B. Sexual Purity (4:3-8) 117
i 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. 2 You know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
It is Paul's habit to treat doctrinal matters, answers to correspondents, and the like in the earlier part of his epistles. Then at the end he deals with the practical implications for living the Christian life. Throughout this letter his concern for spiritual advance in the Thessalonian church has surfaced a number of times, but now he gives it more concentrated attention. Until now he has had a good deal to say about what had happened in the Thessalonian church, but now he launches into a section telling them what they should do and there is a sharp rise in the use of imperatives.
1 "Finally therefore" (NIV omits Paul's "therefore") is an expression that marks the transition to the way the Christian life is to be lived. It does not mean, as the English might suggest, that Paul is in process of ending the letter (Whiteley speaks of "Finally" as a "mistranslation"). It does signify that the main section of the letter is concluded, though the subsidiary section that it introduces may be rather lengthy and very important.' "Therefore" may refer to the whole of the preceding argu ment rather than to the immediately preceding words (so Thomas; Bailey, however, refers it to the preceding sentence).
Paul's exhortation to the Thessalonians is meant very seriously. He underlines it with the double injunction, "we ask you and urge you." The two verbs have their own proper meanings, but in this context the difference is not important; they simply reinforce one another, and the combination gives emphasis to the apostle's request.'- The affectionate "brothers" fits into this pattern, for Paul is putting the right way before people who were dear friends of his. Indeed, it is this which makes his exhortation so very important to him. He exhorts them "in the Lord Jesus." That is to say, he is not taking up any position of superiority, nor, on the other hand, is his attitude one of hesitant timidity. He speaks as one who has authority committed to him by the Lord. He speaks as one who has "the mind of Christ" (1 Cor. 2:16). He speaks to people who themselves are in Christ.3 He speaks of the conduct that befits people in Christ. NIV has paraphrased this verse, which more literally reads, "Finally therefore, brothers, we ask you and exhort in the Lord Jesus that, as you received from us how you must walk and please God, just as you are also walking, that you may abound more." "Received" translates a verb that had something of the technical sense of accepting the tradition handed on in Christian circles.4
In these first two verses Paul is not concerned with specific problems of behavior (though he is using them to introduce his treatment of some specific problems), but with the whole of the Christian life. His expression is stronger than NIV, for he says "how you musts walk and please God" and goes on to speak of "abounding." "Walk" is commonly employed, especially by Paul and John, as a way of referring to the whole of a believer's manner of living (cf. 2:12). So common is this use of the verb that Grimm-Thayer can give as one of the meanings of the word, "Hebraistically, to live" (cf. the rabbinic concept of halakhah). This may connect with the fact that a favorite designation of Christianity in the earliest days was "the Way" (Acts 9:2; 19:23; 24:22). Or it may be that the metaphor suggested itself from the idea of continual, if unspectacular, advance, which should of course characterize the Christian. Walking is connected with pleasing God (for "please" see on 2:4). The whole Christian life is God-centered. Christians do not "wall' with a view to obtaining the maximum amount of satisfaction for themselves but in order to please their Lord (elsewhere Paul warns against walking in evil paths, 2 Cor. 4:2; 10:2). Paul does not specify any particular way in which they should "please" God; he is concerned with the whole bent of the life.
There is nothing new in all this, as Paul is at pains to make clear. He had told the Thessalonians to live in this way at the time of his mission among them ("as you received from us"), and he is not now introducing some novelty. He had told them then that they "must" behave in the fashion outlined, and thus had brought before them the compelling necessity under which Christians live. When anyone is saved by the work of Christ it does not lie open before him as a matter for his completely free decision whether he will serve God or not. He has been bought with a price (1 Cor. 6:20). He has become the slave of Christ. Christian service is not an optional extra for those who like that sort of thing. It is a compelling obligation that lies on each one of the redeemed.
It is Paul's habit to blend his exhortations and reproofs with a judicious mixture of praise where that can in good conscience be done. It does not surprise us accordingly to find him interjecting, `just as ye are also walking." He is not complaining that the Thessalonians had not been living out the Christian life. They had heeded the exhortation when it was originally given (cf. 1:3, 6-10, etc.), and Timothy's report showed that they were still putting it into practice. Paul lets them know that he is not unmindful of their achievement. But the Christian can never rest satisfied. So Paul urges them to further endeavor. The substance of his exhortation is that6 they should "abound more and more." This is an unusual way to employ this verb, for it is much more common to specify the quality that is to abound. This is the case, for example, in 3:12, where the apostle speaks of abounding in love (cf. Phil. 1:9). The absence of any such specific virtue in this place is in keeping with the fact that this is the general introduction, and Paul is dealing with the whole of life. Specific instructions are to follow, but here he is concerned with the thought that Christians are to grow continually. Their lives are to be far from static. Paradoxically it can be said of them that they are the slaves of Christ and at the same time that they are the freest of people (John 8:36).7 'Be Thessalonians were under the necessity of living to please God, but far from leading them into a narrow and cramped existence, this opened for them the door to the abundant life (cf. John 10:10).
2 Again Paul looks back to the days of his visit to assure his readers that he is doing no more than to lead them along the way he had showed them then. "You know," he says, calling them to witness to the truth of what he is saying. The word "instructions" is plural: Paul and his companions had given instructions on several matters, possibly in the form of rules. The word is an unusual one in a Christian context; it is found elsewhere in the New Testament of commands to believers only twice (I Tim. 1:5, 18). It is more at home in a military environment, being a usual word for the commands given by an officer to his men (cf. its use in Acts 5:28; 16:24).8 It is thus a word with a ring of authority. It is this which makes it suitable for this context where Paul is stressing the authoritative nature of the injunctions in question.
These, though given by Paul, did not originate with him. He makes the point that they were given "through the Lord Jesus" (NIV has "by the authority of the Lord Jesus"). "Through" is not the preposition that we might have expected. It may be a shorthand way of saying that the commandments referred to came from the Father, and that therefore they came with all the authority that was possible. Or it may mean that Paul spoke only on the authority of the Lord Jesus.9 Either way he is disclaiming personal responsibility and ascribing the highest authority to the injunctions to which he refers.1°