This is from my daily Greek exercise of sight reading some few months ago, courtesy of Vincent S Artale Jr.
Our text is from the Greek translation of 1 Thessalonians 4:3. Here is my translation:
“SUPPORT 3 ‹→ τοῦτο →› γάρ ἐστιν θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ ‹☉ ὁ ☉› ‹☉ ἁγιασμὸς ☉› ‹☉
For this is the will of God your sanctificationὑμῶν ☉›
ELABORATION ‹☉ ἀπέχεσθαι ὑμᾶς ἀπὸ τῆς πορνείας”
you abstain from immorality
Here are some observations:
- “For”- This is explanatory, to show what is going to be required in order to live out the general truths being given earlier in 1 Thessalonians 4:1 about living a life to please God.
- “this is the will of God”
- Important to point out in the Greek here that there is no article for “the will” but just “will,” and thus in the grammar of Greek it is implying that it is not saying this the totality of God’s will is going to follow, but just one aspect of God’s will is that of our sanctification.
- Sanctification is the topic of this section, but there are other aspects of His will not spoken as well (Hiebert, 165). Christians must conduct themselves according to God’s plan and here Paul supplies one aspect of it.
- “your sanctification; What does this mean?
- Means being set apart for holy living (Mayhue, 108).
- Convey not so much the state of holiness as it is the process of becoming holy and more of what God wants us to be (Hiebert, 165).
- Notice the “your” here makes it personal. Personal sanctification is important.
- Knowing God’s will is for me to be holy, what is my responsibility after knowing this? From the second half of verses 3 to 6, there are four infinitive that brings out the appositional idea, which gives specific examples of holiness or sanctification.
- You need to abstain from sexual immorality: “you abstain from immorality” (v.3b)
- You need to remove yourself off from sexual immorality.
- “Abstain”
- Means “to hold oneself off of” (Mayhue, 109).
- How is the present tense functioning? Here it is showing the continious action of abstaining.
- “From:” The Greek is απο, and is functioning to indicate separation.
- “Abstain”
- What is being abstained: Sexual immorality
- Most common temptation is probably going to be sexual in nature and Paul addresses this specifically by name.
- The Greek word is “Porneia”
- Where we get the modern word “pornography”
- According to Dr. Mayhue, it is a “broad, all-inclusive term for both the married and the single that has any connection with sexual impropriety, even one’s thought life” (Mayhue, 109).
- Roman world, sexual deviance occurred during certain public festivals, where sex acts and female nudity was prevalent. Competitive games would occur in the nude. You know what Christians said to these types of sexual immorality? They say they won’t partake of it. Eventually because of Christian resistance, these types of public showcase of sins ended.
- You need to remove yourself off from sexual immorality.
Application:
- Do you see the importance of pursuing God’s Will?
- If you want God’s Will in your life, do you pursue holiness knowing it pleases God?
- How far will you go to abstain from all forms of sexual sins?
- What kinds of movies do you watch? Or books you read? Are you abstaining from sexual immorality in these items during your leisure?
- Are there secrets sins you need to confess to God to? Remember 1 John 1:9 that God will not only forgive (which is amazing already) but He cleanses us when we confess to Him! God does purify us when we genuinely confess to Him!
- Fighting sexual immorality is most effective by fighting at the level of temptation. How do you avoid putting yourself in a situation that avoids unnecessary temptation?
- Do you not feel this command is relevant today because it’s more sinful now than in the past? Remember, that in the Greek and Roman era, sexual sins were prevalent because the sexual deviance of the gods did not help with morality, and adultery was the subjects of many songs and poetry at this time. Vow not to make excuses.
- In light of the contextual theme of 1 Thessalonians and the Second Coming of Christ consider meditating and studying the Second Coming of Christ to fuel your motivation to forsake sexual sins and flee temptation.
- Meditate also on Christ’s First Coming to save sinners; let the truth of God’s amazing grace moves you to want to lovingly obey God even the area of pursuing sanctification and saying no to sexual sins.
- Also meditate on Christ’s love. His love is not selfish; let that move you to put on biblical love of others. Remember sexual sins are selfish in nature; it is about how you can please yourself in using others. But Christ’s love and Christ-like love is about others first; it is about others. So often we buy the lie that lust is love but it is not. True love even in physical intimacy in marriage is about serving others above self. Let Christ love satisfy you. Then love others!
I love the Greek language. It is so precise in context and meaning. TY
I do too!
Wow a learned and yet practical post that is God glorifying
Thanks sister and thank you for all your reading of our blog posts and fellowship
You’re welcome
Reblogged this on BibleProphecyWatch.
Thank for the reblog! Hope the devotional was edifying for you. God’s Word is our spiritual food amen?
Your welcome. Amen I agree God’s Word is spiritual food for us.
Thanks for this, Jim. It’s amazing how many of us forget that Christ expects us to be Holy as well.
I’m always amazed at how God’s Word speaks. Sometimes we need to be reminded of His requirements and sometimes His grace moves us to being forgiven and motivate us to loving obedience. I guess that’s the benefit of regular Scripture reading is that it speaks to us and helps us with the easy trend of being imbalance
Praise the Lord for all His work that amazes us. 🙂
Amen! By the way I’m a little behind with things this week but I still plan to write a post for you on Ambassador; when do you need it by?
Whenever you can do it. Thank you, JIm, so very much for helping with this project.
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
Thanks for the reblog! Hope you have a blessed weekend!
Yankee Whiskey Bravo and likewise my friend 💪🙏
Thanks for this quick devotional. Members of churches that teach merited salvation claim they are able to obey the Ten Commandments pretty well, but if they’re red-blooded, I know they have sinful thoughts just like me. Folks will not be able to justify themselves when all of their past thoughts are revealed as they stand before Jesus Christ. Praise God for salvation in Jesus! But as God’s Word states, believers are not to dwell in sin but to pursue holiness in Christ. That’s right, with sexually immoral thoughts and acts we please our own selfish desires. When we focus on pleasing God and serving others, the selfish desires are abated. Good post and good suggestions on how to pursue sexual purity!
Yeah legalistic work-righteous groups are going to be in trouble in the Last Day…because we are really really sinful! Grateful for God’s saving grace through faith alone in Christ alone in God’s grace alone! Also grateful that the Gospel and God’s grace also sanctifies us! Thanks again for the comment, you have a good day/night, I’m going to sleep lol
Have a good sleep and Saturday!
Another example as to why Liberalism is the most dangerous cult Satan ever devised. It infects everything it touches. It is spiritual leprosy. It calls clean what is unclean. It mocks and ignores sanctification. Its big lie is that the church must adapt to fallen mans current immoral levels. This primarily perverts in the arena of sexual immorality. They claim that it is no longer a big deal to God. This denies God immutable righteous character. Because it is in the same list as gossip it is therefor morally equivalent to gossip. At its core it denies the bible being inerrant with every trick of sophistry in the play book. Their mission statement is, ” How to call evil good, and get away with it” .
Brother T.I.,
Always good to hear from you. I think you are right that liberals today seems to operate with the mission statement of ” How to call evil good, and get away with it.” I’m sure you probably have other example of blasphemous attempt to try to call evil good sprinkled with Christianese terminology. I have been seeing more article popping up of mainline denominational pastors condoning not just LGBT stuff but also permitting shacking up and fornication before marriage. Did you hear about that Lutheran woman pastor who say you can watch porn from “ethically sourced” pornographers? Have you also heard of how the same popular cussing Lutheran pastor wants to get purity rings and melt them into vagina sculpture?
SlimJim,
Just recently returned from my first trip to Israel.
Well those examples are new to me but sadly not the least bit surprising. Yes their is nothing new under the sun. Psalm 2 Has been true since man fell, ” we will not have God rule over us”. The emergent/missional/hyper ecumenical movement/ social gospel is the living model for, ” having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof. Biblical God centered Christianity puts God and love for God as the cause of every genuine Christian word thought and dead. Liberalism replaces that with loving yourself and fallen humanity above loving God. The social gospel promoters tell a half truth about the parable of the sheep and the goats. They would have people believe in works salvation which mocks the necessary crucifixion of Jesus. It ignores the the need for repentance and faith. It also ignores the heart motive for good deeds. Atheists can out do Christians when it comes to good works. They are not good works if love for God is not your singular motive. Love for your neighbor can only flow from first loving God above all else. Jesus said “those who are not with us are against us”. Satan is against Jesus too. On every social issue your with God or with Satan. is that too harsh?
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