I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 1 Christian Conduct – Part 1 Thessalonians 4 sets the stage for Christian Conduct, i.e. The Process of Sanctification –Sexual Continence –Brotherly Love –Minding Our Own Business –No Sorrow for the Dead or Living: The Future for Believers is Bright I Thess 4:1 – Darby “For the rest, then, brethren, we beg you and exhort you in [the] Lord Jesus, even as ye have received from us how ye ought to walk and please God, even as ye also do walk, that ye would abound still more.” –beg (erōtōmen) could be translated beseech, ask, desire

I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 2 Christian Conduct – Part 1 –exhort (parakaleō) is almost identical, but at times can also indicate comfort –in the Lord Jesus Oh, the importance of those prepositions –Are Paul and Timothy exhorting the body in the Lord Jesus? or –Is it that the Thessalonian church is to respond in the Lord Jesus? –How about both? –ought to walk + even as ye also do walk (ILG, Darby and many other translations) What does it mean to walk? –I love/prefer the alternative definition of peripateō - to occupy to please God – HUH? –how are you doing here? »Rom 8:8 – ‘So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.’ –What really pleased God?

I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 3 Christian Conduct – Part 1 »Rom 15:3 – ‘For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.’ What did the Lord Jesus Himself say about our responsibility? –John 6:28,29 – ‘Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.’ –Rom 6:3,4 – ‘Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.’ –that ye would abound still more They must have already been abounding some I Thess 1:2 – Darby “For ye know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus.” –know is oidate – factual knowledge –charges or commandments – a mandate

I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 4 Christian Conduct – Part 1 1 Tim 1:5 ‘Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith,’ –through the Lord Jesus It’s not what you do but who you are! I Thess 4:3 – Darby “For this is [the] will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication;” –So what is the will of God? sanctification – set apart unto God –Rom 8:29 – ‘For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.’ »Gal 2:20 – ‘I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.’ Sanctification is the roadmap to abstaining from fornication –abstain – literally to be, have, or receive

I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 5 Christian Conduct – Part 1 –In Christ, we have the power, strength, and freedom to ‘hold oneself from - Vine’ –Fornication – porneia, illicit sexual intercourse »Not regarded as a sin at all among the heathen »What about Matt 5:27,28 & James 1:14,15 and this whole area of sexual lust? »I Cor 6:15-18 ‘Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two," He says, "shall become one flesh.” But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.’ –Is fornication any different before the Lord than vanity and pride? –If not, what makes it different? »The consequences – Prov 6:27-33 I Thess 4:4,5 – Darby “T hat each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passionate desire, even as the nations who know not God, ”

I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 6 Christian Conduct – Part 1 –know is again factual –possess his own vessel literally his own body – II Cor 4:7, II Tim 2:20,21 In context probably best refers to his wife –1 Cor 7:2 ‘Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.’ –not in passionate desire, even as the nations who know not God The world system – kosmos –remember that fornication was considered no sin among the Gentiles –Rom 1:24 ‘Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,’ –God doesn’t mention anything about women here? Perhaps this is not relevant? –Or is it ladies? –Present, middle depondent (usually active) – by faith

I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 7 Christian Conduct – Part 1 –in sanctification and honor (dignity, esteem) Which are both positional and conditional I Thess 4:6 - Darby “Not overstepping the rights of and wronging his brother in the matter, because the Lord [is] the avenger of all these things, even as we also told you before, and have fully testified.” –Relates to brothers Not overstepping, going beyond their rights, transgressing –What are a brothers’ rights? Or wronging or defrauding –Covetousness and gain implied –What is the matter? Does this relate to sexual sin only? If so, what about because the Lord is the avenger of all these things? –Note the Lord (is) the avenger – there is no verb here! »Rom 1:18, Rom 12:19

I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 8 Christian Conduct – Part 1 –The last phrase of this verse indicates that this is a reiteration of truth that had already been provided to the church at Thessalonica I Thess 4:7 - Darby “For God has not called us to uncleanness, but in sanctification.” –Uncleanness – I Thess 2:3, Gal 5:19, Eph 4:19, II Pet 2:10 Typically linked with sexual lust/sin –‘God has "called" us all for a decent sex life consonant with his aims and purposes. It was necessary for Paul to place this lofty ideal before the Thessalonian Christians living in a pagan world. It is equally important now.’ - Robertson’s New Testament Word Pictures 1 Pet 1:14 ‘As obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance;’ –And it goes beyond sex doesn’t it! II Tim 1:9 ‘Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,’

I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 9 Christian Conduct – Part 1 1 Pet 2:12 “Having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.’ I Thess 4:8 – Darby “He therefore that [in this] disregards [his brother], disregards, not man, but God, who has given also his Holy Spirit to you.” –He that disregards – present active participle rejects, sets at naught, disannuls –Sin against a brother/sister is not only about the offended, but about God isn’t it? For the believer, God’s great gift of Grace for living the Christ life - the Holy Spirit in you - is quenched. –You is the personal pronoun for us - hemas »II Pet 1:4 ‘By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.’

I Thessalonians 4:1-8 Nov 18, 2007 Bob Eckel 10 Christian Conduct – Part 1 –Not accomplished by a legal system – Rom 8:3 –The bottom line - 1 John 3:24 ‘Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.’ –Keep Looking Down!