1 Thessalonians 4:1–5

¹⁰That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

³We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth;

¹⁸But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

¹⁶But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

⁵And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

⁶And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

⁷And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

⁸For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁹But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

¹⁰Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

⁹And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;

¹⁰And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more;

¹¹And that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you;

¹²That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

¹I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

²And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

¹²And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:

¹⁴I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

⁵⁸Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

²²And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

¹¹Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

¹I THEREFORE, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

⁹The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.

¹¹As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children,

¹²That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto his kingdom and glory.

¹NOW we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

¹FINALLY, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:

⁶As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

²Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

²⁷Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;

¹⁴They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing;

²For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus.

⁹Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.

¹⁰For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

¹¹For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

¹²Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread.

⁹Yet for love’s sake I rather beseech thee, being such an one as Paul the aged, and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.

¹⁰I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds:

¹⁸But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

⁸So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

²³For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:

¹MOREOVER, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

¹³I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;

¹⁴That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:

¹NOW I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

¹WE then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.

²⁷For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.

²⁰But ye have not so learned Christ;

¹⁷Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

⁶But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

²¹I charge thee before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality.

¹I CHARGE thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

²²And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation: for I have written a letter unto you in few words.

²⁰Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

¹⁷Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

²¹To them that are without law, as without law, (being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ,) that I might gain them that are without law.

¹⁰For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

⁶Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

²That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

²And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

²³And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

⁵Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

¹⁷Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.

⁴That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour;

³But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints;

⁴Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.

⁵For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.

¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,

¹⁷And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

¹³But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

²¹¶ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

⁸But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

¹³Meats for the belly, and the belly for meats: but God shall destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body.

¹⁴And God hath both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by his own power.

¹⁵Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

¹⁶What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.

¹⁷But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

¹⁸Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

⁹Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

¹⁰Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

¹¹And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

²⁶That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

²⁷That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

¹⁷Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

¹⁸As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.

¹⁹And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.

²Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

²⁹That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.

⁶Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart;

³⁶For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

¹⁸In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

¹⁰Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.

⁸I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

³⁵For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.

⁹I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

¹⁰Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

¹¹But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

²Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied.

²¹And lest, when I come again, my God will humble me among you, and that I shall bewail many which have sinned already, and have not repented of the uncleanness and fornication and lasciviousness which they have committed.

⁵⁰For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

¹⁹For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

³⁰But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

¹⁸To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

⁹For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

²¹Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

³⁴Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.

²⁰But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.

³²And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

¹²Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.

¹⁶Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

¹⁷If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.

²⁹Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers,

²²But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

¹⁴Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.

¹⁵For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

⁹But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

¹I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

¹⁵Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.

⁷Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

⁴Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

²Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.

¹⁹I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.

¹⁸Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.

¹⁹What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

²⁰For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

¹⁵But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

⁸Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

²⁴Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

²¹Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

²²What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

²³And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

⁷But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

²⁰But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour.

²¹If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

⁵And David answered the priest, and said unto him, Of a truth women have been kept from us about these three days, since I came out, and the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a manner common, yea, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel.

⁸Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.

³⁰And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

³¹Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

¹⁷This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

¹⁸Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

¹⁹Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

⁸In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:

⁵Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

³⁴Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

³For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:

¹²That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

²⁶For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

²⁸And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;

²³For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

³⁰For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.

³²(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

²⁴Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

²¹For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.