1As for other matters, brothers and sisters, 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.2For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.3It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;4that each of you should learn to control your own body[1] in a way that is holy and honourable,5not in passionate lust like the pagans, who do not know God;6and that in this matter no-one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.[2] The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.7For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.8Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.9Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.10And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,11and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: you should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,12so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
Believers who have died
13Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.14For 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.15According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.16For 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.17After 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 for ever.18Therefore encourage one another with these words.
1 Thessalonians 4
English Standard Version
A Life Pleasing to God
1Finally, then, brothers,[1] we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God, just as you are doing, that you do so more and more. (Eph 4:1; Php 4:9; Col 1:10; Col 2:6; 1Th 3:12)2For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. (1Co 11:2)3For this is the will of God, your sanctification:[2] that you abstain from sexual immorality; (Ro 6:19; Ro 6:22; 1Co 1:30; 1Co 6:18; 2Th 2:13; 1Ti 2:15; Heb 12:14; 1Pe 1:2)4that each one of you know how to control his own body[3] in holiness and honor, (Ro 1:24; 2Co 4:7; 1Pe 3:7)5not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; (Ps 79:6; Jer 9:3; Jer 10:25; Ro 1:26; Ga 4:8; Eph 4:17)6that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. (Ro 12:19; Ro 13:4; 1Co 6:8; Heb 13:4)7For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. (1Th 2:3; 1Th 4:3; 1Pe 1:15)8Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. (Lu 10:16; 1Th 2:13; 1Jo 3:24; 1Jo 4:13)9Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, (Joh 6:45; Joh 13:34; 1Th 5:1; Heb 13:1; 1Jo 2:27)10for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, (1Th 1:7; 1Th 3:12)11and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, (Pr 17:14; Pr 20:3; Pr 25:8; Ac 18:3; Eph 4:28; 2Th 3:11; 2Th 3:12; 1Pe 4:15)12so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one. (Mr 4:11; Ro 13:13; Col 4:5)
The Coming of the Lord
13But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. (Le 19:28; De 14:1; 2Sa 12:20; Mr 5:39; Eph 2:12)14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. (1Co 15:13; 1Co 15:18; 2Co 4:14; Re 1:18)15For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord,[4] that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. (1Ki 13:17; 1Co 15:51; 1Th 2:19)16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. (Joe 2:11; Mt 16:27; Mt 24:31; 1Co 15:23; 1Co 15:52; 2Th 1:7; 2Th 2:1; Jud 1:9; Re 14:13)17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (Da 7:13; Joh 12:26; Ac 1:9; 2Co 12:2; Re 11:12)18Therefore encourage one another with these words.