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Tag: sanctification

Sanctification – saints washed in Christ’s Holiness
Sanctification occurs only 5-10 times in the New Testament, while “sanctify” occurs 70 times in 65 verses in the KJV throughout the Bible.

Doesn’t sanctification require someone or something to be ‘sanctified?’

What is sanctification?

How is it different since Christ Jesus?

Sanctification in the Old Testament

Moses on Sinai

Exodus 19 NKJV excerpt

And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain..

‘Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant,

… ‘And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’

Exodus 19:3-6 except NKJV

So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified the people, and they washed their clothes.

קָדַשׁ qâdash,

to be (causatively, make, pronounce or observe as) clean (ceremonially or morally):—appoint, bid, consecrate, dedicate, defile, hallow, (be, keep) holy(-er, place), keep, prepare, proclaim, purify, sanctify(-ied one, self),

Exodus 21:5-7

“Also let the priests who come near to Yahweh set H6942 themselves apart H6942 as H6942 holy H6942, lest Yahweh break out against them.”

And Moses said to Yahweh, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You [testified to] warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain, and set H6942 it apart H6942 as H6942 holy H6942.’”

Exodus 19:22-23 LSB – noting H6942 meaning Sanctify or Hallow

שְׁמֹות (Exodus) 19 :: Masoretic Text

19:22 וְגַם הַכֹּהֲנִים הַנִּגָּשִׁים אֶל־יְהוָה יִתְקַדָּשׁוּ פֶּן־יִפְרֹץ בָּהֶם יְהוָה׃
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19:23 וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶל־יְהוָה לֹא־יוּכַל הָעָם לַעֲלֹת אֶל־הַר סִינָי כִּי־אַתָּה הַעֵדֹתָה בָּנוּ לֵאמֹר הַגְבֵּל אֶת־הָהָר וְקִדַּשְׁתּוֹ׃
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Does this washing for holiness before God bring any sanctifying fear over you before facing the LORD your Maker?

An Old Testament Word

You may recognize the same word in a couple of important places in the Bible.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified H6942 it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created in making it.

Genesis 2:3 LSB

זָכוֹר אֶת־יוֹם הַשַּׁבָּת לְקַדְּשׁוֹ׃

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep H6942 it holy H6942.

Exodus 20:8 WLC, LSB
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AND perhaps like me, you recall a similar sanctification from the Word of the Gospels. 
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Pray then like this:
Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Matthew 6:9 RSV

Sanctification then prepares unholy sinners to face the Most Holy.

Sanctification in the New Testament

The A.D. first century Greek verb Jesus and the Apostles use is hagiazō.
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verb - From ἅγιος (G40) adjective (most holy thing, a saint) 
- From hagos adjective (an awful thing) [cf ἁγνός (G53) adjective, properly, clean, i.e. (figuratively) innocent, modest, perfect:—chaste, clean, pure. 
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- to render or acknowledge, or to be venerable or hallow
- to separate from profane things and dedicate to God
- to purify
  - to cleanse externally
  - to purify by expiation: free from the guilt of sin
  - to purify internally by renewing of the soul
    
    Strong’s G37 – hagiazō
The Apostle Paul, in referring to a long list of sins of the Corinthians writes:

And such were some of you; but you were washed,

but you were sanctified G37,

but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.

1 Corinthians 6:11 LSB

Therefore, dear chosen of Christ Jesus, do you see yourself as:

a most holy thing, a saint ?

The A.D. first century Greek adjective of the same root is hagios.

Are YOU a HOLY Saint of JESUS Christ, therefore sanctified to Him in your mortal AND eternal life?

Sanctified saints

“For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

Gospel of John 17:20 LSB

In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

For both the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

Hebrews 2:10-11 BSB

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

John 17:17 CSB – Jesus’ prayer for disciples

Sanctification of children learning to walk in Christ

To the saints in Galatia:

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Galatians 4:8-9 ESV

To the saint sitting with you in church:

In conclusion, the best way to examine some of the jargon of Scripture like anointed, consecrated, sanctified, justified and holiness is in prayerful time in the Bible itself.

How better to explain sanctification (or any ‘Christian’ jargon) to a new child of the faith with whom you worship than with Biblical text?
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READ any of the links provided in the Scriptures above. 

OR For more on the topic of Sanctification you may search it here on TalkofJESUS.com OR simply read the earlier post below with my closing thought. 
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Sanctification – a refining of our holiness in Christ

For this is the will of God, your sanctification.. For God did not call us to impurity,

but in sanctification.

Consequently, he who sets this aside is not setting aside man

but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.

1 Thessalonians 4:3a, (3b-6 short list of our impurity) 7-8 LSB

~A.D. 51 – Paul writes to encourage the Thessalonian Church
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A look back from 2025 CE to an earlier look at Sanctification
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Paul’s unfinished encouragement of the Thessalonians

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
February 8, 2025
Paul’s unfinished encouragement of the Thessalonians
Previously on Paul’s Second Mission

Start New Second Missionary Journey

The apostles sailed to Macedonia, Greece and Achaia

Second major stop

Thessalonica

THESSILONICA where they proclaim the Gospel to the Jews for THREE WEEKS.

Paul’s unfinished business with the Thessalonians – 1

AND NOW, in ~ A.D. 50 Paul writes back to the Thessalonians

THREE WEEKS?

Hardly enough time to establish a firm foundation of faith in NEW BELIEVERS!

~A.D. 51 – Paul writes to encourage the Thessalonian Church

Certainly Paul and other apostles must have wondered how the Thessalonians had fared since opponents of the Gospel of Jesus Christ had forced them to exit to Berea, 100 miles away, and cities further south in Greece and Achaia.

Mentioned among these new believers were Jason (Acts 17:5), Gaius (Acts 19:29), Aristarchus (Acts 20:4), and Secundus (Acts 20:4). Source

.. and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith..

.. But now that Timothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always remember us kindly, longing to see us just as we also long to see you..
Paul’s first letter to the Thessalonians 3:2,6 LSB

Paul’s First letter to the Thessalonians 1:

We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers;remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ before our God and Father..

The Apostle’s introductory points of encouragement

For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit
1 Thessalonians 2:3 LSB
- [You are] brothers beloved by God
- your election [by God]
- our gospel [came] to you in power and in the Holy Spirit
- You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake.
- You also became imitators of us and of the Lord [JESUS]
Even though these apostles had not remained in this city of some 200,000 Macedonians, comparable to a Common Era U.S. city of Columbus Ohio, to endure further persecution by the Judaizers, Paul and some of the other apostles would have known from their previous persecutions the afflictions of these new Thessalonian believers.
- You [Thessalonians] have had much affliction [YET] with the joy of the Holy Spirit.
.. you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia.

For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth..
First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians 1:7b-8a Legacy Standard Bible

.. just as you know how we were exhorting G3870 and encouraging and bearing witness to each one of you as a father would his own children..
1 Thessalonians 2:11 LSB
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Do you get the picture of evangelism by way of example of our Christ-like love in the community of our local church?
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19 For who is our hope or joy or crown of boasting? Is it not even you, before our Lord Jesus at His coming?

20 For you are our glory and joy.

Roman ACHAIA (as we studied in ACTS) includes Athens of ancient Greece as an intellectual center

AND CORINTH, its capital and largest city of ~100,000 (including its rural areas).

Corinth – 1st Church Plant in ACHAIA

It is from Corinth that Paul writes back to the Thessalonians in ~ A.D. 51

Practical Christianity for NEW Christians in Thessalonica

we ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us as to how you ought to [conduct yourselves] walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.

* Specific Ways to excel still more in holiness, hope and love.
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* source
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2 For you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

PAUL’s HELPFUL LIST:
- abstain from [porneia] sexual immorality
- know how to possess his own [*]vessel in sanctification and honor
  - not in lustful passion
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* (literally or figuratively [specially, a wife as contributing to the usefulness of the husband]):—goods, sail, stuff, vessel. 
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Paul’s extensive metaphor mentioning ‘lustful passion’ ‘and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter‘ pointedly establishes the standard of a monogamous marriage to a faithful wife by the Thessalonian brothers and without any adultery or coveting another man’s ‘vessel.’

Sanctification

Sanctification is the theological term describing a refining of our holiness in Christ.

⁷For God did not call us to impurity, but in sanctification.

⁸Consequently, he who sets this aside is not setting aside man but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you.
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 LSB

God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives. – 1 Thessalonians 4:7 New Living Translation
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IS YOUR CALL TO CHRIST NOW SANCTIFIED IN HOLINESS?
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Now concerning love of the brothers

‘Now as to the love of the brothers and sisters..’ reads the NASB20:

φιλαδελφία

1 Thessalonians 4:9

This LOVE is NOT erotic ‘love’ with which the world is enamored and against which Paul has already cautioned, but rather a familial love of a biological brother, i.e. philadelphia.
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How many christians, knowing better, have transgressed that line of love?

And as if to further warn believers concerning our sanctification in the loves of Christ Jesus, Paul adds:
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“.. for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another..”

This most personal, godly LOVE is agapaō.

ἀγαπᾶν ἀλλήλους

agapaō allēlōn

you yourselves are taught by GOD [theodidaktos] to Love one another.

of persons

to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly

of things

to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing

—each other, mutual, one another, (the other), (them-
- make it your ambition to lead a quiet life
- attend to your own business
- work with your hands
- walk [peripateō – lit. ‘behave‘] properly toward outsiders
  - have need of nothing
DEATH & LIFE

The Apostle Paul closes his first letter to the Thessalonians with a contemporary issue of the A.D. 50’s an ETERNAL and timeless warning also applicable in these last days of the Common Era of the 2020’s.

TWO TIMELINES
- ~A.D. 30 – JESUS Christ crucified by a Roman Governor [Pilate]
- A.D. 50’s – Paul, an Apostle of the risen CHRIST writes to the Thessalonians as ALL still live under ROMAN rule.
- A.D. 70 (Twenty years after Paul’s letter) – ROME besieges Jerusalem, drives out the Judeans and destroys the Temple of the Herod’s.
A COMMON ERA CAUTION
9/11/2001 C.E.

~ twenty years ago
2021 of the Common Era

TODAY’s contemporary challenges to Christians
- 2044 of the Common Era
  - Twenty years from TODAY? ? ?
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Without stepping into an apocalyptic mire of last days, let's briefly glance at Paul's exhortation for Christians living for an eternal God.
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Therefore comfort one another with these words.
- Do not grieve for those in Christ who have died.
IF WE BELIEVE..
- Jesus died and rose again
  - (John tells us that those are still living among the 500+ men who witnessed Christ’s resurrection just 20 years earlier.)
- God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep [died] in Jesus.
- .. the Lord Himself will descend from heaven..
  - and the dead in Christ will rise first.
  - [Those] who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them [believers who have died] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air..
    
    NOW, in these last days of the Common Era, this would now include these Thessalonians along with other saints to whom the Apostle wrote.
- and so we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore comfort one another with these words.

.. the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly..
Thessalonians 5:2b-3a LSB

4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief..
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Paul then reminds us once more of our obedient sanctification in Christ.
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.. let us be awake and sober.

For God has not appointed us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.
Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians 5:9-10 ~ A.D. 51

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it.

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel

Letters in your spare time

Letters from the Apostle Paul — To be continued… God-willing…
February 7, 2024
Sanctification and your Walk Toward Holiness
WHAT IS SANCTIFICATION and WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Walking instructions to please God more

Not ME – the deception of SIN

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. – 1 Thessalonians 4:1 KJV

SOUNDS LIKE GOOD FATHERLY ADVICE, doesn’t it?

Allow me to tell you a story about a letter.
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ONCE UPON A TIME there were some gentile pigs (as Jews supposed them to be) 
who having fled their straw and stick houses to a brother's brick-built house where these young believers thought they were safe from the enemy.

BUT did some young saint slip out through a wider door of their former sins?
And won't the unclean pig only to be barbecued by the enemy?

Paul, a father of these tender believers, knows that the enemy may deceive them. 
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The apostles Paul and Silas have recently received good news about the Thessalonians from Timothy.

ἀπόστολος – Apostles of Christ
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and communication with the Church
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1 Thessalonians 3: .. we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith..

BEFORE Paul’s speech to the idol worshipers of Athens — BETWEEN the two missionary journeys (the first with Barnabas and this with Silvanus) — the risen Jesus sent out JEWS and GENTILES with clarification of the GOOD NEWS (Gospel) of ALL believers becoming sanctified by the blood of the Cross and a call to holiness and righteousness in Christ.

Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20

.. we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
but should write to them
to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:19b-20 ESV

Letters from other Church Fathers about Sanctification

In the sense that Jesus’ biological half-brother James sends out this apostolic instruction and another letter to the Church, for he too is an apostle (although not by a personal journey into the nations).

In A.D. 49 James writes:

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:4

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
from a recent letter from James 1:21 ESV written ~A.D. 49 ~ the same time as the Council at Jerusalem

Galatia was a large Roman province which at that time included the region north to the Black Sea but most populated along the Mediterranean and included Cypress, Pamphylia and other regions.

Paul has already written a general epistle to the Galatians in A.D. 49 which includes churches founded during his first missionary journey.

Sanctification of children learning to walk in Christ

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,

how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Galatians 4:8-9 ESV

“Abba! Father!” WE ARE NO LONGER SLAVES of these things!
Now the works of the flesh are evident:
- sexual immorality,
- impurity,
- sensuality,
- idolatry,
- sorcery,
- enmity,
- strife,
- jealousy,
- fits of anger,
- rivalries,
- dissensions,
- divisions,
- envy,
- drunkenness,
- orgies,
- and things like these.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Galatians 5:19-21 ESV
A.D. 50 –

Paul, so pleased with his Thessalonian children, now warns of dangers before them.

1 Thessalonians 4:

2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
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The Apostle sent by Christ our Lord to the Nations commands his beloved young children.
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3 For this is the will of God,

your sanctification:
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Before we continue with Paul's command through the Lord Jesus and God the Father let's DEFINE a term sometimes omitted from some English translations of the Holy Bible.
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ἁγιασμός – Lexicon :: Strong’s G38 – hagiasmos

a word used only by Biblical and ecclesiastical writings signifying:
1. consecration, purification, τὸ ἁγιάζειν.
2. the effect of consecration: sanctification of heart and life, 1 Corinthians 1:30 (Christ is he to whom we are indebted for sanctification); 1 Thessalonians 4:7; Romans 6:19, 22; 1 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 12:14; ἁγιασμὸς πνεύματος sanctification wrought by the Holy Spirit, 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2.
It is opposed to lust in 1 Thessalonians 4:3 f. (It is used in a ritual sense, Judges 17:3 [Alexandrian LXX]; Ezekiel 45:4; [Amos 2:11]; Sir. 7:31, etc.) [On its use in the N. T. cf. Ellicott on 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:13.]
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The King James and other versions of the Bible generally translate this as SANCTIFICATION or HOLINESS. Paul will use it 3x in the next few verses of his Epistle and uses its root word in his benediction [5:23], as well as later in a second letter.
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God has chosen you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
2 Thessalonians 2:13B

that you abstain ἀπέχω

from sexual immorality

Here’s a HOT TOPIC in Thessaloniki now OR anywhere in every generation.

πορνεία

porneia

“fornication” is the old word for this “porneia” behaviour nearly no one remembers.
- illicit sexual intercourse
  - adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.
  - sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18
  - sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. 10:11-12
- metaph. the worship of idols
Each must control our body

4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.
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"..possess his own vessel" [acquire his OWN wife, referring to fornication or adultery, states the King James] 
"..in sanctification and honor,"

THERE IT IS AGAIN - SANCTIFICATION of the flesh (for HOLINESS of the vessel of our spirit).
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WHY CONTROL IT?
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Again, from the KJV, the reason lies at the end of Paul's single long sentence which began back in v.3.
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For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter:

because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
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Remember v. 2 pointing back to their previous instruction in Christ?
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OR ELSE!

For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

ἀκαθαρσία – UNCLEANNESS?
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 (Isn't there a better way for a 21st century Christian to read this?)
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Of course we could use other words to describe those who refuse to wash their flesh in the sanctifying cleansing water of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible almost always points toward an imagery of walking in the way Christ would be recognized by OUR witness.

Lexicon :: Strong’s G167 – akatharsia

ἀκαθαρσία, -ας, ἡ, (ἀκάθαρτος) [from Hippocrates down], uncleanness;
a. physical: Matthew 23:27.
b. in a moral sense, the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate living: Romans 1:24; Romans 6:19; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 4:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; used of impure motives in 1 Thessalonians 2:3. (Demosthenes, p. 553, 12.) Cf. Tittmann i., p. 150f.

⁸Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
1 Thessalonians 4:8 ESV

Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy then return to their opening praise of the Thessalonian church.

9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
1 Thessalonians 5:27 KJV – conclusion of the first Epistle from Paul to the Thessalonians

Next (or should I say, LAST) – eschatology

I have already detailed Paul’s praise for this church with the enemy at the door of its brick house, BUT we won’t want to overlook the Apostle’s warning of later times like these…

Some commentators believe Paul’s principle purpose in writing to the Thessalonians is warning about last times.

.. the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Stay tuned.
July 17, 2023