1 Thessalonians 4:5

5 non in passione desiderii sicut et gentes quae ignorant Deum

1 Thessalonians 4:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Thessalonians 4:5

Not in the lust of concupiscence
Or "passion of lust"; for the mere gratifying and indulging of that; for a man so to possess his vessel, is to cherish the sin of concupiscence, the first motions of sin in the heart, by which a man is drawn away, and enticed; to blow up the flame of lust, and to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof:

even as the Gentiles which know not God;
for, though they knew him, or might know him with a natural knowledge, by the light and works of nature, yet they knew him not savingly and spiritually, as he is revealed in the word, of which they were destitute; or as the God of all grace, and the God and Father of Christ, or as he is in Christ: and though by the light of nature they might know there was a God, yet they knew not who that God was; nor did they act up to that light and knowledge they had; they did not glorify him as God, by ascribing to him what was his due; nor were they thankful for the mercies they received from him; nor did they fear, love, worship, and serve him; nor did they like to retain him in their knowledge, and therefore were given up to judicial blindness and hardness, to a reprobate mind, and to vile affections, and so did things very inconvenient, unnatural, and dishonourable. Wherefore, for a man to use either his wife or his body in any unchaste and dishonourable manner, for the gratifying of his lusts, is to act an Heathenish part; a like argument, dissuading from things unlawful, is used in ( Matthew 6:32 ) ( Matthew 20:25 Matthew 20:26 ) ( Galatians 4:8 Galatians 4:9 ) .

1 Thessalonians 4:5 In-Context

3 haec est enim voluntas Dei sanctificatio vestra

4 ut abstineatis vos a fornicatione ut sciat unusquisque vestrum suum vas possidere in sanctificatione et honore

5 non in passione desiderii sicut et gentes quae ignorant Deum

6 ut ne quis supergrediatur neque circumveniat in negotio fratrem suum quoniam vindex est Dominus de his omnibus sicut et praediximus vobis et testificati sumus

7 non enim vocavit nos Deus in inmunditia sed in sanctificatione