1 Thessalonians 4

(1)  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.
(2)  For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.
(3)  For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:
(4)  That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;
(5)  Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
(6)  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.
(7)  For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
(8)  He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.
(9)  But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
(10)  And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;
(11)  And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;
(12)  That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
(13)  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
(14)  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
(15)  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
(16)  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
(17)  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
(18)  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

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Study Questions

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1. What did Paul mean by the word “walk”? Verse 1.

2. By whom did Paul give the commandments he gave? Verse 2.

3. Why did Paul stress purity of life to Gentile churches? Verse 3.

4. What is fornication? What is sanctification? Verse 3.

5. What are the two stages in sanctification? Verse 3.

6. What is the “vessel” that Christians are to know how to possess? Verse 4.

7. What is “concupiscence”? Verse 5.

8. Did the Gentiles regard immorality as sin? Verse 5.

9. How did it happen that the Gentiles did not know God? Verse 5. (See Romans 1:24-27)

10. What does it mean to “go beyond”? By committing what sin would someone “go beyond and defraud” his brother? Verse 6.

11. What is an avenger? Who is the avenger of sins? Verse 6.

12. Unto what has God not called us? Unto what had he called us? Verse 7.

13. If we despise Paul’s teaching on holiness, whom are we really despising? Verse 8.

14. About what topic did Paul not even need to write to them? Who taught them about that topic? Verse 9.

15. What four things did the apostle Paul “beseech” the Thessalonians to do? Verses 10-11.

16. For what two reasons were they to do these things? Verse 12.

17. About what did Paul not want them to be ignorant? What is meant by “sleep”? Verse 13.

18. How were they (and we) not to sorrow? About what were they apparently ignorant concerning their dead Christian loved ones? Verse 13.

19. What fact gives us assurance that the dead shall rise? Verse 14.

20. Did Paul teach that Christ would come during his lifetime or did he expect to be resurrected? Verse 15. (See 2 Corinthians 4:14)

21. What is the meaning of the word “prevent”? Verse 15.

22. What three sounds will accompany the coming of the Lord? Is the word “first” contrasted with the living Christians or with the wicked dead? Verse 16.

23. What will happen after the dead in Christ are raised? Where will this take place? How long will we be with the Lord? Verse 17.

24. What are we to do with the teaching about the coming of Christ and the resurrection? Verse 18.