1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 - Sexual Purity

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. 7 For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. 8 Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Target Date: Sunday, 1 January 2023

NOTES:

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

4 – control - κτάομαι ktaŏmai, ktah´-om-ahee; a primary verb; to get, i.e. acquire (by any means; own) — obtain, possess, provide, purchase.

κτᾶσθαι probably has the sense “to gain control or mastery” here, and even though the pronouns are masculine the instruction to gain mastery over the desires associated with the genital organs would apply equally to women. Thus Paul exhorts the members of the Thessalonian Christian community to avoid sexual immorality of any sort (v. 3b) and to exercise control over their own sexual drives ἐν ἁγιασμῷ καὶ τιμῇ (“in holiness and honor”).

4 – body - σκεῦος skĕuŏs, skyoo´-os; of uncert. aff.; a vessel, implement, equipment or apparatus (lit. or fig. [spec. a wife as contributing to the usefulness of the husband]) — goods, sail, stuff, vessel.

In a transferred sense some people are the tools of others, the body is the vessel of the soul, and the skeúos is also the reproductive organ.

The reference in 1 Th. 4:4 may be to the “body,” as in Greek thought, or to the “wife,” as in the Jewish euphemism. The verb may also mean either “to gain” or “to possess.” If the wife is the skeúos, then we have an exhortation either to marry as a remedy against fornication or to hold one’s wife in esteem. For Paul, who knows both Hebrew and Greek, the most likely meaning is that his readers should know how to live with their wives in sanctification and honor rather than in the lust of passion. Against the rendering of skeúos as “body,” one may cite the context, the absence in Paul of any concept of the body as the container of the soul, and Paul’s lack of interest in an ethics centered on the body. On the other hand, a call for sanctification in marriage is wholly in keeping with both the context and Paul’s training (cf. also 1 Cor. 7:2). 1 Pet. 3:7 offers an apt commentary. Linking the marriage relationship to the ordination of both partners to their future inheritance, it gives this relationship its supreme justification and ultimate profundity.

But because of immoralities, each man is to have his own wife, and each woman is to have her own husband. – 1 Corinthians 7:2

You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered. – 1 Peter 3:7

Given the problems attached to understanding v. 4 as referring to the proper attitude of husbands toward their wives, it seems better to understand σκεῦος as connoting the human body in its sexual aspect, that is, as a euphemism for the genitalia.

6 – transgress - ὑπερβαίνω hupĕrbainō, hoop-er-bah´-ee-no; from 5228 and the base of 939; to transcend, i.e. (fig.) to overreach — go beyond.

The force of ὑπερβαίνειν (here only in NT) is of crossing a boundary—here of crossing a forbidden boundary, and hence trespassing (sexually) on territory which is not one’s own. Jerome (on Eph 5:3) has a phrase which aptly expresses the sense: “transgredi concessos fines nuptiarum” (“to transgress the permitted bounds of marriage”).

6 – wrong - πλεονεκτέω plĕŏnĕktĕō, pleh-on-ek-teh´-o; from 4123; to be covetous, i.e. (by impl.) to over-reach — get an advantage, defraud, make a gain.

Used in secular Greek by a woman who committed adultery against her husband: I have defrauded my husband and came at midnight, wet from the torrential rain. Should we only sit, doing nothing, not talking and not sleeping as lovers should sleep?

6 – in this matter - πρᾶγμα pragma, prag´-mah; from 4238; a deed; by impl. an affair; by extens. an object (material) — business, matter, thing, work.

7 – impurity - ἀκαθαρσία akatharsia, ak-ath-ar-see´-ah; from 169; impurity (the quality), phys. or mor. — uncleanness.

For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; - 1 Thessalonians 2:3

and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. - Ephesians 4:19

But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints - Ephesians 5:3

Thoughts on the Passage:

In all probability Timothy had brought word to Paul that a problem existed in Thessalonica regarding the stringent sexual code that the missionaries had taught their converts as part of the necessary life-style for those who would please God.

While Paul deals with sexual immorality in other letters, most notably 1 Cor. 6:12–20, nowhere does he employ such coercive language to enforce proper Christian conduct. The serious and even threatening tone of vv. 6–8 suggests very strongly that Paul was dealing with a problem that had actually emerged in the community at Thessalonica and that he viewed with considerable concern.

Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body. 14 Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! – 1 Corinthians 6:13-15

3 – We saw in verse 1 that these instructions were given to the Thessalonian believers (as they likely were to all churches). The sinfulness of their breach is not that it broke the rules the apostles proclaimed, nor that it broke the “Law” of God (although it does). The moral law, for the believer, is defined as what is God’s will and what pleases Him in our behavior and motives.

4 – the word “holiness” here (and in v.8) is the same word as “sanctification” in v.3. This is the common theme through this passage.

4 - The sexual promiscuity of an individual always has consequences for the self and for others because it dishonors both participants, and therefore Paul requires that sexual control be exercised out of respect for oneself and other people

Sexual impurity pollutes the Christian for use as a “holy vessel” for God.

Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

Thus to use the body dishonorably and to cause another Christian to do so is to dishonor both God and Christ

5 – Otherwise good followers of Jesus Christ have allowed themselves to be lured to the impurity of this world: movies, shows, books, magazines, stories, and images delivered by their electronic devices all contribute to luring us away from the holiness, the sanctification, God is working in us.

The body must be treated as the Lord’s property and not used as a means of wanton self-indulgence

5 – Passions and lusts – descriptive of those who are outside Christ.

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. – Galatians 5:24

5 - Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. – Colossians 3:5-7

6 – Sexual sin transgresses the other person (and possibly more people – the family of the participants and their spouse). It is destructive to the fellowship.

The sort of action proscribed in v. 6 could threaten the very existence of the community in at least two ways: (1) It could lead to the breakdown of the ethical discipline that served as part of the group boundary separating Christians from paganism, and (2) it could destroy the carefully cultivated sense of kinship among members of the community

6 – There is some question whether this verse is still talking about sexual immorality, or if Paul has changed the subject to business. The verbiage of this verse is from the world of business: transgress, defraud, in this business…

The principle of fair business dealings is indeed a worthy subject, but in the context of the passage, it is doubtful to be the primary meaning of this verse.

It could be that Paul and Silas chose these words from the world of business, in addition to their aptitude because:

This was the plain language of the Thessalonians, who may have been businesspeople.

This could have been words the Thessalonians had used to justify or question the propriety of their sexual behavior. If so, Paul was responding in the language they used.

7 – Many believers think their salvation is only about what God has done for them. It is centered on their BENEFITS. They give little thought to the purpose of God in their salvation – their fitting to live with Him forever.

Your faith is not only about what you are becoming here in this life; it is what God is making you into for eternal life.

Following God because of His benefits would be like a wife staying with her husband simply because of what he provides her – a house, car, food, even love. It is fine to receive those benefits, but it is not sufficient to make a healthy relationship. There must be DEVOTION from both parties.

Be thankful for the benefits, of course, but LOVE and COMMITMENT is built on the relationship.

If a man were to give all the riches of his house for love, It would be utterly despised.” – Song of Songs 8:7

8 – God is so serious about your sanctification that He gives HIS Holy Spirit to you.

Hercules Collins:

Question 124: What is God's will for us in the seventh commandment?

Answer: God condemns all unchastity.(a) We should therefore thoroughly detest it (b) and, married or single, live decent and chaste lives. (c)

(a) Lev. 18:30; Eph. 5:3-5

(b) Jude 22-23

(c) 1 Cor. 7:1-9; 1 Thess. 4:3-8; Heb. 13:4

Question 125: Does God, in this commandment, forbid only such scandalous sins as adultery?

Answer: We are temples of the Holy Spirit, body and soul, and God wants both to be kept clean and holy. That is why he forbids everything which incites unchastity, (a) whether it be actions, looks, talk, thoughts, or desires. (b)

(a) 1 Cor. 15:33; Eph. 5:18

(b) Matt. 5:27-29; 1 Cor. 6:18-20; Eph. 5:3-4

Keach’s Catechism:

Q. 77. What is required in the seventh commandment?

A. The seventh commandment requires the preservation of our own and our neighbor's chastity, in heart, speech, and behavior.

(1 Cor. 6:18; 7:2; 2 Tim. 2:22; Matt. 5:28; 1 Peter 3:2)

Q. 78. What is forbidden in the seventh commandment?

A. The seventh commandment forbids all unchaste thoughts, words, and actions.

(Matt. 5:28-32; Job 31:1; Eph. 5:3-4; Rom. 13:13; Col. 4:6)

Sermon Text:

This morning, we will look at God’s teaching through this Scripture text regarding sexual immorality.

And just like in the times this letter was penned, the commands of God to sexual purity run entirely counter to the prevailing ideas of the world around us.

It doesn’t matter if you are a schoolchild or a senior citizen, the temptations to immorality abound.

And the excuses the world offers to “free” us from the guilt of violating God’s Law abound to us.

Counselors, both professional and self-proclaimed, rather than encouraging you and me toward chastity and fidelity to our spouse, try to lead us down dark paths of sin.

And if we are lured there, the end is destruction.

You have heard their cries in the streets, in your literature, and on your device screens:

You are told that we are all animals, and so it is purely natural.

You are told that it isn’t that bad – it is just a natural function. It doesn’t MEAN anything.

You are told that it is just an old-fashioned morality, outdated in our modern day.

And perhaps you even tell yourself: one time of lust won’t hurt – I can ask God to forgive me afterward.

For the lips of an adulteress drip honey And smoother than oil is her speech; 4 But in the end she is bitter as wormwood, Sharp as a two-edged sword. 5 Her feet go down to death, Her steps take hold of Sheol. 6 She does not ponder the path of life; Her ways are unstable, she does not know it. – Proverbs 5:3-6

She does not know it!

She who tempts you to sin, to abandon your fidelity to God.

She who would see you give away your purity for NOTHING,

And would see you pollute yourself in immorality.

SHE has no idea what it leads to, even for her.

All these people, all these voices, who try to minimize the sinfulness of sexual immorality, do not themselves know where their sin leads.

They don’t care.

They are living for NOW, for the PLEASURE of the moment.

And that is the real problem – they are living to please themselves, not God.

And the tragedy is that even believers can be snared in this trap.

Even Solomon, in his great love song, the Song of Songs, culminates the book with this:

I adjure you [I beg you to swear], O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases [until its time]. - Song of Songs 8:4

From the CSB: Young women of Jerusalem, I charge you, do not stir up or awaken love until the appropriate time.

And the time God has set is clear:

God has reserved all sexual activity to within the bounds of a man and a woman in a marriage to each other – full stop.

And, on the basis of Matthew 5:27-28, we can also say this: God has reserved all sexual DESIRE to within the bounds of a man and a woman in a marriage to each other.

And while I want to stay with the subject of our passage today, I think I would be remiss if I didn’t address this question of DESIRE:

Married brothers, if you don’t desire your wife, or if you desire something or someone else as well, it is YOUR problem, YOUR sin, not hers.

I don’t care what excuses you might use as to why you don’t desire her, it is not HER problem; it is yours.

You have allowed your heart to be turned from her to something else – and that is immorality.

Married sisters, it is the same for you. If you don’t desire your husband, or if you are looking for something or someone else, YOU are in sin.

Don’t start pointing out HIS failures – YOURS are the ones that are taking you into immorality, into LUST.

OK, for everybody now: the world will ALWAYS have alternatives it wants you to try.

There will always be someone better-looking or in better shape or richer or smoother-talking,

But if you are married, your spouse deserves that place of your desire (after God, of course).

Not just your “greatest” desire, but your SOLE desire, your ONLY desire for love and companionship in human relations.

Not “the most desired” among others; the ONLY one.

If you are not married, keep a tight guard on your lusts, holding them in check until you can be married.

Anything else is immorality, regardless of how the world defines it.

abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5 not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God

When the first New Testament congregation looked at allowing Gentiles into the church without conversion to Judaism, they had a concern.

Jewish children, from an early age, were taught the seventh commandment – You shall not commit adultery.

And from an early age, they knew this was a significant part of God’s instruction in how to please Him, also known as His Moral Law.

But the Gentiles who came into the church didn’t have this cultural instruction.

They came from a lascivious culture that made sexual activity outside of marriage quite normal.

Prostitution was rampant, particularly in some idolatrous temples.

Slavery allowed pagans to own concubines, in addition to legally-married wives.

So one of the great concerns of the Jerusalem Council was that the Gentiles understand the grave importance of shunning immorality.

Incidentally, Silas was one of the brothers in the Jerusalem church that carried that instruction to the Gentile believers.

And it is likely that when Timothy returned to Paul and Silas after working in Thessalonica for a while, he reported to them that there were at least some members who were struggling with immorality.

So when he and Paul give this instruction to the Thessalonian believers, they don’t use words like “control” your impulses, or “watch” your lusts;

They tell them to ABSTAIN from sexual immorality.

“Hold yourself off” from immorality.

No call for moderation, no instruction to “minimize” their immoral activities.

Stay away, completely, totally away, from sexual immorality.

And the reason he gives in this is important: You KNOW God. You are His people.

This is part of how He is setting you apart, sanctifying you, to be useful to Him.

Letting the passions of lust control you is not how God has remade you.

As the people God has set apart FOR Himself, you are to control your body in holiness (sanctification) and honor.

And that “body” is not just the flesh, but everything about you, the entire “vessel” – which is the literal word used.

Everything about you that carries the Spirit of God must remain pure and unpolluted.

That is what they say in verse 7: For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.

Not for impurity, not to be polluted, but to be forever set apart, sanctified for Him.

We are called “in” holiness, not even “for” holiness.

That is important: Holiness, sanctification, is not something we DO,

It is something we have been MADE TO BE – set apart for God’s use.

It is our NATURE, the very atmosphere around us.

In speaking to the Corinthian church, Paul put it this way:

Flee sexual immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral man sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? 20 For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body. – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20

He is saying the same thing in both places, though perhaps in more detail in the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians.

This body, this vessel, is holy to the Lord (a sanctuary), and any immorality pollutes that holy place.

6 that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.

But with sexual sin, it is not just YOU who are polluted, diminished.

There are others who are wronged.

And I rather like some other translations that use the word “defraud”, “rip off”, in place of the word “wrong” here – it gets closer to the point.

You are ROBBING someone else of what is rightfully theirs.

When someone commits adultery, immorality, it is easy to see the victims of that act:

The persons who are involved in the act.

Each of them is robbed of the meaning of the sexual relationship.

The spouse or spouses of each of the persons.

Those, quite literally, have had their rights stolen from them.

The covenant with their spouse broken.

But some, perhaps seeking to justify themselves, might ask, “But what if we are just two single people who are ‘consenting adults’? Who does that defraud other than us?”

Each of you is certainly diminished, as we have seen. Each is polluted by the act.

But also, what about your future spouse, who has had their right stolen from them before they ever even knew it was there.

Like an orphan who is due a significant inheritance, but has it stolen from them before they even realized they owned it.

Or perhaps you think “It is only pornography or, even less, a romance novel. It is a ‘victimless crime.’”

Far from it:

Your mind has been polluted from the images or story.

Your desires have been whetted for something beyond your spouse, so he or she is robbed.

And, particularly in the case of pornography, the person in the images has been victimized (no matter what people tell you), selling their most private treasures.

Many, many people have been drawn into that form of prostitution by need or curiosity,

Only later to regret the pictures that can never be fully erased from the memory of the world.

And, if you even look at them, you add to their shame and disgrace, adding one more mind that has taken a part of them.

And even beyond that, your brothers and sisters in Christ are hurt by your lack of self-control.

Sin, sickness, in one part of the body hurts the entire thing.

Others may see your sin and be encouraged to do the same.

In that, you would be gravely guilty of causing a little one to stumble.

And, particularly if you did not repent of the sin, it would eventually separate you all together from the fellowship.

This is not an idle threat – it is what Paul warns in this very verse:

They were solemnly warned – God will avenge when you allow your immorality to attack His church.

Paul told the Colossians:

Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. 6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, 7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. – Colossians 3:5-7

Chasing your pleasure, allowing your lust to drive you in your passions, that IS idolatry.

You have turned your back on God and the holiness to which you were saved.

That is the most perilous state for anyone to be in.

Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.

Now, lest Paul and Silas be accused of offering this stricter morality on their own initiative, they make sure the Thessalonians know the source of this command.

The Greeks had philosophers in the past that offered stricter morality.

Like Pythagoras, the same one who did a lot of mathematics; he preached a stricter morality, and his students followed his example.

But in this matter, it is not just about a stricter law, but about a holier, sanctified life.

These are not the suggestions of a philosopher, or even the edicts of an emperor.

These are the commandments of God, and you ignore them to your peril.

And, because of the work of God, you are ABLE to obey them.

Because He gives His Holy Spirit to you.

And even the way Paul and Silas wrote that phrase emphasizes the point.

Because literally what it says is “He gives His Spirit, the Holy one, to you”.

Certainly, these believers had no thought that God had any other Spirit;

that was not the point.

The point is that GOD’s Spirit was in them (and you), and He IS HOLY.

He is leading you in the right way,

Urging you to control the impulses of the flesh for the sake of the eternal holiness God has for you.

So, beloved, I urge you, do not ignore or dismiss the loving instruction God has given in His Law on this point:

Sexual immorality will cheat you, stealing from you the good that God has for you in His presence.