CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
1 Thessalonians 4:1. And to please God, so ye would abound more and more.—R.V. inserts “even as ye do walk after God.”
1 Thessalonians 4:2. What commandments.—R.V. “charge”; margin, “charges.” “The Greek word signifies an announcement, then a command or advice publicly delivered” (Findlay).
1 Thessalonians 4:3. Your sanctification, etc.—“The reception of Christianity never delivers, as with the stroke of a magician, from the wickedness and lusts of the heathen world which have become habitual; rather a long and constant fight is necessary for vanquishing them” (Huther). The sanctification here is first negative—abstinence.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Thessalonians 4:1-3
Earnest Exhortations to a Higher Sanctity.
Purity is the perfection of the Christian character. It is the brightest jewel in the cluster of saintly excellencies, and that which gives a lustre to the whole. It is not so much the addition of a separate and distinct grace as it is the beauteous and harmonious development of all the graces in the most perfect form. As Flavel has said: “What the heart is to the body, that the soul is to the man; and what health is to the heart, holiness is to the soul.” Purity is the sound, healthy condition of the soul and its vigorous growth towards God. In the concluding prayer of the preceding chapter the apostle indicates that God will, through His Spirit, fill the Thessalonians with love—the great distinctive feature of a genuine and higher sanctity. He now urges upon them the necessity of earnest and persistent endeavours after its attainment. Human agency is not annihilated, but stimulated by the divine. Observe:—
I. That a higher sanctity consists in living under a sense of the divine approval.—
1. Religion is a life. “How ye ought to walk” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). A walk implies motion, progression, continual approach to a definite goal. Religion is not an ornament to wear, a luxury to enjoy, a ceremony to observe, but a life. It penetrates every part of our nature, throbs in every pulse, shares every joy and sorrow, and fashions every lineament of character. We make sad mistakes; but there is goodness hived, like wild honey, in strange nooks and corners of the world.
2. Religion is a life modelled after the worthiest examples.—“As ye have received of us how ye ought to walk” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). The Thessalonians not only received the wisest counsels from their teachers, but they witnessed their holy and consistent lives; and their attention was constantly directed to the all-perfect example—Christ Jesus. It is the tendency of all life to shape itself after the character of its strongest inward force. The love of God is the mightiest power in the life of the believer; and the outer manifestation of that life is moulded according to the sublime pattern of the inner divine ideal.
3. Religion is a life which finds its chief joy in the divine approval.—“And to please God” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). It is, possible, then, so to live as to please God. What a powerful incentive to a holy life is the thought, the Lord taketh pleasure in His people! We can rise no higher in moral excellence than to be acceptable to God. To enjoy the sense of His approval fills the cup of happiness to the brim. In vain the world frowns or demons rage, if God smiles. The learned and pious Donne, when taking solemn farewell of his friends on his deathbed, said: “I count all that part of my life lost which I spent not in communion with God or in doing good.”
4. Religion is a life capable of vast expansion.—“So, ye would abound more and more” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). Life in its healthiest and intensest form is happiness. As we advance in the religious life our happiness increases. “All the while,” says Fuller, “thou livest ill, thou hast the trouble, distraction, and inconveniences of life, but not the sweets and true use of it.” God has made every provision for our increase in holiness; we are exhorted to it, and most really promote our highest good and the divine glory in attaining it. There is no limit in our elevation to a higher sanctity but our faith.
II. That the necessity of a higher sanctity is enforced by divine authority.—“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
1. A higher sanctity involves a conformity to the divine nature.—God is holy, and the loftiest aim of the believer is to be like Him. There is to be not only an abstinence from all that is impure, but a positive experience of its opposite—purity. By faith we participate in the divine nature, and possess qualities analogous to those which constitute the divine perfections—mercy, truth, justice, holiness. The grand purpose of redemption is to bring man into holiest fellowship with God.
2. A higher sanctity is in harmony with the divine will.—“For this the will of God, even your sanctification.” Not only the attitude and tendency of the soul, but all its active outgoings must be holy. Such is the will of God. What he proscribes must be carefully avoided; what He prescribes must be cheerfully and faithfully done in the manner He prescribes it. His will is here emphatically expressed; it is supported by abundant promises of help; and it is declared that without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The will of God is at once the highest reason, the strongest motive, and the final authority.
3. The divine will regarding a higher sanctity is enforced by duly authorised messengers and well-understood precepts.—“For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 4:2). The divine will is expressed in definite commandments. The apostle did not assume authority in any dictatorial spirit. He delivered unto others, and powerfully enforced what he had received “by the Lord Jesus.” He taught them to observe all things whatsoever the Lord had commanded—all those things, only those, and no others. These precepts were well known, “For ye know what commandments we gave you.” Obedience should ever be in proportion to knowledge. Knowledge and practice are mutually helpful to each other Knowledge, the mother of practice; practice, the nurse of knowledge. To know and not to do is to incur the heaviest condemnation. A certain Stoic, speaking of God, said: “What God wills, I will; what God wills not, I will not; if He will that I live, I will live; if it be His pleasure that I die, I will die.” Ah! how should the will of Christians stoop and lie down at the foot of God s will! “Not my will, but Thine be done.”
III. That the possession of a higher sanctity is repeatedly urged by earnest exhortations.—“Furthermore then, we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you” (1 Thessalonians 4:1). Doctrine without exhortation makes men all brain, no heart; exhortation without doctrine makes the heart full, leaves the brain empty. Both together make a man. The apostle laboured in both, and it is difficult to say in which of the two he displayed most earnestness. In addition to all he had urged before, he beseeches and exhorts the Thessalonians to press onward to higher attainments; in which we have a fine example of the combination of a tender, brotherly entreaty, with the solemn authority of a divinely commissioned ambassador. Some people, says a certain writer, are as thorns; handle them roughly and they pierce you; others as nettles—rough handling is best for your safety. A minister’s task is an endless one. Has he planted knowledge?—practice must be urged. Is the practice satisfactory?—perseverance must be pressed. Do they continue in well-doing?—they must be stimulated to further progress. The end of one task is the beginning of another.
Lessons.—The believer is called to the attainment of a higher sanctity—
1. By the voice of God.
2. By the voice of His faithful ministers.
3. And by the aspirations of the life divinely planted within him.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Thessalonians 4:3. Uncleanness Inconsistent with a Profession of the Gospel.
I. Our sanctification is the will of God because He is the avenger of all such as do things contrary to that purity which He enjoins.
II. Because God has called us, not to uncleanness, but to holiness.
III. Because God has given unto us His Holy Spirit.—The Spirit is called the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of Holiness, not only because He is essentially and perfectly holy in Himself, but because He is the Author of holiness in believers. These considerations are motives to stir up and animate our wills to obey and co-operate with the will of God.—R. Mant.
Why was the Spirit sent? or, We must needs be Holy.
I. The coming of the Holy Ghost is to make us new creatures by giving us the strength to become so.
II. Since sanctification is declared to be the special work of the Holy Ghost, this clearly proves the difficulty of that work.
III. The work of sanctification is something more than merely driving out the evil one.
IV. Love and devotion to God are necessary to holiness.
V. Strength—the strength of the Holy Spirit—is necessary to defend holiness.—A. W. Hare.