1 Thessalonians 4

Living to Please God

4As for other matters, brothers and sisters,^v we instructed you how to live^w in order to please God,^x 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^y that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;^{z 4}that each of you should learn to control your own body^aa in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵not in passionate lust^b like the pagans,^c who do not know God;^{d 6}and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister.^be The Lord will punish^f all those who commit such sins,^g as we told you and warned you before. ⁷For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life.^{h 8}Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.ⁱ

⁹Now about your love for one another^j we do not need to write to you,^k for you yourselves have been taught by God^l to love each other.^{m 10}And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia.ⁿ Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more,^{o 11}and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands,^p just as we told you, ¹²so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders^q 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^r about those who sleep in death,^s so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.^{t 14}For we believe that Jesus died and rose again,^u and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.^{v 15}According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,^w will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.^{x 16}For the Lord himself will come down from heaven,^y with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel^z and with the trumpet call of God,^a and the dead in Christ will rise first.^{b 17}After that, we who are still alive and are left^c will be caught up together with them in the clouds^d to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord^e forever. ¹⁸Therefore encourage one another^f with these words.