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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
1Th_5:1-2. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
The great point is that it comes — will certainly come, and it will come when it is least expected. There are certain signs given, by which the righteous shall know of its appearing, but all study of dates and fixing of the time is contrary to the very spirit of the Christian dispensation. We are to abide, always looking for it, believing it may come today, believing it may not come today — believing that the secret of the time is with God. Ye do err if ye say it shall be this or that season; ye equally err if ye say it shall not be then. Let it remain as it is, a secret in the heart of God, ye yourselves always girt, waiting it to come.
1Th_5:3. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Sudden and acute shall be the terror of the ungodly when the Lord Jesus in flaming fire shall be manifested.
1Th_5:4. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
You are brought out of darkness into his marvelous light. Your element is light. “Ye are all the children of light”; “ye are not in darkness that the day should overtake you as a thief.” You know the signs, and, being watchful, you will observe them when the hour cometh.
1Th_5:5-6. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
It is the proper and fitting season for it. That the children of darkness should slumber is no wonder. They are the children of a sleepy time. Ye are the children of the day; if ye sleep, ye will be acting contrary to your nature.
1Th_5:7. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
People were a little more decorous in the Apostle’s day than they are now, for there are some who are drunk in the day now-a-days, and though we have certainly improved in some things, we seem to have gone back in this. But, at any rate, drunkenness may seem suitable to benighted persons, but it is not suitable to those who profess to have the light of God’s grace.
1Th_5:8. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
We are of the day, but it is a day of battle. Put on armor, therefore. Be as soldiers that are covered with a panoply. Especially take care of your heart — put on the breastplate. Faith and love are the sacred protection for this. Take care that ye have both. Take care of your head — that also is a vital part; put on the helmet. Hope will do that. A good hope in Christ Jesus will guard you from many violent attacks that will be made upon your judgment.
1Th_5:9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
See there is no ordination to condemnation. Believing in Christ, we have the evidence that we are elect according to the foreknowledge of God, through sanctification of the spirit and obedience, and sprinkling of blood.
1Th_5:10-11. Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
It is a good church of which we can say this, especially if we can say it of all the members that they edify one another. Living stones in a living temple should seek to build each other up. May we all try to have a sacred commerce in our knowledge, and other gifts as one trading with another. All may enrich and edify one another. “As also ye do.” Why did he tell them to do it, then, if they were doing it? Answer — that they might keep on doing it. The horse that runs best may still be the better for a spur.
1Th_5:12-13. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.
Consider them in your prayers; give them all the help you can; do not be strangers to their office, and to the burden which it brings. God has set them over you. Regard them in that light. Esteem them very highly, not as masters, as though they were lords, but as being over you. “Esteem them very highly in love for their works’ sake.”
1Th_5:13. And be at peace among yourselves.
There is an end to church prosperity when there is an end of peace.
1Th_5:14. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly,
There are some that never will be ruled; their very idea of being a Christian is that they shall do just as they like. It is a somewhat happy circumstance that there are sects where they can do so. There are formed now-a-days these little knots of people who will have no rule and church government, and who meet to edify one another. Though they speedily go to pieces, it is perhaps the better for the churches that they are quit of them.
1Th_5:14. Comfort the feeble-minded,
They want cheering. You needed it once; return the benefit you have received. Do not be out of patience with them for being so foolish. If their minds be feeble, you cannot expect much better from them.
1Th_5:14. Support the weak,
Give them something to cling to. As some climbing plants put out their tendrils and need to be helped up, so may you be a prop to these climbers.
1Th_5:14. Be patient toward all men.
Think of what patience God has with you. “Be patient toward all men.”
1Th_5:15. See that none render evil for evil unto any man;
Not in any case. The world advises you to pay a man in his own coin, but if he pays you bad coin, he is wrong, and if you pay him bad coin there will be two wrongs. Do not do so.
1Th_5:15-16. But ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore.
You have always something to rejoice in; make the world ring with Christian music.
1Th_5:17. Pray without ceasing.
Praise and prayer are fit companions. You will soon leave off rejoicing if you leave off praying. By ejaculations, keep up your prayers while at your books. You will not disturb your avocations by continuing still in supplication and prayer. That provender hinders no man’s journey.
1Th_5:18. In every thing give thanks:
Try to do so for everything, and if you cannot do it, in everything give thanks for something else — when you are in circumstances which do not excite your thankfulness just then.
1Th_5:18. For this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
God wills it. This moved the Crusaders to the war. Let this suffice to move you in thanksgiving.
1Th_5:19. Quench not the spirit.
Do not hinder his movements in yourself; do not try to hinder them in others. If any man hath a gift which he might use to edification, do not discourage him, but rather encourage him to get more grace. God may find him opportunities of making use of it. Quench not the Spirit.
1Th_5:20. Despise not prophesyings.
If they are vain and false, despise them if you will, but that prophecy especially which deals with the Word of God, for the Word here does not signify merely prophecies of the future — it is often used of regular preaching. Despise not anyone who speaks in God’s name. He may speak with blunders of grammar — forget them; if he be correct in his teaching of divine truth, if he speaks to your heart, if he warns you, if he warns under the Spirit of God, never despise him.
1Th_5:21. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
That first sentence is got to be quite a proverb, but that last, I believe, is taken away, which is another instance of the common truth that half the truth is a lie. You must give it all or none. “Prove all things,” is mischievous teaching, unless you “hold fast that which is good.” And, after all, in the very first sentence it is not so much “Prove all things,” as “Prove all things” — that is, take nothing on trust. Do not believe it because you are told so. Search the Scriptures; test what you have received, but when you have tested it, do not go about to be for over proving it. Hold it fast; grip it; grapple it to you as an ox to the stall. Hold fast that which is good.
1Th_5:22. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
By which is not meant as some read it, “from everything that somebody likes to say looks like evil.” This would be to mar the Christian liberty. But wherever evil puts in an appearance, when it appears to be good, when it has been dressed out — for the word may refer to a Roman spectacle, or grand procession. Avoid evil even when dressed out in its best, when it comes on in all its gallant show to attract you. Avoid every species and kind of evil — that might almost be the translation — abstain from it altogether.
1Th_5:23. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Christian man there is a trinity. His nobler nature is that which he got when he was regenerated, and it is his spirit. His soul he has got, in common with other men. His body he has in common with animals. All, however, must be fully consecrated to God. I pray God your whole spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th_5:24. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
What a word of good cheer that is. Sanctification often seems to be a thing far off, but he will do it. He that called will perfect. The work which his wisdom began, the arm of his strength will complete.
1Th_5:25. Brethren, pray for us.
Because sometimes people think that those of high spiritual attainments do not need their prayers, Remember, if they have a higher position, they have greater dangers.
1Th_5:26. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.
This was the token of friendship in the East. To attempt to import it to the West would be not only absurd, but wicked. I may properly read them, “Greet all the brethren witch a hearty shake of the hand; keep up the outward form of fellowship, for if you don’t you will soon forget the fellowship itself.” The kiss was the Oriental custom; it was to be kept up. The shake of the hand is our Western custom. Let it be kept up. And I delight to see it when Christians meet, and cordially greet each other after the custom of their land.
1Th_5:27. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
The Pope would charge you that it be read to nobody; but who is he? It seems that this Epistle was intended to be read by all the Church, and so also the whole Bible. It is said it is not safe to trust it with the brethren; it is not safe to trust them without it; it is not safe to keep back God’s Word from any man. Let the whole Book be read, and I am sure the mere read the better, especially if the last verse be true of every reader.
1Th_5:28. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
1Th_5:1-2. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
That is, most unexpectedly to an ungodly world. Even they who are watching for Christ’s coming may be to some extent surprised at his appearing, as the most watchful person may be when the thief at last comes; but we shall not be taken altogether unawares. We shall be, at least in a measure, prepared for the coming of the Lord, but as for the world at large, it will be an awful and surprising visitation, —
1Th_5:3. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
Let no ungodly man dream that he will escape. Apart from vital union to Christ, there will be no escaping for any one of us in that tremendous day of the Lord.
1Th_5:4. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
You who truly know the Lord, you who are saved through his first coming, and are expecting his second coming, —
1Th_5:5-6. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others;—
Night is the time for sleep, and we sleep best in the darkness; but if we have come into the daylight, if the Sun of Righteousness has risen upon us, let us be wakeful, let us be watchful. When the sun is shining, it is not right that men should sleep: “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others;” —
1Th_5:6-7. But let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
Even in Paul’s day, drunkenness was a thing that seemed more at home in darkness than in the light. As for us, brethren, let us never be carried away by excess, — either drunkenness of body or inebriation of mind — for there is a drunkenness which abjures the cup, and yet is as gross an intoxication as the other is. We may be drunk with pride, or drunk with ambition, or drunk with wrath, or drunk with worldliness; but we are to avoid all these evils, because we are not now in the night, when these drunken fits might be in some sort of harmony with the surrounding darkness.
1Th_5:8-10. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
This seems to be a theme which the apostle constantly brings up, as though he could not help it, — that we are to live together with Christ. There lies your safety, brethren: “together with him.” If you could get away from him, you would go down to destruction; but “together with him” is the path of life, and safety, and perfection.
1Th_5:11-13. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
So that these apostolic churches had a ministry set over them in the Lord, and they were commanded to know these labourers for the Master, to recognize them as appointed by God to their ministerial position, “and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.”
1Th_5:14-26. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.
That was the Oriental manner of greeting, and it means to us, “Greet all the brethren with a hearty shake of the hand.” Such tokens of fellowship ought never to be forgotten among the followers of Christ.
1Th_5:27-28. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
This exposition consisted of readings from 1Th_4:13-18; and 1 Thessalonians 5.
1Th_5:1-2. But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
It will be a great surprise to the wicked. It will take them at unawares. Just at that moment when they least expect it will Christ come; and as the thief comes to destroy and to kill, so will the coming of Christ be the death of their carnal ease — the destruction of their earthly hopes.
1Th_5:3. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
A terrible text that “They shall not escape.” They shall not escape by their own power or force or wisdom. They shall not escape even by the annihilation which they might well desire, but which shall not come to them. They shall not escape.
1Th_5:4. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
You know that Christ will come. You expect the dissolution of this present state. To you therefore, it will come as one who calls at daytime. You cannot know the hour. You must not know it; but since you know that he will come, and come to your joy; and since you are in the light, you look with gladness to that coming.
1Th_5:5-6. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others;
If we were children of the night, sleep is a proper occupation for the night; but as we are the children of the day, let us not sleep as others.
1Th_5:6. But let us watch and be sober.
Watchfulness and sobriety are appropriate duties for the day. To be ever serving our Lord with constancy, and to keep ourselves from the fascinations of the world which make men’s minds drunk — may these two things be our daily care.
1Th_5:7. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
There are a few who have reached to such a pitch of shameless idleness that they sleep in the day, and there are others who have come to such a state of debauchery that they are drunken in the day. But this is not the common way of things, nor even in the judgment of the most licentious of the world is this at all a proper state of things. “They that sleep sleep in the night. They that are drunken are drunken in the night.” Let us who are of the day be sober, and let us of course be awake, but let us be more than awake, since watchfulness is here joined to wakefulness, and watchfulness in a soldier requires that his armor be on. So Paul pushes the parallel a little farther.
1Th_5:8. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
Soldiers when they sleep put off their armor; but in the day when they are awake and on their guard they wear their armor, and are ready for the fray. See how much is involved in Christian wakefulness. God help us to carry out every virtue to its legitimate consequences, not to be wakeful after a fashion, but wakeful after God’s fashion.
1Th_5:9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.
In making us children of light, he gave evidence that our appointment was for the light — that his eternal ordinances were that through the light of gospel grace we should enter into the light of eternal glory by and by. “God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”
1Th_5:10. Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
They who have served their day and generation, when they sleep are not parted from their Lord. They become not the children of the darkness by that fact, for he died for us, that whether we wake or sleep we should live together with him. Whether we are living here or living there, we shall still live together with him.
1Th_5:11. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
The more of this the better. Christian people should constantly converse with one another for mutual edification.
1Th_5:12-13. And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labour among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.
You see, in the church of old they edified one another, but for all that they did not cast off God’s ordinance of Christian ministry. There was rule in the church then as there should be now; and the apostle, when he speaks of this individual edification, this mutual instruction, does not forget to notice those who were the pastors of the flock. He says, “Know them which labour among you and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake.”
1Th_5:13. And be at peace among yourselves.
How can a church prosper if it is not?
1Th_5:14-16. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feeble minded, support the weak, be patient toward all men. See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men. Rejoice evermore.
Here follows a string of Christian precepts a golden chain. “Rejoice evermore.”
1Th_5:17-19. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit.
Do not despise his operations, either in yourselves or in your brethren. Do not quench him by neglect, much less by open opposition.
1Th_5:20-22. Despise not prophesyings. Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all appearance of evil.
Not from that which other people choose to think evil, but from all real evil whatever it is — even from the very shadow that it casts and the shape which it assumes.
1Th_5:23-26. And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Greet all the brethren with an holy kiss.
Give one another a hearty shake of the hands. That is the western interpretation of the eastern form. Outward forms differ. The inward sense abides the same. Let brotherly love continue in a hearty friendliness among yourselves.
1Th_5:27-28. I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.