1 Thessalonians 1-5

Thanksgiving

[2] We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention [of you] in our prayers; [3] 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, [4] knowing, brothers beloved by God, your election, [5] for our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full assurance; just as you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. [1Th 1:2-5 LSB]

Entrusted with the Gospel

[4] but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please man, but to please God who tests our hearts. [1Th 2:4 ESV]

[8] In this way, having fond affection for you, we were pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become beloved to us. [1Th 2:8 LSB]

[13] And for this reason we also thank God without ceasing that when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you accepted [it] not [as] the word of men, but [for] what it really is, the word of God, which also is at work in you who believe. [1Th 2:13 LSB]

Timothy’s Good Report

[12] and may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also [do] for you, [13] so that He may strengthen your hearts blameless in holiness, before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all His saints. [1Th 3:12-13 LSB]

Sanctification and Love

[3] For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; [4] that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, [1Th 4:3-4 LSB]

[7] For God did not call us to impurity, but in sanctification. [1Th 4:7 LSB]

The Dead in Christ Will Rise

[14] For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. [1Th 4:14 LSB]

[16] For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of [the] archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. [17] Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. [1Th 4:16-17 LSB]

[51] Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, [52] in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. [1Co 15:51-52 LSB]

[3] "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, [there] you may be also. [Jhn 14:3 LSB]

to meet. The Greek term often describes the reception given by the inhabitants of a city for an important visitor. They celebrated their honored guest’s arrival, then led him into the city (see Matt. 25:6; Acts 28:15).

i. There will come a day, when in God’s eternal plan, the dead in Christ will receive their resurrection bodies. Yet until that day, we are confident that the dead in Christ are not in some kind of soul sleep or suspended animation. Paul made it clear that to be absent from the body means to be present with the Lord. (2 Corinthians 5:8) Either the present dead in Christ are with the Lord in a spiritual body, awaiting their final resurrection body; or, because of the nature of timeless eternity, they have received their resurrection bodies already because they live in the eternal now.

ii. However God will do it, we are confident that His promise is true. “Though the bones be scattered to the four winds of heaven, yet, at the call of the Lord God, they shall come together again, bone to his bone… We doubt not that God will guard the dust of the precious sons and daughters of Zion.” (Spurgeon)

The Day of the Lord

[2] For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. [1Th 5:2 LSB]

[9] For God has not appointed us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, [10] who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. [1Th 5:9-10 LSB]

[15] For He says to Moses, "I WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION." [16] So then it [does] not [depend] on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy. [Rom 9:15-16 LSB]

 

Admonishment and Instruction

[16] Rejoice always; [17] pray without ceasing; [18] in everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. [19] Do not quench the Spirit; [20] do not despise prophecies, [21] but examine all things; hold fast to that which is good; [22] abstain from every form of evil. [1Th 5:16-22 LSB]

[23] 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. [24] Faithful is He who calls you, who also will do it. [1Th 5:23-24 LSB]