1 Thessalonians 4:1-18 (NLT)
1 Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more.
2 For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
3 God’s will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.
4 Then each of you will control his own body and live in holiness and honor—
5 not in lustful passion like the pagans who do not know God and his ways.
6 Never harm or cheat a fellow believer in this matter by violating his wife, for the Lord avenges all such sins, as we have solemnly warned you before.
7 God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.
8 Therefore, anyone who refuses to live by these rules is not disobeying human teaching but is rejecting God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
9 But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other, for God himself has taught you to love one another.
10 Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.
11 Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before.
12 Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.
13 And 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.
14 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.
15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.
16 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 believers who have died will rise from their graves.
17 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.
18 So encourage each other with these words.
In speaking of holiness, something that is a directive right from the heart of the Father, there is reason given for this that leads to encouragement in love. In verse 6 sexual impurity with another’s wife is labeled harming or cheating. While it is just given here as a slight to the husband, sexual impurity is actually a harmful behavior that indicates a lack of love, first hurting the one engaging, but then everyone who is deprived of the confidence, blessing, and goodness holiness would have enabled through them.
The instruction in love that leads to holiness is something imparted directly through God in the new nature received in Christ. It is something that directly impacts sexual purity, but also every interaction with those we live with, becoming evidence to the surrounding world that our living is not just for ourselves, but from the One who transformed us from darkness into light by His grace, mercy, and love.
For those who live this way, set apart in love to the One who bought us with His blood, there is an incredible hope in the time of a loved one’s passing. The very resurrection life received and displayed in love ensures passage to a place that is forever secured in love and the reign of peace completely free from any compromise in relationships. As this is a hope in the loss, it is also hope that continues to drive the heart in love till we are soon joined together with them.