Sunday, December 21, 2008

Sunday Explanatory Notes: 1 Thessalonians 4

4:1-2 Therefore, the rest: I ask you and admonish you in the Lord Jesus so that just as you received from us how it is necessary for you to walk and to please God, just as also you are walking, so that you might abound more, for you know what instructions we gave to you through the Lord Jesus.
Paul signals the beginning of the second half of the letter. The first half has largely had to do with the story of Paul's personal engagement with the Thessalonians as a community. Now he begins to give them specific teaching and admonition in relation to their thoughts and actions. He affirms that they are already "walking" or behaving in a certain way. Now he will reinforce some of that basic ethical instruction.

4:3-5 For this is the will of God: your sanctification, for you to abstain from sexual immorality, for each of you to know to control his own vessel in holiness and honor, not with the passion of desire like the Gentiles who do not know God,
Sanctification has the sense of being set apart as God's, with all the implications of being drawn on God's side of the line (as opposed to the "common," ordinary side or, further, the defiled side). Something that belongs to God is "superclean" and demands special handling.

Although Paul's theology significantly reconfigures the purity-impurity lines the Pentateuch and Jewish tradition drew around reality, sexual practice remained for Paul a principal area of potential defilement. Paul seems to nullify all the Old Testament purity legislation when it comes to the Gentiles except those relating to sexual conduct. He finds it inconceivable that a person might be the possession of the holy God, be "touching" the true God, and also be in contact with impure forms of sex.

Some have argued that porneia, "sexual immorality," has specific sexual connotations. The best argument for this position is the fact that porneia can occur in lists of vices that include other sexual sins like adultery. The argument is thus sometimes made that porneia only refers to particular types of sexual sins, like incest. The old King James translation of the word, "fornication," often misled interpreters into thinking that Paul was talking here about pre-marital sex.

In the end, however, it is not in the nature of vice lists for each item to be a discrete thing. Such vices often overlap in content. The safest conclusion would seem to be that by porneia, Paul refers to any of the types of sexual sin that are found in Leviticus 18. Because there were specific words for adultery and some probably created by Jews for certain types of homosexual sex, we might easily imagine that Paul would use those words when those actions were specifically in view. The word porneia would thus be used especially for "everything else," while also serving as a general word for the entire class of action.

In Jewish rhetoric, the classic "Gentile" sins were idolatry and sexual immorality. Paul here plays on that Jewish sense that Gentiles cannot control their sexual passions. In contrast believers are to conduct themselves with sexual purity and honor.

4:6 ... not to wrong or take advantage of your brother in a matter, because the Lord is just in relation to all things, as also we have said before to you and we have said emphatically.
This verse is sandwiched between the prior reference to sexual immorality and 4:7, which seems to continue the reference. It is thus likely also referring to sexual immorality. And when we ask about an area of sexual immorality in which a person might "take advantage" of a brother on a sexual matter, adultery must surely top the list. It is thus quite possible that in this section, Paul is warning the Thessalonian congregation about adultery within the church.

4:7-8 For God did not call you for uncleanness but in sanctification. Therefore, the one who rejects [this instruction] does not reject a mortal, but God who is giving His Holy Spirit to you.
Paul reminds the Thessalonians that God, not he, is the ultimate source of these exhortations. Paul also makes an implict connection between "being holy," "being sanctified," and the Holy Spirit within. Sexual immorality is thus all the more inappropriate, for we have God's Spirit within us. Paul will develop this line of thought in 1 Corinthians 5-6.

4:9-10a Now concerning brotherly love you do not have need [for me] to write to you, for you yourselves are God-taught so that you love one another, for you are even doing it to the brothers in all of Macedonia.
Believers are a family, and "love of brother" is a natural consequence. The Thessalonian church apparently was acting as family to others in Macedonia. Such locations would certainly include Philippi, perhaps also Berea, although Paul never mentions it. The idea of being "God-taught" reminds us of some of Philo's perspective toward the "self-taught" person who doesn't have to study about God because his thoughts (and for Philo it would be a "his") naturally contemplate absolute truth.

4:10b-12 And we admonish you, brothers, to abound more and try to live a quiet life and to mind your own business and to work with your own hands just as we have instructed [you] that you might walk honorably with those outside and might have need of nothing.
Paul does not advocate a revolutionary path toward the social structures of the day. He recommends that the Thessalonians "blend in." They should give no cause for persecution by outsiders, nor should they get themselves entangled with the strings of patronage, whereby they are supported by a gracious provider but usually were then expected to do various things in return for the favor. Paul wants them to support themselves and retreat from societal conflict.

4:13 Now I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who sleep, so that you do not grieve like the rest who do not have hope.
On first reflection, it may seem a little odd that Paul is only addressing the topic of the resurrection of the dead with the Thessalonians now in this letter. Paul may not have been in Thessalonica for very long, but he was there long enough for the Philippians to send him material support more than once (Phil. 4:16). It would seem he was there over a month, long enough to have a group of converts to send this letter to.

Yet it is reasonable to assume that Timothy brought back to Paul word that they had questions about those believers who died before Christ's parousia, his arrival back from heaven. From this we might infer that teaching on the resurrection of believers was not the highest priority in Paul's evangelistic message.

Instead, we can imagine that Paul's earliest preaching focused far more on the soon arrival of Christ to judge the world. It emphasizes the fact that Paul not only at this point expected Jesus to return within his lifetime. He apparently preached as if it could happen at any moment.

The reference to "those who sleep" is unique to Paul's earliest writings, 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians. The majority of Pauline interpreters simply take it as a metaphor for death that implies nothing of what state Paul believed the dead to be in. We would, however, join that minority who suspect that Paul's thought underwent development or "growth" on this topic during the time he was at Ephesus.

We wonder if, particularly after his engagement with the Corinthians on the topic in 1 Corinthians 15 and a scary imprisonment at Ephesus, Paul began to think more about the intermediate state of Christian dead between death and Christ's arrival. The most natural way to take Paul's reference to sleep as a bona fide reference to an unconscious state between death and resurrection. At this point, as in 1 Corinthians 15, the state of those who die is one of hopelessness. The hope he provides is not within death, but in future resurrection.

4:14 For we have faith that Jesus died and was raised, so also God through Jesus will lead with him those who sleep.
Paul's earliest writings link Jesus' death and resurrection with the death and resurrection of those who place their faith on him. We might note that Paul's later participationist language is missing here, although we cannot prove that it is not implied. But certainly in Paul's more fully developed theological expression in Romans, we die with Christ and we rise with Christ. Here Paul only says that God will do for us what he did for Jesus.

In any case, the content of faith is the same here as in Romans 10:9: "If ... you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead." We observe that God (the Father) is the active force in resurrection rather than Jesus himself. It is God who raised Jesus, and it is God who through Jesus will lead the dead (in Christ) out of the dead.

4:15 For we say this by the word of the Lord: that we who are living, who are left at the arrival of the Lord certainly will not precede those who sleep.
Again, Paul speaks to the Thessalonians as if there is a real possibility that he and they will be alive and will remain at the parousia. In relation to the dead (in Christ), living believers will not even meet Christ before them. Those who "sleep" in the ground will meet Christ first at his return.

4:16 Because the Lord himself, with a command, with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise first,
This is the Day of the Lord, the day of his return and the Day of Salvation for those who have faith. It is Judgment Day, the day during which God will visit His wrath on the earth for its ungodliness. Jesus the Lord, the king, will descend from the sky, from heaven where he now sits at the right hand of God in the highest heaven. It does not seem likely that Jesus is implied to be the archangel here, but rather that the archangel and other angelic hosts accompany Jesus to the earth for the judgment.

The corpses in Christ, the dead in Christ, will rise from their graves first. We note that Paul mentions the dead in Christ. That is to say, Paul says nothing about Old Testament saints like Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob. It at least is not clear that he has any doctrine of general resurrection. We might also add that general conceptions of the Pharisaic belief on this subject, which are often used to infer Paul's thought here that is unexpressed, are based on very flimsy evidence indeed and such arguments are often quite circular and anachronistic.

4:17 Then we who are living, who are left will be snatched up together with them on the clouds for a meeting of the Lord in the air, and thus we will always be with the Lord.
This verse is apparently the origination for the word rapture, given the Latin wording rapiemur, "we will be snatched." Paul here seems to picture an assembly of believers in the air with Christ and the angelic hosts. First the dead corpses of believers are resurrected, and they rise to the air. Then the living believers are snatched up to meet them. Paul does not expand on the transformation of bodies here as he will in 1 Corinthians.

Some have plausibly suggested that the picture here is of one of an embassy from a city going out to greet a dignitary outside their city before leading that person back into the city. So believers go out to meet their king and come in his company back to the earth where he will reign. The meeting would thus not be to go off to heaven but to return to earth with him.

A good case can be made that being with the Lord forever thus does refer to believers going off to heaven with Christ. Rather, this is an assembly for the final judgment. In 1 Corinthians 6:2-3, Paul indicates that believers will participate in the judgment of the world and of angels. In 1 Thessalonians, therefore, Paul probably pictures Christ reigning on earth after his arrival, with believers as a part of that kingdom.

4:18 So encourage one another with these words.
These are words of hope. They are words of hope for those who have lost loved ones who were believers. They are words of hope for those undergoing persecution for their faith.

33 comments:

Anonymous said...

The imagery of the assembly of believers going out to meet their king (in reference to verse 18) gives a beautiful picture of the awaited awe of Christ's return to reign on the earth. I, too, often imagine life after the rapture as being solely in heaven. The reminder that Christ is returning to rule his kingdom on a new earth gives me a different perspective to Christ's future goal. The impression I sense in this divine plan is one of renewal and hope: a NEW heaven and a NEW earth is what Christ intends his kingdom to become. The opportunity to be a part of that newness one day is encouraging and exciting.

Anonymous said...

I'm somewhat surprised by Paul's words in verses 11 and 12 in that I understand much of Jesus' teaching to be revolutionary, yet this is strikingly bland. It seems these verses could serve as the manifesto of the Midwestern way of living. It fits well with a "blue-collar" way of life found around us here in Indiana. What would be the reasoning for this difference between Jesus teaching and Paul's or am I wrong in my assumption here?

Adam Otto

Sharon said...

I find it interesting that Paul had to reassure the Thessalonians that those who died before Christ’s return would still rise in the end. It’s interesting because it shows how strongly they believed that Christ would return very soon, in their lifetime. It made me realize how much I do not live in anticipation of Christ’s return. Generation after generation seems to believe that it will happen in their lifetime so I think I’ve just given up on that idea for myself. I recognize that it could happen anytime soon, but I don’t see it as likely. But should we live as if He’s is coming soon? I feel like it’s not good to forget about it all together of course, but I wonder how we might live differently as Christians if we really kept Christ’s return as a very real and imminent thing.

Anonymous said...

Chapter 4 verse 5 caught my attention. We learned in chapter one that this letter was specifically written to the Gentiles in the church of Thessalonica. However, Paul says here that it is necessary to abstain from sexual immorality, “not with the passion of desire like the Gentiles who do not know God.” What an insult! Gentiles are reading this letter, not Jews. In the NLT, “pagans” is said, not “Gentiles.” I think that is much more appropriate; different translations can be better than others and maybe Paul was in no way referring to their people here.

Katie Hamilton

Anonymous said...

In 1st Thessalonians 4:13-17, Paul encourages the believers to continue believing in Christ, because the day of his return is near. It seems as though Paul was in Thessaloniki for such a short amount of time that he really did not have time to answer all the questions that the people might have had. The imagery that he uses probably put the people's hearts at rest. He encouraged them by saying that their loved ones that had already died would be with them again when Christ returned. He assures them that the dead are simply "sleeping." This passage also shows us how much Paul cared for God's people. He wanted them to not be afraid, but rejoice in God for the return of Jesus. Also, it is clear that Paul assumed that Jesus would return during his lifetime.

Ken Schenck said...

Adam, remember that Paul also had all kinds of people trying to arrest him or drive him out of town all the time. But I personally think this was because of what he preached was soon coming, not because he was preaching as a change in societal structure.

In that sense, I think Jesus probably did preach more about social injustice by far than Paul did. It's no coincidence that Christian groups that more emphasize social action focus more on the Synoptic Gospels, while those who focus more on eternal salvation focus more on John and Paul.

TJ said...

now not in the sense that i find it to be ultimately false, i do happen to find it interesting when he references how they believe that Christ died and rose so thus believers will as well. i mean it just seems to appear within a couple of these texts that it is just an assumption without much meat behind it. now i am in no way trying to undermine the thinking of paul, but it is just an interesting thought to me of how simplistic this statement with such importance behind it is.

Anonymous said...

Paul's lived with the certainty that Christ's return was going to be very soon-if not in his lifetime, soon after. This shaped the way he lived, the teachings he gave, and the things he focused on. As Christians 2000 years later, we say that Christ's return could be at any time, but is that belief really evident in our lives? Truly believing that Christ could come back at any moment results in living with an eternal mindset or a kingdom mindset. This is a challenge to me in my everyday life...the choices I make and the things I choose to focus my time and energy on.

-Andrea Meredith

Anonymous said...

I found it interesting that Paul encouraged the Church to continue to love one another and taht they had been doing well at that. It is interesting to me because, the "brothers" were people from another town, another church. I feel that today taht connections between different churches, and one church showing immense support for another church is somewhat rare. However, As the body of Believers, we all should be united as one body. It appears that the Thessalonians understood this unity quite well.

Hannah Arend

steve.hands said...

I think the close proximity of sanctification and sexual purity in this passage is especially interesting. The points that Schenck makes about Paul's two-fold exhortation for the Gentiles (avoid idolatry and sexula immorality) makes me wonder if that was his image of sanctification. Did Paul think that for a Gentile believer to be sanctified meant not committing idolatry or sexual immorality? Did it include learning to love others better? Is sanctification really linked tightly to sexual purity here? It looks like a general to particular movement to me.

--Steve Hands

Anonymous said...

I always wondered how Paul could know so much about the resurrection of the dead, yet be so ignorant to the fact that Jesus would not return within in his lifetime... Does this have any significance into what certain things were revealed to Paul?

Anonymous said...

I love how Paul encourages the church in Thessalonica for its brotherly love because this love that the believer's have for one another is occurring during a time of persecution and certainly not a time of perceived "prosperity." This love that the believers have for one another glorifies God because during a time where it would be human nature to just worry about oneself, the Christians are worrying about their fellow believers and their needs. This makes God look glorious.
Joel Larison

Anonymous said...

Last sunday in my sunday school calss we discussed the book of James and one of the things we talked about is Christ's returning and how in James 5, he repeats a few times that the Lord's returning is near. Paul also talks about this and just like Sharon mentioned, i (and probably many others) do not live as if the Lord will be returning in our lifetime. Now i don't claim to know when or if this is going to happen during our lifetime but it makes me wonder how Christians would live different if we all lived as if Christ was returning in our lifetime. There would be more of a sense of urgency not only to get our own lives where they need to be but also to share God's love with others.

-sean schwarze

Andy said...

Verses 10-12 are interresting to me. They seem (at first) to be in stark contrast with what Jesus said. Paul is telling the Thessalonians to be wallflowers and to not stand out. The interesting thing is when we see the themes of patronage in here. Paul; is admonishing them to look like those them in the aspect of work. He doesn't want them to be encumbered by patronage or to stand out in this way. Paul still wants them to live differently because all around this section we can see Paul's moral admonitions especially about sexual purity.

Anonymous said...

Paul's talk about Christ's return is fairly confusing to me. I studied this topic extensively last semester in Basic Christian Doctrine and it still perplexes me to this day. In fact, I really don't know if I will ever fully understand it. I always hear people saying, "Christ is returning soon." This causes me to wonder if this was the most common statement over the past 2,000 years because Paul also believed His return would come during their time. Maybe we should spend less time wondering when He will return and spend more time advancing His Kingdom here on earth.

Anonymous said...

Well, in regards to what Katie and Sean said, I guess verse 18 is quite appropriate; we should be encouraging each other and challenging each other to be anxiously awaiting the parousia.

I am wondering about verse 17 and the speculation about the custom to meet the person outside of the city gates to enter the city with them. More than likely it is the time that judgment will occur, but is it possible that this will also be when we reach "heaven"? If I'm not mistaken, the Hebrews believed that Heaven was the Perfected Earth (which was a point made by Rob Bell in his book, Sex God). Perhaps this is all just futile wondering, though.

Anonymous said...

It kind of bothers me for some reason that Paul tells the people to "mind their own business." I'm sure that Paul has reason to make this statement, but it almost seems to be a statement of looking inward vs outward. It just seems to be very different from the teaching's or life of Christ...

Matthew Aspinall

TJ's Blog said...

In verse 8 I found it very interesting that Paul explained that when we do something and dont follow this path of being sanctified that we are rejecting god as well. When reading this I expanded my thinking to all areas of ones life and the world we live in. Many times we look at wrong doings and see them as breaking a law or a norm of society. These offenses are in our minds done to another party, but not God. However, we are to live so that we are 100% sanctified, obeying all rules to become closer to God.

Anonymous said...

Like others have said, I find Paul's belief that Christ would return during his lifetime very interesting. Early believers thought that when Christ said He was coming back it would be soon. I suppose that "soon" is a relative term though. I wonder what the early believers would have said if they were told that Christ was not returning for thousands of years. Perhaps if we believed that Christ's return was truly imminent we would live our lives differently.
-Rachel Arend

Anonymous said...

As i read through this blog and the scriptures the verses continue to jump out at me more than the summary. For me verse 12 was the one that i really clung to in this verse. It tells us to live a quiet life and we will win the respect of those around us. It doesn't say to go on a street corner with a megaphone preaching the word. I am sure that people have come to Christ that way but i wonder how many of those people have earned respect. I know this is far fetched but i was still interested by it.
The other thing that interested me was how Paul encouraged them that that were doing a great job with developing relationships but that they need to do more and more. Paul is still building a deeper relationship with the Thessalonians.

Daric Geyer said...

I find it strange that Paul tells his audience to "blend in" with the people of their society so that they are not persecuted. Nowadays it seems like we believe just the opposite, that we need to be "set apart" from the world rather than "blend in." Where does Paul want his readers to draw the line?

Anonymous said...

It seems to me that Paul is all over the place in this particular portion of the letter – beginning with sanctification and sexual immorality, then to “those who sleep” and finally onto the return of Christ. I was most interested from your comments on the return of Christ, as I have in the past tended to get through these parts quickly. I specifically liked the imagery of the embassy meeting the dignitary and then returning with them. I was also moved by the final words from this chapter, “So encourage one another with these words.” Often times we tend to not discuss the “end times” with others, but when you stated that these are words of hope, I understood. Understanding that one day Jesus will return and we (the living and the dead) will be a part of His Kingdom is so comforting.

Kristi Moore

Anonymous said...

Sexual immorality and adultery are discussed in the earlier verses of 1 Thessalonians 4, and I need not realize this until I read the commentary. Also, Paul gives specific instructions to the Thessalonians, not worrying about how they will respond to him. This is dangerous preaching, as I learned in Homiletics 2. You are preaching what the Lord commands of you, even if it will cause some people to be "uneasy."

~Amber Davies

Anonymous said...

I am really confused about the theological implications Paul's statements on the "soul sleep" idea. its not that I don't agree with his statements. it is simply that I don't understand what he is saying or implying. however within these statements, Paul never questions the fact that those who died in Christ went to be with Christ. based on that, it seems to me that whether the "soul sleep" idea is real or not doesn't really matter. the fact that Christ followers who die will be with him. who cares how they get there? in fact, I don't even think Paul really cares how either. my personally opinion, is that he was giving Thessalonians security about the end result.

Anonymous said...

sorry for the grammar mistakes. I am really tired. let me know if you did not understand what I said.

Anonymous said...

The passage 4:10-12 is interesting.Ithought of this passage as the way we are to live out our devotion to God. Often I am reminded about how being a Christian and sharing God’s love is everything but living a quiet life and trying to “blend in”. But after thinking about this more, I can totally understand this and realize that it is totally necessary. I think that the easiest way to gain respect in society today is to make sure that there is no conflict with others, never cause trouble, and mind your own business. However, because we would do this, God would be able to use us as examples. People could see our “blameless” lives and begin to wonder and examine our walk with God and who he is because they see they are lacking something. Someone who does not follow this may be annoying and rude according to many people.
karen sand

Joel Clark said...

I love the way Paul starts this section. Too often in life we are simply told what we are doing wrong. Paul is being very intentional to let the Thessalonians know that they are on the right track. To me this turns the entire section on sexual immorality into a warning of what to avoid instead of an admonishment of what is currently taking place.

More importantly, Paul ends this chapter with the assurance that believers will be with Christ upon His return. Death prior to His return will not stop us from being with Him.

Gwen said...

Paul commends the Thessalonians for their actions (specifically love of others), yet he also urges them to excel even more. Perhaps a model for us to follow... praise and encouragement yet also drive to an even higher standard of behavior.

Anonymous said...

I find it interesting that Paul believed that the second coming would happen in his lifetime. He tells the Thessalonians that the date and time is unknown and that they need to be ready at all times. And even though the date and time is not known, he still thinks Christ will come back in his lifetime. I also wonder if we need to take into consideration Paul's understanding of death and the resurrection when talking about the second coming? I am not sure I completely understand this idea of "sleep" as a means of waiting for the resurrection (?) but I think we might consider Paul's understanding while studying this passage.

Anonymous said...

Paul's words on holiness and sanctification in the beginning of chapter four seem significant to me. I think Paul's theology centered around the fact that as believers, the Thessalonians could certainly be blameless before God, which is not necessarily something that we take into account in our personal lives. I also think it is ironic that 4:9-10, Paul talks about how the Thessalonians don't need any instruction as to how to love one another, because they have been taught by God; however, in 4:6, Paul warns them not to sin against each other through sexual acts. One would think that if the Thessalonians did not need instruction on loving one another, they also wouldn't need instruction on how to keep from sinning against one another because of their love for one another.

-Liz McClellan

Anonymous said...

When Paul commends the Thessalonians for their love and other behaviors that they live out well but still encourages further growth, I am reminded that no matter what area we may excel in, we should celebrate these accomplishments as evidence of God's unfailing grace so that He is glorified and then seek further growth. There is and always will be more room to grow no matter where we find ourselves along the continuum of spiritual formation to becoming more Christ-like.

Also, I wonder what the significance is of specifically linking sexual purity with sanctification for Paul. I wonder how our thoughts and attitudes might change if we adopted Paul's philosophy that it is inconceivable for someone touching God and being in such close proximity with Him to commit such profane acts of sin as He has commanded us not to. This makes me want to continually come closer and closer to touching God and being in His presence to prevent sin and decrease its presence in my life as Christ's presence fills it.

-Sarah Meyer

Anonymous said...

It stood out to me that Paul says that the will of God is that you be avoid sanctified and avoid sexual immorality, before aything else. Does Paul mean to say that these are the most important things? Does he mean this is will of God above other things? Sometimes i am very unsure how to read Paul. Of course these are important, im not against them being most important, but it seems an odd thing to list first. I can't remember Jesus talking about sanctification (please correct me on this).

Matthew Potter

Anonymous said...

I really like the part about the church being sorta of a mentor to the other churches around it and the ones that Paul was helping out. That would be such a great thing to see today, just two different bodies becoming one for a greater cause.