not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God,
Parallel Translations
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not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who don’t know God,
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and not in the lust of concupiscence as do the hethen which knowe not god
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And not in the lust of concupiscence, euen as the Gentiles which know not God:
Cross-references (15)
Passages linked to 1 Thessalonians 4:5 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Galatians 4:8 However at that time, not knowing God, you were in bondage to those who by nature are not gods.
- Acts 17:30-31 The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
- Ephesians 4:17-19 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their hearts. They, having become callous, gave themselves up to lust, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
- Colossians 3:5 Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8 punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
- Romans 1:26 For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions. For their women changed the natural function into that which is against nature.
- Romans 1:28 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
- 1 Corinthians 15:34 Wake up righteously, and don’t sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
- Ephesians 2:12 that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
- 1 Peter 4:3 For we have spent enough of our past time doing the desire of the Gentiles, and having walked in lewdness, lusts, drunken binges, orgies, carousings, and abominable idolatries.
- Matthew 6:32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
- Luke 12:30 For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.
- Acts 17:23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, I announce to you.
- Romans 1:24 Therefore God also gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves;
- 1 Corinthians 1:21 For seeing that in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom didn’t know God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save those who believe.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The third, because the Saints are discerned from them…
The third, because the Saints are discerned from them which know not God, by honesty and purity.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as…
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God:
Ver. 5. Not in the lust of concupiscence] Or, in the disease of lust, that dishonourable disease, Rom 1:26, that wasteth not only the substance of the body, but the honesty and the honour of it.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Any violence of affection we call passion, whether of…
Any violence of affection we call passion, whether of love, or anger, or desire, because the soul is passive, or suffers thereby. The Stoics said passions were not incident to a wise man; and: They that are Christ’s, saith the apostle, have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts, Gal 5:24. And lust is usually taken for all inordinate affection, either with respect to the object or degree; though the Greek word doth signify only desire, and is sometimes taken in a good sense, as Phi 1:23; for, there are good lustings as well as evil, as Gal 5:17, the Spirit lusteth against the flesh; but here the word is taken in a bad sense, for the lust of uncleanness, which the apostle here calls
the lust of concupiscence. The philosophers distinguish of the affections or passions of the soul, some are irascible, some concupiscible. The former are conversant about evil, to repel it or fly from it; the latter about good, either real or imaginary, to pursue it or embrace it. And the lusts of concupiscence are either of the mind or of the flesh, Eph 2:3; here we understand the latter, that fleshly concupiscence that is conversant about women, which if by vessel in the former verse is understood man’s lawful wife, then he forbids all unchasteness even towards her; if the body, then he forbids all unchaste usage of the body in any kind, or towards any person whatsoever. And, to avoid fornication, he forbids lust that leads to it.
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Even as the Gentiles which know not God; which the apostle useth as an argument to them: Though ye are Gentiles by nation as well as others, yet not in state, such as know not God. There is a natural knowledge of God, which the apostle speaks of, Rom 1:21, which the Gentiles had; and supernatural, which is by the Scriptures; to know the mind, will, nature, decrees, and counsels of God as they are there revealed: and the knowledge of God in Christ; this is meant in the text, and this the Gentiles had not, and therefore no wonder though they followed the lust of concupiscence, they wanted the rule of God’s word to direct them, and that effectual knowledge of God, and presence of his grace, that would have restrained them from such lust. But these Thessalonians now, since their conversion by the gospel, were come to this knowledge of God, which they had not before, and therefore were not to live as before they did. Knowledge ought to influence our hearts and lives, and to sin against knowledge is the great aggravation of sin, and will make men more inexcusable. But yet where knowledge is wanting what wickedness will not men practise! The Gentiles were alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that was in them, Eph 4:18. The Jews crucified Christ, and Saul persecuted the disciples, through ignorance, 1Ti 1:13. Much more are those Christians to be condemned, who, having more knowledge than the Gentiles, yet practise worse than they; as the apostle upbraids the Jews upon this account, Rom 2:27.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Not in the lust of concupiscence,.... Or "passion of…
Not in the lust of concupiscence,.... Or "passion of lust"; for the mere gratifying and indulging of that; for a man so to possess his vessel, is to cherish the sin of concupiscence, the first motions of sin in the heart, by which a man is drawn away, and enticed; to blow up the flame of lust, and to make provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof:
even as the Gentiles which know not God; for, though they knew him, or might know him with a natural knowledge, by the light and works of nature, yet they knew him not savingly and spiritually, as he is revealed in the word, of which they were destitute; or as the God of all grace, and the God and Father of Christ, or as he is in Christ: and though by the light of nature they might know there was a God, yet they knew not who that God was; nor did they act up to that light and knowledge they had; they did not glorify him as God, by ascribing to him what was his due; nor were they thankful for the mercies they received from him; nor did they fear, love, worship, and serve him; nor did they like to retain him in their knowledge, and therefore were given up to judicial blindness and hardness, to a reprobate mind, and to vile affections, and so did things very inconvenient, unnatural, and dishonourable. Wherefore, for a man to use either his wife or his body in any unchaste and dishonourable manner, for the gratifying of his lusts, is to act an Heathenish part; a like argument, dissuading from things unlawful, is used in Mat 6:32.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Not in passionate desire - Which had no place…
Not in passionate desire - Which had no place in man when in a state of innocence. Who know not God - And so may naturally seek happiness in a creature. What seemingly accidental words slide in; and yet how fine, and how vastly important!
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 5. Not in the lust of concupiscence] Having…
Verse 5. Not in the lust of concupiscence] Having no rational object, aim, nor end. Some say, "not like beasts;" but this does not apply as they who use it wish, for the males and females of the brute creation are regular and consistent in their intercourse, and scarcely ever exceed such bounds as reason itself would prescribe to those most capable of observing and obeying its dictates.
The Gentiles which know not God] These are the beasts; their own brutes are rational creatures when compared with them. Enough has been said on this subject on Romans 1, and 2: They who wish to see more may consult Juvenal, and particularly his 6th and 9th Satires; and indeed all the writers on Greek and Roman morals.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Not in the lust of concupiscence - In gross…
Not in the lust of concupiscence - In gross gratifications.
Even as the Gentiles - This was, and is, a common vice among the pagan; see the Act 15:20 note; Rom 1:29 note; Eph 4:17-18 notes, and the reports of missionaries everywhere.
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Which know not God - See the Rom 1:21, Rom 1:28 notes; Eph 2:12 note.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain in the lust--Greek, "passion"; which implies that such a…
in the lust--Greek, "passion"; which implies that such a one is unconsciously the passive slave of lust.
which know not God--and so know no better. Ignorance of true religion is the parent of unchastity (Eph 4:18-19). A people's morals are like the objects of their worship (Deu 7:26; Psa 115:8; Rom 1:23-24).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 5. Master your body and use it not in…
5. Master your body and use it not in the lust, or passion, of concupiscence, or sensual appetite. This seems to give the balance very decisively in the sense of body. Before vessel, however, the Greek has the word own, omitted by our translators. From this Lunemann strongly argues from the antithesis between having a wife of your own and meddling with other women. But, in spite of his logic, the answer of Olshausen is valid. Nothing material is more a man’s own than his body; and St. Paul might well emphasize the thought that every man should take care of the purity of his own. The strongest argument in favour of the meaning wife. is 1Co_7:2. Let every man have his own wife; which looks very strongly like a parallel passage, a saying the same thing in slightly different words.
As the Gentiles—Who not only were licentious, and often made a boast of license, but even transformed it into a religious rite.
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Know not God—They know Jupiter, Mars, and Venus, the impersonation of their own ambition, war, and lust; but God, who wills your sanctification, they know not.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 5. not in the lust of concupiscence] Far better,…
5. not in the lust of concupiscence] Far better, not in the passion of lust (R. V.). The sense of the last verb (to possess) is carried on, with a modified application, into this clause: not (to have it: i.e. your body) in a state of lustful passion. (For the altered meaning of the verb, comp. 1Co_3:2 : “I gave you milk to drink, not meat”). This condition—the state of one immersed “in” wicked desire—is the opposite of “sanctification and honour.”
The word “passion” signifies not so much a violent feeling, as an overpowering feeling, one to which the man so yields himself that he is borne along by evil as if he were its passive instrument; he has lost the dignity of self-rule, and is the slave of his lower appetites. Comp. Rom_7:5, “the passions of sins which wrought in our members;” and Rom_7:20, “It is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”
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In such shameful bondage lived the Gentiles which know not God (an O. T. expression, Psa_79:6, Isa_45:4-5; recurring in 2Th_1:8, see note). For impurity, often in most abandoned and revolting forms, was a prevailing feature of Pagan life at this time. In Rom_1:24, &c., St Paul speaks of this as a punishment of the heathen world for its wilful ignorance of God: “He gave them up unto passions of dishonour.” Man first denies his Maker; then degrades himself.
The God Whom these degraded “Gentiles knew not,” is the “living and true God” of ch. 1Th_1:9, to Whom Thessalonian believers had “turned from their idols.” Coming to know Him by His gospel, they had devoted themselves to Him; and so their bodies had been redeemed from vice and dishonour, and the soul had a clean house to live in, a clean vessel to use for holy service.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (5) Not in the lust of concupiscence, for such…
(5) Not in the lust of concupiscence, for such a method of using one’s faculties, such an attempt to acquire mastery of vital powers, is really to abandon them altogether to others. This notion is involved in the very word here translated “lust,” which is more often rendered “passion,” and implies something which befalls a man, something done to him: “Not in the helpless passivity of concupiscence” or uncontrolled desire.
The Gentiles which know not God.—Mind the punctuation. The readers of the letter were “Gentiles which knew God.” Their brother Thessalonians. are held up to them as melancholy examples of men who are trying in the wrong way to show their power over themselves. Remark that this is not one of the crimes which he alleges against Jews.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Not in the lust of concupiscence not in the…
Not in the lust of concupiscence not in the passion of lust (R.V)even as the Gentiles which know not God; and therefore from whom nothing better was to be expected. The moral sense of the heathen was so perverted, and their natures so corrupt, that they looked upon fornication as a thing indifferent.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 5. Even as the Gentiles which know not God.…
5. Even as the Gentiles which know not God. Even the greatest of heathen moralists, Socrates, instructed a harlot how she should conduct her shameful business. The heathen moralists condemned unchastity only in the case of a child-bearing wife, as it would wrong her husband not to know the paternity of her children.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain not in the passion of lust, even as the…
not in the passion of lust, even as the Gentiles who know not God [By "will of God" Paul means the divine desire. Not an absolute desire, but one which human perversity may frustrate. "Sanctification" means holiness in its general sense. In all his Epistles to the Gentile churches Paul introduces exhortations to purity of life. He was at this time in Corinth, whose patron goddess was Venus, and where social impurity abounded. "Heathenism," says Whedon, "had made the crime trivial, jocular, rather smart, and even religious and right. All this must Christianity reverse, and place it among the most heinous sins, and subject to the most fearful penalties." There has been much discussion over the phrase "possess himself of his own vessel," some asserting that it means to acquire a wife, and others that it means to control the body and its desires. The problem is surely a difficult one. The verb "possess" is commonly used to indicate the winning or acquiring of a wife, and 1Pe_3:7 is cited to prove that the word "vessel" is used to indicate a wife. One other citation is given from the Talmud, where Ahasuerus is represented as calling his wife his "vessel." But the Talmud does not prove Hebrew usage in Paul's day, being written many centuries later, and the citation from Peter proves nothing, for the word "vessel" is there used to indicate the human body, the man's being the stronger, and the woman's the weaker. The human body or personality is elsewhere called a vessel in the Bible ( Act_9:15 ; Rom_9:21-23 ; 2Co_4:7 ; 2Ti_2:21 ; 1Sa_21:5 ). This Biblical use of the word is strongly against the idea that it could mean a wife. The word "vessel," then, favors the idea that Paul is talking about the body. On the other hand, it is urged that the verb "possess" here used simply means to win or acquire, and never has that ethical use (to possess morally, to subdue, or control) which is claimed for it here. It is true that no classical or Biblical citations can be given of such a use, but that it is used so here is unquestionable, whichever interpretation we put upon "vessel"; for the full phrase is "possess in sanctification and honor," etc., introduced by the phrase "know how." Conceding that Paul is talking about a wife, he certainly does not mean to say that each man should know how to win or acquire a wife; there is nothing moral or spiritual about such knowledge. What he does say is that a man should know how to hold or possess (either his wife or his body) in sanctification and in honor; i. e., in moral cleanliness. We take it that Paul here urges bodily self-control, and that the passage is a parallel rather to Rom_6:19 than to 1Co_7:2 ];
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:5 Willful ignorance of God and his ways is…
4:5 Willful ignorance of God and his ways is the root of moral corruption (Rom 1:18-32; Eph 4:17-18). • lustful passion: Sexual immorality was often tolerated in the Mediterranean world. Prostitution was allowed, but sexual relations with another man’s wife were prohibited. Roman marriage customs barred women, but not men, from extramarital affairs. By contrast, Jewish and Christian authors alike prohibited all sexual involvement outside of marriage (Acts 15:20; 1 Cor 6:12-20; Col 3:5-6).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.