1 Tessalonicenses 4

Plea for Purity

1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus *1 Cor. 15:58that you should abound more and more, *Phil. 1:27; Col. 1:10just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is *(Rom. 12:2)the will of God, *Eph. 5:27your sanctification: *(1 Cor. 6:15–20; Col. 3:5)that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 *Rom. 6:19that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 *Col. 3:5not in passion of lust, *Eph. 4:17, 18like the Gentiles *1 Cor. 15:34who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord *2 Thess. 1:8is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, *Lev. 11:44; (Heb. 12:14); 1 Pet. 1:14–16but in holiness. 8 *Luke 10:16Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, *1 Cor. 2:10who has also given us His Holy Spirit.

A Brotherly and Orderly Life

9 But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for *(Jer. 31:33, 34); John 6:45; 15:12, 17; (1 John 2:27)you yourselves are taught by God *Matt. 22:39to love one another; 10 and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, *1 Thess. 3:12that you increase more and more; 11 that you also aspire to lead a quiet life, *2 Thess. 3:11; 1 Pet. 4:15to mind your own business, and *Acts 20:35to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, 12 *Rom. 13:13; Col. 4:5; (1 Pet. 2:12)that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.

The Comfort of Christ’s Coming

13 But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow *Lev. 19:28as others *(Eph. 2:12)who have no hope. 14 For *1 Cor. 15:13if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him *1 Cor. 15:20, 23those who sleep in Jesus.

15 For this we say to you *1 Kin. 13:17; 20:35; 2 Cor. 12:1; Gal. 1:12by the word of the Lord, that *1 Cor. 15:51, 52; 1 Thess. 5:10we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. 16 For *(Matt. 24:30, 31)the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with *(1 Cor. 15:52)the trumpet of God. *(1 Cor. 15:23); 2 Thess. 2:1; Rev. 14:13; 20:6And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 *(1 Cor. 15:51–53); 1 Thess. 5:10Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them *Dan. 7:13; Acts 1:9; Rev. 11:12in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus *John 14:3; 17:24we shall always be with the Lord. 18 *1 Thess. 5:11Therefore comfort one another with these words.