1 Thessalonians 4
4
Instructions on the Way Christians Should Live
1Now then, brothers and sisters, because of the Lord Jesus we ask and encourage you to excel in living a God-pleasing life even more than you already do. Do this the way we taught you. 2You know what orders we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3It is God’s will that you keep away from sexual sin as a mark of your devotion to him. 4Each of you should know that finding a husband or wife for yourself is to be done in a holy and honorable way, 5not in the passionate, lustful way of people who don’t know God. 6No one should take advantage of or exploit other believers that way. The Lord is the one who punishes people for all these things. We’ve already told you and warned you about this. 7God didn’t call us to be sexually immoral but to be holy. 8Therefore, whoever rejects this ⌞order⌟ is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
9You don’t need anyone to write to you about the way Christians should love each other. God has taught you to love each other. 10In fact, you are showing love to all the Christians throughout the province of Macedonia. We encourage you as believers to excel in love even more. 11Also, make it your goal to live quietly, do your work, and earn your own living, as we ordered you. 12Then your way of life will win respect from those outside ⌞the church⌟, and you won’t have to depend on anyone else for what you need.
Comfort about Christians Who Have Died
13Brothers and sisters, we don’t want you to be ignorant about those who have died. We don’t want you to grieve like other people who have no hope. 14We believe that Jesus died and came back to life. We also believe that, through Jesus, God will bring back those who have died. They will come back with Jesus. 15We are telling you what the Lord taught. We who are still alive when the Lord comes will not go ⌞into his kingdom⌟ ahead of those who have already died. 16The Lord will come from heaven with a command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet ⌞call⌟ of God. First, the dead who believed in Christ will come back to life. 17Then, together with them, we who are still alive will be taken in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. In this way we will always be with the Lord. 18So then, comfort each other with these words!
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
1 Thessalonians 4
4
Sanctification and Love
1Finally, believers, we ask and admonish you in the Lord Jesus, that you follow the instruction that you received from us about how you ought to walk and please God (just as you are actually doing) and that you excel even more and more [pursuing a life of purpose and living in a way that expresses gratitude to God for your salvation]. 2For you know what commandments and precepts we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3For this is the will of God, that you be sanctified [separated and set apart from sin]: that you abstain and back away from sexual immorality; 4that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor [being available for God’s purpose and separated from things profane], 5not [to be used] in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God and are ignorant of His will; 6and that [in this matter of sexual misconduct] no man shall transgress and defraud his brother because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we have told you before and solemnly warned you. 7For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness [to be dedicated, and set apart by behavior that pleases Him, whether in public or in private]. 8So whoever rejects and disregards this is not [merely] rejecting man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you [to dwell in you and empower you to overcome temptation].
9Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write you, for you have been [personally] taught by God to love one another [that is, to have an unselfish concern for others and to do things for their benefit]. [Lev 19:18; John 13:34] 10For indeed you already do practice it toward all the #4:10 Lit brethren.believers throughout Macedonia [by actively displaying your love and concern for them]. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, that you excel [in this matter] more and more, 11and to make it your ambition to live quietly and peacefully, and to mind your own affairs and work with your hands, just as we directed you, 12so that you will behave properly toward outsiders [exhibiting good character, personal integrity, and moral courage worthy of the respect of the outside world], and be dependent on no one and in need of nothing [be self-supporting].
Those Who Died in Christ
13Now we do not want you to be uninformed, believers, about those who are asleep [in death], so that you will not grieve [for them] as the others do who have no hope [beyond this present life]. 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again [as in fact He did], even so God [in this same way—by raising them from the dead] will bring with Him those [believers] who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 15For we say this to you by the Lord’s [own] word, that we who are still alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede [into His presence] those [believers] who have fallen asleep [in death]. 16For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the #4:16 Only Michael is identified as an archangel (Dan 10:13; Jude 9).archangel and with the [blast of the] trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive and remain [on the earth] will simultaneously be caught up (raptured) together with them [the resurrected ones] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord! [John 14:3; 1 Cor 15:52; 2 Cor 5:8; Phil 1:23; Col 3:4] 18Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words [concerning our reunion with believers who have died].
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