1 Th 4:1 “Furthermore then, brethren, we beseech you and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you ought to walk and to please God—as indeed you do walk—so that you may abound more.”
Up to this point, the Apostle had instructed and admonished the Thessalonians to endure calamities for the faith of Christ. For those who sincerely turn themselves toward God are often more fiercely tempted—by the devil, by tyrants, by persecutors, by sectarians—just as daily experience even now shows. When someone strives to abandon the state of sin and unbelief, he is then pressed more strongly by the devil, assaulted by the flesh, afflicted by the world. The devil, unwilling that his prey be snatched from his hands, employs every art of harm.
So Laban pursued Jacob with hostile intent when Jacob, after twenty years of most laborious service, departed from him. Hence the wise and provident counsel of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach 2): “Son, when you come to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear, and prepare your soul for temptation.” It is God’s accustomed way that to those to whom He promises great things, He permits for a short time events altogether contrary to the promise, in order to test and strengthen the firmness and constancy of their faith. God promised Abraham a posterity as numerous as the dust of the earth, and yet commanded him to sacrifice Isaac, the only son upon whom that promise seemed to depend—a mystery pondered profoundly by the Apostle in Hebrews 11. Many such examples are found in Scripture: in Judges 20 regarding the Benjaminites; in Exodus, where, though liberty was foretold, the Israelites were more afflicted by the Egyptians than before.
So too it happened to the Thessalonians: having received the Gospel, they were violently shaken by many evils. Because they remained steadfast in temptations, the Apostle now adds salutary exhortations as spurs to greater progress in Christian virtue.
It is no wonder, says a holy doctor, if there are steps “from virtue to virtue,” since each virtue advances by degrees and through increments of merit is brought to perfection. There are beginnings of virtue, progress, and consummation. Therefore he urges the Thessalonians—as pilgrims and strangers in this life—to press forward cheerfully in the way of God’s commandments, desiring to abound more richly in merits and in good works.
By the word “to walk” he follows Scriptural usage, meaning to live and conduct oneself. Christians, while in this body, are pilgrims away from the Lord; they have here no abiding city, no fixed dwelling, but seek a future homeland through a blameless life. Thus the Psalmist calls that man blessed “who has not walked in the counsel of the wicked,” but whose will is in the law of the Lord day and night. Likewise, “Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the Lord.” The Apostle told the Corinthians he would show them a “more excellent way”—namely charity, by which heaven is opened and merit established before God.
As long as man stands as a traveler on the road, he must advance until he reaches the appointed end of eternal life. And there is no more direct way to the fruition of God than by loving Him intensely while we live here below. Since charity has no fixed limit—being a participation in the infinite charity of the Holy Spirit—Paul uniquely begs and implores the Thessalonians to grow ever more in charity. The capacity of the human soul is such that the more charity increases within it, the more capable it becomes of still greater perfection.
Though God is the author both of charity and of its increase, the just man, by exercising good works, can—as a secondary cause—enlarge and enkindle charity. Hence Paul desires the Ephesians to “grow in charity,” and in Luke’s Gospel Mary Magdalene is praised because “she loved much.” So here he exhorts them to abound more in the love of God, by which one becomes more pleasing and acceptable to Him. For it is impossible to please God without faith working through charity.
1 Th 4:2 “For you know what precepts I gave you through the Lord Jesus.”
Paul recalls what he had previously delivered orally. What he now writes, he had first taught by word of mouth. Thus Scripture itself insinuates the priority of apostolic tradition. As he says to Timothy, “You have fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith…” Timothy had long conversed with him and learned the dogmas through tradition before committing them to writing.
He adds “through the Lord Jesus” lest the Thessalonians think these commands were merely Paul’s private authority. The contempt of apostolic precepts is contempt of Christ Himself, who said: “He who hears you hears Me; and he who despises you despises Me.” The Apostles were sent not only as announcers of salvation but as rulers and governors in spiritual matters. Their successors, the bishops, likewise possess authority to bind consciences in matters pertaining to salvation.
1 Th 4:3 “For this is the will of God, your sanctification.”
The will of God here is what the Schoolmen call the voluntas signi—the will of sign—by which God, through His laws and ordinances, declares what He wills us to do or avoid. Christ says in John’s Gospel: “This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I should lose nothing.”
Sanctification may be taken strictly for purity of the flesh, or more broadly for all holiness of body and soul. Some interpret it particularly of continence; others more fittingly refer it to universal holiness flowing from living faith and confidence in God, so that God be not only honored with the lips but adored in the heart. “True adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth.”
If God required such ritual purity from Israel and commanded the temple of Jerusalem to be adorned with so many ceremonies, how much greater purity does He require from the temple of our hearts? For we are “the temple of God,” as Paul repeatedly teaches: “You are the temple of the living God… If anyone violates the temple of God, him God will destroy.” It is fitting that He who is the Holy of Holies should have a holy dwelling.
Hence we are often admonished: “Be holy, for I am holy.” “Be merciful, as your heavenly Father is merciful.” “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
1 Th 4:3 cont. 1 Th 4:4 “That you abstain from fornication; that each one of you know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.”
Following Hebrew usage, he calls the human body a “vessel”—an elegant metaphor for something fragile, breakable, and liable to corruption. As earthen vessels must be carefully guarded lest they shatter, so must Christians walk cautiously in this slippery world, lest their mortal and unstable condition incur spiritual harm.
The Apostle’s meaning is that Christians preserve the body received from God in honor and sanctification—that is, pure and unpolluted by the sordid diseases of lust. He insists upon this because the Gentiles were deeply immersed in luxury, as he declares in Romans 1. He commands: “Flee fornication,” placing it among the gravest sins, and affirms in 1 Corinthians 6 and Galatians that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
The Apostolic Council required the Gentiles to abstain from fornication—a practice many pagan philosophers did not even deem illicit. Christian chastity astonished the pagans, as Peter writes: “They think it strange that you do not run with them into the same excess of riot.”
Some interpret “vessel” as wife, so that husbands use marriage chastely and moderately, with due regard for time and place. St. Peter exhorts husbands to dwell with their wives “according to knowledge, giving honor to the woman as to the weaker vessel.” They are not to treat wives as servants or instruments of passion, but as companions and co-heirs of life. Raphael told Tobias that the demon prevails over those who enter marriage excluding God and surrendering to lust “like horse and mule which have no understanding.”
1 Th 4:5 Hence Paul adds: “Not in the passion of desire, like the Gentiles who do not know God.”
That is, not with burning lust and brutish impulse. The body is possessed in sanctification and honor when it remains under the dominion of reason and the Spirit. The Gentiles, darkened in mind, did not know themselves to be temples of the Holy Spirit, members of Christ’s mystical Body. “You were Gentiles,” he says, “carried away to dumb idols.”
Ignorance of God breeds indulgence in vice. As Hilary notes, the sweetness of sin persuades men that God does not exist, because they would rather believe there is no avenger of their deeds.
1 Th 4:6 “That no one overreach nor circumvent his brother in the matter.”
Some interpret this of adultery—overstepping into another’s marriage. Others extend it to every kind of injustice committed by fraud or violence in contracts and dealings. All such matters fall under the natural law: do not do to another what you would hate to suffer.
The Lord is just and loves justice. He approves those who act in equity and abhors iniquity.
“For the Lord is the avenger of all these things, as we have told you before and testified.”
God leaves no sin unpunished. Scripture often warns us not to seek private vengeance but to leave it to the Lord: “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” Private revenge springs from disordered self-love and pride. Judgment belongs to God, who will judge in equity. Yet, as Augustine carefully explains, while the interior disposition of patience is always required, external punishment may sometimes be necessary for the common good.
1 Th 4:7“For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification.”
Whatever is stained by sin and opposed to divine law is impurity. But by His holy calling God has separated us from profane studies and carnal desires, that, as Peter says, “girding up the loins of your mind,” we may hope perfectly in the grace offered us in Christ.
Faith is the first fruit of grace and the beginning of sanctification. Through faith hearts are purified; through Christ’s word we are made clean: “You are clean because of the word I have spoken to you.” Faith enlightens the intellect, disperses errors, and inclines the will to adhere to God. Yet sin obscures and eventually extinguishes faith, as seen in heretics and apostates.
Christ “gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself a people acceptable, zealous for good works.” Sanctification, therefore, is separation from the uncleanness of the flesh, from the disorder of spirit, from worldly allurements, and from the contagion of the evil one—so that we may truly be temples of the living God and shine with the splendor of virtue.
1 Th 4:8 “Therefore he who despises these things, despises not man but God, who has also given His Holy Spirit in us.”
The Apostle now presses his argument to its solemn conclusion. Whoever rejects these ordinances does not merely slight a human instructor; he resists God Himself. The gravity of the claim rests not upon Paul’s personal dignity, but upon the divine commission under which he speaks. He is not advancing private opinion, but transmitting what he received—either from the mouth of Christ or through the inward illumination of the πνεῦμα ἅγιον (Holy Spirit).
One might say that in these words Paul addresses not only ancient rebels—like Dathan, Korah, and Abiram who murmured against Moses—but also those of every age who refuse the authority established by God in His Church. The rebellion in the wilderness was not ultimately against Moses, but against the Lord who appointed him. So too here: contempt for apostolic precept is contempt for the divine authority that instituted it.
The Apostle insists that the commands delivered “for sanctification and purity of Christian life” are not of human fabrication. They proceed from God’s authority, for the Apostles are ambassadors (legati) and vicars appointed to command, teach, and govern in Christ’s name. Through their ministry, God Himself operates. As the Lord declared in the Gospel: “He who hears you hears Me.” And again: “Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them; whose sins you retain are retained.” Likewise after the Resurrection: “As the Father has sent Me, so I send you.”
This sending is not ornamental but effectual. Christ did not transmit a mere message; He communicated authority. When He said, “All power (ἐξουσία) is given to Me in heaven and on earth,” He immediately added the missionary mandate. The Apostles therefore act not as private theologians but as participants in Christ’s own mission. If they are shepherds (ποιμένες, pastors), as in John 21 and Acts 20; if they are “superiors” as in Matthew 23; if civil rulers are called “higher powers” in Romans 13—how much more must spiritual governors possess real authority to direct and even bind consciences in matters pertaining to salvation.
Hence Scripture repeatedly commands obedience to those set over the faithful: “Obey your leaders and submit to them” (Hebrews 13). “Be subject for the Lord’s sake” (1 Peter 2). If one refuses to hear the Church, Christ Himself declares that such a person is to be regarded as a Gentile and a publican (Matthew 18). The Apostle’s logic in this place is therefore transparent: to reject the Church’s lawful governance is, in its root, to reject God who established that governance.
Paul further strengthens his claim by recalling the action of the Apostolic Council in Acts 15. There the decree was promulgated with remarkable solemnity: “It has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things.” The formula reveals a consciousness not merely of prudential judgment, but of divine concurrence. The Spirit is not absent from the Church’s deliberation; He is present as guide and guarantor.
Likewise Paul himself, in 1 Corinthians 7, distinguishes between dominical precept and apostolic ordinance, yet even when speaking in his own name he does so under divine commission. In matters concerning marriage he says, “I say, not the Lord”—that is, the Lord did not pronounce on this explicitly during His earthly ministry—yet the Apostle speaks authoritatively. Again in 1 Corinthians 11, after establishing regulations for worship, he refers to them as his commands. And to Timothy and Titus he gives norms regarding ordination and ecclesial order. These examples demonstrate that apostolic governance extends beyond verbatim repetition of Christ’s recorded sayings.
But why does Paul add here that God “has given His Holy Spirit in us”? The clause is luminous. The authority exercised by the Apostles is inseparable from the gift of the Spirit. When Christ breathed upon them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit,” He signified an interior communication of power. The outward insufflation symbolized the inward infusion of divine energy. The Spirit is given when His gifts (χαρίσματα, charisms) and virtues are poured into souls.
Through this gift the Apostles were instructed, perfected, and strengthened. Could any greater commission be imagined? The eternal Son, sent by the Father, now sends His disciples with a participation in His own mission. As He bore witness to the truth for the salvation of believers, so they are constituted His vicars in the world—to preach, to govern, to guide humanity into the way of salvation.
Consider the practical implication. If one were to send a physician to heal the sick, would he not also grant him the instruments necessary for healing? Christ sends the Apostles into a world burdened with sin; therefore He confers upon them the power to forgive sins. He sends them to teach; therefore He grants them the Spirit of truth. He sends them to govern; therefore He bestows authority.
The Spirit’s presence is thus the seal of divine authorship upon apostolic teaching. To resist their doctrine is not merely to dispute an interpretation; it is to grieve the Spirit who speaks through them. And this returns us to the Apostle’s opening admonition: “He who despises these things despises not man, but God.”
The warning is severe, yet it is medicinal. Paul does not assert this to exalt himself, but to safeguard the sanctification of the faithful. For the same Spirit who empowers the Apostles dwells also in believers. God “has given His Holy Spirit in us”—not only in the ministers who govern, but in the faithful who obey. The Church’s authority and the believer’s sanctification spring from one and the same divine source.
Thus the passage closes where it began: with holiness. The God who calls to sanctification provides both the doctrine that directs and the Spirit who enables obedience. To receive apostolic teaching with docility is therefore not servility to men, but communion with God who speaks and acts in His Church.
CONTINUE
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