1 Thessalonians 4

1 Thessalonians 4:1-18 . EXHORTATIONS TO CHASTITY; BROTHERLY LOVE; QUIET INDUSTRY; ABSTINENCE FROM UNDUE SORROW FOR DEPARTED FRIENDS, FOR AT CHRIST'S COMING ALL HIS SAINTS SHALL BE GLORIFIED.

1. Furthermore--Greek, "As to what remains." Generally used towards the close of his Epistles ( Ephesians 6:10 , Philippians 4:8 ).
then--with a view to the love and holiness ( 1 Thessalonians 3:12 1 Thessalonians 3:13 ) which we have just prayed for in your behalf, we now give you exhortation.
beseech--"ask" as if it were a personal favor.
by, &c.--rather as Greek, "IN the Lord Jesus"; in communion with the Lord Jesus, as Christian ministers dealing with Christian people [EDMUNDS].
as ye . . . received--when we were with you ( 1 Thessalonians 2:13 ).
how--Greek, the "how," that is, the manner.
walk and . . . please God--that is, "and so please God," namely, by your walk; in contrast to the Jews who "please not God" ( 1 Thessalonians 2:15 ). The oldest manuscripts add a clause here, "even as also ye do walk" (compare 1 Thessalonians 4:10 , 5:11 ). These words, which he was able to say of them with truth, conciliate a favorable hearing for the precepts which follow. Also the expression, "abound more and more," implies that there had gone before a recognition of their already in some measure walking so.

2. by the Lord Jesus--by His authority and direction, not by our own. He uses the strong term, "commandments," in writing to this Church not long founded, knowing that they would take it in a right spirit, and feeling it desirable that they should understand he spake with divine authority. He seldom uses the term in writing subsequently, when his authority was established, to other churches. 1 Corinthians 7:10 , 11:17 and 1 Timothy 1:5 ( 1 Thessalonians 4:18 , where the subject accounts for the strong expression) are the exceptions. "The Lord" marks His paramount authority, requiring implicit obedience.

3. For--enforcing the assertion that his "commandments" were "by (the authority of) the Lord Jesus" ( 1 Thessalonians 4:2 ). Since "this is the will of God," let it be your will also.
fornication--not regarded as a sin at all among the heathen, and so needing the more to be denounced ( Acts 15:20 ).

4. know--by moral self-control.
how to possess his vessel--rather as Greek, "how to acquire (get for himself) his own vessel," that is, that each should have his own wife so as to avoid fornication ( 1 Thessalonians 4:3 , 1 Corinthians 7:2 ). The emphatical position of "his own" in the Greek, and the use of "vessel" for wife, in 1 Peter 3:7 , and in common Jewish phraseology, and the correct translation "acquire," all justify this rendering.
in sanctification--( Romans 6:19 , 1 Corinthians 6:15 1 Corinthians 6:18 ). Thus, "his own" stands in opposition to dishonoring his brother by lusting after his wife ( 1 Thessalonians 4:6 ).
honour--( Hebrews 13:4 ) contrasted with "dishonor their own bodies" ( Romans 1:24 ).

5. in the lust--Greek, "passion"; which implies that such a one is unconsciously the passive slave of lust.
which know not God--and so know no better. Ignorance of true religion is the parent of unchastity ( Ephesians 4:18 Ephesians 4:19 ). A people's morals are like the objects of their worship ( Deuteronomy 7:26 , Psalms 115:8 , Romans 1:23 Romans 1:24 ).