+I. Will be an imposing spectacle.+
+II. Should be ardently longed for.+
+III. Demands on our part diligent moral preparedness.+
* * * * * * * *
+CHAPTER IV.+
_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._
Ver. 1. +And to please God, so ye would abound more and more.+--R.V.
inserts "even as ye do walk after God."
Ver. 2. +What commandments.+--R.V. "charge"; margin, "charges." "The
Greek word signifies an announcement, then a command or advice
publicly delivered" (_Findlay_).
Ver. 3. +Your sanctification, etc.+--"The reception of Christianity
never delivers, as with the stroke of a magician, from the wickedness
and lusts of the heathen world which have become habitual; rather a
long and constant fight is necessary for vanquishing them"
(_Huther_). The sanctification here is first negative--abstinence.
Ver. 4. +How to possess his vessel.+--R.V. "to possess himself of his
own vessel." With the long list of names in view of those who
interpret "vessel" as meaning "body," it is almost daring to hint at
another meaning. The list, however, is strong of those who regard the
expression as a figurative designation for a wife, and 1 Pet. iii. 7
decides us.
Ver. 5. +Not in the lust of concupiscence.+--R.V. "not in the passion
of lust." "The word 'passion' signifies not so much a violent feeling
as an overpowering feeling, one to which a man so yields himself that
he is borne along by evil as if he were its passive instrument; he
has lost the dignity of self-rule, and is the slave of his lower
appetites" (_Findlay_).
Ver. 6. +That no man go beyond and defraud.+--R.V. "transgress, and
wrong." "More exactly, that none overreach and take advantage of his
brother in the matter. 'The matter' of the last two verses. . . . The
apostle sets the wrong in the strongest light; it is to cheat one's
brother, and that in what touches most nearly the sanctities of life"
(_Ibid._). +The Lord is the avenger.+--The heathen deities, so far as
they were anything, were oftener patterns than avengers of such
things, and they who made them were only too like them.
Ver. 8. +He therefore that despiseth.+--Margin and R.V. "rejecteth."
He who pushes aside sanctification in his preference for uncleanness
will have to reckon with God Himself.
Ver. 9. +Ye have no need that one write to you.+--St. Paul admits the
brotherly love amongst them. It was adroit on his part, therefore, to
make uncleanness an offence against brotherly love. +Taught of
God.+--Is an expression only found here in the New Testament. We are
reminded of Isa. xxviii. 26. The mother-wit of the farmer who had no
"school of agriculture" is traced by the prophet to God; he is
God-taught to distinguish his methods. So these Thessalonians took to
brotherly love naturally, as we say.
Ver. 10. +We beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and
more.+--Brotherly love is a good thing, of which St. Paul evidently
thought too much could not be had.
Ver. 11. +Study to be quiet.+--R.V. margin, "Go: be ambitious." "An
example of St. Paul's characteristic irony; the contrast between
ambition and quiet, giving a sharper point to his exhortation, as
though he said, 'Make it your ambition to have no ambition!'"
(_Ibid._). +To do your own business.+--To be occupied with your own
affairs.
Ver. 12. +That ye may walk honestly.+--The adverb here is used to
match the verb--to walk with a dignified and gentlemanly bearing. St.
Paul's ideas of gentlemanliness--"working with the hands"--would not
suit the youth of gentlemanly habits who wants to be adopted where he
will have nothing to do. +And may have need of nothing.+--What a
nobly independent soul! What a splendid text these verses would make
for some plain words to Christians who indulge in sharp practices, or
waste until they have to throw themselves on any one who will support
them!
Ver. 13. +Them which are asleep.+--The R.V. reading changes the
perfect participle ("them who have fallen asleep and continue to
sleep") unto the present, "them that fall asleep," as they drop off
one after another. See on the expression our Lord's beautiful words,
Luke viii. 52; John xi. 11 f.
Ver. 15. +We which are alive and remain unto the coming of the
Lord.+--"We must recognise that Paul here includes himself, along
with the Thessalonians, among those who will be alive at the advent
of Christ. Certainly this can only have been a hope, only a
subjective expectation on the part of the apostle" (_Huther_). +Shall
not prevent.+--The meaning of "prevent" is "to go before." But the
connotation came to have more prominence than the meaning, so it come
to signify to stop (by standing in the way). R.V. gives, "shall not
precede." It is the same word as in ch. ii. 16 (in another tense).
The apostle says, "We shall not arrive before them."
Ver. 16. +With a shout.+--Like the ring of command heard over the
noise of battle. "We must not look for literal exactness where things
are depicted beyond the means of sense" (_Findlay_). +With the trump
of God.+--The trumpet here, like that in 1 Cor. xv. 52, is the
military trumpet.
Ver. 17. +Shall be caught up.+--The idea conveyed by the word is that
of sudden or violent seizure, as when the fiery messengers carried
off the prophet Elijah, or as when St. Paul was "caught up" to the
third heaven.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-3.
_Earnest Exhortations to a Higher Sanctity._
Purity is the perfection of the Christian character. It is the
brightest jewel in the cluster of saintly excellencies, and that
which gives a lustre to the whole. It is not so much the addition of
a separate and distinct grace as it is the beauteous and harmonious
development of all the graces in the most perfect form. As Flavel has
said: "What the heart is to the body, that the soul is to the man;
and what health is to the heart, holiness is to the soul." Purity is
the sound, healthy condition of the soul and its vigorous growth
towards God. In the concluding prayer of the preceding chapter the
apostle indicates that God will, through His spirit, fill the
Thessalonians with love--the great distinctive feature of a genuine
and higher sanctity. He now urges upon them the necessity of earnest
and persistent endeavours after its attainment. Human agency is not
annihilated but stimulated by the Divine. Observe:--
+I. That a higher sanctity consists in living under a sense of the
Divine approval.+--1. _Religion is a life._ "How ye ought to walk"
(ver. 1). A walk implies motion, progression, continual approach to a
definite goal. Religion is not an ornament to wear, a luxury to
enjoy, a ceremony to observe, but a _life._ It penetrates every part
of our nature, throbs in every pulse, shares every joy and sorrow,
and fashions every lineament of character. We make sad mistakes; but
there is goodness hived, like wild honey, in strange nooks and
corners of the world.
2. _Religion is a life modelled after the worthiest examples._--"As
ye have received of us how ye ought to walk" (ver. 1). The
Thessalonians not only received the wisest counsels from their
teachers, but they witnessed their holy and consistent lives; and
their attention was constantly directed to the all-perfect
example--Christ Jesus. It is the tendency of all life to shape itself
after the character of its strongest inward force. The love of God is
the mightiest power in the life of the believer; and the outer
manifestation of that life is moulded according to the sublime
pattern of the inner Divine ideal.
3. _Religion is a life which finds its chief joy in the Divine
approval._--"And to please God" (ver. 1). It is possible, then, so to
live as to please God. What a powerful incentive to a holy life is
the thought, the Lord taketh pleasure in His people! We can rise no
higher in moral excellence than to be acceptable to God. To enjoy the
sense of His approval fills the cup of happiness to the brim. In
vain, the world frowns or demons rage, if God smiles. The learned and
pious Donne, when taking solemn farewell of his friends on his
deathbed, said: "I count all that part of my life lost which I spent
not in communion with God or in doing good."
4. _Religion is a life capable of vast expansion._--"So, ye would
abound more and more" (ver. 1). _Life_ in its healthiest and
intensest form is _happiness._ As we advance in the religious life
our happiness increases. "All the while," says Fuller, "thou livest
ill, thou hast the trouble, distraction, and inconveniences of life,
but not the sweets and true use of it." God has made every provision
for our increase in holiness; we are exhorted to it, and most really
promote our highest good and the Divine glory in attaining it. There
is no limit in our elevation to a higher sanctity but our faith.
+II. That the necessity of a higher sanctity is enforced by Divine
authority.+--"For this is the will of God, even your sanctification"
(ver. 3).
1. _A higher sanctity involves a conformity to the Divine
nature._--God is holy, and the loftiest aim of the believer is to be
like Him. There is to be not only an abstinence from all that is
impure, but a positive experience of its opposite--purity. By faith
we participate in the Divine nature and possess qualities analogous
to those which constitute the Divine perfections--mercy, truth,
justice, holiness. The grand purpose of redemption is to bring man
into holiest fellowship with God.
2. _A higher sanctity is in harmony with the Divine will._--"For this
is the will of God, even your sanctification." Not only the attitude
and tendency of the soul, but all its active outgoings must be holy.
Such is the will of God. What He proscribes must be carefully
avoided; what He prescribes must be cheerfully and faithfully done in
the manner He prescribes it. His will is here emphatically expressed;
it is supported by abundant promises of help; and it is declared that
without holiness no man shall see the Lord. The will of God is at
once the highest reason, the strongest motive, and the final
authority.
3. _The Divine will regarding a higher sanctity is enforced by duly
authorised messengers and well-understood precepts._--"For ye know
what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus" (ver. 2). The Divine
will is expressed in definite commandments. The apostle did not
assume authority in any dictatorial spirit. He delivered unto others,
and powerfully enforced what he had received "by the Lord Jesus"
(Rom. xiv. 14). He taught them to observe all things whatsoever the
Lord had commanded--_all_ those things, only those, and no others.
These precepts were well known, "For ye know what commandments we
gave you." Obedience should ever be in proportion to knowledge.
Knowledge and practice are mutually helpful to each other. Knowledge,
the mother of practice; practice, the nurse of knowledge. To know and
not to do is to incur the heaviest condemnation. A certain Stoic,
speaking of God, said: "What God wills, I will; what God wills not, I
will not; if He will that I live, I will live; if it be His pleasure
that I die, I will die." Ah! how should the will of Christians stoop
and lie down at the foot of God's will! "Not my will, but Thine be
done" (Luke xxii. 42).
+III. That the possession of a higher sanctity is repeatedly urged by
earnest exhortations.+--"Furthermore then, we beseech you, brethren,
and exhort you" (ver. 1). Doctrine without exhortation makes men all
brain, no heart; exhortation without doctrine makes the heart full,
leaves the brain empty. Both together make a man. The apostle
laboured in both, and it is difficult to say in which of the two he
displayed most earnestness. In addition to all he had urged before,
he _beseeches_ and _exhorts_ the Thessalonians to press onward to
higher attainments; in which we have a fine example of the
combination of a tender, brotherly entreaty, with the solemn
authority of a Divinely commissioned ambassador. Some people, says a
certain writer, are as thorns; handle them roughly and they pierce
you; others as nettles--rough handling is best for your safety. A
minister's task is an endless one. Has he planted
knowledge?--practice must be urged. Is the practice
satisfactory?--perseverance must be pressed. Do they continue in
well-doing?--they must be stimulated to further progress. The end of
one task is the beginning of another.
+Lessons.+--_The believer is called to the attainment of a higher
sanctity._--1. _By the voice of God._ 2. _By the voice of His
faithful ministers._ 3. _And by the aspirations of the life Divinely
planted within him._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._