Read the New Testament in 24 Weeks
Instructions on the Way Christians Should Live
4 Now then, brothers, you learned from us how you ought to live and to please God, as in fact you are doing. We ask and encourage you in the Lord to do so even more. 2 You know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For it is God’s will that you be sanctified: You must abstain from sexual immorality. 4 Each of you must know how to control his own body[a] in a holy and honorable manner, 5 not with passion and lust like the gentiles who do not know God. 6 Furthermore, you must never take advantage of or exploit a brother in this regard, because the Lord avenges all these things, just as we already told you and warned you. 7 For God did not call us to be impure, but to be holy. 8 Therefore, whoever rejects this instruction[b] is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
9 Now you do not need anyone to write to you about brotherly love, since you have been taught by God to love each other. 10 In fact, you are showing love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia, but we urge you, brothers, to keep on doing this even more. 11 Also, make it your goal to live quietly, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may win the respect of outsiders, and have need of nothing.
Comfort about Christians who Have Died
13 But we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve like other people who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so through Jesus God will bring those who have died with him. 15 For we declare to you what the Lord has told us to say:[c] We who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who have died. 16 With a shout of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of God’s trumpet, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, and the dead who belong to the Messiah[d] will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So then, encourage one another with these words.
Be Ready for the Day of the Lord
5 Now you do not need to have anything written to you about times and dates, brothers, 2 for you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 When people[e] say, “There is peace and security,” destruction will strike them as suddenly as labor pains come[f] to a pregnant woman, and they will not be able to escape.
4 However, brothers, you are not in the darkness, in order that the Day of the Lord[g] might surprise you like a thief. 5 For all of you are children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to darkness. 6 Therefore, let’s not fall asleep like others do, but let’s stay awake and be sober. 7 For people who go to sleep, go to sleep at night; and people who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let’s be sober. We must put on the breastplate of faith and love, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God has not destined us to receive[h] wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[i] 10 who died for us in order that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 So then, encourage one another and build each other up, as you are doing.
Paul Gives Final Instructions to the Church
12 Brothers, we ask you to show your appreciation for those who work among you, set an example for you in the Lord, and instruct[j] you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard, loving them because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 We urge you, brothers, to admonish[k] those who are idle,[l] cheer up those who are discouraged, and help those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. 15 Make sure that no one pays back evil for evil. Instead, always pursue what is good for each other and for everyone else. 16 Always be joyful. 17 Continually be prayerful. 18 In everything be thankful, because this is God’s will for you in the Messiah[m] Jesus. 19 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.[n] 20 Do not despise prophecies. 21 Instead, test everything. Hold on to what is good. 22 Keep away from every kind of evil.
Final Greeting
23 May the God of peace himself make you holy in every way. And may your whole being—spirit, soul, and body—remain blameless when our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[o] appears. 24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will continue to be faithful.[p] 25 Brothers, pray[q] for us. 26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss. 27 I order you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers. 28 May the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[r] be with you! Amen.[s]
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