# 1 Thessalonians 04 📖: Holy Living and Christian Hope [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-1 Thessalonians Overview]] | [[1 Thessalonians 03]] | [[1 Thessalonians 05]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) #### A Life Pleasing to God **Principle**: Called to live holy and love each other. [[#Verse 01.]] Finally then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) that you do so more and more.  [[#Verse 02.]] For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.  [[#Verse 03.]] For this is God’s will: that you become holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality,  [[#Verse 04.]] that each of you know how to possess his own body in holiness and honor, [[#Verse 05.]] not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God.  [[#Verse 06.]] In this matter no one should violate the rights of his brother or take advantage of him, because the Lord is the avenger in all these cases, as we also told you earlier and warned you solemnly.  [[#Verse 07.]] For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness.  [[#Verse 08.]] Consequently the one who rejects this is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. ### Loving and Working **Principle**: Seek to lead a quiet life. [[#==Verse 9-12.==]] [[#Verse 09.]] Now on the topic of brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.  [[#Verse 10.]] And indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers and sisters in all of Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,  [[#Verse 11.]] to aspire to lead a quiet life, to attend to your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you.  [[#Verse 12.]] In this way you will live a decent life before outsiders and not be in need. #### The Lord Returns for Believers [[#Verse 13-18.]] **Principle**: Be encouraged- The LORD will return. [[#Verse 13.]] Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope.  [[#Verse 14.]] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians.  [[#Verse 15.]] For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep.  [[#Verse 16.]] For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  [[#Verse 17.]] Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.  [[#Verse 18.]] Therefore encourage one another with these words. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ##### ==Verse 9-12.== - How to live an independent life: - Seek to live a quiet life. - Mind your own business. - Work with your hands. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ##### ==Verse 13-18.== The comfort of the second coming. - Many use this as a text to say there is a secret catching away of the saints called the rapture. The challenge with using this text as a foundational passage is due to the context of the culture. In the Roman culture, this would have meant the king coming to stay. In the culture, the king would come to a city and messengers would herald his coming. They would come and say he is near. Then the whole town would go to the city gates to welcome the king. Then, they would usher him into the center of the town, set up a throne for him, and gather around while the king gave his judgments. - Therefore, this text would be more easily used to confirm the rapture and second coming as a singular event. ###### Verse 13. - Falling asleep. Some use this text to say there is a state of sleep after death and before the second coming. The majority view is this is a figure of speech as a way to remind people that those who have died are not gone, but at peace. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. "Sanctification" (4:3) means the process of being made holy. 2. Greco-Roman culture widely tolerated sexual relationships outside of marriage, especially for men, which made Paul's call to purity countercultural. 3. "Brotherly love" (*philadelphia*, 4:9) was normally used for love between siblings. Christians used it for the church family. 4. Many educated Greeks looked down on manual labor, yet Paul commends working with your own hands (4:11). 5. "Asleep" (4:13) is a gentle way of speaking about death. The English word "cemetery" comes from a related Greek word meaning "sleeping place." 6. A common Roman epitaph expressed hopelessness: "I was not, I was, I am not, I do not care." 7. The word "archangel" (4:16) appears in the New Testament only here and in Jude 9. 8. The Latin translation of "caught up" (4:17) gave us the word "rapture." 9. The word for "meet" (4:17) is also used when believers went out from Rome to meet Paul and escort him into the city (Acts 28:15). 10. The trumpet call (4:16) echoes the trumpet at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:16) and the last trumpet in 1 Corinthians 15:52. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the Lord who died and rose again and who will descend from heaven to gather His people to Himself (4:14-17). Because He is the resurrection and the life, those who die in Him will rise (John 11:25). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. God's will is our sanctification, including sexual purity (4:3-7). How does God's design for purity reflect His holiness? 2. Paul urges a quiet life, minding our own business and working with our hands (4:11-12). How does that kind of life win the respect of outsiders? 3. We grieve, but not like those who have no hope (4:13-18). How has this hope shaped the way you face loss? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 3: God's will is your sanctification, that you keep away from sexual immorality. - 📖 verses 11-12: Aspire to lead a quiet life, attend to your own business, and work with your hands. - 📖 verse 13: Believers do not grieve like those who have no hope. - 📖 verses 16-17: The Lord will descend, the dead in Christ will rise, and we will always be with the Lord. - 📖 verse 18: Encourage one another with these words. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[1 Corinthians 15#Verse 51.|1 Corinthians 15:51-52]] - The dead will be raised at the last trumpet. - 🔗 [[John 14#Verse 03.|John 14:3]] - I will come again and take you to Myself. - 🔗 [[John 11#Verse 25.|John 11:25-26]] - I am the resurrection and the life. - 🔗 [[Ephesians 04#Verse 28.|Ephesians 4:28]] - Work with your own hands. - 🔗 [[1 Peter 01#Verse 15.|1 Peter 1:15-16]] - Be holy, for I am holy. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[1 Thessalonians 04 - SOAP|Loving God is Contagious]] ## 📂 Internal Notes