1 Thessalonians 4

¹Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus: just as you received from us how you ought to walk and please God—as indeed you are walking—abound still more. ²For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³For this is God's will, your holiness: that you abstain from sexual immorality, ⁴that each of you know how to control his own vessel in holiness and honor, ⁵not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God, ⁶and that no one overstep and exploit his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. ⁷For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. ⁸So whoever rejects this rejects not a human being but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.

⁹Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. ¹⁰Indeed, you practice it toward all the brothers in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to abound still more ¹¹and make it your ambition to live quietly, attend to your own affairs, and work with your hands, just as we instructed you, ¹²so that you may walk properly toward outsiders and have no need of anyone.

¹³But we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, about those who are asleep, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. ¹⁴For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so also God, through Jesus, will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁵For we tell you this by a word of the Lord: we who are alive, who remain until the Lord's coming, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout of command, with an archangel's voice and with God's trumpet, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷Then we who are alive, who remain, will be snatched up together with them in clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Translation notes 7

4:1–3 — Walk and holiness. “Walk” continues the image of conduct. “Abound still more” is repeated in verse 10. “Holiness,” often translated “sanctification,” concerns belonging to God and the conduct this entails. “Sexual immorality” is a broad term, not a word limited here to adultery alone.

4:4 — His own vessel. The image most likely refers to the body, especially its sexual conduct: each person is to exercise self-control. Another substantial interpretation is to acquire or live with a wife in holiness and honor. The Greek verb can mean acquire or possess; “control” expresses the preferred bodily interpretation. A more specific reference to the sexual organs has also been proposed.

4:6–8 — Exploiting a brother. “In this matter” most naturally continues the sexual instructions, though some take it as a shift to business dealings. The Lord's role as avenger gives the warning its force. Rejecting the instruction is presented as rejecting God, the giver of the Spirit.

4:9–12 — Love and quiet work. “Brotherly love” and “brothers” address the whole believing community, including women. “Have no need of anyone” can also mean “lack nothing.” The instruction commends responsible work; it does not say that people unable to work must be denied help.

4:13–14 — Sleep, grief, and hope. Sleep is an image for death here. The contrast is with grieving without hope, not a prohibition of all grief. “Through Jesus” is attached to God's bringing the dead; it can instead be attached to “those who have fallen asleep.” The final “him” is understood as Jesus.

4:15–17 — Those who remain and the Lord's coming. “We” is retained as written. The living have no precedence over believers who have died. A word of the Lord grounds the assurance, but no exact source for that saying is identified. The shout, archangel's voice, trumpet, clouds, and meeting are preserved without adding a timetable or specifying where the reunited company goes after the meeting.

4:17–18 — Snatched up together. The verb expresses forceful or sudden taking; “together with them” emphasizes the reunion. The passage's stated use is mutual encouragement. The same encouragement command returns in 5:11.