1 Thessalonians 4

Finally, brothers and sisters, we ask you, and we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus: you learned from us how you should live so that God is pleased with you. Now do it more and more.

1Furthermore 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.

Note"Walk" is the King James rendering of a standard biblical idiom for the whole conduct of a life, not for physical walking. It appears again in verse 12. "Beseech" and "exhort" translate two verbs of urging; the second of them, parakaleo, is the same word translated "comfort" in verse 18.

2You know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.

2For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

3This is what God wants for you: that you be holy, set apart for him. So stay away from sexual sin.

3For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

Note"Sanctification" translates a Greek word built on the root meaning set apart or made holy. The same root produces "sanctification" in verse 4 and "holiness" in verse 7, so one idea runs through the whole section, though the King James uses different English words for it. "Fornication" translates porneia, a broad Greek term covering sexual activity outside marriage of any kind. In modern English "fornication" has narrowed to sex between unmarried people; the Greek word is wider than that.

4Each of you must learn to keep control of his own body in a way that is holy and honorable.

4That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

Note"Possess his vessel" is literally "acquire" or "gain control of his vessel," and readers have understood it two ways since antiquity. "Vessel" may be a figure for a person's own body, so the sense is self control; or it may mean a wife, as a term for the partner one takes, so the sense is marrying honorably rather than out of lust. The Greek allows both, and the verse does not settle it. The King James "honour" is the 1611 spelling of honor.

5Do not live driven by lustful craving, the way the Gentiles do, the nations that do not know God.

5Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:

Note"Concupiscence" is a now obsolete English word for strong craving or desire, usually sexual. The phrase "the lust of concupiscence" translates a Greek pair meaning passion of desire, that is, craving allowed to drive behavior. "Gentiles" translates the Greek word for the nations, meaning everyone who is not Jewish. Paul is writing to non Jewish converts and still uses the word for the outside world they came from.

6And no one should cross the line and take advantage of a fellow believer in this matter, because the Lord punishes all such things. We told you this before and warned you seriously.

6That 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.

Note"Go beyond" translates a verb meaning to overstep a boundary, and "defraud" a verb meaning to take more than one's share at someone else's expense. "His brother" means a fellow member of the community, not a blood relative. The King James "in any matter" could also be translated "in this matter," since the Greek has the definite article. On the first reading the warning covers business dealings generally; on the second it is still about sexual conduct, and the wrong is against another man's marriage. Translators are divided.

7God did not call us to live an unclean life. He called us to a holy life.

7For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

Note"Uncleanness" translates a word for impurity that in Jewish usage covered both ritual defilement and moral corruption. Here it is set against "holiness," the state of being set apart, which continues the vocabulary of verses 3 and 4.

8So the person who rejects this is not rejecting a human being. He is rejecting God, the same God who gives you his Holy Spirit.

8He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

Note"Despiseth" does not mean hates or looks down on. In 1611 it carried the older sense of setting something aside or refusing it, and the Greek verb means to reject or disregard an instruction. The line is about brushing off the teaching, not about contempt for a person.

9About loving each other as brothers and sisters, you do not need anyone to write to you, because God himself has taught you to love one another.

9But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

Note"Brotherly love" translates philadelphia, a single Greek word for the affection between members of one family. Early Christians borrowed it for the bond among members of a congregation, who addressed each other as brothers and sisters. "Taught of God" uses "of" in its older sense of by, so it means taught by God.

10And you really do show that love to all the believers throughout the region of Macedonia. Still, brothers and sisters, we urge you to keep growing in it more and more.

10And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;

NoteMacedonia was a Roman province covering the north of what is now Greece. Thessalonica was its largest city and administrative center, and other congregations Paul had contact with, such as Philippi and Berea, were in the same province.

11Make it your aim to live a quiet life, to take care of your own affairs, and to work with your own hands, just as we told you.

11And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

Note"Study" in 1611 English meant to strive after or make it one's ambition, not to read or research. The Greek verb is one normally used of seeking public honor, so the phrase is close to a deliberate paradox: make it your ambition to be unambitious. "Work with your own hands" points to manual labor, which in a Greek city was widely regarded as beneath a free man of standing; the alternative for some was living off the support of a wealthy patron.

12Then you will live in a decent way in the eyes of outsiders, the people who are not part of the church, and you will not have to depend on anyone.

12That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

Note"Honestly" in 1611 meant decently, respectably, in a way that looks right to others. It did not mean truthfully. "Them that are without" is a standard early Christian phrase for people outside the community. The closing phrase is ambiguous in Greek. It can mean "have need of no one," that is, not be financially dependent on anybody, or "have need of nothing," that is, not go short. The King James takes the second; many modern translations take the first.

13Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who have fallen asleep in death. We do not want you to grieve the way other people do, the ones who have no hope.

13But 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.

Note"Asleep" is a common ancient euphemism for death, used by Jews, Greeks and Romans alike, and found on gravestones. It appears again in verses 14 and 15. The point of the word here is that death is a state one is brought out of, but the metaphor itself was ordinary language, not a special Christian coinage. "Others" translates a phrase better rendered "the rest," meaning everyone outside the community, the same people called outsiders in verse 12.

14For we believe that Jesus died and rose again. In the same way, God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

NoteThe Greek phrase order leaves an ambiguity the English keeps. "Them also which sleep in Jesus" can attach "in Jesus" to the sleeping, meaning those who died as believers, or to the bringing, meaning that God will bring them through Jesus. Both readings are old and neither is ruled out by the grammar.

15We tell you this by the word of the Lord: we who are still alive, still here when the Lord comes, will certainly not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep in death.

15For 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.

Note"Prevent" is the most misleading word in this chapter for a modern reader. In 1611 it meant to go before or arrive ahead of, from the Latin praevenire, and it had no sense of hindering or stopping. The line says the living will not get there first, ahead of the dead. "By the word of the Lord" marks what follows as a message received rather than an opinion; the phrase is standard prophetic language in the Old Testament.

16For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, the chief angel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead who belong to Christ will rise first.

16For 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:

Note"Shout" translates keleusma, a word used for a commander's order shouted to troops or a coxswain's call to rowers: a short loud word of command, not a cheer. "Archangel" means chief or ranking angel, from Greek words for first and messenger. "Trump" is simply the older English word for trumpet. In Israelite practice trumpet blasts summoned the assembly, signaled war, and announced the arrival of a king, and all three associations sit behind the image.

17After that, we who are still alive and still here will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

17Then 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.

Note"Caught up" translates harpazo, a verb meaning to seize or snatch away suddenly and by force. The Latin version used rapere, which is where the English word rapture comes from; the word itself does not appear in this text. "To meet the Lord" uses apantesis, a noun with a specific civic use in the Greek world: the formal going out of a city's citizens to greet an arriving ruler or dignitary outside the walls and escort him in. Whether Paul intends that picture here, and so whether the escorted party then continues on to earth, is debated; the sentence says only that the meeting happens in the air and that the result is being with the Lord permanently.

18So encourage one another with these words.

18Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Note"Comfort" translates parakaleo, the same verb rendered "exhort" in verse 1 and "beseech" in verses 1 and 10. It covers both consoling someone and urging them on, and English has no single word that does both.