7/8/18
Tom Lowe
Lesson 10: To Abstain From Sexual Immorality (1Thessalonians 4:3-8)
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (NIV)
3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, 5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God; 6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister .The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. 8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Lesson 10
Introduction
Paul now proceeds to deal with what is lacking in their faith (3:10). In Lesson 9 we established that Paul encouraged the Thessalonian believers to deal with what is lacking in their faith. The encouragement he offered was not haphazard, and it appears from 5:14{1] that he had three groups chiefly in mind:
1) The weak who were tempted to indulge in impurity (4:3-8).
2) The idlers who were the most disturbing element in the church (4:9-12; 5:12, 13).
3) The faint-hearted who were anxious both about their dead (4:13-18: the only distinctly new teaching in the Epistle), and about their own salvation (5:1-11).
The apostle believed that there were certain subjects and doctrines in which they needed further guidance and instruction. Chief among these was the misunderstanding that had arisen concerning the second coming of the Lord Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4:13; 5:11); but before Paul dealt with that subject there were a few things he wished to say to them about morals and their conduct toward each other?Lesson 10.
No sin caused more chaos for Greek and Roman cultures than abuse of sex. Thessalonica was a lot like many 21st-century communities and cities. They had no restraints on sexual immorality. In individuals or societies, sexual impurity eventually leads to pain, loss, misery, and social decay.
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[1} “And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14)
Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 (NIV)
3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified{2]:
Paul is not advocating his own ideas; he is enforcing God’s will. This is not the will of God in its entirety, but God’s will specifically as it relates to sexual purity. Sanctification{2] is both a gift and a demand. It is a gift in that believers are objectively holy in Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30); it is a demand in that it is the will of God that they should become subjectively transformed into Christ’s likeness (2 Corinthians 3:18). And the necessities such a demand involves “the separation of the spirit from all that is impure and polluting and the renunciation of the sins toward which the desires of the flesh and of the mind lead us.”
Sanctification{2] of the believer is a work of the Spirit of God. We need to review the threefold aspect of it, because this is so very important:
1) Positional sanctification means that Christ has been made unto us sanctification.
2) Practical sanctification is the Holy Spirit working in our lives to produce holiness in our walk.
3) Total sanctification will occur in the future when we are conformed to the image of Christ Jesus.
The meaning of the word sanctification is “to be set apart for God.” The moment a lost sinner comes to Christ and accepts Christ as Savior, that person is set aside for God’s use. Sanctification is synonymous with consecration, full dedication, and entire devotion to God. Sanctification is the act of making holy, or the state of one who is made holy in the Lord Jesus. But we are told in Hebrews 12:14, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.”
“Holy” defines the character of God, the Holy One of Israel. The only holiness you and I possess as believers is the holiness of God in Christ. “Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:28-30). “Ye are complete in Him” (Colossians 2:10). Our holiness is in Christ: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1).
God has a right to command our sanctification—our complete surrender and entire devotion. We should be completely set apart and dedicated to Him—soul, spirit and body—in every phase of life. When we are born again we are sanctified positionally; we are translated into the kingdom of God’s dear Son (Colossians 1:13); but sanctification is progressive and involves our assimilation of God’s divine nature. It was probably progressive sanctification that Paul had in mind here; the process by which his readers were conformed to the image of Christ in daily experiences by proper response to the Word and the Spirit of God.
that you should avoid sexual immorality;
The great tragedy today is to hear of some Christian worker who has become involved in sexual sin. Paul says that you cannot be involved in sexual sin and at the same time be used of God.
Every form of sexual vice was so widespread in Greek society (is our present situation so very different?) that the weak were strongly tempted to relapse into the practices they had been accustomed to regard with indifference. “What they as Christians needed to remember was that consecration to the true and living God was not only religious but ethical. Whether they had actually tumbled into the abyss or were standing on the precipice is not certain. In any event, Paul’s warning with its religious sanction and practical directions sufficed; we hear nothing of “the weak” in the second letter.”
Paul makes it very clear, there shouldn’t be any confusion—he said, “You should avoid sexual immorality.” “Sexual immorality” is a broad term that can include any sexual relationship outside marriage, including adultery, homosexuality, incest, prostitution, bestiality, and sexual relationships between singles. At times it is used in a more restricted sense (fornication, not adultery, as in Matthew 15:19; Mark 7:21), but here it indicates all forms of “sexual immorality,” including adultery (Matthew 5:32; 19:9).
Paul’s word “avoid” means “keep completely separate from.” His word for “sexual immorality” was porneia, from which we get our English word pornography. The word refers to “illicit sexual relations of every kind.” Christians must separate themselves from every kind of immoral sin—regardless of the popular opinion polls on human behavior. God is never governed by opinion polls. He knows what is best for us because He created us. To a Christian the will of God is clear; holiness and sexual immorality are mutually exclusive.
There are a few questions that Jesus may ask us in the future, such as: “Did you present your body to Me?” Do you realize that your body belongs to Me, that it is to be surrendered to Me?” The Bible asks, “don’t you realize that you yourselves are the temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16).
Special notes and Scripture
[2} Sanctification—sanctification is a very wonderful word, but I am afraid that it is greatly misunderstood. If you go through the Scriptures, you will find that sanctification has several different meanings. When it is used in reference to Christ, as it is here, it means that He has been made over to us sanctification—and you cannot improve on that! Therefore, it does not simply refer to a sinless state, but rather that we have been set apart for God.
4 that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable,
that each of you should learn to control your own body
This particular clause has been interpreted in several ways that I am aware of. The King James has “possess his vessel”; the Weymouth New Testament has “procure a wife”; Young's Literal Translation has “know his own vessel”; the Contemporary English Version has “respect and honor your wife; the Good News Translation has “know how to live with your wife"; and the NIV, our version, has “control your own body. In this case, I prefer to use the NIV.
Paul says that we are to live a life that commends the Gospel. The loose living that we find among some believers today brings the Gospel into disrepute. Such people are not living for God or serving God. You cannot serve God and live in sin. He doesn’t accept that.
Paul wrote, “Each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable,” not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God. Scholars debate on whether the meaning is “learn to control his own body,” or “learn to live with his own wife,” or “learn to acquire a wife.” Translators struggle over the word “vessel” in the King James Version. I believe it refers to a wife rather than his body for two reasons. First, you acquire a wife; you don’t acquire a body—you already have one. Second, Peter speaks of husbands treating their wives with respect “as unto the weaker vessel” (1 Peter 3:7, KJV). Here is a sentence that sounds confusing at first, but it helps us see the issues clearly: the so-called weaker sex is the stronger sex because of the weakness of the stronger sex for the weaker sex. That makes sense to me. I hope it does to you.
The concern is “that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable.” The text is one of the many that call Christians to self-control (Acts 15:20, 29; 21:25; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; and especially 2 Timothy 2:21-22, which also speaks of the body as a “vessel” used in “honor” and “sanctification” instead of being dominated by passions). A person is to keep control of his or her body in holiness before God and honor before the community (Romans 12:10) and God (Romans 2:7; 9:21; 1 Peter 1:7; 2:7). That is, the action taken as an alternative to sexual immorality must be behavior that is set apart to the Lord in its motivation and recognized by others as inherently worthy of respect (1 Corinthians 6:13-20).
Paul speaks of “passionate lust,” but it is not the same as “passionate love.” “In the passion of lust any woman will suit or the actual wife is treated as if she were any woman. In the passion of love only one woman is desired, the wife.” Lust runs wild, leaping over restraint, and forces its own desires until the person unconsciously becomes the passive slave of lust. That Greek heathen culture regarded women—wives included—as instruments for self-gratification. But Christians are to treat marriage partners as holy and honorable. The Bible teaches us to love people and use things; the ungodly use people and love things. A people’s morals are like the objects of their worship (Deuteronomy 7:26; Psalms 115:8; Romans 1:23, 24{3]).
God created sex to be an enjoyable and sacred union between husband and wife. His protection of sex within marriage is not to deny intimate pleasure or satisfying sex, but to give both great joy and lasting fulfillment in the Holy bond of marriage.
in a way that is holy and honorable,
Again, I prefer the KJV which has “sanctification and honour.”
There are all sorts of reasons given for the fact that there is so much unhappiness in marriage. The problem is that the marriage partners are not people who have been set apart for the use of God and who are faithful to each other in a love relationship. When a person saves his body for marriage and is faithful to his partner, he possesses his vessel “in sanctification and honor.” Such should be the practice of every child of God.
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[3} “and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.” (Romans 1:23, 24)
5 not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;
Verse 5 closes with the statement, “like the pagans, who do not know God.” The God whom these degraded, ungodly Gentiles “knew not” is the true, all-powerful, living God (1 Thessalonians 1:9, 10) whom the believers at Thessalonica had received and to whom they turned from idols. They had come to know Him through the Gospel message delivered by Paul; they had surrendered themselves to Him, and through that surrender their bodies had been delivered from the vice, dishonor and lust they had formerly practiced. Their souls had been cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus, and since they turned to God from idols and practices of idolatry, their souls had a clean house in which to live and their bodies were clean vessels suitable for the Masters use. Paul’s desire was that they remain thus.
Since it is through their ignorance of God that the heathen sink into such sins, there could be no greater inconsistency than for those who know God to follow the same shameful course of conduct. Here Paul put his finger on the key to overcoming sexual temptations. A Christian can overcome because he knows God; this makes all the difference! Paul did not say that the heathen do not know about God. The reason they behave as they do is because they do not know God personally, even though they may know about Him. This is why maintaining a vital relationship with God is essential to maintaining a clean walk before God.
6 and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.
and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.
“In this matter” shows that the same subject is continued. The phrase (euphemism) is prompted by Paul’s sensitivity to the feelings of others, but the flagrant violation of the neighbors rights which he condemns is clearly adultery (Exodus 20:14, 17). To each man God has assigned a wife, and has set bounds to nature, in order that there may be intercourse with only one; therefore, intercourse with another is transgression and robbery, and the taking of more than belongs to a person . . . It is more cruel than any robbery, for we do not grieve as much when our wealth is stolen, than when our marriage is assaulted. Do you call him “my brother” and then take from him his most precious possession?
In this verse Paul appealed on the basis of the other person involved in the immoral act. The “brother” here is most likely another human, not necessarily another Christian male. This seems clear from the fact that this person is a victim of illicit sex. Sexual immorality wrongs the partner in the forbidden act by involving him or her in behavior contrary to God’s will and therefore it comes under His judgment. Two or more people practicing sex out of God’s will are calling God’s wrath down on themselves?“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral” (Hebrews 13:4). The initiator of the act takes advantage of his partner in sin by fanning the fire of passion till self-control is lost.
The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.
Knowing the sexual temptations which surrounded them, Paul had warned{4] the Thessalonians from the beginning, of the fearful consequences of immorality, so that they could not now plead ignorance as an excuse. “In all these things”; in “everything that concerns the honor of the human person and the sacredness of wedded life fornicators and adulterers God will judge . . . There is no reason to suppose that “Lord” means anything other than “the Lord Jesus Christ,” through whom God judges the world at the Last Day (2 Thessalonians 1:7-9; Acts 17:31).
God demands sexual purity. The passage clearly says the Lord will punish those who disregard the call to purity: “The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.” Disobedience always produces terrible consequences. Though totally and completely forgiven by God, consequences remain that affect the physical, emotional, moral, and spiritual natures of those who indulge in sexual impurity.
The apostles remind the church that “the Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.” They were not ignorant of what God required, nor were they unaware of the consequences. This type of willful behavior calls down judgment upon the individual as surely as day follows night. That God always judges sin is a basic Christian truth which Paul had taught them and warned them about when he was in Thessalonica.
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[4} Paul gave a double warning.
First, sexual impurity by late as God’s call to a holy life; “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.”
Second, Paul says sexual purity rejects God: “Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit” (v. 8).
7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
There is another reason Paul gives for living a pure life, and it rests in the nature of God’s calling. It is inconceivable that a holy God would call believers for their uncleanness. Even mentioning the thought here puts on display the antinomian abuse of grace (Romans 6:1{5]). God is holy (1 Peter 1:14-16), therefore the Christian must never forget that his calling is to sanctification. “Holiness is to be the pervading element in which the Christian is to move” (Ephesians 1:4). Paul’s attitude toward sexual uncleanness did not arise from his background or personal preferences. They were logical consequences of divine revelation. The Thessalonians and later readers of this epistle should realize that to reject these instructions is to reject the person from whom they came originally, that is, God.
A child of God cannot continue in sin. The Prodigal Son may get in the pigpen for a time, but he won’t live in the pigpen. All true believers in Christ are saints. All born again blood-washed believers are true saints; and true sainthood forbids—yea, excludes—all impurity and wrongdoing.
[5} “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” (Romans 6:1)
8 Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God,
The grave consequence of setting aside this instruction concerning “purity and sanctification” is yet another reason for obeying it. For the one who rejects it, does not reject the advice of man but the commandment of God!
In spite of what you hear on television and in classrooms, the rules for sexual morality are not man-made, and they have not changed in the mind of God. They are not subject to change in every new generation. They come from God—not arbitrarily, but stated accurately because that’s the way He created human beings. Like the law of gravity, our God describes for us “the way things are. We may all decide to fight it and jump off the cliff, but we will all hit the bottom. We may achieve by consensus a re-write of sexual standards in our generation, but the way God made things is the way things really are.” The new morality is simply the old morality brought up-to-date.
God created human beings for thrilling sexual intimacy. He designed sex to be enjoyable in a lifelong commitment of marriage. Sex apart from marriage is out of bounds, “not because sex is bad, but because it is so good.” Joyful intimacy and great sex in happy, lifelong marriages are great gifts to believers from God. As always, his boundaries make life good. When God sets boundaries, he always has our best interests in mind.
Why did God put a safe boundary around sex? To protect your body, to keep your conscience clear, to encourage you to build a strong marriage, to save your family from brokenness, and to make society more livable.
the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
Just as the Gospel is a divine message (1 Thessalonians 1:5; 2:13), so too is the moral teaching that the apostles delivered. Paul therefore concludes, “Anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God.” He adds that God “gives you His Holy Spirit,” the one who enables them to live according to the will of God in sanctification (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16; 1 John 3:24; 1 Thessalonians 5:23).
A child of God is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. He cannot continue to live in sin because the Holy Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The time will come when the child of God will long for holiness in his own life.
The Holy Spirit is the only means by which we can live for God. We see in Paul’s Galatian epistle that the child of God is not to indulge in the sins of the flesh. Instead there should be the manifestation of the fruit of the Spirit in the life. In Romans 8:3, Paul makes it very clear; “For what the law could not do . . .” Why? Is the Law wrong? No, the Law is not wrong; the Ten Commandments are not wrong. The problem is with man, not with the Law. Men cannot attain to the level of the Ten Commandments, nor can he live by the commandments in the New Testament. It is the Holy Spirit within the believer who has been given to him to enable him to live a life for God
It is only the indwelling Holy Spirit that enables us to lead holy lives.
