WORD
Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. 1TH 4:1
While the first part of this letter recounts all that had happened so far, the rest focuses on instructions for the believers, especially as they waited in hope for Christ’s glorious return. Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy urged the church to walk in holiness, love, and peace, fueled by a desire to please God alone.
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
Rashi
Do I eat the flesh of bulls—I did not order you to bring a sacrifice because I need to eat, but it is my pleasure that I spoke and my will was performed.
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,
and perform your vows to the Most High . . . PSA 50:13-14
Rashi
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving—Confess your deeds and return to me. That is the sacrifice that I desire, and afterwards perform your vows to the Most High, for then they will be accepted willingly.
Take with you words
and return to the Lord;
say to him,
“Take away all iniquity;
accept what is good,
and we will pay with bulls
the vows of our lips. HOS 14:3
Rashi
Take away all iniquity—Heb. כָּל-תִּשָׂא עָוֹן. Take away all our iniquities.
Accept what is good—The few good deeds in our hands take in your hand and judge us accordingly. And so does David say (Psa 17:2): “From your presence let my sentence come! Let your eyes behold the right!” Another explanation: Accept good Accept confession from us, as it is said (Psa 92:2): “It is good to confess to the Lord.”
And we will pay with bulls that we should have sacrificed before you, we will pay them with the placation of the words of our lips.
2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. ROM 12:1-2
29 For everyone who does any of these abominations, the persons who do them shall be cut off from among their people.
Makkot 23a:20
And Rabbi Ḥananya ben Gamliel says: And if for one who performs one transgression his soul is taken for it, as one’s soul can be uprooted from the world for one transgression, for one who performs a single commandment, it is all the more so the case that his soul will be given to him, as the reward for performing commandments is greater than the punishment for performing transgressions. Rabbi Shimon says: It is derived from its own place in the law, as it is stated at the conclusion of the passage discussing intercourse with forbidden relatives, which is punishable with karet: “And the persons who perform them shall be excised” (Lev 18:29).
Rashi
The persons who do them—Both men and women are implied by the plural “the persons who do them” (in contrast to the sing. “everyone who does” in the beginning of the verse Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 20).
30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God. LEV 18:29-30
Moed Katan 5a:21
Mar Zutra said that an allusion to this obligation is found in the verse “Thus you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their impurity” (Lev 15:31), which indicates that people must be warned to stay away from that which could cause them to become ritually impure. Rav Ashi said it is derived from the verse: “So keep my charge” (Lev 18:30), which means that you must establish a safeguard for my charge, i.e., protective measures must be enacted to prevent people from transgressing halakha, a task that includes distancing people from ritual impurity by marking off graves, so that they not come to convey ritual impurity to the contribution or other consecrated items.
Rashi
So keep my charge—This is intended to caution the court regarding this (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 22).
And never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God—If, however, you do defile yourselves I am not your God since you have cut yourselves off from me. What use can I have of you? Consequently you deserve annihilation! That is why Scripture states: I am the Lord your God (Sifra, Acharei Mot, Chapter 13 22).
Walk in God’s holiness
3 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. 1TH 4:3-8
In contrast to the impure and immoral practices at that time, the Thessalonian church was to live in holiness. The authors of the letter did not mince words when explaining that the church should live pure and holy before God. In fact, those who disregard these instructions are disregarding God, who already gave believers his Holy Spirit to empower us to live a holy life. How does our culture tempt us to disregard God? Why do you think these instructions had to be so specific?
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and instruction. PRO 1:7
Rashi
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge—This is the separation of the fundamentals of knowledge, and what shall be for you first, preceding knowledge: Before your wisdom, first fear your Creator, and that will give your heart the desire to engage in wisdom and in knowledge, for the fools, who do not fear the Lord, despise wisdom and instruction.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge—Until here, he explained for what purpose Solomon composed this book, and now the book commences.
Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.” ISA 49:7
Rashi
To one deeply despised—Heb. לִבְזֹה נֶפֶשׁ, a despised soul, about Israel, who are despised.
Abhorred by the nation—Abhorred by the nation, and he is the servant to those who rule over him.
Kings shall see him and arise.
Who is faithful to keep his promise that he promised Abraham concerning the kingdoms, as the matter is stated (Gen 15:17): “Behold, a smoking stove, etc.”
The Holy One of Israel is he, who has chosen you.
You know the commandments: “Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.” MAR 10:19
Walk in God’s love
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,
10 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 . . . 1TH 4:9-10
The Thessalonian church was already an example of brotherly love, but Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy still reminded them to do this more and more. Loving others is not one event or a box we can check off our to-do list. It’s something we do in obedience to God more and more. And as we experience God’s love in greater ways, we can love others too. According to Jesus, how will the world know that we are his disciples (Joh 13:35)?
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. JOH 13:35
7 and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land.
8 Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen.” GEN 13:7-8
Yevamot 17b:6
The Gemara objects on another count: Let the halakha derive the meaning of the term brotherhood from the term brotherhood from Lot, as it is written that Abraham said to Lot: “For we are brothers” (Gen 13:8). From here one could conclude that the word brothers means relatives and not necessarily brothers. The Gemara rejects this: It is more reasonable to derive from the children of Jacob, due to the fact that the word “brothers” is free in its context and is therefore available to be used in a verbal analogy: Since it could have written: We, your servants, are twelve children of our father, but instead it writes: “Twelve brothers, the children of one man” (Gen 42:13), learn from here that this comes to render the word “brothers” free so that it may be allocated to another matter, i.e., the definition of brothers.
Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.” GEN 45:24
Rashi
Do not quarrel on the way—Do not busy yourselves with halachic discussions lest the road cause you to stray. Another explanation is: Do not take long steps and enter the town while the sun is still shining (Taanit 10b). According to the plain sense of the verse, it must be explained thus: Because they felt ashamed he feared that they might quarrel on the way about his having been sold, arguing one with another. One would say: “It was through you he was sold. It was you who made slanderous statements about him and caused us to hate him.”
5 but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him:
10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 1JN 2:5, 10
Walk in God’s peace
11 . . . and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you,
12 so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. 1TH 4:11-12
Because the Thessalonian believers thought that Christ’s return was very imminent, some of them stopped working. They became idle, and were even like parasites, totally relying on others for their daily needs. Some became busybodies, minding others’ business instead of their own. But, even if we are waiting for our future hope, we are called to live in peace by working and living our lives so as not to be a burden and annoyance to others. This hard work and dependence on God becomes a testimony to those who don’t know him yet. How have you learned to apply the instructions in this passage to your own life?
Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind. ECC 4:6
Rashi
Better is a handful of quietness—To acquire few possessions, but with his toil, so that his Creator should have satisfaction from them.
Than two hands full—Many possessions through sin, which is toil and grief to the Omnipresent.
It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord. LAM 3:26
Rashi
It is good that one should wait quietly—The vav of וְיָחִיל is superfluous like the vav of Gen 36:24: “Ayyah (וְאַיָּה) and Anah.” It is good that a man wait and remain silent and hope for the Lord’s salvation.
It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. MAR 13:34