_HE EXHORTETH THEM TO GO FORWARD IN ALL MANNER OF GODLINESS, TO LIVE HOLILY AND JUSTLY, TO LOVE ONE ANOTHER, AND QUIETLY TO FOLLOW THEIR OWN BUSINESS; AND, LAST OF ALL, TO MODERATE THEIR SORROW FOR THE DEAD. AND TO THIS LAST EXHORTATION IS ANNEXED A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE RESURRECTION, AND SECOND... [ Continue Reading ]
_1 THESSALONIANS 4:1_. _Furthermore then,_ is, as if he had said, _As to what remains._... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD,— _For the will of God is, that you should become holy, and abstain from all impurity._ The sense of the original word πορνεια, is very general, and extends to all acts of uncleanness.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS THE GENTILES, WHICH KNOW NOT GOD,— The idolatrous Gentiles in general, and those of Thessalonica in particular, were remarkable for their impurity; and how brutish and preternatural the vices of many in the heathen world were, and those not condemned, but practised in the world instances, by thei... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT NO MAN GO BEYOND AND DEFRAUD, &C.— _And finally, that no one over-reach or injure his brother in that respect;_ namely, of adultery or impurity. All the best commentators allow this to be the sense of the passage.... [ Continue Reading ]
DESPISETH NOT MAN, BUT GOD,— The apostles and evangelists alone had the whole scheme of the gospel revelation immediately from God, and were the great fountains of Christian knowledge, as it related either to faith or practice. They therefore were to be attended to, as truly divine oracles; and he t... [ Continue Reading ]
_1 THESSALONIANS 4:9_.— St. Paul here commends them for their love to each other; but generally when he commends them, it is to introduce some further advice,—as he does here; for immediately after the commendation, he presses them to _abound therein more and more,_ 1 Thessalonians 4:10. There seem... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT YE STUDY TO BE QUIET, &C.— Idleness is utterly unbecoming a reasonable creature, and is not only a great vice itself, but the seed of many and greater vices. Nothing can be a higher scandal to any denomination, or profession, than lazy, pragmatical, officious people, who mind every body's busin... [ Continue Reading ]
HONESTLY— _Decently, reputably,_ The word rendered _of nothing,_ μηδενος, may be translated _of no man._ The Apostle bids them _mind their own business and work with their own hands,_ that they may be in _repute_ and _credit_ among their heathen neighbours. For a man who cannot maintain himself, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_1 THESSALONIANS 4:13_.— The Apostle had intimated, ch. 1 Thessalonians 3:10 that he wanted to make them another visit at Thessalonica, in order _to perfect that which was lacking in their faith._ Perhaps what he says here was part of what he wanted to teach them, as not having seen it proper before... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS— The state of the bodies of the pious dead in their graves is not only here, but in many other passages of scripture, described as a _short sleep,_ compared with that eternal life into which they shall awake in the morning of the resurrection. This 14th verse ought to be read in... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT WE WHICH ARE ALIVE, &C.— Because here and elsewhere St. Paul speaks in the _first person plural,_ and thereby seems to join himself with those who should be alive at Christ's second coming, when the dead are to be raised, and the living transformed,—some have too hastily concluded that he thoug... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH THE TRUMP OF GOD:— It was a custom among the ancients to summon assemblies by the _sound of a trumpet:_ to which custom probably the Apostle here alludes. It has generally been inferred from the next clause, that good men shall rise before the wicked, and 1 Corinthians 15:23 seems to favour it.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL BE CAUGHT UP TOGETHER WITH THEM, &C.— A cloud conducted by angels was our Lord's triumphal chariot when he ascended; and such a bright cloud will be his triumphal chariot when he comes down as judge on the great day, Acts 1:9; Acts 1:11.Revelation 1:7. Daniel 7:13. And it is here intimated, as... [ Continue Reading ]