The three-year Lectionary that many Catholics and Protestants hear in public worship gives us a great variety of Holy Scripture.
Yet, it doesn’t tell the whole story.
My series Forbidden Bible Verses — ones the Lectionary editors and their clergy omit — examines the passages we do not hear in church. These missing verses are also Essential Bible Verses, ones we should study with care and attention. Often, we find that they carry difficult messages and warnings.
Today’s reading is from the English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK) with commentary by Matthew Henry and John MacArthur.
1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
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.
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Last week’s post discussed Paul’s exhortations to be morally and sexually pure as part of sanctification.
Nearly every New Testament letter has such exhortations against sexual sin, as does the Old Testament, therefore, these must be serious sins that God finds particularly abhorrent. Note that there are diseases specifically connected with these types of sin, which one could read as a divine judgement of sorts. If we consider sin to have a stench about it, these must be among the most malodorous!
In today’s verses, Paul moves on to discuss brotherly love and everyday behaviour in general terms.
We know that the Thessalonians were the most loving and doctrinally pure of the churches that Paul founded. Paul and the other Apostles cautioned in their letters to be ready for Christ’s Second Coming. The message is that a believer should always be ready for that day. A more practical application in our times, it would seem, is that we should treat every day as if it were our last. We should be prepared and ready to depart this mortal coil. That entails, in today’s parlance, ‘getting right with God’.
It seems as if some Thessalonians were overly preoccupied with our Lord’s return. As such, they eschewed their daily responsibilities and made a nuisance of themselves.
This reading also pertains to sanctification, a lifelong process — the Christian journey to become better and better in all ways of life.
To tie last week’s and this week’s verses together, John MacArthur explains (emphases mine):
To remind ourselves what we’re supposed to be all about until Jesus gets here, number one, love each other more. Love each other more. It would be safe to say, I think, that this exhortation to love, it’s in verses 9 and 10 by the way, it would be safe to say that this exhortation to love is beautifully connected with what Paul had just written because he’s just written about lust, even used the word in verse 5. And he said lust is forbidden but love is required, very much like Ephesians 5:1 and 2, where it says we’re to love in verse 2 and then immediately in verse 3 it says but we’re not to lust. Some people get those confused, lust and love.
So, Paul says the first principle of sanctification, don’t lust. The second one, do love, love. And if anything is to characterize the church it is purity on the one hand and love on the other hand. Pure moral conduct and love go together.
Paul tells the Thessalonians that, as far as brotherly love is concerned, they need no advice because they have been taught by God to love one another (verse 9).
In the Greek, the word is philadelphia. We know the great, historic city in the state of Pennsylvania is called ‘the city of brotherly love’, and ‘brotherly love’ is the literal translation of the word. Philos means love, and adelphos means brother.
MacArthur says that the original meaning of philadelphia implied a familial relationship, as it:
originally meant affection for someone from the same womb.
God’s grace and the Holy Spirit were working through the Thessalonians to the extent that they positively exuded brotherly love for each other.
MacArthur analyses Paul’s great compliment to them:
He says, “You have no need for anyone to write to you.” That’s interesting. He says it would be superfluous, unnecessary for me to write to you. He says that same thing, by the way, in chapter 5 verse 1. He says my purpose is not to write to you to tell you to love each other. That’s superfluous. Why? “For you yourselves,” that means without me, emphatic, “you yourselves apart from me,” I love this, “are God-taught.” That’s one word in the Greek, theodidaktos. You are God-taught to love one another. Boy, what a statement! What a statement that is!
He says, “Look, I don’t need to write you and tell you to love one another, you’re God-taught.” By the way, that’s the only time in the New Testament that word is ever used. A similar phrase to that is used in John 6:45. But only here is that word used. He’s saying you don’t need external instruction, you don’t need external motivation, external exhortation, you have an internal teaching, you’re God-taught.
You say, “You mean if I’m a Christian nobody needs to teach me to love my brother because God will do that?” Yes. “How?” I’ll show you how, Romans 5:5, it tells you exactly how God does that. Romans 5:5 says: “The love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Did you hear that? The love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So how are we God-taught? By the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit comes to live in us when we’re saved and He teaches us to love.
Paul goes on to say that the Thessalonians were known throughout Macedonia for their brotherly love, and he encourages them to display more and more of that love (verse 10) as part of sanctification.
MacArthur explains:
There’s no question about it. It’s fact. It’s reality. You’re saved, you love. “You practice it and you practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia.” It isn’t just for people in your town. It isn’t…it isn’t just some local affection. You practice it toward all of the believers. Thessalonica was the capital city of Macedonia. And there were, remember this, other churches being founded in Macedonia. Paul, according to Acts 16:9 to 12, was in other parts of Macedonia. Silas and Timothy, who had been in Thessalonica, were in other parts of Macedonia. Other churches were being founded and Christians were coming to the trade center which was Thessalonica meeting the Thessalonian church and finding them full of love and taking the message back. And everybody in Macedonia knew the Thessalonians loved. Everybody knows that and it’s not even selective. You’re just loving all the Christians.
Matthew Henry says that it is important for believers to keep striving in love and other virtues. Sanctification drives us towards perfection:
There are none on this side heaven who love in perfection. Those who are eminent in this or any other grace have need of increase therein as well as of perseverance unto the end.
The next two verses stand out because they are antithetical to our modern life. They were probably antithetical back in Greco-Roman times, too.
Paul exhorts — encourages — the Thessalonians to aspire to a quiet life, minding their own business and working with their hands as he — ‘we’ — instructed them (verse 11). Work keeps us out of trouble.
How many people, particularly online, spend time picking meddlesome and potentially dangerous verbal conflicts out of self-righteousness? Such conflicts are an everyday occurrence on social media.
Henry’s commentary says that these disputes are the work of Satan, who likes nothing better than a disquieted mind:
It is the most desirable thing to have a calm and quiet temper, and to be of a peaceable and quiet behaviour. This tends much to our own and others’ happiness; and Christians should study how to be quiet. We should be ambitious and industrious how to be calm and quiet in our minds, in patience to possess our own souls, and to be quiet towards others; or of a meek and mild, a gentle and peaceable disposition, not given to strife, contention, or division. Satan is very busy to disquiet us; and we have that in our own hearts that disposes us to be disquiet; therefore let us study to be quiet. It follows, Do your own business. When we go beyond this, we expose ourselves to a great deal of inquietude. Those who are busy-bodies, meddling in other men’s matters, generally have but little quiet in their own minds and cause great disturbances among their neighbours; at least they seldom mind the other exhortation, to be diligent in their own calling, to work with their own hands; and yet this was what the apostle commanded them, and what is required of us also. Christianity does not discharge us from the work and duty of our particular callings, but teaches us to be diligent therein.
MacArthur puts this verse in the context of the Thessalonians awaiting the Second Coming. No doubt this caused some of them to poke their noses in others’ business and contend with each other on that issue:
Don’t ignore this world because Jesus is coming, take a greater look at the people around you and love them more.
Hmm, love them more? I mean, why don’t we just ignore this world and wait to go to glory? No, he says, love them more.
Second injunction, lead a quiet life. Lead a quiet life. You say, “Now wait a minute, Jesus is coming, shouldn’t we lead a loud life? Shouldn’t we be all over the place screaming and yelling and hollering and marching and protesting and doing whatever we need to do to wake up the whole world?”
No, just lead a quiet life. This is a very interesting statement because it says in verse 11, “And to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.” Those two verb forms are tied in to “excel still more.” How? By making it your ambition to lead a quiet life. That is a… That is an almost contradictory usage of two verbs. The first one means to be zealous and to strive eagerly. Be zealous and strive eagerly to be quiet. A little bit difficult. Make a major effort to do nothing. Make a major effort to rest, relax, remain silent.
That word there is used in the New Testament of a number of things: Keeping your mouth closed and not saying anything; quieting down when you’ve been speaking. It’s used of resting. But it has the idea in all those usages of a tranquility, calm tranquil, peaceful. The root has that idea, quiet, peaceable. One noun form literally means to keep your seat, sit down, relax. Christians are to live quiet, relaxed, restful, peaceful lives in face of persecution, in face of anticipation of the Lord’s return.
… We don’t know what these Christians were doing they shouldn’t have been doing. We don’t know where they were going and what they were involved in. We don’t know how they were manifesting this lack of composure and upheaval. But he says back off, sit down, relax, settle down, calm down, be quiet, be tranquil, be peaceful. Very much like Paul’s instruction to Timothy to give the church at Ephesus, tell them to lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. Don’t make trouble for the king, don’t make trouble for the governors, don’t up…overturn the culture. Hmm. Interesting commands, aren’t they?
First one, even though Jesus is coming very soon, make sure that you do loving things to meet the needs of other people, physical needs, earthly needs. Second one, lead a very quiet life, stay out of the public eye, get back, settle down, be quiet.
There’s a third one, mind your own business. That communicates, doesn’t it? Mind your own business. That’s been quoted a lot by folks, “Attend to your own business.” But this is the only time this word is used in the Greek in the New Testament. It’s common in secular Greek, but it’s only used here. We don’t really know what he was speaking to because we don’t know what the issues were if there were any. It may have been a general exhortation. He is saying don’t get into somebody else’s affairs, either the affairs of other Christians, the church leaders, your society, whatever. Stay out of that stuff. Just take care of your own business. Concentrate on your own life. Concentrate on how you live. Stay out of other people’s matters, stay out of other issues.
Over in 2 Thessalonians 3:10 he said, “Don’t be a busybody.” What’s a busybody? Well that’s exactly what it says, a body that’s busy, somebody who is peripatetic, from the Greek verb [???] peripateo, to walk around, who is all over the place all the time. Don’t do that. People who are undisciplined, who don’t work, but who act like busybodies, just running around sticking their nose into everybody’s affairs. Keep doing what’s necessary for your livelihood. Don’t be running off trying to solve everybody’s problems in the world and straighten out everybody’s issues. Mind your own business, no place for gossip. Take care of you and just keep doing what you’ve always done.
Work, he says in Colossians 3:22 to 24, to please your master whether he’s good or not. Do whatever you do for your master, the guy who has employed you, heartily as unto the Lord. Just keep doing what is necessary to your life and stay out of other people’s affairs. Keep to yourself. Keep to your own life, your own business, the matters that concern you. Lead a quiet, unobtrusive, gentle, peaceful life and make sure you give yourself in sacrificial love to one another in the matter of meeting worldly needs.
Paul ends this section of verses saying that living quietly, minding one’s own business and working with one’s hands will enable us to walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one (verse 12).
Think about that in line with today’s welfare state. So many on welfare, often multi-generational, profess a belief in God. Yet, they shirk work and ask for more from the state, meaning taxpayers.
Henry points out:
People often by their slothfulness bring themselves into narrow circumstances, and reduce themselves to great straits, and are liable to many wants, when such as are diligent in their own business live comfortably and have lack of nothing. They are not burdensome to their friends, nor scandalous to strangers. They earn their own bread, and have the greatest pleasure in so doing.
MacArthur puts verse 12 into context for us and gives us another verse from 2 Thessalonians on the same subject. There was no welfare state then, but some in the congregation were probably taking a bit too much in church charity rather than contributing to it:
By the way, would you turn to 2 Thessalonians 3 for a moment, I’ll show you something interesting. A little while later he wrote them another letter, 2 Thessalonians. Guess what he says to them in this letter, very interesting. Go down to verse 10. “For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order, if anyone will not work, neither let him (what?) eat. For we hear that some among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread.“ That’s pretty straightforward. That’s basically what he said in our text. And here he even says, “I used to tell you this.” I wrote you this. And now I hear word that I have to write you again about this. You’re lazy, you’re not working, you’re busybodies, you’re not quiet, you’re eating someone else’s bread.
MacArthur explains why some Thessalonians thought they no longer needed to work:
The free Greeks believed that manual labor belonged only to slaves. So they had the slaves do all of it. Free men should never stoop to do manual labor. It was degrading, said the free Greeks. And consequently it led them to idleness, indulgence. But the Christian community dignified work as an honorable effort and no doubt most of the Christians were workers. In fact, most of the Christians were slaves, probably. So they’re exhorted to keep at it.
And you say, “Well what may have happened?” Well something like this, these slaves, or these employed people would say, “Now we’ve come to know Jesus Christ, we’re free in Christ. That catapults us over our masters. We don’t need to work, especially in the coming of Jesus Christ. We’re not going to do their work anymore, we’re not going to ply their trade while they rake in all the profit, we’re just going to back out and wait for Jesus to come.”
And that’s exactly what he wrote in 2 Thessalonians. “I heard some of you were living undisciplined lives instead of quiet, peaceable lives where you mind your own business. And some of you are working not at all.” And he says in 2 Thessalonians, “And if you don’t work you shouldn’t (what?) …because what had happened was Christians waiting for the Second Coming were unconcerned about the needs of the people around them, first of all. They were troublesome busybodies who were not leading quiet and peaceful lives and they had become deadbeats. And they were depending on Christians with resources to sustain them instead of working with their own hands. So anxious for the Second Coming they couldn’t be bothered to take care of this life.
MacArthur reminds us that Paul and Jesus were both manual workers:
Paul made his living by making tents with his hands. Jesus made His living by making things out of wood with His hands, and probably laying bricks. Christianity has always dignified labor. Since most of them were workers who worked with their hands, he says work with your hands, don’t flip out into some spiritual dimension where all you want to do is sit and discuss theology. Work.
MacArthur explores the second half of verse 12 about walking properly and not being dependent on anyone. This ties in with proper evangelism:
Work with your hands.
You say, “But, John, that seems so mundane when the work is so vital, the work of evangelism and if you believe that Jesus is coming soon.” That’s just his point. Go to verse 12. “So that…” Here’s the purpose: “So that you may behave properly toward outsiders.” Stop there.
Now wait a minute, he’s talking about evangelism here. The key to evangelism is not a…is not a strategy that folds…that unfolds in a pamphlet, or a tract, or an evangelistic technique or a programmed service. The key to evangelism is the integrity of the lives of Christians who manifest to a troubled, agitated, messed-up world a behavior that is filled with love and peace and tranquility and privacy and diligent work. And when Christians live that kind of a life in the world, people say you’re different. Everything is stirred up and troubled and agitated and you’re perfectly calm. There’s anger and hostility and bitterness and hatred and you just love all these people. You’re generous. While everybody is running around trying to get the scoop on everybody else. And if you don’t believe that, just read the newspapers and the tabloids and all of that. Some people in our culture just literally thrive in feeding themselves on somebody else’s affairs. And all you people want to do is take care of your own business. My, everybody else is looking for the quickest way out and you want to work hard. What makes you tick?
See that’s the platform of integrity that makes the message believable. And so if we’re going to behave properly — “behave” means walk, daily conduct, “properly: means in good form toward outsiders, not Christians — this is the way to live. He doesn’t say shirk your job, shirk your responsibility, get noisy, go out and do this. No, just keep living your life and unbelievers will see it. It’s how you live, shoe-leather faith toward outsiders.
And then he adds this in verse 12. “And not be in any need.” And furthermore, he says, I want you to behave that way toward outsiders and I want you to behave that way toward insiders, so they’re not always having to meet your need. Non-Christians, first of all, should have no basis for thinking Christians are unloving, troublesome, nosy deadbeats. But I’m not sure that’s always the case. I think there are a lot of apparently unloving troublesome, nosy, deadbeat Christians around. But we will com…commend Christianity to the outsiders by the diligence and the beauty of our lifestyle. And then he says, “And you’ll not be in need,” which means you’ll also conduct yourselves properly toward those on the inside. You make your living, you work with your hands, you live your life. You don’t shirk responsibility so that you have to depend on some more industrious Christian to provide your livelihood.
Anticipation of the Lord’s return, beloved, was no excuse for irresponsible living.
MacArthur says that our lifestyle is an important part of evangelism:
All the future analysts say the church is in trouble … because it isn’t relevant. It’s got to be relevant.
How does the church get relevant? By using contemporary music? By using contemporary theater, drama, whatever? By using contemporary Madison Avenue marketing technique? How does the church get relevant? By giving people what they want?
No. The most relevant thing the church can do is live the life of a Christian in every dimension of daily life, right? So that we close any existing gap between our faith and our feet, right? That’s what will make us relevant.
In the closing verses of 1 Thessalonians 4, which are in the Lectionary, Paul describes the Second Coming. Those who are already dead will rise first. Those who rise after them are believers who are still alive at the time. These are particularly relevant to Evangelical churches which believe in the Rapture:
The Coming of the Lord
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,[d] 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.
The theme continues in the first part of 1 Thessalonians 5:
The Day of the Lord
5 Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers,[a] you have no need to have anything written to you. 2 For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “There is peace and security”, then sudden destruction will come upon them as labour pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. 4 But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. 5 For you are all children[b] of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. 6 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Paul then gives general words of advice to the Thessalonians. More on that next week.
Next time — 1 Thessalonians 5:12-15
This post first appeared on Churchmouse Campanologist | Ringing The Bells For, please read the originial post: here
