1 Thessalonians 4:3

King James Version

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:

Parallel Translations

English Standard Version
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

Geneva Bible (1587)
For this is the will of God euen your sanctification, and that ye should abstaine from fornication,

Christian Standard Bible®
For this is God’s will, your sanctification: that you keep away from sexual immorality,

Hebrew Names Version
For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,

Darby Translation
For this is [the] will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication;

Easy-to-Read Version
God wants you to be holy. He wants you to stay away from sexual sins.

Amplified Bible
For this is the will of God, that you be sanctified [separated and set apart from sin]: that you abstain and back away from sexual immorality;

American Standard Version
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication;

Berean Standard Bible
For it is God's will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality;

Contemporary English Version
God wants you to be holy, so don't be immoral in matters of sex.

Complete Jewish Bible
What God wants is that you be holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality,

International Standard Version
For it is God's will that you be sanctified: You must abstain from sexual immorality;Romans 12:2; 1 Corinthians 6:15,18; Ephesians 5:3,17, 27; Colossians 3:5;">[xr]

Etheridge Translation
For this is the will of Aloha, your sanctification; and that you be distant from all fornication;

Murdock Translation
For this is the pleasure of God, your sanctification; and that ye be separated from all whoredom;

King James Version (1611)
For this is the will of God, euen your sanctification, that yee should absteine from fornication:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For this is the wyll of God, your holynesse, that ye should abstayne from fornication:

English Revised Version
For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication;

Lexham English Bible
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

Literal Translation
For this is God's will, your sanctification, for you to abstain from fornication,

New American Standard Bible
For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;

New Century Version
God wants you to be holy and to stay away from sexual sins.

New English Translation
For this is God's will: that you become holy, that you keep away from sexual immorality,

New King James Version
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality;

New Living Translation
God's will is for you to be holy, so stay away from all sexual sin.

New Revised Standard
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication;

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For, this, is a thing willed of God, your sanctification, - that ye should abstain from unchastity,

Douay-Rheims Bible
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: That you should abstain from fornication:

George Lamsa Translation
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication:

Good News Translation
God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality.

World English Bible
For this is the will of God: your sanctification, that you abstain from sexual immorality,

Wesley's New Testament (1755)
For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication;

Weymouth's New Testament
For this is God's will--your purity of life, that you abstain from fornication;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For this is the wille of God, youre holynesse, that ye absteyne you fro fornycacioun.

Webster's Bible Translation
For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye should abstain from lewdness.

Revised Standard Version
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from unchastity;

Tyndale New Testament (1525)
For this is the will of god even that ye shuld be holy and that ye shuld abstayne from fornicacion

Update Bible Version
For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that you abstain from fornication;

Young's Literal Translation
for this is the will of God -- your sanctification; that ye abstain from the whoredom,

Bible in Basic English
For the purpose of God for you is this: that you may be holy, and may keep yourselves from the desires of the flesh;

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For this is the will of God, euen youre sanctifienge, that ye shulde absteyne from whordome,

Mace New Testament (1729)
and such is the will of God, that you should be holy, and avoid licentiousness;

New Life Bible
God wants you to be holy. You must keep away from sex sins.

Simplified Cowboy Version
God wants for y'all to be top hands. He wants you to be holy. They are one and the same. You can't do that if you're working for the Lord during the day and visiting the whorehouse at night.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;

Legacy Standard Bible
For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;

Contextual Overview

¹ Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. ² For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. ³ For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: ⁴ That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; ⁵ Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: ⁶ That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. ⁷ For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. ⁸ He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

this: 1 Thessalonians 5:18, Psalms 40:8, Psalms 143:10, Matthew 7:21, Matthew 12:50, Mark 3:35, John 4:34, John 7:17, Romans 12:2, Ephesians 5:17, Ephesians 6:6, Colossians 1:9, Colossians 4:12, Hebrews 10:36, Hebrews 13:21, 1 Peter 4:2, 1 John 2:17

your: 1 Thessalonians 4:4, 1 Thessalonians 5:23, John 17:17-19, Acts 20:32, Acts 26:18, Romans 6:22,*Gr: 1 Corinthians 1:30, 1 Corinthians 6:11, Ephesians 5:26, Ephesians 5:27, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, Titus 2:14, 1 Peter 1:2

that: Matthew 15:19, Acts 15:20, Acts 15:29, Romans 1:29, 1 Corinthians 5:9-11, 1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Corinthians 6:10, 1 Corinthians 6:13-18, 1 Corinthians 7:2, 2 Corinthians 12:21, Galatians 5:19, Ephesians 5:3-5, Colossians 3:5, Hebrews 12:16, Hebrews 13:4, Revelation 21:8, Revelation 22:15,*Gr.

Reciprocal: Leviticus 15:18 - unclean Leviticus 20:7 - General 1 Samuel 21:5 - the vessels Ezekiel 33:9 - if thou Matthew 6:10 - Thy will Romans 13:13 - chambering 1 Corinthians 5:11 - fornicator 1 Peter 1:15 - so 1 Peter 2:15 - so

Cross-References

Genesis 4:1
And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord .

Genesis 4:11
And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

Numbers 18:12
All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the Lord , them have I given thee.

1 Kings 17:7
And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

Nehemiah 13:6
But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification,.... Which is another reason to enforce the above exhortation. "Sanctification" is internal or external. Internal sanctification is the work of the Spirit of God, and is a principle of spiritual life in the soul, a divine and spiritual light in the understanding, a flexion of the will to the will of God, and a settlement of the affections on divine things, and is an implantation of every grace in the heart. External sanctification arises from this, and lies in holiness of life and conversation; and is what is chiefly designed, as appears both by what goes before, and follows after: and this is "the will of God"; the will of his purpose and decree; for in the same decree that he wills the salvation of any by Jesus Christ, he also wills their sanctification in heart and life, and here and hereafter: and this is his approving will, or what is well pleasing in his sight, being agreeable to his nature, and divine perfections, particularly his holiness, in which he is glorious; and it is his will of command, and what he requires in his law, which is holy, just, and good, and perfectly agrees with the sound doctrine of the Gospel, and the revelation of his will in both.

That ye should abstain from fornication: which is particularly mentioned, abstinence from it being a branch of external holiness; and because that this sin was common among the Gentiles, and not esteemed a sin by them; as also to observe to these Christians, that as simple fornication was not to be allowed of, much less other acts of uncleanness, as adultery, incest, sodomy, and the like, which were iniquities that greatly prevailed among the Heathens. The Syriac version renders it, "from all fornication"; on this subject the apostle enlarges in some following verses.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification - It is the will or command of God that you should be holy. This does not refer to the purpose or decree of God, and does not mean that he intended to make them holy - but it means that it was his command that they should be holy. It was also true that it was agreeable to the divine will or purpose that they should be holy, and that he meant to use such an influence as to secure this; but this is not the truth taught here. This text, therefore, should not be brought as a proof that God intends to make his people holy, or that they are sanctified. It is a proof only that he requires holiness. The word here rendered “sanctification” - ἁγιασμὸς hagiasmos - is not used in the Greek classics, but is several times found in the New Testament. It is rendered holiness, Romans 6:19, Rom 6:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; 1 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 12:14; and sanctification, 1 Corinthians 1:30; 1Th 4:3-4; 2 Thessalonians 2:13, and 1 Peter 1:2; see the Romans 6:19 note; 1 Corinthians 1:30 note. It means here “purity of life,” and particularly abstinence from those vices which debase and degrade the soul Sanctification consists in two things:

(1) In “ceasing to do evil;” and,

(2) In “learning to do well.” Or in other words, the first work of sanctification is in overcoming the propensities to evil in our nature, and checking and subduing the unholy habits which we had formed before we became Christians; the second part of the work consists in cultivating the positive principles of holiness in the soul.

That ye should abstain from fornication - A vice which was freely indulged among the pagan, and to which, from that fact, and from their own former habits, they were particularly exposed. On the fact that they were thus exposed, and on the reasons for these solemn commands on the subject, see the Acts 15:20 note, and 1 Corinthians 6:18 note.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 1 Thessalonians 4:3. This is the will of God, even your sanctification — God has called you to holiness; he requires that you should be holy; for without holiness none can see the Lord. This is the general calling, but in it many particulars are included. Some of these he proceeds to mention; and it is very likely that these had been points on which he gave them particular instructions while among them.

That ye should abstain from fornication — The word πορνεια, as we have seen in other places, includes all sorts of uncleanness; and it was probably this consideration that induced several MSS., some versions and fathers, to add here πασης, all. Directions of this kind were peculiarly necessary among the Greeks, and indeed heathens in general, who were strongly addicted to such vices.