Bible Commentaries
1 Thessalonians 5

Verses 1-28

IX

A BODY OF RULES

1 Thessalonians 5:1-28.

This fifth chapter is mainly a body of rules. The first part of it needs explanation. The chapter commences thus:

"But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that aught be written unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." He has just been comforting the Thessalonians with the account of the second coming of our Lord, with the resurrection of the bodies of the righteous before the change in the living righteous, saying that the two classes are caught up together in the air to join the Lord and are ever to be with the Lord. So far he has not discussed the effect of the coming of our Lord upon the wicked. We will have the case of the wicked in the second letter.

He says here, "But concerning the times and the seasons," and there is a distinction in the meaning of "times" and "seasons." "Times" means stretches of time, or periods. They had doubtless written a question to him to this effect: "Tell us precisely how long it will be before Jesus comes, on what day he will come, and what hour." He is here replying to that question, saying that it is not necessary for him to write on that, because he has already explained to them that neither the times nor the seasons has God put in any man’s power. That is what our Saviour taught. No angel in heaven and no apostle knew, and the Son of man, in the limitations of his humanity, did not know.

But while our Lord as to his human nature did not know, while no angel knew, and while no apostle knew, we are not at all surprised to find a great many who do know exactly this very thing of all others that God has hidden from any human or angelic sight. I call attention now, particularly, to this subject, as it is fascinating, and as some people are attracted so much by the curious and sensational things of religion. They prefer to preach sermons on these subjects rather than upon faith, hope, and love. They seek an answer to questions that God has not answered to any angel of heaven, or apostle on the earth, and that was hidden even from the humanity of Jesus Christ.

There seems to be a little irony in Paul’s reply. They want to know precisely. He says, "For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night." Our Lord himself discussed that very question. He taught that if the householder knew exactly what month a burglar would come around, and on what night of the month, and at what hour of the night, it would be a very easy thing to forestall him. But God hid those things, and now just as a burglar does not write to a man that on November 9 at II P.M. he will call at his house and come in through the back window in order to steal his jewelry and whatever money is lying around, so we need not expect such information with reference to the second coming of Christ.

Christ’s second coming will be like a flash of lightning from one end of the heavens to the other. There will be no external premonition of it.

He then assures them that this fact need not disturb them, however terrible it may be to the wicked. He says, "God has not appointed you unto wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for you that whether you wake or sleep you shall live together with him. Inasmuch as you are guaranteed against the thief by the protecting care of God, it makes no difference what night the thief comes. Whether you live till Christ comes, whether he comes heralded or unheralded, it is utterly immaterial with you, because from the beginning he has chosen you for salvation and you will get the benefit of that salvation when he comes."

Now come some rules, a few of which need comment. The others are all so obvious in their meaning that an attempt at explanation will only mystify. The first one is in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13: "But we beseech you, brethren, to know them that labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you; and to esteem them exceeding highly in love for their work’s sake." That shows that even this early there were those set apart by the Lord as preachers, and having the oversight of churches, and he is writing that they should approve their preachers and should be subordinated to the rule of the pastor in the things in which it is lawful for him to rule, and there are things in which God has made him the overseer. That is what the word, "bishop," or episkopos, means.

I have heard some people say that the work of the church should be determined by the deacons. That is expressly not so.

The deacons have committed unto them the finances of the church, but the great work of the church is dependent upon the spiritual leader. It is his voice that must give the signal, it is his sermon that must give the instruction, it is his exposition of God’s word that must lay down the law, and in this high sense he is the legitimate ruler.

There is a spirit of lawlessness in the world that objects to all rule. There are some people so constituted that they won’t work "in the harness" at all. There are some horses that won’t work except in the lead, and some that are not good except as wheel-horses, and others that will not work at all with a bridle or harness; they kick and squeal and prance, and finally tear off at a tangent. There are some people of that kind in the churches.

Here are some rules that need no comment: "Be at peace among yourselves, admonish the disorderly, encourage the faint-hearted, support the weak, be long-suffering toward all. See that none render unto anyone evil for evil; but always follow after that which is good, one toward another, and toward all. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to youward." These are rules which everybody ought to memorize, and be able to call up each one. They ought to be on the walls of every church as the standing orders of the Lord Jesus Christ concerning Christian communities.

Here are others that need some explanation: "Quench not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings; prove all things; hold fast that which is good." Every one of these directions relates to the spiritual gifts conferred on the day of Pentecost and later in the apostolic days. I have heard preachers preach from the text, "Quench not the Spirit," and speak on it as if it referred to the witness of the Spirit within a man, or to the indwelling Spirit in a man or to the Spirit of regeneration. But none of these can be quenched. What he says, "Quench you not," in this special miraculous endowment that God bestowed so richly upon the apostolic churches for the purpose of attesting them. He gives rules both ways on these spiritual gifts: "Don’t quench them. They were given for a useful purpose." He taught in the letter to the Corinthians that a man had control over them, and he could so act that they would depart from him altogether. "Despise not prophesyings," i.e., don’t hold in contempt these utterances that come from the lips of men that have these gifts. A man would leap up in the church and say, "Brethren, the Spirit is moving me, and under the Spirit I want to make a declaration," and he would make it. In other words, "No matter what you may think about what he will say, don’t quench the spiritual gifts, and don’t despise prophesyings, but test what he is saying." In another letter John says, "Try the spirits to see whether they be from God." There are some spirits that are not from God. There is an inspiration that comes not from God. There is devil inspiration.

We had in Waco, when I was a young pastor, a great stir upon the subject of spirit rapping, mediums and alleged communications from the dead. I preached on the subject about a week and put these things to the test, just as God commands that they should be tested. The question I put to one of these mediums was this: "Did Jesus Christ as God become manifest in the flesh?" The answer was; "No, that is a misapprehension." That answer settled his case, and I said, "You are condemned, because the scripture says that whosoever denieth that Christ is come in the flesh is a liar and the truth is not in him." That is what Paul means here. He is not referring to their conversion, nor to the Spirit that bore witness with their spirits that they were children of God, nor to regeneration) but this temporary miraculous gift that resteth with such signal power upon the apostolic church.

He says, "Prove all," not all things, but all these prophesyings, that claim to come from the Spirit. "Hold fast to that which is good." In other words, "If it corresponds to the revealed will of God set forth in the Bible, you may take it. If it is contrary to that, reject it."

The next rule calls also for some explanation. In the King James Version, it reads: "Abstain from all appearance of evil." In my younger days how many times have I heard the old brethren quote that! It was not enough for them that a thing was bad; if it appeared to be evil, one had to shun it. That is not the meaning of it at all. The rendering is bound to be one of these two: "Abstain from every form of evil," not something that simply appears to be evil; or else it means, "Abstain from every evil show." There are some shows we ought not to attend. I went once in my life to a theatrical representation and I was glad I had no young lady with me. When I got out I apologized to myself and told the Lord if he would forgive me I would never go to see an evil show of that kind any more. There are some shows so suggestive of indecency, in word, or posture, or dress, they advertise their vileness. What he teaches is, "Let evil come in any shape it may – abstain from it."

Another passage, just here, needs a little explanation. It is his prayer, "The God of peace himself sanctify you wholly." That means "entire." If we say concerning a thing composed of fourteen parts, "Let it be sanctified wholly," that would mean in every one of its parts. And he continues, "And may your spirit and soul and body be preserved entire, without blame, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." Here a question has been asked as to whether there be a threefold distinction in the nature of man. Are there three distinct parts in man – body, soul, and spirit, or a tripartite nature? Or is man of a dual nature – soul and body? In systematic theology, those that hold to the dual nature of man are called dichotomists, and those who hold to the threefold nature of man are called trichotomists. My view of the subject is that from the beginning God represents man as consisting of two distinct elements, the inward man, and the outward man. The outward man is the body; the inward man is the soul. When we consider the inward man from another viewpoint we call it spirit. Here it is important to note the time when sanctification is consummated – "At the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," that is, when the body is raised from the dead and glorified. Then only is a man completely sanctified. His soul, or spirit, is sanctified at death, but his body is not sanctified until the resurrection, and that is when Christ comes.

The last thing I need to say about anything in this chapter is this: "I adjure you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the brethren." He wrote this letter to the church. Every member of the church is entitled to hear it. What a lesson that is to us that the Word of God is for everybody! It is not for the preacher to take the letter and deal out as much of it as he pleases to the congregation; not for him to say, "I have here a letter from your Heavenly Father, and I will read you such parts of ’it as I think will do you good."

Let the man himself have his Father’s letter – all of it. It was written to him. It was not written to the priest. There is no justification in withholding any part of it from a child of God.

I heard Dr. McDonald, one of the mightiest preachers and one of the sweetest spirits of the Southern Baptist Convention, who recently passed away, give an account of his conversion from Roman Catholicism. He had been reared in that faith in Ireland, and on his visit to the United States he saw for the first time in his life a gathering in an old log house, and he went in to find a Baptist meeting in progress. He was wonderfully impressed with the way they did things, and he was surprised to hear the preacher ask the people to take their Bibles and see that everything he said was so. He did not know that he had a right of that kind, and when the old preacher very solemnly said, "Brethren, this book is God’s letter to each one of you. If my mother were to write me a letter, what man would have a right to capture my mail, and come to me and tell me that he would read such passages of my mother’s letter to me as he thought was best for me?" There the thought first entered his mind that became the entering wedge which separated him from the Romanist faith, and which led to his conversion. Paul wanted this letter read to every one of the members of that church.

I will comment a little on one other expression: "Salute all the brethren with a holy kiss." The reader will excuse a humorous allusion: When the great controversy between the Baptist and the Campbellite brethren came up, the latter claimed that they stood by what the book said, and one day down in South Texas one of their preachers said to the congregation, as the book says, "Salute each other with a holy kiss," that they must kiss each other, and he had been troubled about it in view of the fact that some of the brothers in the church were colored. But he says, "I insist that we do just what it says." Whereupon, another brother got up and said, "Brother moderator, we had better go slow on this; I don’t believe I could kiss a colored member of this church nor some of the white ones." His wife spoke up and said, "That’s right, John, if you kiss a Negro you shall never kiss me again."

And yet this scripture has a meaning. In the directions of our Lord to the apostles when he sent them out he said, "Sa-’ lute no man by the way." He did not mean that one of his preachers should be discourteous, nor refuse to say, "How do you do?" or, "Good-by." But in that country the forms of salutation took up a vast amount of time – they had so many "bowings and scrapings" and waving of hands. But because these apostles were on urgent business he told them to salute no man by the way. As it was an Oriental custom to salute even men with a kiss, this is put in here, not prescribing that we shall kiss, but when we salute, let it be a holy salutation. Let it be the salutation of a Christian, and not insincere and simply form.

QUESTIONS

1. What is the distinction in meaning between "times" and "seasons" in 1 Thessalonians 5:1, and what the application?

2. What fascinating theme for many preachers is suggested here, and what the Bible teaching on it?

3. What is Paul’s illustration of this thought, and what our Lord’s illustration of the same point?

4. What assuring fact does Paul here give them relative to this point?

5. State the rules of holy living in 1 Thessalonians 5:12-18.

6. What does 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 show relative to "bishops," or pastors?

7. What are Paul’s four rules concerning miraculous spiritual gifts?

8. What is the meaning of "Quench not the Spirit"?

9. What is the meaning of "Despise not prophesying"? Illustrate.

10. What is the meaning of "Prove all things?"

11. What is the meaning of "Hold fast that which is good"?

12. In 1 Thessalonians 5:22, the common version reads, "Abstain from all appearance of evil;" does the original mean, "Abstain from everything seeming to be evil," or "from every form of actual evil," or "from every kind of an evil show"?

13. What does "sanctify you wholly" mean, when does sanctification begin, and when will it be consummated?

14. Is man dichotomous or trichotomous, and what is the distinction between "soul" and "spirit" in 1 Thessalonians 5:23?

15. What great privilege maybe fairly deduced from the charge “that this epistle e read unto all the brethren,: what religious denomination violates this principle most, and what illustration cited by the author?

16. How may be interpreted the "holy kiss" so as to make the perfect binding now?