1 Thessalonians 4:8
Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit.
Therefore
This word serves as a conclusion or a summation of the preceding verses. In the context of 1 Thessalonians 4, Paul has been instructing the Thessalonians on how to live a life pleasing to God, particularly in matters of sanctification and sexual purity. The Greek word "τοίνυν" (toinun) indicates a logical consequence, urging the reader to pay close attention to the gravity of the instruction that follows.

whoever rejects
The phrase "whoever rejects" comes from the Greek "ἀθετῶν" (atheton), which means to set aside, nullify, or disregard. This is not a passive ignorance but an active decision to dismiss the teachings. In a historical context, this rejection is not merely of human advice but of divine command, emphasizing the seriousness of the act.

this instruction
The "instruction" refers to the teachings Paul has been imparting, particularly regarding sanctification and living a holy life. The Greek word "παραγγελίαν" (parangelian) implies a command or charge, often used in military contexts, suggesting a directive that requires obedience and discipline.

does not reject man
Here, Paul clarifies that the rejection is not of human origin. The Greek "οὐκ ἄνθρωπον" (ouk anthropon) emphasizes that the teachings are not merely Paul's personal opinions or cultural norms but are divinely inspired. This distinction elevates the authority of the message beyond human wisdom.

but God
The contrast "but God" (ἀλλὰ Θεόν, alla Theon) highlights the divine source of the instruction. In rejecting the teaching, one is directly opposing God Himself. This underscores the theological weight of the message and the seriousness of disobedience.

who gives you His Holy Spirit
The phrase "who gives you His Holy Spirit" (ὁ διδούς τὸ Πνεῦμα αὐτοῦ τὸ Ἅγιον, ho didous to Pneuma autou to Hagion) is a profound reminder of the gift and presence of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life. The present participle "διδούς" (didous) suggests a continuous action, indicating that God is continually giving His Spirit to empower and guide believers. This gift is both a privilege and a responsibility, as the Holy Spirit enables believers to live according to God's will.

Persons / Places / Events
1. Paul
The apostle who authored the letter to the Thessalonians, providing guidance and instruction to the early Christian community.

2. Thessalonica
A city in Macedonia where the early church was established and to whom this letter was addressed.

3. Holy Spirit
The third person of the Trinity, given by God to believers as a guide, comforter, and source of spiritual power.

4. Thessalonian Church
The recipients of Paul's letter, a group of early Christians facing challenges in living out their faith.

5. God
The ultimate authority and source of the instructions given through Paul, emphasizing the divine origin of the teachings.
Teaching Points
Divine Authority of Instruction
Recognize that the teachings in Scripture are not merely human opinions but are divinely inspired and authoritative.

Role of the Holy Spirit
Understand the Holy Spirit's role in guiding and empowering believers to live according to God's will.

Consequences of Rejection
Acknowledge the seriousness of rejecting God's instruction, as it is a rejection of God Himself.

Living a Holy Life
Strive to live a life that aligns with God's instructions, relying on the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance.

Community Accountability
Encourage one another within the Christian community to adhere to God's teachings and support each other in spiritual growth.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does understanding the divine origin of Paul's instructions in 1 Thessalonians 4:8 impact your view of biblical authority?

2. In what ways can you be more receptive to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in your daily life?

3. Reflect on a time when you may have rejected God's instruction. What were the consequences, and how can you learn from that experience?

4. How can the community of believers help each other to remain faithful to God's teachings?

5. What steps can you take to ensure that you are not grieving the Holy Spirit in your actions and decisions?
Connections to Other Scriptures
John 14:26
This verse speaks about the Holy Spirit as a teacher and reminder of Jesus' teachings, connecting to the idea that rejecting instruction is rejecting the Spirit's work.

Acts 5:3-4
Ananias and Sapphira's account illustrates the seriousness of lying to the Holy Spirit, paralleling the rejection of divine instruction.

1 Corinthians 2:12-14
Discusses the role of the Holy Spirit in understanding spiritual truths, reinforcing the importance of accepting divine instruction.

Ephesians 4:30
Warns against grieving the Holy Spirit, which aligns with rejecting God's instruction.

Hebrews 10:29
Highlights the severity of insulting the Spirit of grace, similar to rejecting God's instruction.
A Word to She DespiserG. Barlow.1 Thessalonians 4:8
The Cause of DespisingW. Cawdray.1 Thessalonians 4:8
The Causes Which Induce a Despising of Divine RevelationT. Archer, D. D.1 Thessalonians 4:8
The Impotence and Folly of Despising the TruthC. H. Spurgeon.1 Thessalonians 4:8
The Sin of Despising GodC. W. H. Kenrick, M. A.1 Thessalonians 4:8
The Sinfulness of the DespiserJ. Parker, D. D.1 Thessalonians 4:8
A Deepening ConsecrationS. B. Bossiter.1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
A Fuller ConsecrationC. Simeon, M. A.1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Abounding More and MoreH. K. Burton.1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Earnest Exhortations to a High SanctityG. Barlow.1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
How to Walk So as to Please GodG. Burder.1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Of Abounding More and MorePlain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times."1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Pleasing GodB. Pugh.1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Pleasing God IsD. Thomas, D. D.1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
So Ye Would Abound More and More1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
The Christian's Walk and its ObjectW. H. M. H. Aitken, M. A.1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
The Necessity of ProgressBp. Westcott.1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
Walking So as to Please God1 Thessalonians 4:1-8
The Law of PurityB.C. Caffin 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8
How Personal Purity is to be MaintainedT. Croskery 1 Thessalonians 4:4-8
People
Paul, Thessalonians
Places
Macedonia, Thessalonica
Topics
Brother, Case, Defiant, Despise, Despiseth, Despising, Disregards, Doesn't, Gives, Giveth, Goes, Hearts, Holy, Instruction, Provokes, Puts, Reject, Rejecteth, Rejecting, Rejects, Spirit
Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Thessalonians 4:8

     3203   Holy Spirit, and assurance
     3257   Holy Spirit, gift of
     6231   rejection of God
     7709   apostles, authority
     7797   teaching
     8710   atheism

1 Thessalonians 4:7-8

     4018   life, spiritual
     8272   holiness, growth in
     8444   honouring God

1 Thessalonians 4:8-10

     3209   Holy Spirit, and love

Library
Twenty Fifth Sunday after Trinity Living and Dead when Christ Returns.
Text: 1 Thessalonians 4, 13-18. 13 But we would not have you ignorant, brethren, concerning them that fall asleep; that ye sorrow not, even as the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise precede them that are fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall
Martin Luther—Epistle Sermons, Vol. III

Be Ye Therefore Perfect, Even as Your Father which is in Heaven is Perfect. Matthew 5:48.
In the 43rd verse, the Savior says, "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy; but I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward
Charles G. Finney—Lectures to Professing Christians

April the Tenth Resurrection-Light
"If we believe that Jesus died and rose again...." --1 THESSALONIANS iv. 13-18. That is the eastern light which fills the valley of time with wonderful beams of glory. It is the great dawn in which we find the promise of our own day. Everything wears a new face in the light of our Lord's resurrection. I once watched the dawn on the East Coast of England. Before there was a grey streak in the sky everything was held in grimmest gloom. The toil of the two fishing-boats seemed very sombre. The sleeping
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

Chrysostom -- Excessive Grief at the Death of Friends
Chrysostom (that is, "Of the Golden Mouth") was a title given to John, Archbishop of Constantinople. He was born of a patrician family at Antioch about 347, and owed much to the early Christian training of his Christian mother, Anthusa. He studied under Libanius, and for a time practised law, but was converted and baptized in 368. He made a profound study of the Scriptures, the whole of which, it is said, he learned to repeat by heart. Like Basil and Gregory he began his religious life as a hermit
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Volume I

The Relation of the Will of God to Sanctification
"This is the will of God, even your sanctification."--I THESS. iv. 3. "As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy.'"--I PET. i. 15, 16. "Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. . . . By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all."--HEB. x. 9, 10. OUR discussion of the will of God landed us--perhaps in rather an unforeseen way--in the great subject of sanctification.
Henry Drummond—The Ideal Life

Sanctification
'For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.' I Thess 4:4. The word sanctification signifies to consecrate and set apart to a holy use: thus they are sanctified persons who are separated from the world, and set apart for God's service. Sanctification has a privative and a positive part. I. A privative part, which lies in the purging out of sin. Sin is compared to leaven, which sours; and to leprosy, which defiles. Sanctification purges out the old leaven.' I Cor 5:5. Though it takes not
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The True Christian Life
TEXT: "My beloved is mine, and I am his."--Sol. Song 2:16. "I am my beloved's, and my beloved is mine."--Sol. Song 6:3. "I am my beloved's and his desire is toward me."--Sol. Song 7:10. These three texts should be read together, and the significant change found in each text as the thought unfolds should be studied carefully. They remind one of three mountain peaks one rising higher than the other until the third is lifted into the very heavens. Indeed, if one should live in the spirit of this
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

The Death of Death
'But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept. 21. For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.... 50. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51. Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, (for the trumpet shall sound;) and the dead shall
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

"Pray Without Ceasing"
Observe, however, what immediately follows the text: "In everything give thanks." When joy and prayer are married their first born child is gratitude. When we joy in God for what we have, and believingly pray to him for more, then our souls thank him both in the enjoyment of what we have, and in the prospect of what is yet to come. Those three texts are three companion pictures, representing the life of a true Christian, the central sketch is the connecting link between those on either side. These
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 18: 1872

The Bible
THE WORD OF GOD "When ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the word of God." (1 Thessalonians 2:13.) THE Apostle here testifies that he believes himself to be the bearer of a revelation direct from God; that the words he speaks and the words he writes are not the words of man, but the Word of God, warm with his breath, filled with his thoughts, and stamped with his will. In this same epistle he writes: "For this we say unto
I. M. Haldeman—Christ, Christianity and the Bible

The Education of the World.
IN a world of mere phenomena, where all events are bound to one another by a rigid law of cause and effect, it is possible to imagine the course of a long period bringing all things at the end of it into exactly the same relations as they occupied at the beginning. We should, then, obviously have a succession of cycles rigidly similar to one another, both in events and in the sequence of them. The universe would eternally repeat the same changes in a fixed order of recurrence, though each cycle might
Frederick Temple—Essays and Reviews: The Education of the World

Letter cxix. To Minervius and Alexander.
Minervius and Alexander two monks of Toulouse had written to Jerome asking him to explain for them a large number of passages in scripture. Jerome in his reply postpones most of these to a future time but deals with two in detail viz. (1) "we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed," 1 Cor. xv. 51; and (2) "we shall be caught up in the clouds," 1 Thes. iv. 17. With regard to (1) Jerome prefers the reading "we shall all sleep but we shall not all be changed," and with regard to (2) he looks
St. Jerome—The Principal Works of St. Jerome

Sanctification
TEXT: "This is the will of God, even your sanctification."--1 Thess. 4:3. It is quite significant that the Apostle Paul writes explicitly concerning sanctification to a church in which he had such delight that he could write as follows: "Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the Church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet,
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

The Beginning of the New Testament
[Illustration: (drop cap T) Coin of Thessalonica] Turn to the list of books given in the beginning of your New Testament. You will see that first come the four Gospels, or glimpses of the Saviour's life given by four different writers. Then follows the Acts of the Apostles, and, lastly, after the twenty-one epistles, the volume ends with the Revelation. Now this is not the order in which the books were written--they are only arranged like this for our convenience. The first words of the New Testament
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The Resurrection
'Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.' John 5:58, 29. Q-38: WHAT BENEFITS DO BELIEVERS RECEIVE FROM CHRIST AT THE RESURRECTION? A: At the resurrection, believers being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgement, and made perfectly blessed in the
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

Paul a Pattern of Prayer
TEXT: "If ye shall ask anything in my name I will do it."--John 14:14. Jesus testified in no uncertain way concerning prayer, for not alone in this chapter does he speak but in all his messages to his disciples he is seeking to lead them into the place where they may know how to pray. In this fourteenth chapter of John, where he is coming into the shadow of the cross and is speaking to his disciples concerning those things which ought to have the greatest weight with them, the heart of his message
J. Wilbur Chapman—And Judas Iscariot

The Doctrine of the Last Things.
A. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST. B. THE RESURRECTION. C. THE JUDGMENT. D. THE DESTINY OF THE WICKED. E. THE REWARD OF THE RIGHTEOUS. THE DOCTRINE OF THE LAST THINGS. Under this caption are treated such doctrines as the Second Coming of Christ, the Resurrection of both the righteous and wicked, the Judgments, Final Awards, and Eternal Destiny. A. THE SECOND COMING OF CHEIST. I. ITS IMPORTANCE. 1. PROMINENCE IN THE SCRIPTURES. 2. THE CHRISTIAN HOPE. 3. THE CHRISTIAN INCENTIVE. 4. THE CHRISTIAN COMFORT.
Rev. William Evans—The Great Doctrines of the Bible

Effectual Calling
'Them he also called.' Rom 8:80. Q-xxxi: WHAT IS EFFECTUAL CALLING? A: It is a gracious work of the Spirit, whereby he causes us to embrace Christ freely, as he is offered to us in the gospel. In this verse is the golden chain of salvation, made up of four links, of which one is vocation. Them he also called.' Calling is nova creatio, a new creation,' the first resurrection. There is a two-fold call: (1.) An outward call: (2.) An inward call. (1.) An outward call, which is God's offer of grace to
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

The Epistles of St. Paul
WHEN we pass from primitive Christian preaching to the epistles of St. Paul, we are embarrassed not by the scantiness but by the abundance of our materials. It is not possible to argue that the death of Christ has less than a central, or rather than the central and fundamental place, in the apostle's gospel. But before proceeding to investigate more closely the significance he assigns to it, there are some preliminary considerations to which it is necessary to attend. Attempts have often been made,
James Denney—The Death of Christ

The Unity of God
Q-5: ARE THERE MORE GODS THAN ONE? A: There is but one only, the living and true God. That there is a God has been proved; and those that will not believe the verity of his essence, shall feel the severity of his wrath. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.' Deut 6:6. He is the only God.' Deut 4:49. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thy heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath, there is none else.' A just God and a Saviour; there is none beside
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

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