1Th 1 Thessalonians, chapter First Epistle to the Thessalonians, chapter 4
Living to Please God
Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us.4:1 CT includes This is how you already live. So you should do so all the more. Php 1:27For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; Rom 6:22; Rom 12:2each of you must know how to control his own body4:4 Literally know how to possess his own vessel in holiness and honor, 1Co 6:18not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard,4:6 Or no one should ever harm or cheat his brother in this matter because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you. 1Ti 6:10For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. 1Co 1:2; Eph 1:4Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who has given4:8 NA, SBL, and WH who gives you His Holy Spirit.Luk 10:16; 1Co 2:10
Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. Jhn 13:34; Jhn 15:12; 1Jn 3:11And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands,4:11 SBL, TH, and WH your hands as we instructed you. Eph 4:28; 2Th 3:10Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.Rom 13:13
The Return of the Lord
Brothers, we do not want4:13 TR I do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death ,4:13 Literally those who have fallen asleep, as in verses 14 and 15 so that you will not grieve like the rest, who are without hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we also believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in Him.1Co 15:20
By the word of the Lord, we declare to you that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have fallen asleep. 1Co 15:51For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will be the first to rise. Mat 24:31; 2Th 1:7After that, we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord.Jhn 14:3; Jhn 17:24
Therefore encourage one another with these words.