ ἄρρενος ὕβριν, &c., that dishonourable, villanous practice here mentioned, ver. 5. And thus we find ἀνδροβασίω used by Epiphanius of the Gnostics, πᾶν εἶδος ἀνδροβασιῶν καὶ λογνεστέρων ὁμιλιῶν πρὸς γυναῖκας, &c. And to this purpose it may perhaps be further observable, that the Hebrew א2 or א12, from whence is the Greek βῶ or βάω, (the old word from whence the rest of the tenses of βαίνω come,) doth in the Old Testament signify the husband’s companying with the wife, and is rendered going in unto her, and accordingly βαίνειν and ἐπιβαίνειν are by humane authors used in that sense, applied to other creatures. Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 5. cap. 14, speaking of an elephant, Βαίνει πέντε ἐτῶν ἢ ἐξ ὢν, and

— συνάντ’ ἐπιβήτορα καπρὸν,

in Homer, Odys. ψ., and ἀναβαίνουσιν ἐπὶ τὰς μητέρας οἱ ἵπποι, Arist. Histor. Animal. l. 6. c. 12. And to the same sense βατεύειν, and in Cicero the Latin batuere. Another ordinary notion there is, wherein these two words, ὑπερβαίνειν and πλεονεκτεῖν, which are here used together, do agree, viz. to denote superiority, or being in a more eminent degree. So saith Chrysostom of the bishops’ superiority above presbyters in the point of ordination, Τῇ χειροτονίᾳ μόνη ὑπερβεβήκασι, καὶ τούτῳ μόνον δοκοῦσι πλεονεκτεῖν, “In this they exceed, or have more power.” But this notion being by the context rendered unappliable to this place, will only signify that these two words, being of the same importance in other things, may probably be so in this matter also, wherein πλεονεξία is so visibly used in these sacred writings for unnatural, unclean excesses. See Ephes. v. 5. Theophylact, though he acknowledge the phrase to belong to matters of uncleanness, and so interprets ἐν τῷ πράγματι, ἐν μίξει, yet thinks it belongs peculiarly to μοιχεία, adultery, which, saith he, is here fitly called πλεονεξία and παράβασις, (I suppose it should be read ὑπέρβασις, that it may be answerable

HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II.

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And accordingly you must resolve that Christianity is far from giving liberty for unnatural uncleanness; it is on the contrary an obligation to all the purity imaginable.

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For whatsoever befall us, we have matter of exceeding joy, John xiv. 19, such as if a man should return to life again: (see psalm xxii. 26.)

ᵇ once more be able to visit you, and complete or fill up those things which are necessary to your faith (see Mark xii. 6.) and perseverance in it.

ᶜ give us a speedy journey unto you.

And he that despiseth these commands of ours in this matter, given by me from Christ, ver. 2, as special parts of the Christian faith, and indulgeth to those contrary sins, he despiseth the commands and provoketh the displeasure and wrath of God, and sinneth against that sanctifying Spirit which God giveth to believers.

[b] live] To live, beside the literal notation of it, signifies also to be cheerful or merry, to rejoice. So psalm xxii. 26, your heart shall live for ever, which is a consequent of eating and being satisfied, and praising God. So John xiv. 19. Because I live, ye shall live also. In the first place it is literally taken for Christ’s resurrection, but in the second for their rejoicing, such as was caused by the recovery of a friend from death to life, (and these joined by the figure ἀντακάκλασις observed on note [k]) Matt. viii. And this is ordinary in all languages, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. And so here it is evidently used, we live, if, &c., that is, it is matter of infinite joy to us; and accordingly it follows, as an expression of exultancy, For what thanksgiving can we return for all the joy, &c.

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And as to that of purity from all the impure infusions of the Gnostic heretic, so for charity and peaceableness, (out of which they are as likely to seduce you, and infuse malice and bitterness against all orthodox Christians;) this I need not enlarge on by epistle, there being nothing to which the Christian faith more engages you than this, and your having received the faith makes it superfluous for me to exhort you to it; this is an inseparable effect of that, and that which hath been actually impressed on you.

[c] taught of God] The word θεοδίδακτος is all one with διδακτοὶ τοῦ Θεοῦ, the taught of God, John vi. 45; of which see note [d] there. Yet some difference there is. There Θεὸς is peculiarly God the Father, as appears vv. 37. 39. 44. 65; and so the taught of God are the followers, disciples of him, who, as being first such, (having that honest heart which hath always been taught them by God, and by his preventing grace wrought in them, and accepted by him,) do, when Christ is revealed to them, constantly receive and entertain him: but here Θεὸς, God, seems rather to signify Christ, speaking of that which was not in them till they were Christians, viz. brotherly love, at least was taught them and required of them most eminently by Christianity. (Thus in the Epistle of pope Gregory the Ninth to the university of Paris about Aristotle’s works, Nec philosophos se ostentent, sed satagant fieri theodidacti: “Let them not boast that they are philosophers, but let them be content that they are, or endeavour to be, God’s scholars,” that is, Christians, “instructed by the tractates of holy fathers,” as there it follows.) And therefore the εἰς τὸ ἀγαπᾶν, for the loving of one another, may either be a notation of the end, or only of the effect, and it is uncertain which. The word εἰς will bear either. If it be the end, then the sense is, that to this especially is their Christianity designed, that they love one another, their being Christians obliges them expressly to that, and makes his exhortation to it unnecessary. Thus St. Chrysostom applies the words of the prophet, they shall be all taught of God, to the perspicuity and plainness of the evangelical precepts, ˣ Σαφῇ καὶ δῆλα τὰ παρ’ ἑαυτῶν κατέστησαν ἅπασιν, ἄτε κοινοὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ὄντες διδά-

ˣ Tom. 5. p. 244. l. 25.

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And accordingly your practice hath been toward all your fellow-Christians in Macedonia; there hath been unity and peace in all those churches: only I exhort you to increase every day more and more in this grace,

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And to be as earnest to exceed all others in

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That by spending your time in honest labour you may both preserve your reputation entire among the Gentiles, (who will have an ill opinion of Christianity if it make men idle,) and that you may earn so much by your labour as may supply all your wants and necessities.

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Which is the sure means of obtaining that grace from God which may preserve you pure and holy, so as may be acceptable before him, who is both our God and our Father, at that great day now approaching to the destruction of the obdurate unbelievers, and rescue of the faithful, which is one coming of Christ with his angels, (see Jude 4,) and so in like manner at the dreadful day of doom.

CHAP. IV.

FURTHERMORE then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, ¹ so ye would abound more and more.

As for the state of the dead, (those especially that have fallen under the persecutions brought upon you by the unbelieving Jews (see note [i] ch. ii.) for your receiving and maintaining the faith,) wherein by your excess of sorrow it seems you want advice, I must exhort you to moderate that passion, and not to behave yourselves as they that believe not any resurrection or reward for their sufferings in another life.

14, 15. For upon our belief of Christ’s death and resurrection depends also the raising of their bodies that die for the testimony, or by occasion of the faith of Christ, and that so certainly and speedily, that they that do not die at all shall at the day of judgment have no advantage of them whose bodies have lain in the graves so many years, the rising of the one being in the same twinkling of an eye (1 Cor. xv. 52.) with the change of the other who are found alive.

[d] are asleep! That κοιμάσθαι, to sleep, signifies to die, to depart out of this world, (according to the scripture style,) there is no question. Only two things are here to be observed; 1st, that the word which is in the ordinary reading κεκομημένων in the preter tense, those that have fallen asleep, is in the king’s MS. κοιμωμένων, they that sleep, in the present, to note simply those that die, not only those that are already dead, but that die daily; remembering withal, that κοιμάσθαι, to sleep, is the word which is proper to express the death of the righteous, whose death is but a repose of their bodies in their graves or dormitories, and a rest of their souls in God’s hands: 2dly, that the men here peculiarly spoken of are those that die in the cause or for the faith of Christ. That sure is expressed by κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ, those that sleep through Jesus, that is, by occasion of him, or for Christianity sake; and so signifies those that have been persecuted, and died either by the hands of the persecutors, or before the time comes of Christ’s destroying the persecutors, and releasing the persecuted by that means. And the considering of this will give us the occasion of this discourse, and of that concerning the times and seasons following it, ch. v. 1. That the Christians at Thessalonica were sorely persecuted by the unbelieving Jews, and haled and dragged to the Roman officers, as disturbers of the civil peace, hath been evidenced note [h] on ch. ii. Against these persecutions the apostle designed to confirm and comfort them by this Epistle. And the direct way of doing it was to put them in mind of what he had told them when he was with them, that God’s judgments should shortly seize upon the unbelieving Jews, their persecutors, ch. ii. 16, and bring them relief by that means. Of this he speaks as of a thing known to them, ch. v. 1. But yet one objection there was either expressed by them, or foreseen and here answered by him, viz. that this deliverance being not yet come, some of the faithful either were daily put to death by the Roman officers upon the Jews’ instigation, (for the accusations brought against them were capital, Acts xvii. 6, 7.) and so were not thus rescued, or else did daily die before this promised deliverance came. And to this the apostle gives answer here, that they should not be discouraged or grieve for those which thus died, especially in the cause of Christ, because their souls, being by death brought to their harbour and their crown the sooner, their bodies, which alone were supposed to be the sufferers, were no way losers by it, being sure to be raised by Christ, (whose resurrection converted his death into advantage to him,) and that so speedily, at the sound of the doomsday trumpet, that they which should then be found alive, which have never died, should have no advantage of them; but on the other side, they that were dead for the faith of Christ should

8 2

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For this shall be the method of it: Christ shall come from heaven, and the archangel, that hath other angels under him, shall call them, to be ready at the presence of the Judge, summon all the world to appear before him, assembling them as with a shout or a voice or a trumpet every of them used to call assemblies together, and to summon them to appear before tribunals (see psalm xlvii. 5. 8, Jer. iv. 5, and vi. 1): and then, first, all the bodies of all pious men that ever were in the world shall rise out of their graves:

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And in the very moment that that is done, all that are alive on earth, as we now are, shall be carried by the angels into the clouds, there to meet Christ, and appear before him; and being adjudged by him to eternal bliss shall never part from Christ again, but enjoy his presence for ever.