Argument
He exhorts and entreats them to persevere in the precepts which he had handed on to them; that they should flee fornication, cultivate brotherly charity, that those of humble condition should work with their hands and not be forced to seek the necessities of life through theft or unlawful means. He also encourages them with the hope of the resurrection, the manner and certain circumstances of which he describes.
1 Th 4:1 “For the rest, therefore…”
After praising the steadfastness of your faith and the conduct of certain saints, since nevertheless some are still imperfect and sinners, what follows remains.
“We beseech you…”
For often the prayers of prelates have more effect with their subjects than stern commands.
“And we exhort you…”
And even if through ourselves we should obtain little from you—
“In the Lord Jesus”
Through the Lord Jesus, to whose love and reverence you owe this obedience, who also, as Chrysostom says, beseeches you through me. He inserts the name Jesus—that is, Savior—so that the remembrance of the salvation obtained through Him may move them the more.
“That as you received from us, when we were among you, how you ought to walk…”
Namely, along the way of the commandments; for “the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light, and the way of life is the reproof of discipline” (Prov 6:23).
“And to please God”
By a right intention, says St. Thomas. For it is not enough to walk in the path and offices of virtue; we must also direct our steps to one single goal, which is God and our ultimate end.
“So also you should walk”
The Latin translator seems to have added this to complete the sense, like the particle ut before quemadmodum; for both are absent from the Greek text.
“That you may abound more”
In virtues and merits. For just as one who walks with his feet continually advances and makes progress, so one must go from virtue to virtue on the path of virtue, stretching forward and forgetting what lies behind (Phil 3:13).
1 Th 4:2: “For you know what precepts…”
Not mine, but received from another, of which I am only the promulgator.
“We gave you through the Lord Jesus”
As delivered to me by the principal lawgiver; for the preposition per does not always signify an instrumental cause but sometimes the principal one, as in Gal 4:7: “an heir through God.”
1 Th 4:3: “For this is the will of God…”
That which He wills and has commanded you:
“Your sanctification”
Holiness and purity from sins of lust, which especially defile body and soul; for to this he refers when he adds:
“That you abstain from fornication”
From every illicit union, under which, as Chrysostom says, he comprehends the other impurities of the flesh not to be named. In all his epistles, as Chrysostom notes, the Apostle inveighs especially against fornication, because this vice was most widespread, particularly among the Gentiles, whose philosophers taught that at least simple fornication was lawful.
1 Th 4:4 “That each one know…”
With practical knowledge, by which he actually does this—
“How to possess his vessel”
His own body, which is the vessel and instrument of the soul, as the Greeks explain; or indeed the body of his wife, as Augustine and many Latins hold—
“In sanctification”
With holiness and purity, not abusing his own or his wife’s body for base and illicit acts—
“And honor”
For he dishonors his body who fornicates (1 Cor 6:18), and he dishonors his wife’s body who handles it otherwise than according to the laws of lawful and chaste marriage.
1 Th 4:5 “Not in the passion of desire”
Not with the ardor of carnal concupiscence. This even those do who use their own spouse solely for pleasure, as Augustine teaches (On Marriage, I, 8): “He who becomes drunk with his own wine sins—not because he uses what is his own, but because he uses it immoderately.” Yet it is not a mortal sin to use one’s spouse unless one uses her as though she were not his own—that is, unless he would use her even if she were not his, or would more gladly use her if she were not his—says St. Thomas, who sets forth only two cases in which spouses use one another without sin: for the good of offspring and to render the marital debt.
“As also the Gentiles”
Upon whom the light of the divine law has not shone as upon Christians and Jews. Such are especially the Moors, Vandals, and above all the Saracens, many of whom, as Haymo says, have sixty wives—
“Who do not know God”
And therefore do not fear Him as the avenger of their crimes; or if they know Him speculatively, as the Gentile philosophers did, they do not know Him practically, since “they did not glorify Him as God.” Therefore “God delivered them up to the desires of their heart, to dishonor their own bodies” (Rom 1:24).
1 Th 4:6: “And that no one overreach…”
By proudly exalting himself over another and oppressing him by power—
“Nor circumvent”
Deceive him from avaricious motive—
“In any matter”
In any business whatsoever—
“His brother”
A Christian brother, or indeed any neighbor whatsoever, who, if not by religion, at least by the fellowship of nature is a brother. Yet Chrysostom and Jerome think that not every fraud is here forbidden, but adultery:
“That no one overreach”
By stepping beyond the bounds of his own marriage and ascending another’s bed—
“Nor circumvent”
That is, deceive by avarice or greed for carnal pleasure—
“In that matter”
For the Greek can be rendered “in that matter,” namely fornication, veiling the shameful deed under an honorable term; which interpretation pleases Haymo, Cajetan, and many recent authors.
“For the Lord is the avenger”
For Christ has been appointed judge and avenger by the Father—
“Of all these things”
Of fornications and avaricious frauds against brothers. For although you commit fornication with the woman consenting, yet God will avenge it; for even if no injury is done to the maiden, you nevertheless insult God who is present and sees, says Chrysostom.
1 Th 4:7: “For God has not called us…”
When He drew us by grace to the faith—
“Unto uncleanness”
That we might defile ourselves with lusts, avarice, and crimes; for this is not Christian but Epicurean liberty—
“But unto sanctification”
That we might be holy and immaculate (cf. Eph 1:4).
1 Th 4:8: “Therefore he who despises these things…”
These precepts which I have given you—
“Despises not man”
Who promulgates the precepts only—
“But God”
Who is the author of such precepts, and who also, for their observance, “has given His Holy Spirit”
By the infusion of grace, by which He has written His law—
“In us”
In our hearts. Therefore he who despises these precepts also despises this help of the Holy Spirit and the inscription of the law in his own heart.
1 Th 4:9: “But concerning brotherly charity…”
That mutual charity among Christian brethren—
“We have no need to write to you”
Indeed, if it were not necessary to be silent, it would have been necessary to say nothing at all, says Chrysostom. This is therefore the figure called praeteritio, by which one most strongly says what he claims not to say. Others take it simply and without figure, as if the Apostle means that it was necessary to write to them about fornications and other shameful acts—which the blinded Gentiles had thought not to be sins—but not so about charity toward brethren.
“For you yourselves…”
After the faith was preached to you by us—
“Have been taught by God”
Not only by revealing the truth, but by imparting charity, says Augustine. For he truly and fully learns, according to the manner of Scripture, who both knows what he ought to do and does it from love of justice, not from fear of punishment. “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me” (John 6:45). For he who knows and does not act has not yet learned from God according to grace, but according to the Law; not according to the Spirit, but according to the letter, says Augustine (On the Grace of Christ, I, 13).
“That you love one another”
In affection and in deed; for, as St. Gregory says, the proof of love is the exhibition of works.
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