1 Thessalonians 4:3

“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication”

“This is the will of God”: “This is. thing willed of God” (Rhm). God's will can be understood (Ephesians 5:17), and God clearly expresses His will. Why would God speak to mankind (Hebrews 1:1), if not to be understood? “Sanctification”:. state of purity or holiness. “That you should be pure” (TCNT). “Separated and set apart for pure and holy living” (Amp). See 1 Peter 1:15. One is purified from sin at conversion (1 Corinthians 6:11), but personal purity demands continual work (Hebrews 12:14). “We cannot get. one-shot inoculation of sanctification that will permanently guarantee our immunity against sin” (Fields p. 104). “Some denominations hold to. doctrine that after. person has been saved, he may have. second work of grace,. sanctification by baptism of the Holy Spirit, in which all desire for and the practice of sin is taken out of his nature” (Fields p. 103). Evidently the apostles did not believe or teach such. doctrine, even in reference to their own lives (1 Corinthians 9:27; Galatians 2:11; 1 John 1:8). “That ye abstain from fornication”: “Abstain from sexual vice” (Mof). “Fornication”: “The noun covers all forms of illicit sexual intercourse. These are incompatible with the relationship has to be viewed in the light of the fact that the body of the Christian belongs to God (1 Corinthians 6:19)” (Morris p. 122).

“It is not surprising that the apostle begins with sex, not only because it is the most imperious of all our human urges, but also because of the sexual laxity--even promiscuity--of the Greco-Roman world. Besides, he was writing from Corinth to Thessalonica, and both cities were famed for their immorality. It may be doubted, however, whether Corinth and Thessalonica were any worse than other cities of that period in which it was widely accepted that men either could not or would not limit themselves to their wife as their only sexual partner. Professor F.F. Bruce sums up the situation: ‘A man might have. mistress who could provide him also with intellectual companionship; the institution of slavery made it easy for him to have. concubine, while casual gratification was readily available from. harlot. The function of his wife was to manage his household and to be the mother of his legitimate children and heirs” (Stott p. 81). “So long as. man supported his wife and family there was no shame whatsoever in extra-marital relationships (among unbelievers)” (Barclay p. 231). At this point we learn. very valuable lesson concerning why people misinterpret the Bible. The Bible is very clear about condemning fornication (1 Corinthians 6:9; Revelation 21:8). Thus, anyone who argues that sex outside of marriage is lawful in the sight of God, needs to honestly admit, that they do not believe that the Bible is the Word of God. The problem is not interpretation rather it is. lack of faith. When it comes to sin moderation is not enough, we must completely abstain. Here we again learn that the standards and values of contemporary society do not determine what is right and wrong. In Greek society the sin of fornication was lightly condemned. “Continence was regarded as an unreasonable demand on. man. Yet the leaders of the church did not compromise for one moment. They knew that God required of them the highest standard, and they had no authority to lower that standard. Thus they refused to allow the church to be determined by the ideas of contemporary society” (Morris p. 121). Since culture did not determine truth, right and wrong, for the First Century Church, neither should it be allowed to determine truth and morals for the 21st Century Church. God's truth transcends all cultures (Revelation 21:8; Romans 3:4; 1 Peter 1:23), and it will be the standard by which all cultures will be judged (John 12:48; Revelation 20:11; Matthew 25:31).