Rachel Workman: 4 Finally, dear brothers and sisters,[a] 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[b] 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,[c] 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.
It's pretty obvious that the world is rejecting God. How dare anyone even suggest that anything sexual is even a sin. We live with lustful passion like pagans who do not know God's way. Except we do. It is for our good that we are warned against sexual sin. The world says anything that feels good is good. And the results? People can't even decide what gender they are.
____________________________________________________________________________________
John Burnett: Finally then, brothers and sisters, we request and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received instruction from us as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel even more. 2 For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you knows how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God; As Paul states here, it is crucial that we obstain from sexual sin as it completely detroys our testimony and derails the process of sanctification. Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ and Christ never committed a sexual sin or any sin for that matter. 6 and that no one violates the rights and takes advantage of his brother or sister in the matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you previously and solemnly warned you. Vengeance is mine says the Lord and those who claim to belong to God that commit sexual sin will pay a very high price. I tremble to think of the wrath God will pour out on the priests and pastors who sexually abused people entrusted to them to shepherd. 7 For God has not called us for impurity but in sanctification. 8 Therefore, the one who rejects this is not rejecting man, but the God who gives His Holy Spirit to you. Repentance in this area is only granted by the Holy Spirit who is given to us by God the Father by His grace for the Glory of His Son.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Tomorrow’s reading for 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12
9 But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other,[d] for God himself has taught you to love one another. 10 Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers[e] 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment