4:1 Finally, 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.
4:2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
4:3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;
4:4 that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable,
4:5 not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God;
4:6 and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you.
4:7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.
4:8 Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
4:9 Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.
4:10 And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
4:11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you,
4:12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
4:13 Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.
4:14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.
4:15 According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
4:17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.
4:18 Therefore encourage each other with these words.
4:1 Furthermore, brothers, we ask and exhort you in the Lord Jesus that even as you received from us how you ought to walk and please God, even as indeed you do walk, that you abound still more.
4:2 For you know what charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication;
4:4 That each one of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
4:5 Not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
4:6 That no one overstep and take advantage of his brother in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger concerning all these things, even as we also said before to you and solemnly charged.
4:7 For God has not called us for uncleanness but in sanctification.
4:8 Consequently, he who rejects, rejects not man but God, who also gives His Holy Spirit to you.
4:9 Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for me to write to you, for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another;
4:10 For you also do this unto all the brothers in the whole of Macedonia. But we exhort you, brothers, to abound still more
4:11 And to aspire to be quiet and attend to your own affairs and work with your hands, even as we charged you,
4:12 That you may walk becomingly toward those outside and may have need of nothing.
4:13 But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are sleeping, that you would not grieve even as also the rest who have no hope.
4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so also those who have fallen asleep through Jesus, God will bring with Him.
4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are living, who are left remaining unto the coming of the Lord, shall by no means precede those who have fallen asleep;
4:16 Because the Lord Himself, with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
4:17 Then we who are living, who are left remaining, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and thus we will be always with the Lord.
4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.