Ignorance Is Not Bliss

13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14 For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words. – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 ESV

As the Thessalonian believers continued to grow in their salvation and live in a manner pleasing to God, Paul knew they would do so in the hope that Jesus Christ would soon return. The imminent return of Christ was a common theme in the early church and proved to be a powerful motivational message for those facing the very real threat of persecution and even death. Paul regularly spoke and wrote about the second coming of Christ, reminding his children in the faith that His return was the ultimate goal.

But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior. – 1 Corinthians 20:21 NLT

This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. – Romans 13:11-12 NLT

Paul has already addressed the return of Christ three times in his letter to the church in Thessalonica.

…they speak of how you are looking forward to the coming of God’s Son from heaven—Jesus, whom God raised from the dead. – 1 Thessalonians 1:10 NLT

After all, what gives us hope and joy, and what will be our proud reward and crown as we stand before our Lord Jesus when he returns? It is you! – 1 Thessalonians 2:19 NLT

May he, as a result, make your hearts strong, blameless, and holy as you stand before God our Father when our Lord Jesus comes again with all his holy people. – Matthew 3:13 NLT

The return of Christ was the endgame for Paul, and he eagerly anticipated it because Jesus had promised it.

There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. – John 14:2-3 NLT

And Paul was not alone in his confident claims concerning the Lord’s timely return. The apostle James also saw the imminent return of Christ as a powerful motivator when addressing believers experiencing life's pain and difficulties.

Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return. Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring. They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen. You, too, must be patient. Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. – James 5:7-8 NLT

Peter, another one of the apostles, joined the chorus, reminding his readers that the Lord’s return would mark the end of all things.

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. – 1 Peter 4:7 NLT

And not to be left out, the author of the book of Hebrews encouraged his readers to use the reality of Christ’s return as motivation to model Christlikeness in their daily lives.

…let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near. – Hebrews 10:24-25 NLT

However, when you live with the eager anticipation that something will happen soon and it fails to materialize, disappointment and disillusionment can set in. As the days pass and the promise remains unfulfilled, you may begin to lose hope. And, as Paul knew, watching the deaths of their fellow believers was causing a certain amount of confusion and concern among the members of the early church. Why had they died before Jesus had come back? What would be their fate?

It seems that all the talk about the imminent return of Christ had left some of the Thessalonians with the mistaken impression that all who believed in Him would live to see it happen. But as time passed, some of their fellow believers had died. So, Paul attempted to provide them with clarification and further insight into all the talk about the “end of all things,” and he gets right to the point.

…now, dear brothers and sisters, we want you to know what will happen to the believers who have died so you will not grieve like people who have no hope. – 1 Thessalonians 4:13 NLT

Their grief was not just over the loss of their friends, but it also included their concern over the eternal state of those who had died. Had they not believed? Were they doomed to spend eternity in hell? Had their deaths been the result of falling away from the faith?

It is important to remember that the early church had minimal access to doctrine or well-informed insights into theological matters. In its infancy, the church depended on Paul and others for theological training and instruction on issues such as the end times. Paul’s letter to the Romans was his attempt to provide a detailed doctrinal analysis of the faith, expounding on the teachings of Jesus and the gospel so that members of the early church could gain a deeper, more foundational understanding of their faith.

Paul has already told the Thessalonians that he regularly prayed for them, “asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith” (1 Thessalonians 3:10 NLT). And that is precisely what he is attempting to do in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.

First, he addresses the 800-pound gorilla in the room: The untimely deaths of their fellow believers.

For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. – 1 Thessalonians 4:14 NLT

With this statement, Paul brings up another aspect of the end-time events of which they were unaware. This section of verses is one of the primary passages used to support the doctrine of the Rapture of the church. Paul is not talking about the Second Coming of Christ, but of His return for His bride, the church. The term “rapture” is not found in the Bible, but it is derived from the Greek word Paul uses in verse 17. There, he mentions that those who are still alive when Christ returns will be “caught up together…in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” The Greek word translated as “caught up” is harpazo, and it means “to seize, to snatch away, to carry off by force.”

In the late 4th century, the Bible was translated from its original languages into Latin. In this translation, called the Latin Vulgate, the phrase “caught up” was translated as rapturo, from which the term “Rapture” comes.

Paul was informing his readers about an event that would precede the Second Coming of Christ and usher in the rest of the end-time events. There was no need for the Thessalonians to grieve over the loss of their friends because God had a plan. Those who had died had gone to be with Him. Their bodies had been buried, but their souls had gone to be with the Lord in heaven. When Jesus addressed the thief on the cross, He promised him, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43 NLT). There is no such thing as soul sleep or a holding place called Purgatory. Upon death, all believers go to be with the Lord.

Paul assures those left behind in Thessalonica that they will one day see their deceased friends again. In fact, they will accompany Christ when He returns for His church.

…when Jesus returns, God will bring back with him the believers who have died. – 1 Thessalonians 4:14 NLT

But then Paul appears to contradict himself. He just said that the dead believers will come back with Christ, but then he states, “the believers who have died will rise from their graves” (1 Thessalonians 4:16 NLT). Well, which is it? Do they return with Jesus, or rise from their graves? And the answer is, “Both.”

Paul is describing the resurrection of their bodies. At the Rapture, the souls of all those who have died in Christ will return with Him and be reunited with their resurrected and transformed bodies. Paul talks about the need for this in his first letter to the church in Corinth.

But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” What a foolish question! When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first. And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a bare seed of wheat or whatever you are planting.… It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. – 1 Corinthians 35-37, 42-44 NLT

In his second letter, he provides greater detail regarding these spiritual bodies.

…we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. – 2 Corinthians 5:1 NLT

The departed saints will return with the Lord and be reunited with their new spiritual bodies, which God has prepared for them. Those who are still alive at the time of the Rapture will ascend into heaven, receiving their glorified bodies as they go. And the end result of all this? “…we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17 ESV).

Paul concludes by encouraging the Thessalonians to find comfort and hope in this new revelation about their lost friends and the church's future Rapture.

Therefore encourage one another with these words. – 1 Thessalonians 4:18 ESV

As the early church evolved, its need for sound doctrine increased exponentially. The teachings of Jesus needed to be expanded and expounded upon, and Paul spent a great deal of time in his letters helping his far-flung flock understand the depth and detail of the gospel message. Many in the early church were still expecting Jesus’ imminent return and the establishment of His Kingdom on earth. They were surprised by His seeming delay and confused by the trials they were forced to endure because of their faith in Him. For some, the “good news” was not turning out as expected.

But Paul wanted them to understand the depth and reliability of God’s plan. Jesus had not died to guarantee them their best life now, but to pave the way for eternal life. He knew a firm grasp of the end times was essential to their ongoing faith and would give them the strength to live with hope and confidence.

Father, even today, so many of Your children live with a cloudy understanding of Your plan for them. They live in fear and doubt because their lives have not turned out as expected. The presence of sorrow and suffering has caused them to question Your love and goodness. The difficulties associated with living the life of faith have diminished their hope and left them seeking comfort in the things of this world. They want their best life now and can’t imagine that You have something far greater in store for them that this world cannot offer. Would you help us to keep our eyes fixed on the prize and focused on the promise Your Son came to fulfill? He is coming back and He will finish what He began. Your plan is perfect but it is not yet complete. But, one day, You will fulfill all that You said You would do. We can count on it. Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Love Versus Lust

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, 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. – 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 ESV

It’s interesting to note how, in this passage, Paul contrasts love and lust. In verses 1-8, he points out the need for the Thessalonian believers to “abstain from sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3 ESV). They were to abstain or refrain from practicing sexual sin or, as the word means in Greek, “to hold one's self off.” As believers, they possessed a new capacity to hold off their old desires that were driven by their sinful natures. Upon placing their faith in Christ, they received the presence and power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and, as a result, they were able to say no to lustful desires.

The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. – Galatians 5:17 NLT

The sinful nature lusts after or desires the wrong things. Paul pointed out to the Galatian believers that those who allowed their lives to be driven by the desires of their old nature, rather than the Spirit, would produce ungodly fruit in their lives. The first three he mentions are tied to sexual sin.

When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. – Galatians 5:19-21 NLT

Paul reminded the Thessalonian church, “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” (1 Thessalonians 4:4-5 ESV). John Piper defines lust as “a sexual desire that dishonors its object and disregards God” (John Piper, Battling the Unbelief of Lust, www.desiringgod.org). And he expands on that definition by adding:

“Sexual desire in itself is good. God made it in the beginning. It has its proper place. But it was made to be governed or regulated or guided by two concerns: honor toward the other person and holiness toward God. Lust is what that sexual desire becomes when that honor and that holiness are missing from it.” – John Piper, Battling the Unbelief of Lust, www.desiringgod.org

Paul wanted the Thessalonians to understand that they had a new obligation to live so that everything they did brought glory and honor to God. With the Spirit’s help, they were to control their bodies, not allowing their natural, God-given desires to become perverted or distorted by sin. Sexual desire is not a sin, but it is actually a gift from God. But like everything else in life since the fall, this godly gift has been stained by the presence of sin. Rather than being an expression of self-sacrificing love for another, it turns in on itself, demanding that someone satisfy our selfish desire for sexual pleasure. God gets left out of the picture, and love gets replaced by lust. That is why Paul points out that their lives were to be marked by holiness, not impurity.

For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. – 1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 ESV

This was not a message Paul reserved just for the Thessalonians. He shared the same warning to the believers in Rome.

Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. – Romans 6:12-13 NLT

Lust versus love. Love can become lust when we dishonor the other person by using them for purely selfish reasons. In the end, this disobeys and dishonors God. But when we truly love as God has called us to love, sacrificially and selflessly, the other person is treated with value, dignity, and honor. And God receives glory.

A Christian marriage is to be the proving ground of the Spirit’s life-transforming power, where the selfless, sacrificial love of Christ is modeled in everyday life. In his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul wrote, “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21 NLT). Then he provided two specific examples of what that mutual submission looks like in the context of marriage.

For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church. As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.

For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. – Ephesians 5:22-26 NLT

While we find it easy to get hung up on Paul’s call for the wives to submit, it is essential to understand that he is calling both the husband and the wife to practice selfless submission out of reverence to Christ. Earlier in the same chapter, Paul provided a call for the Ephesians to imitate God and to follow the example of Christ.

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. – Ephesians 5:1-2 NLT

Then he added a what-not-to-do element to his instructions.

Let there be no sexual immorality, impurity, or greed among you. Such sins have no place among God’s people. – Ephesians 5:3 NLT

Love, not lust — that is the call placed on the believer by God Himself. But the kind of love God had in mind was modeled by Christ. However, this selfless kind of love was not just reserved for marriage; it was to be displayed in all their relationships. God has called His children to love others in the same way He has loved them.

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. – Romans 5:8 NLT

And He expects them to follow the example of Christ.

We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. – 1 John 3:16 NLT

Paul reminds the Thessalonians that they don’t require any more instructions regarding the kind of love God has in mind “for God himself has taught you to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9 NLT). The apostle John lets us know how God modeled selfless love to sinful people so that we might follow His example.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. – 1 John 4:9-11 NLT

Paul compliments the Thessalonian church for having displayed the very kind of love he was writing about. They had already given evidence of their selflessness and willingness to sacrifice on behalf of others. In his second letter to the church in Corinth, Paul bragged on the tangible expressions of love displayed by the Macedonian churches, including the fellowship in Thessalonica.

Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.

For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do. – 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 NLT

But Paul didn’t want them to rest on their laurels. In fact, he begged them “to do this more and more” (1 Thessalonians 4:10 ESV). They were to keep loving and they were to stop lusting. Then Paul adds three characteristics or marks of a life lived in love.

1. Their lives would exhibit peace and calm, rather than strife and turmoil. Paul told the Romans, “Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone” (Romans 12:18 NLT). Peaceful lives create an atmosphere in which others feel safe and secure, and that is an expression of love.

2. They were to tend to their own affairs, refusing to meddle in the concerns of others. This is not a call to disregard the needs or life circumstances of others, but it is simply an extension of Jesus’ admonition to “get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye” (Matthew 7:5 NLT).

3. They were to be diligent workers, using whatever skills they had to provide for themselves, and refusing to become a burden to others. There was no place for laziness or a spirit of entitlement in their lives.

And Paul had a purpose behind his call for selfless, sacrificial living.

Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others. – 1 Thessalonians 4:12 NLT

Paul was interested in seeing the Thessalonian believers live out their faith in tangible ways that exhibited the power of the Spirit and gave proof of their status as God’s children. Love, not lust, was to be the defining characteristic of their lives.

Father, we live in a lust-obsessed world that has turned sexual desire into a twisted and destructive force that is leaving behind a wake of damaged lives and failed marriages. Even the body of Christ has been unable to escape the siren’s call of lust as men and women have succumbed to its allure and promises of instant gratification and unrestricted personal pleasure. But You have called us to more. You have equipped us with Your Holy Spirit so that we might live set-apart lives that imitate the selfless and sacrificial love of Christ. Would you awaken Your people and call them back to holiness? Through the Spirit’s power, may we say to lust and yes to love. Let us be beacons of light in the darkness that surrounds us. Show us how to tap into the power You provided so that we might live the abundant, fruit-filled lives Jesus’ death and resurrection made possible. Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Call to Holiness

1 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. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 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. – 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 ESV

Paul’s overwhelming desire to see the Thessalonian believers face-to-face was about more than a chance to reconnect and get reacquainted with old friends. Paul had something far more important in mind. As he told them in the previous section of his letter, the motivation behind his desire to see them again was that he “might supply what is lacking in your faith” (1 Thessalonians 3:10 ESV). The reason he had sent Timothy to Thessalonica was “to establish and exhort” them in their faith (1 Thessalonians 3:2 ESV). 

And while Paul has confessed that Timothy’s good news regarding their faith and love brought him comfort, he still felt the pressing need to see them so that he might “fill in the gaps” of their faith (1 Thessalonians 3:10 NLT).

Paul’s deep love for these people seems quite obvious. He had a pastor’s heart that cared for their spiritual well-being. While their faith was strong, even in the midst of trying circumstances, Paul knew that there was much they needed to know if they were going to remain strong in the days ahead. The battle was far from over because the enemy had not thrown in the towel. The opposition had not given up its efforts to demoralize the sheep and discredit the shepherd.

So, Paul felt compelled to share with them one final word of counsel. He complimented them on their faith and love and described them as “standing fast in the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 3:8 ESV). But there is one more thing they needed to hear him say.

…we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God. – 1 Thessalonians 4:1 ESV

Paul was not admonishing them or demanding that they correct their sinful behavior. In fact, he added the statement, “…just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 4:1 ESV). They were already living in a way that pleased God, but Paul wants them to know that they were going to need to do so “more and more” (1 Thessalonians 4:1 ESV).

In the short time Paul and Silas had spent in Thessalonica, they had instructed them how to live their lives in a way that was pleasing to God. To get his point across, Paul used the Greek word peripateo, which is translated as “walk.” It was one of Paul’s favorite terms that could be used to refer to the physical act of walking, but he used it as a metaphor for spiritual life. When he used the term “walk,” he was referring to the daily conduct of one’s life. In those days, walking was the primary mode of transportation for the average person. You couldn’t conduct your life without walking. So, Paul used this normal means of mobility as an analogy for living the Christian life, and he used it often.

…who walk (peripateo) not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit… – Romans 8:4 ESV

Let us walk (peripateo) properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. – Romans 13:13 ESV

Only let each person lead the life (peripateo) that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him. – 1 Corinthians 7:17 ESV

I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk (peripateo) in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called… – Ephesians 4:1 ESV

…walk (peripateo) in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him.  – Colossians 1:10 ESV

As followers of Christ, their spiritual walk or manner of life was to be distinctively different than that of their lost friends and family members. They were to live set-apart lives, marked by holiness and righteousness. But their spirituality was never meant to remain in a static state. Salvation was never intended to be a one-time event but was to be an ongoing, regularly occurring, and lifelong transformational process. The apostle Peter referred to it as growing up in salvation (1 Peter 2:2).  Paul told the Ephesians believers to “grow up in every way into him [Christ]” (Ephesians 4:15 ESV).

There is no place for complacency in the Christian life. At no point are we to become satisfied with the status quo. We are not the ones who get to determine whether we have successively achieved spiritual maturity, and Paul makes that point perfectly clear to his brothers and sisters in Thessalonica.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification… – 1 Thessalonians 4:3 ESV

Paul put it in blunt terms. What God wanted of them and for them was simple: Their sanctification. But what did he mean by this? The Greek word he used is hagiasmos, and it can be translated as “holiness.” It derives from another Greek word, hagiazo, which means “to separate from profane things and dedicate to God.” To be holy is to be set apart or consecrated for a specific purpose. In the case of a believer, they are set apart to God. So, to be sanctified is the process of being constantly and consistently set apart for God’s use. It involves a separation from all that is ungodly or unrighteous. Or as Paul liked to put it, it involves putting off the old and putting on the new.

 …put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires…put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. – Ephesians 4:22, 24 ESV

Just a few verses earlier in his letter to the Ephesian believers, Paul challenged them, “You must no longer walk as the Gentiles do…” (Ephesians 4:17 ESV). They were not to conduct their lives in the same way they had before. In fact, in chapter two of Ephesians, Paul points out the stark difference between their new life in Christ and that of their old, pre-salvation nature.

…you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked (peripateo), following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. – Ephesians 2:2-3 ESV

But Paul stressed the change that had taken place in their lives.

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved… – Ephesians 2:4-5 ESV

The lives of the Ephesians believers had been radically changed when they placed their faith in Christ. The same thing was true of the believers in Thessalonica, and that change was to be tangible and visible. It was to show up in their behavior and every facet of their daily lives. Just to make sure they understood the non-negotiable and all-pervasive nature of this change, Paul provided them with the details.

God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin. Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways. – 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 NLT

There was to be no compromising of their faith. Their new life in Christ left no room for old habits and attitudes. Paul told the Corinthian believers, “Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NLT).

The old adage, “something old, something new,” has no place in the life of the believer. God expects and demands life transformation and has provided His Holy Spirit to make it possible. A life marked by sexual sin and immorality was unacceptable for the Christ-follower; it violated the will of God and failed to model a life of holiness. In the Greek culture of that day, sexual promiscuity was an accepted way of life. Demosthenes, a Greek statesman and orator, wrote, “We keep prostitutes for pleasure; we keep mistresses for the day-to-day needs of the body; we keep wives for the begetting of children and for the faithful guardianship of our homes.” 

In a culture marked by self-indulgence and the willful gratification of all sexual desires, the Christian was to live in a way that distinguished them as having been set apart or consecrated to God — separated from the profane and dedicated to His glory. To do so demands self-control. They would need to control their physical passions and desires, choosing instead to “live in holiness and honor—not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways” (1 Thessalonians 4:4-5 ESV).

Once again, Paul puts his thoughts in simple, easy-to-understand terms: “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives” (1 Thessalonians 4:7 NLT). Not a lot of wiggle room there. Paul doesn’t leave it open for negotiation or debate. God’s will was their sanctification. His expectation was holiness, not impurity. He was interested in set-apartness, not sameness. Anyone who rejected this idea was not rejecting the teachings of Paul; they were disobeying and, ultimately, denying the will of God Almighty.

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

Paul was teaching the need to live an ongoing life of transformation. The Thessalonian believers were to walk and please God more and more. There was to be no end to their spiritual journey. At no point were they to assume they had arrived. Salvation was to result in ongoing sanctification, a never-ending, Spirit-empowered conformity to the image of Christ — for a lifetime. No, for eternity. 

Father, the call to holiness sounds so unachievable. We still live in a fallen world and do battle with our sinful natures every day. I get it that You want us to live holy lives and I understand that Your Spirit provides us with all the power we need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3). But it still seems so impossible. Even Jesus said, “The spirit is willing, but the body is weak!” (Matthew 26:41 NLT). And the apostle Paul admitted his own struggle with sin when he wrote, “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway” (Romans 7:18-19 NLT). But I know You would not call us to live holy lives if You didn’t have a way to make it possible. I have seen you transform my life through the power of the Spirit and the application of Your Word. I am not the man I once was and I know I am not yet the man You intend me to be. I am a work in process, and, one day, You will finish what You began by fully transforming me into the likeness of Your Son. In the meantime, help me to stay strong, to remain committed, and to recognize my inability to change myself. My sanctification is Your job, not mine. You are the one who saved me and You alone can sanctify me. But I have to cooperate and make Your will my own. Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Reality of the Resurrection.

1 Corinthians 15:12-34

But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died. – 1 Corinthians 15:20 NLT

The future resurrection of the dead may have been in question with some of the believers in Corinth, but Paul affirmed it's reality. His argument was that if there is was no such thing as a future resurrection of the dead, then Christ Himself was not resurrected. Their rejection of the doctrine of bodily resurrection had ramifications. It eliminated the possibility of Christ having been resurrected from the dead. "And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless" (1 Corinthians 15:14 NLT). And if there was no such thing as the resurrection of the dead, then Paul and the other apostles were nothing more than liars, having taught that God raised Jesus from the dead. Without the doctrine of the resurrection, there is no such thing as a risen Savior, forgiveness of sin, or an eternal estate. All it would leave us with is the present reality of this world, then death.

One of the things that jumps out at me in this passage is the danger of human logic and reason. When men begin to try and explain away what they see as difficult to understand, it almost always leads to heresy. The Corinthians were wrestling with their cultural concept of the dichotomy between the flesh and the spirit, the body and the soul. They had been indoctrinated with the idea that the body was material and therefore evil. But the soul was spiritual and therefore good. So the idea of a resurrection of the body was inexplicable to them. They couldn't fathom how that could be. So their human reasoning kicked in and they simply denied the possibility of a bodily resurrection. It didn't matter to them what God may have to say about the subject. They had reached their conclusion and were completely comfortable with it. But Paul wasn't. He wanted them to understand the dangerous ramifications of their human reasoning. By denying the bodily resurrection of the dead, they were denying the very thing that was the key to their forgiveness and future glorification: The resurrection of Jesus. When God raised Jesus from the dead, it was not just to prove His own power, but as a precursor of what was to come. As Paul said, "Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died" (1 Corinthians 15:20 NLT). Paul made a comparison between Jesus and Adam. When Adam sinned, he brought death (both physical and spiritual) to the world. When Jesus was raised from the dead, He brought new life (both physical and spiritual) to the world. Paul gave them a glimpse into the future when he wrote, "Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back" (1 Corinthians 15:23 NLT). He is referring to the Rapture of the Church. Paul goes into greater detail about this future event in his letter to the Thessalonian believers. "For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NLT). Just a few verses earlier in this passage, Paul made it clear that when Christ returns for His Church, He will be accompanied by all the believers who have died. But then he wrote that all "the Christians who have died will rise from their graves." They will return in their spirit form, but will be reunited with their resurrected, renewed bodies. And those believers who are alive at the time of Christ's return will also be given new bodies. Paul addresses that a few verses later in this section of his letter to the Corinthians. "It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies" (1 Corinthians 15:52-53 NLT).

The resurrection of our earthly bodies is a non-negotiable aspect of our faith as believers. God is not redeeming just a part of us, but all of us. He is going to restore ALL things, not just some things. He will redeem and restore what has been marred by sin, including all of creation and our bodies. All that God made in the physical universe He deemed as good. But it has all been damaged by sin. God will restore it all. He will bring back to life even those bodies that have been dead and buried for centuries. But if none of this is true, and there is no resurrection, then as Paul said, "Let's feast, and drink, for tomorrow we die!" (1 Corinthians 15:32 NLT). But Paul also warned the Corinthians to avoid people who thought that way. He wanted them to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the resurrection was a reality. Christ Himself was proof of it. And His own resurrection was ample evidence and assurance of our own future resurrection. It's going to happen. We don't know when or how, but it is going to happen. "So encourage each other with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:18 NLT).

Father, thank You for this timely reminder. We live in a world where everything is growing old, decaying, and falling apart. While I have Your Spirit living within me, my body continues to show the effects of sin. But there is a day coming when I will receive a new, resurrected body. You will make all things new, including my own physical body. Your work of transformation in my life will be complete and whole, because You don't do anything halfway. Amen.