Chapter 4

Chapter Four

¹ Finally, brethren, we ask you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you may abound the more. Since, he says, I have discoursed to you about what is fitting, hear also about the things that must always be heard. For the word “finally” signifies this—that is, continually and forever. And see his humility: that not even to exhort does he say he is himself worthy of trust, but he takes Christ along, saying this, that “Christ exhorts you through me.” And “you received” is not of words only, but of deeds; for he taught by deeds as well. And what do we exhort? That you may abound the more—that is, that you may be eager to do something beyond the commandment, and may surpass the injunctions. For just as the earth bears not only what is sown, so the soul ought not to stand still at the injunctions, but to go beyond them.

² For you know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus Christ. A “charge” has to do with things to be avoided, which when done bring punishment, but when not done bring no praise. There are indeed certain things which one ought not to charge—that is, not to restrain with a threat, but to leave to the judgment of the hearers; such as to empty oneself of money, and to keep virginity. For He who is able to receive it, he says, let him receive it. It is likely, then, that Paul charged them with much fear about certain matters. Therefore he does not set them down, but reminds them. And again he sets Christ in the midst: “For the things I charged are not mine,” he says, “but His”; so that He is either obeyed or set at nought.[1]

³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification. That is, chastity. And everywhere he charges concerning this—writing to Timothy, and to the Corinthians, and to the Hebrews. For the passion is tyrannical, and there is need of many and continual remedies.

⁴ That you abstain from all fornication. For many and intricate are the forms of it, which he could not bear even to name, but said simply, “all.”

⁵ That each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor. By “vessel” he means the body. When, then, we are chaste, and it is pure, we ourselves possess it; but when it is unclean, sin possesses it. For what sin commands, it makes the body do as a slave. But indeed it is then in honor, when it is chaste. So that sin is dishonor. And note the word “know”; for it shows that to be chaste is a matter of discipline and learning. And where are the Manichaeans and Marcionites who bring in “natures”?[2]

⁶ Not in the passion of lust. That is, not in a desire that has passion; for there is also a passionless desire, that of divine things. Or also, because he names “passions of lust” all the things that kindle desire; such as luxury, wealth, idleness, sloth—each of these might be called a passion of lust. We must, then, if we are to be chaste, admit no passion that kindles desire.

⁷ Even as the Gentiles who know not God. For not knowing God, they have no hope of recompense either. Therefore they indulge everything to pleasure.

⁸ That no one overreach and defraud his brother in the matter. Above he spoke of all the rest of fornication, but now he speaks of adultery, which he fittingly calls both covetousness and transgression. For God assigned to each one a wife, and set bounds to nature—I mean the union with that one wife. So that it is covetousness in the matter—that is, in the union—and that done against a brother.

⁹ Because the Lord is the avenger of all these, as we also told you before and testified. Do not think, he says, that I say these things only concerning the brethren; rather, one must not have even the wives of others, nor those who are simply unwed, nor common women. For all these things the Lord avenges; and we do not do them with impunity, but ten-thousandfold do we pay the penalty for the pleasure that now arises in us from these things. And see: first he exhorted; then he shamed them by saying, “Even as the Gentiles”; then from reasonings he showed the absurdity, calling the matter covetousness; finally he also strikes fear. And he reminds them that they often heard these things from him.

¹⁰ For God did not call us unto uncleanness, but in sanctification. Therefore he who rejects this rejects not man, but God, who also gave His Holy Spirit unto us. Since he had said, “You wrong your brother,” and had added that God avenges, he now broadens this, showing that even if an unbeliever should suffer this, the one who did it will pay the penalty. For it is not in avenging that man that God will punish you, but Himself. For He Himself called you unto purity, and you insulted Him through your uncleanness—Him who gave you the Holy Spirit. So that whether you corrupt a married slave-woman or a queen, the charge is the same; for it is one God who is insulted. And if you commit fornication, He avenges Himself, whose Spirit you defiled. And otherwise: God, seeing us despising Him in such matters more than men, avenges Himself. For we are eager not to be seen by the eyes of men; but while He sees, we despise Him.

¹¹ But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I write to you. He does not yet speak of love toward all, but of love toward the brethren. And he sets down the exhortation by way of passing it over, establishing these two things: one, that the matter is so necessary that it needs no teacher—for things exceedingly great are plain to all; and the other, by which he the more shames them, rousing them lest they fall short of the opinion he holds about them, reckoning that they have already achieved it.

¹² For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. See with how great an encomium he says these things. For he set God over them as the teacher of this virtue. This the prophet also said: They shall all be taught by God.[3]

¹³ And indeed you do it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. He does not simply say, “You are taught by God,” but, “I know it—from what you do.” And he made mention of Macedonia, since Thessalonica is the metropolis of Macedonia.

¹⁴ But we exhort you, brethren, to abound the more, and to be ambitious to be quiet, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you. That you are lovers of the brethren, I know; but this we exhort, that you abound—that is, increase in brotherly love, and be more zealous in it. Either, then, put a stop here, and then begin afresh and read, “To be quiet and to mind your own affairs”; or, “To be ambitious to be quiet and to mind your own affairs.” And from this he shows that the idle are also meddlesome and turbulent. And by saying, “to work with your hands,” he shames those who do away with bodily labors and seek only the spiritual. For tell me, foolish ones: does one work fasting with his hands? Does one work sleeping on the ground? It is not so; but he speaks of bodily work, which is even rather spiritual—namely, that the worker provide for others, that is, for the poor. And since they were poor, having been plundered of their possessions, he teaches them to work, that they may show mercy. And if he bids these to work—those plundered for Christ’s sake—much more the others.

¹⁵ That you may walk becomingly toward those outside, and may have need of nothing. That is, that you may not behave unbecomingly by begging among those outside the faith. And he set this down with gentle words, that he might not strike them. For if the faithful, he says, are scandalized when they see a healthy man begging (whence they call such men “Christ-traffickers”), much more the unbelievers.

¹⁶ But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning those who are asleep. Here he sets in motion the discourse on the resurrection. For even if he had discoursed to them about this, yet now he is about to uncover a certain mystery. Or also: they knew all that concerns the resurrection, but they were grieving; which he now heals. And since many matters, while unknown, grieve us, but when known dissolve the grief, on this account he says, “I would not have you ignorant.” And he did not say, “of those who have died,” but, “who are asleep,” showing even from the name itself that there is a rising again.

¹⁷ That you sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope. Hope of what? Of the resurrection. For those who have no hope of resurrection, these ought to mourn. Let us hear, then, and shudder. What then? Is it for this that you do not wish them to be ignorant—that they may not grieve? Do you not say, “that they may not be punished,” but, “that they may not grieve”? Yes, he says, because this grief brings on the punishment.

¹⁸ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also who are asleep through Jesus will God bring with Him. Just as, he says, He raised the Lord, who suffered and died in the body, so also will He raise us. And see how, in the case of the Lord, because the resurrection has already taken place, he confidently says, “He died”; but in our case, because the resurrection is still to come, he says, “those who are asleep,” showing that there is a rising again. For shall not he who sleeps, he says, also rise up? And “He will bring through Jesus those who are asleep” you will understand in two ways: either, “He will bring them through Jesus,” that is, the Son Himself will be the mediator of the resurrection, and will present them to the face of the Father; or, “those who are asleep through Jesus,” that is, the faithful. For having Christ within themselves, they sleep through Jesus. He discourses, then, here of a particular resurrection—that is, the glorious one, that of the faithful, that which is with the Lord. For He will bring them with Him, that is, with the Lord He will catch them up in clouds from every side; since concerning the general resurrection the Thessalonians knew. But this is what he wishes now: to console them by showing that the resurrection of the faithful is honored and glorious, that they may not grieve. For all indeed will rise, but not all in glory, but the faithful—that is, those who have works together with right doctrine. And observe all that follows as well.[4]

¹⁹ For this we say to you by the word of the Lord. He was about to say something strange; therefore he also makes it trustworthy by the word of God. For not from myself, he says, but having learned it from Christ, do I speak. For this too he heard expressly from the Teacher, just as that other saying: It is more blessed to give than to receive. For the rest he uttered by the Spirit.[5]

²⁰ That we who are alive, who remain unto the coming of the Lord, shall not precede those who are asleep. What he says in the Epistle to the Corinthians, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, this he says now also. For since it seemed difficult that these who had rotted away should rise, he says that the living shall not precede those; but just as it is easy for God to bring the whole-bodied, so also those. And by saying “we who are alive,” he does not speak of himself (for he was not to live until the resurrection), but he means the faithful; therefore he added, “who remain unto the coming of the Lord.” For in his own person he indicates all who shall then be found alive. But the blessed Methodius takes “the living” to be the souls; teaching this, that the souls shall not precede the bodies; for first the bodies are raised, that the souls may enjoy them—the souls which he said also “remain,” because they are immortal.[6]

²¹ That the Lord Himself, with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven. Do not disbelieve, he says, what I say; for the Lord Himself will command this. And how will He command? With the voice of an archangel—of him who is set over the other angels, and who cries, “Make all ready; for the Judge is at hand.” And there will be many trumpets, but at the last of them the Judge will descend. For just as the Father on Mount Sinai had both trumpets and angels ministering, so also the Son, as King. Or: the command of God will make the earth give back the bodies, transformed unto incorruption; while the gathering into one of those scattered everywhere the voice of the archangel will accomplish, with the angels ministering.[7]

²² And the dead in Christ shall rise first. “The dead in Christ”—that is, the faithful. For being about to be lifted up in clouds, they shall also rise first; but the rest, last, as being about neither to be caught up nor to go out to meet Him.

²³ Then we who are alive, who remain, shall together with them be caught up in clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Even if the dead rise first, yet we who are alive are likewise caught up—the worthy, of course—in clouds, just as a cloud also took up the Lord. And for what reason, if He is going to descend, does He catch up the faithful? For honor’s sake. For just as, when a king enters a city, the honored go out to meet him, while the condemned await the judge within, so also then: the sinners remain below, even if they be Christians; but the righteous are caught up, and so reap the chief of good things—to be ever with Christ.[8]

²⁴ Wherefore comfort one another with these words. With a view to their not grieving, like the rest who do not hope for a resurrection.