Questions
Introduction
In our last study we were reminded of what was then the imminent “coming” [παρουσία] of Jesus…
13 so that your hearts may be established blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming [παρουσία] of our Lord Jesus with all his saints [ἁγίων].
3:13
…echoing Deuteronomy 33:2 where Moses describes YHWH coming with his “holy ones”. The early church was expectant of Jesus=YHWH showing up in judgement to destroy the temple as Jesus taught in Matthew 24. Jesus=YHWH will also show up at the end of these times to judge, not just Jerusalem, but the nations. Paul mentions these comings of judgment [1:10, 2:16, 5:2] and what looks like repeated παρουσίες of Jesus=YHWH [2:19, 3:13, 4:15, 5:23]. In our next study we will be looking at this imminent παρουσία of Jesus=YHWH [4:13-5:11] and concerns that had arisen in the church.
At the same time, they had no need of further instruction [5:1] They had received this teaching already from the apostles. But Paul does not want them to be disturbed by rumours that are circulating in the early church. Paul, and the team, just wanted the Thessalonians “to increase and to abound in love for one another and for all” [3:12]. Are you concerned about the return of Jesus? Good! This then is how you live it out…
Finally therefore...
[1 Finally [λοιπὸν] therefore, brothers, we ask you and appeal to you in the Lord Jesus that, just as you have received from us how it is necessary for you to live and to please God, just as indeed you are living, that you progress even more. 2 For you know what commands we gave to you through the Lord Jesus.]
This is like a title to what now follows. First DO NOTs and then the DOs…
The DO NOT’s [vv3-8]…
3 For this is the will of God your sanctification1 [ἁγιασμὸς] that you abstain from sexual immorality [πορνεία]
On what authority to Paul and the team speak [2:7]? How do we know the will of God for others? What is the will of God for the Thessalonian church and us?
Why does Paul home in on sexual sin2?
The Greeks saw things very differently…
The casual use of prostitutes and the practice of ritual sexual intercourse in certain cults was common in Hellenistic cities. Far from limiting sex to the bounds of marriage, it was common for a man of means to have a mistress, and it also was acceptable for him to make use of his slaves for sexual gratification. Entering the church made such behavior taboo.3
…but back to Paul, and the team…
4 that each of you know how to possess [κτᾶσθαι] his own vessel [σκεῦος] in sanctification [ἁγιασμῷ] and honor [τιμῇ], 5 not in lustful passion, just as also the Gentiles who do not know God;
Σκεῦος [see also 1 Peter 3:7] may be a metaphor for “wife”4 [Hebrew] or the “male genitalia”5 [Greek]. Κτᾶσθαι can just mean “aquire” but “control” is a bit more of a stretch6.
6 not to transgress and to exploit his brother in the matter…
Which way to you think the context is pushing the metaphor? Remember sexual immortality and “uncovering your brother’s nakedness” in the Torah [Leviticus 18:6-18, 20:17; Deuteronomy 27:20-23; etc.].
…because the Lord is the one who avenges concerning all these things, just as also we told you beforehand and testified solemnly. 7 For God did not call us to impurity [ἀκαθαρσίᾳ], but in holiness [ἁγιασμῷ].
How are impurity and holiness used in Leviticus is relation to humans and the tabernacle? Can Christians be killed for approaching God when unclean [1 Corinthians 11:30-32]?
8 Therefore the one who rejects this is not rejecting man, but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Martin comments…
Popular discussions of the “will of God” often center on the major decisions of life. The choice of a vocation, the choice of a spouse, and other pivotal moments in life certainly are times when divine guidance is needed. But seeking the will of God ought not be relegated only to such momentous and occasional events. I sometimes wonder why people would seek the will of God at a pivotal moment in life if they have been ignoring God’s will in their daily lives. Should God speak, would such a person listen? I rather doubt it. One who is not faithful in the small moments is unlikely to be faithful in the great.7
Do you agree? Discuss.
The DO’s [vv9-12]…
9 But concerning brotherly love, I do not have need to write to you, for you yourselves are taught [present tense] by God to love one another, 10 for indeed you are practicing it toward all the brothers in all of Macedonia.
Are we being taught by God in the here and now or have we become unteachable? How do we learn from God?
But we urge you [παρακαλοῦμεν], brothers, to progress even more, 11 and to aspire to live a quiet life, and to attend to your own business [lit “own things”]…and to work with your [own] hands, just as we commanded you, 12 so that you may live decently toward those outside, and may have need of nothing.
RF Hock sees the “quiet life” and minding your own business as a command to avoid political activism8. Paul expounds this strategy in Romans 13:1-7. Do you think this is a general command or a strategy for living under the Romans or other tyrannical regimes?
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BibleProject Guides: Book of 1 Thessalonians»
We must be HOLY when Jesus returns with his HOLY ones [3:13]. This is the imagery you see in an Orthodox church. At the top of the dome is Jesus THE Παντοκράτωρ, THE Κύριος ruling over everything. Below him are the apostles, cherubim, angels etc. and lower the images of saints. They are all HOLY ONES, beings from heaven along with those who have died in Jesus. They are returning with Jesus and we must be holy too.
Paul was a Jew. For a Jew who knows his Torah these Greek pagan cities were places of gross immorality and idolatry. For the Jew idolatry and sexual immorality were one and the same thing. Idolatry is adultery, unfaithfulness to our God. This is how a first century Jew saw the world and rightly so. He saw the world like this because the Hebrew bible, our OT, sees the world like this [Hosea 2].
D. Michael Martin, 1, 2 Thessalonians, vol. 33, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 123–124.
In favor of “wife” are R. F. Collins, “ ‘This Is the Will of God: Your Sanctification’ (1 Thess 4:3),” in Studies in the First Letter to the Thessalonians, ed. R. F. Collins (Louvain: Peeters, 1984), 311–17; J. E. Frame, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles of St. Paul to the Thessalonians (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1960); Best, 1 and 2 Thessalonians; T. Holtz, Der erste Brief an die Thessalonicher, EKKNT 13 (Zurich: Benziger, 1986); C. Maurer, TDNT VII, s.v. “σκεῦος”; and Yarbrough, Not Like the Gentiles, 66–87. Some commentators who argue for “body” are F. F. Bruce, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, WBC (Waco: Word, 1982), 83; M. McGehee, “A Rejoinder to Two Recent Studies Dealing with 1 Thess 4:4,” CBQ 51 (1989): 82–89 (which attempts to refute Collins and Yarbrough); L. Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, NICNT, rev. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 120–21; B. Rigaux, Saint Paul: Les Epitres aux Thessaloniciens (Paris: Jl. Gabalda; Gembloux: J. Duculot, 1956), 504–6; and Wanamaker, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 152–53.
J. Whitton points out that σκευος was used as a euphemism for the male organ (“A Neglected Meaning for Skeuos in 1 Thess 4:4,” NTS 28 [1982]: 142–43).
D. Michael Martin, 1, 2 Thessalonians, vol. 33, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 125–126.
D. Michael Martin, 1, 2 Thessalonians, vol. 33, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1995), 121.
R. F. Hock. The Social Context of Paul’s Ministry: Tentmaking and Apostleship. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1980, 46-47.