1 Thessalonians 4:1

Contextual Overview

¹Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more.¹ As for other matters, brothers and sisters, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. ¹ Brothers and sisters, we taught you how to live in a way that will please God, and you are living that way. Now we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live that way even more. ¹ Finally then, brothers and sisters, we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us about how you must live and please God (as you are in fact living) that you do so more and more. ¹ And last of all, the prayer which we make to you from our heart and in the name of the Lord Jesus, is this: that as we made clear to you what sort of behaviour is pleasing to God, as in fact you are doing now, so you will go on in these ways, but more and more. ¹ Furthermore we besech you brethren, & exhorte you by the Lorde Iesus, that ye encrease more and more, as ye haue receaued of vs, how ye ought to walke and to please God. ¹ Therfor, britheren, fro hennus forward we preien you, and bisechen in the Lord Jhesu, that as ye han resseyued of vs, hou it bihoueth you to go and to plese God, so walke ye, that ye abounde the more. ¹ As to the rest, then, brethren, we request you, and call upon you in the Lord Jesus, as ye did receive from us how it behoveth you to walk and to please God, that ye may abound the more, ¹ For the rest therefore, brethren, pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus that, as you have received from us, how you ought to walk and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more. ¹ Finally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God—as you are doing—do so even more.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

we: 1 Thessalonians 2:11, Romans 12:1, 2 Corinthians 6:1, 2 Corinthians 10:1, Ephesians 4:1, Philemon 1:9, Philemon 1:10, Hebrews 13:22

we beseech: or, we request

exhort: or, beseech.

by the: 1 Thessalonians 4:2, Ephesians 4:20, 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 1 Timothy 5:21, 1 Timothy 6:13, 1 Timothy 6:14, 2 Timothy 4:1

ye have: 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 1 Thessalonians 4:12, Acts 20:27, 1 Corinthians 11:23, 1 Corinthians 15:1, Philippians 1:27, Colossians 2:6, 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12

ye ought: 1 Thessalonians 2:12

to please: Romans 8:8, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 5:17, Colossians 1:10, Hebrews 11:6, Hebrews 13:16, 1 John 3:22

so ye: 1 Thessalonians 4:10, Job 17:9, Psalms 92:14, Proverbs 4:18, John 15:2, 1 Corinthians 15:58, Philippians 1:9, Philippians 3:14, 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Peter 1:5-10, 2 Peter 3:18

Reciprocal: Genesis 5:22 - General Exodus 18:16 - make Exodus 18:20 - the way Exodus 21:1 - which Leviticus 22:31 - General Deuteronomy 4:5 - General Deuteronomy 8:1 - General Deuteronomy 11:32 - General Deuteronomy 13:4 - walk Deuteronomy 27:1 - Keep all 1 Kings 9:4 - And if thou 2 Chronicles 17:4 - walked Ezra 7:6 - the law Job 22:22 - receive Psalms 31:23 - O love Psalms 103:18 - remember Psalms 119:1 - walk Psalms 128:1 - walketh Psalms 143:10 - Teach Ezekiel 3:10 - receive Ezekiel 33:7 - thou shalt Zephaniah 2:3 - seek righteousness Zechariah 10:12 - walk Matthew 5:19 - do Matthew 13:23 - some an Matthew 28:20 - them Mark 4:20 - which Luke 1:75 - General John 15:10 - ye keep John 17:8 - received Acts 15:32 - exhorted 1 Corinthians 1:10 - by the 1 Corinthians 9:21 - not 1 Corinthians 14:3 - exhortation 1 Corinthians 14:37 - let Ephesians 4:17 - in the Philippians 4:9 - which Colossians 3:17 - in the 1 Thessalonians 2:3 - General 2 Thessalonians 3:4 - that 2 Thessalonians 3:6 - in the 2 Thessalonians 3:13 - ye 1 Timothy 2:3 - this 1 Timothy 6:3 - the words 2 Timothy 2:14 - charging 2 Peter 1:8 - and abound 2 Peter 3:16 - speaking 1 John 2:3 - if we

Cross-References

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."

Genesis 3:15
And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring's heel."

Genesis 3:15
And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."

Genesis 3:15
I wyll also put enmitie betweene thee & the woman, betweene thy seede and her seede: and it shall treade downe thy head, and thou shalt treade vpon his heele.

Genesis 3:15
And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this thou art cursed above all cattle and all the brutes of the earth, on thy breast and belly thou shalt go, and thou shalt eat earth all the days of thy life.

Genesis 3:15
and enmity I put between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; he doth bruise thee -- the head, and thou dost bruise him -- the heel.'

Genesis 3:15
and I put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He bruises your head, and you bruise His heel."

Genesis 3:15
I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

Genesis 3:15
and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren,.... Or request of you in the most kind and tender manner, from real and hearty love and affection for you, and with a view to your good, and the glory of God:

and exhort you: or beseech and entreat you. The apostle does not lay his commands upon them as he might have done, and sometimes does, but endeavours to work upon them by way of entreaty, and which he doubtless thought the most effectual method to win upon them, and gain them; for some minds are more easily wrought upon by entreaty than by authority: and this he does in the most moving and powerful manner, even

by the Lord Jesus; or "in the Lord Jesus"; in his name and stead, as personating him, and as though he did beseech and entreat them by him, and his fellow ministers; or for his sake, intimating, that if they had any regard to him, any value for his name, if that had any weight with them, or they had any concern for his honour and interest, then he begs their attention to the following exhortation; or by the Lord Jesus, by all that is in him, or done for them by him; in whom they were chosen, by whom they were redeemed, in whom they were made new creatures, to whose image they were to be conformed, whose followers they professed to be, whose Gospel they embraced, and by whose name they were called.

That as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk, and to please God. The walk of believers is twofold, either internal or external. Their internal walk is by faith, which is the going out of the soul by faith to Christ for every supply of grace. Their external walk is not as it was before conversion, according to the course of this world, or as other Gentiles walk, but in a holy religious life and conversation; and this requires spiritual life, strength and direction from Christ; for neither dead men, nor, if alive, yet weak, can walk; nor is it in a spiritual man, that walketh to direct his steps; and such a walk also denotes continuance, in well doing, and a progression or going on in it, and supposes ways to walk in. Christ, he is the chief and principal way, and there are other paths which regard him, or relate and lead unto him; as the way of truth, the path of ordinances, and of religious worship, both public and private, and the ways of righteousness, holiness, and good works: the manner in which saints are to walk is as Christ himself walked, after the Spirit, and not after the flesh, according to the rule of the word, which is the standard of faith and practice, with prudence, wisdom, circumspection, and worthy of God, and of that calling wherein they are called: and of such a walk there is a necessity; it "ought", it must be both on the account of God, it being his will, and for his glory, and the contrary would show great ingratitude to him; and on the account of the saints themselves, to adorn them, and their profession, and preserve them from shame and disgrace, to show their faith, and demonstrate their calling and election to others; and likewise on account of others, partly for the winning of some, by recommending in this way the Gospel to them, and partly for the bringing of others to shame and silence, who falsely accuse their good conversation. Now when the apostle, and those that were with him, were at Thessalonica, they gave these saints directions and instructions about their walk and conversation, to order it in such a manner as might "please God"; which is not to be understood of rendering their persons acceptable to God hereby, for the saints' acceptance with God is only in Christ the beloved; nor of their gaining the love and favour of God by such means, for the love of God is from everlasting, and is free, and sovereign, and does not arise from, or depend upon the holiness and obedience of men; or of making peace with God by such a walk, for peace is only made by the blood of Christ; but of doing those things, and in such a way God approves of: unregenerate men cannot please God, nor anything they do, because they are destitute of the Spirit of God, and are without Christ, and his grace and have not faith in him, without which it is impossible to please God; but what a believer does in faith, from a principle of love, in the name and strength of Christ, and to the glory of God, is approved of by God, and is acceptable to him through Christ, and for his sake; and there are many things of this kind, as prayer, praise, acts of beneficence to the poor, and indeed every good work and holy action: and inasmuch as they had been thus taught and instructed how to behave and conduct in their outward walk and conversation, they are entreated and exhorted to go on and abound in the work of the Lord:

so ye would abound more and more: that is, be more and more in the exercise of every grace, and in the discharge of every duty, making advances in holiness of life, and perfecting it in the fear of God. Beza's ancient copy, and another manuscript, as also the Alexandrian copy, and some others, add between the preceding, and this last clause, "as ye also walk"; and so the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions seem to have read; commending them for their present and past walk and conversation, in order to persuade and encourage them to go forward.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Furthermore then - Τὸ λοιπὸν To loipon. “As to what remains.” That is, all that remains is to offer these exhortations; see the 2 Corinthians 13:11 note; Galatians 6:17 note; Ephesians 6:10 note; Philippians 4:8 note. The phrase is a formula appropriate to the end of an argument or discourse.

We beseech you - Margin, “request.” The Greek is, “we ask you” - ἐρωτῶμεν erōtōmen. It is not as strong a word as that which follows.

And exhort you - Marg, “beseech.” This is the word which is commonly used to denote earnest exhortation. The use of these words here implies that Paul regarded the subject as of great importance. He might have commanded them - but kind exhortation usually accomplishes more than a command,

By the Lord Jesus - In his name and by his authority.

That as ye have received of us - As you were taught by us. Paul doubtless had given them repeated instructions as to their duty as Christians.

How ye ought to walk - That is, how ye ought to live. Life is often represented as a journey; Romans 6:4; Romans 8:1; 1 Corinthians 5:7; Galatians 6:16, Ephesians 4:1.

So ye would abound more and more - “That is, follow the directions which they had received more and more fully.” Abbott.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER IV.

The apostle exhorts them to attend to the directions which he

had already given them, that they might know how to walk and

please God, 1, 2.

Gives them exhortations concerning continence, chastity, and

matrimonial fidelity, 3-8.

Speaks concerning their love to each other, and love to the

Churches of Christ; and exhorts them to continue and increase

in it, 9, 10.

Counsels them to observe an inoffensive conduct, to mind their

own affairs, to do their own business, and to live honestly,

11, 12.

Not to sorrow for the dead, as persons who have no hope of a

resurrection; because to Christians the resurrection of Christ

is a proof of the resurrection of his followers, 13, 14.

Gives a short but awful description of the appearing of Christ

to judge the world, 15.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV.

Verse 1 Thessalonians 4:1. We beseech you, brethren, and exhort — We give you proper instructions in heavenly things, and request you to attend to our advice. The apostle used the most pressing entreaties; for he had a strong and affectionate desire that this Church should excel in all righteousness and true holiness.

Please God more and more. — God sets no bounds to the communications of his grace and Spirit to them that are faithful. And as there are no bounds to the graces, so there should be none to the exercise of those graces. No man can ever feel that he loves God too much, or that he loves man too much for God's sake.