4 1 He exhorteth them 3 to holiness, 9 and brotherly love. 13 He forbiddeth them to sorrow after to manner of infidels. 15 He setteth out the history of our resurrection.
1 And [a]furthermore we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that ye [b]increase more and more, as ye have received of us, how ye ought to walk, and to please God.
2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
3 (A)[c]For this is the will of God even your [d]sanctification, and that ye should abstain from fornication,
4 [e]That everyone of you should know, how to possess his vessel in holiness and honor,
5 [f]And not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
6 (B)[g]That no man oppress or defraud his brother in any matter: for the Lord is avenger of all such things, as we also have told you beforetime, and testified.
7 (C)For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
8 He therefore that [h]despiseth these things, despiseth not man, but God who hath even given you his holy Spirit.
9 [i]But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that I write unto you: (D)for ye are taught of God to love one another.
10 Yea, and that thing verily ye do unto all the brethren, which are throughout all Macedonia: but we beseech you brethren, that ye increase more and more,
11 [j]And that ye study to be quiet, and to meddle with your own business, [k]and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you.
12 That ye may behave yourselves honestly toward them that are without, and that nothing be lacking unto you.
13 ¶ [l]I would not brethren, have you ignorant [m]concerning them [n]which are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope.
14 [o]For if we believe that Jesus is dead, and is risen, even so them which sleep in [p]Jesus, will God [q]bring with him.
15 [r]For this say we unto you by the [s]word of the Lord, that [t]we which live, and are remaining in the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent them which sleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a [u]shout, and with the voice of the Archangel, and (E)with the trumpet of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then shall we which live and remain, be [v]caught up with them also in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
18 Wherefore, comfort yourselves one another with these words.
Footnotes
- 1 Thessalonians 4:1 Divers exhortations, the ground whereof is this, to be mindful of those things, which they have heard of the Apostle.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:1 That ye labor to excel more and more, and daily pass yourselves.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3 This is the sum of those things, which he delivered them, to dedicate themselves wholly to God. And he condemneth plainly all filthiness through lust, because it is altogether contrary to the will of God.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:3 See John 19:17.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:4 Another reason, because it defileth the body.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:5 The third, because the Saints are discerned from them which know not God, by honesty and purity.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:6 Secondly, he reprehendeth all violent oppression and immoderate desire, and showeth most severely as the Prophet of God, that God will revenge such wickedness.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:8 These commandments which I gave you.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:9 Thirdly, he requireth a ready mind to all manner of lovingkindness, and exhorteth them to profit more and more in that virtue.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:11 He condemneth unquiet brains, and such as are curious in matters which appertain not unto them.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:11 He rebuketh idleness and slothfulness, which vices whosoever are given unto, fall into other wickedness, to the great offense of the Church.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13 The third part of the Epistle, which is interlaced among the former exhortations (which he returneth unto afterward) wherein he speaketh of mourning for the dead, and the manner of the resurrection, and of the latter day.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13 We must take heed that we do not immoderately bewail the dead, that is, as they used to do which think that they are utterly perished.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:13 A confirmation: for death is but a sleep of the body (for he speaketh of the faithful) until the Lord cometh.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:14 A reason of the confirmation, for seeing that the head is risen, the members also shall rise, and that by the virtue of God.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:14 They die in Christ, which continue in faith, whereby they are grafted into Christ, even to the last gasp.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:14 Will call their bodies out of their graves, and join their souls to them again.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:15 The manner of the resurrection shall be thus: The bodies of the dead shall be as it were raised out of sleep, at the sound of the trumpet of God, Christ himself shall descend from heaven. The Saints (for he speaketh properly of them) which shall then be found alive together with the dead which shall rise, shall be taken up into the clouds to meet the Lord, and shall be in perpetual glory with him.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:15 In the Name of the Lord, as though he himself speaks unto you.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:15 He speaketh of these things, as though he should be one of them whom the Lord shall find alive at his coming, because that time is uncertain, and therefore every one of us ought to be in such a readiness, as if the Lord were coming at every moment.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:16 The word which the Apostle useth here, signifieth properly that encouragement which mariners use one to another, when they altogether with one shout put forth their oars and row together.
- 1 Thessalonians 4:17 Suddenly and in the twinkling of an eye.