back to the
King James Bible |
Next Chapter |
Previous Chapter
4:1 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, so ye would abound more and more.
4:2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
4:3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye
should abstain from
fornication: 4:4 That every one of you should know
how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; 4:5 Not in the
lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: 4:6
That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because
that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned
you and testified.
4:7 For God hath not called us unto
uncleanness, but unto holiness.
4:8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath
also given unto us his holy Spirit.
4:9 But as touching
brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you:
for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
4:10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all
Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and
more; 4:11 And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business,
and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 4:12 That ye may
walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack
of nothing.
4:13 But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning
them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope.
4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which
are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent
them which are asleep.
4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in
Christ shall rise first: 4:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the
air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
4:18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
1 Thessalonians
Book: 1 Thessalonians
Chapter: 4
Overview:
Exhortations to purity and
Holiness.
(1-8) To brotherly
Love,
peaceable behaviour, and diligence.
(9-12) Not to sorrow unduly
for the
Death of godly relations and friends, considering the
glorious resurrection of their bodies at
Christ's second coming.
(13-18)
1-8 To abide in the
Faith of the
Gospel is not enough, we must
abound in the work of
Faith. The rule according to which all
ought to walk and act, is the
Commandments given
By the
Lord
Jesus Christ.
Sanctification, in the renewal of their souls
under the influences of the Holy
Spirit, and attention to
appointed duties, constituted the will of
God respecting them.
In aspiring after this renewal of the soul unto
Holiness, strict
restraint must be
Put upon the appetites and senses of the body,
and
On the thoughts and inclinations of the will, which lead to
wrong uses of them. The
Lord calls none into his family to live
unholy lives, but that they may be taught and enabled to walk
before him in
Holiness. Some make
Light of the precepts of
Holiness, because they hear them from men; but they are
God's
commands, and to break them is to despise
God.
9-12 We should notice in others what is good, to their praise,
that we may engage them to abound therein more and more. All who
are savingly taught of
God, are taught to
Love one another. The
teaching of the
Spirit exceeds the teachings of men; and men's
teaching is vain and useless, unless
God teach. Those remarkable
for this or any other
Grace, need to increase therein, as
Well
as to persevere to the
End. It is very desirable to have a calm
and quiet temper, and to be of a peaceable and quiet behaviour.
Satan is busy to trouble us; and we have in our hearts what
disposes us to be unquiet; therefore let us study to be quiet.
Those who are busy-bodies, meddling in other men's matters, have
little quiet in their own minds, and cause great disturbances
among their neighbours. They seldom mind the other exhortation,
to be diligent in their own
Calling, to work with their own
hands. Christianity does not take us from the work and duty of
our particular callings, but teaches us to be diligent therein.
People often
By slothfulness reduce themselves to great straits,
and are liable to many wants; while such as are diligent in
their own business, earn their own
Bread, and have great
pleasure in
So doing.
13-18 Here is comfort for the relations and friends of those
who die in the
Lord. Grief for the
Death of friends is lawful;
we may weep for our own loss, though it may be their gain.
Christianity does not forbid, and
Grace does not do away, our
natural affections. Yet we must not be excessive in our sorrows;
this is too much like those who have
No Hope of a better
Life.
Death is an unknown thing, and we know little about the state
after
Death; yet the doctrines of the resurrection and the
second
Coming of Christ, are a remedy against the fear of
Death,
and undue sorrow for the
Death of our
Christian friends; and of
these doctrines we have full
Assurance. It will be some
happiness that all the saints shall meet, and remain together
for ever; but the principal happiness of
Heaven is to be with
the
Lord, to see him, live with him, and enjoy him for ever. We
should support one another in times sorrow; not deaden one
another's spirits, or weaken one another's hands. And this may
be done
By the many lessons to be learned from the resurrection
of the dead, and the second
Coming of Christ. What! comfort a
Man By telling him he is going to appear before the
Judgment-seat of
God! Who can feel comfort from those words?
That
Man alone with whose
Spirit the
Spirit of
God bears
Witness
that his sins are blotted out, and the thoughts of whose
Heart
are purified
By the Holy
Spirit,
So that he can
Love God, and
worthily magnify his name. We are not in a safe state unless it
is thus with us, or we are desiring to be
So.