that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.
Parallel Translations
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that no one should take advantage of and wrong a brother or sister in this matter; because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified.
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that noman goo to farre and defraude his brother in bargayninge: because the lorde is a venger of all suche thinges as we tolde you before tyme and testified.
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That no man oppresse or defraude his brother in any matter: for the Lord is auenger of all such thinges, as we also haue tolde you before time, and testified.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
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Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (46)
Passages linked to 1 Thessalonians 4:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Hebrews 13:4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled; but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Exodus 20:17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
- Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal.
- Romans 12:19 Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.”
- Proverbs 28:24 Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, “It’s not wrong,” is a partner with a destroyer.
- Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
- Deuteronomy 32:35 Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”
- Ezekiel 22:13 “ ‘ “Behold, therefore I have struck my hand at your dishonest gain which you have made, and at your blood which has been within you.
- Malachi 3:5 I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
- Luke 12:5 But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
- Romans 13:4 for he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do that which is evil, be afraid, for he doesn’t bear the sword in vain; for he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath to him who does evil.
- Galatians 5:21 envy, murders, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these; of which I forewarn you, even as I also forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit God’s Kingdom.
- James 2:6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts?
- James 5:4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies.
- Leviticus 19:11 “ ‘You shall not steal. “ ‘You shall not lie. “ ‘You shall not deceive one another.
- Leviticus 19:13 “ ‘You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. “ ‘The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
- Leviticus 25:14 “ ‘If you sell anything to your neighbor, or buy from your neighbor, you shall not wrong one another.
- Leviticus 25:17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am Yahweh your God.
- Deuteronomy 24:7 If a man is found stealing any of his brothers of the children of Israel, and he deals with him as a slave, or sells him, then that thief shall die. So you shall remove the evil from among you.
- 1 Samuel 12:3-4 Here I am. Witness against me before Yahweh, and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? Of whose hand have I taken a bribe to make me blind my eyes? I will restore it to you.” They said, “You have not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither have you taken anything from anyone’s hand.”
- Job 31:13-14 “If I have despised the cause of my male servant or of my female servant, when they contended with me, what then will I do when God rises up? When he visits, what will I answer him?
- Psalms 94:1 Yahweh, you God to whom vengeance belongs, you God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out.
- Psalms 140:12 I know that Yahweh will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and justice for the needy.
- Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is an abomination to Yahweh, but accurate weights are his delight.
- Proverbs 20:14 “It’s no good, it’s no good,” says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts.
- Proverbs 20:23 Yahweh detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.
- Proverbs 22:22-23 Don’t exploit the poor, because he is poor; and don’t crush the needy in court; for Yahweh will plead their case, and plunder the life of those who plunder them.
- Ecclesiastes 5:8 If you see the oppression of the poor, and the violent taking away of justice and righteousness in a district, don’t marvel at the matter, for one official is eyed by a higher one, and there are officials over them.
- Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
- Jeremiah 7:6 if you don’t oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don’t shed innocent blood in this place, and don’t walk after other gods to your own hurt;
- Jeremiah 9:4 “Everyone beware of his neighbor, and don’t trust in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every neighbor will go around like a slanderer.
- Ezekiel 45:9-14 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Let it suffice you, princes of Israel: remove violence and plunder, and execute justice and righteousness; dispossessing my people,” says the Lord Yahweh. “You shall have just balances, a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain one tenth of a homer, and the ephah one tenth of a homer. Its measure shall be the same as the homer. The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina. “ ‘ “This is the offering that you shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat; and you shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley; and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, one tenth of a bath out of the cor, which is ten baths, even a homer; (for ten baths are a homer;)
- Amos 8:5-6 Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit; that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’ ”
- Zephaniah 3:1 Woe to her who is rebellious and polluted, the oppressing city!
- Zephaniah 3:5 Yahweh, within her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.
- Mark 10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’ ”
- 1 Corinthians 6:7-9 Therefore it is already altogether a defect in you, that you have lawsuits one with another. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded? No, but you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and that against your brothers. Or don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexuals,
- Ephesians 4:17 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,
- Ephesians 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
- 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,
- Proverbs 16:11 Honest balances and scales are Yahweh’s; all the weights in the bag are his work.
- Isaiah 1:23-24 Your princes are rebellious and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They don’t defend the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come to them. Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, the Mighty One of Israel, says: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies.
- Isaiah 59:4-7 No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity. They hatch adders’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web. He who eats of their eggs dies; and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper. Their webs won’t become garments. They won’t cover themselves with their works. Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Desolation and destruction are in their paths.
- Micah 2:2 They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
- Ephesians 4:28 Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.
- Deuteronomy 25:13-16 You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, one heavy and one light. You shall not have in your house diverse measures, one large and one small. You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you. For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your God.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (18 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 6 Let no man oppress. Here we have another…
6 Let no man oppress. Here we have another exhortation, which flows, like a stream, from the doctrine of sanctification. “God,” says he, “has it in view to sanctify us, that no man may do injury to his brother.” For as to Chrysostom’s connecting this statement with the preceding one, and explaining ὑπερβαίνειν καὶ πλεονεκτεῖν to mean — neighing after the wives of others, (Jeremiah 5:8) and eagerly desiring them, is too forced an exposition. Paul, accordingly, having adduced one instance of unchastity in respect of lasciviousness and lust, teaches that this also is a department of holiness — that we conduct ourselves righteously and harmlessly towards our neighbors. The former verb refers to violent oppressions — where the man that has more power emboldens himself to inflict injury. The latter includes in it all immoderate and unrighteous desires. As, however, mankind, for the most part, indulge themselves in lust and avarice, he reminds them of what he had formerly taught — that God would be the avenger of all such things. We must observe, however, what he says — we have solemnly testified; for such is the sluggishness of mankind, that, unless they are wounded to the quick, they are touched with no apprehension of God’s judgment.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Secondly, he reprehendeth all violent oppression and immoderate desire,…
Secondly, he reprehendeth all violent oppression and immoderate desire, and showeth most severely as the Prophet of God, that God will revenge such wickedness.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 6 That no man go beyond and defraud his…
6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
Ver. 6. That no man go beyond or defraud] Or, oppress or cheat. Theft by unjust getting is either επιβολη or επιβουλη, by violence or cunning contrivance. What else is this but crimen stellionatus, criminal lizard, the very sin of deception.
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The Lord is the avenger] Though haply they lie out of the walk of human justice, as not coming under man’s cognizance.
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 This some understand to be another part of sanctification,…
This some understand to be another part of sanctification, mentioned before, 1Th 4:3, taking the word sanctification in a more general sense. And as before he spake of chastity, so here of commutative justice in commerce and traffic; and the rather because Thessalonica was a city of great trade and merchandise, and it is true that sanctification doth comprehend this righteousness in it, and will restrain men from that which is opposite to it, which, as the apostle speaks, is going beyond and defrauding his brother. To
go beyond, is that which we call overreaching; when in buying or selling we keep not a just measure, when we observe not a due proportion between the price and the commodity, considering it either in its natural worth, or in such circumstances as make it more or less valuable: or, to take advantage of another’s ignorance or necessities, to take unreasonable profit: or, to break covenant with another, answering to the Hebrew word Gnabhar, used in this sense, Deu 17:2; the original word signifies to transgress, or go above the due bounds. And to defraud is, when, out of a covetous mind, we exact upon another beyond what is meet. Some refer the former word to injustice by force, and the latter by fraud, 2Co 7:2. And the evil is the greater because done to a brother. There is a brother by a common relation, and so all men that partake of human nature are brethren; or by special relation, which is either natural, civil, or spiritual. We may understand the word in all these senses, especially the last, that those that are brethren in Christ and in the faith, should not defraud one another. And when the apostle adds, in any matter, the word any not being in the Greek, we may better read it, in dealing, or doing; the word is general, and is to be restrained by the subject matter spoken of. There is another sense of the words, agreeable to the former verses, and the verse that follows, and so some understand the apostle as still speaking of chastity; and so here he forbids the invading another’s bed, transgressing the bounds of marriage, whereby men go beyond or defraud their brother, usurping the use of another man’s wife, whom he hath no right to. And then in any matter we must read, in that matter which he had been speaking of before, or it is a modest expression of the act of adultery. The Hebrew Bo is often used in the Old Testament for carnal copulation, and thence the Greek βαινω and υψερβαινω, here used; and the other word, ψλεονεκτειν, denotes excessiveness in it, Eph 4:19. And the reason he adds is: because the Lord is the avenger of all such. Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord, Deu 32:35; Rom 12:19. Whether we understand it of fraud, or overreaching in dealings, when man cannot right and relieve himself, the righteous God will avenge the unrighteousness of men; or of the fraud of the marriage bed, which is done in secret, and man cannot avenge himself, Heb 13:4.
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As we also have forewarned you and testified: and this the apostle saith he had forewarned them of, and testified. Though the light of nature told the heathen that God was an avenger of wickedness, Act 28:4, and the heathen could say, ’Eχει θεος εκδικον ομμα. God hath a revengeful eye; yet the apostle had in his preaching assured it. He had told them of Christ’s coming to judge the world, when he would execute vengeance, Jud 1:15; and this they were before ignorant of: and though God sometimes takes vengeance in this world, yet he seems to refer to this last vengeance, because he speaks of it as that which he had forewarned them of, and testified in his ministry, and whereof they had not so clear a testimony in natural conscience.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain Here we have another positive duty pressed upon the…
Here we have another positive duty pressed upon the Thessalonians, in which a great part of their sanctification or holiness would discover itself, namely, justice and equity in all their dealings, man with man. Thessalonica was a city of great trade and merchandise; therefore, the apostle directs them, in their traffic and commerce, neither by fraud nor force, to over-reach and go beyond one another: and the apostle saying, let none go beyond or defraud his brother, that is, his fellow Christian, doth not suppose if lawful to defraud such as were not their brethren, but only lets them see, that for Christians to defraud and cheat, to over-reach and go beyond one another, would be a very great aggravation of their crime, seeing the laws of their religion, as well as the light of nature, condemns all such injustice and dishonesty: and accordingly, the apostle adds a reason to enforce his exhortation, drawn from the dreadful effect of all such sins; namely, that it exposes and lays open the guilty person to the direful vengeance of God: The Lord is the avenger of all such.
Learn hence, 1. That the wisdom of God has variously dispensed the gifts of providence to mankind; to some more, to others less; to some in one kind, to others in another: so that men cannot live without mutual commerce one with another.
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Learn, 2. That there is such a covetous and insatiable desire of wealth in the heart of man, that little regarding the measure of worldly things, which God has dispensed unto him, he lies at catch to take all advantages of his neighbour in matters of commerce, and, by defrauding and over-reaching him, seeks to increase his own worldly estate with impairing that of others; Let no man go beyond his brother: The apostle, by forbidding this evil, plainly supposes man to be very prone and ready to fall into it.
Learn, 3. That the sin of injustice in traffic and commerce, is so very heinous in the sight of God, that such men as are guilty of it, without repentance, must never expect to escape the vengeance of God, either here or hereafter; God is the avenger of all such.
Observe next, the reasons urged by St. Paul to enforce his foregoing exhortations to purity and justice.
The first is taken from the design of God in their vocation; when called out of their heathenish state to Christianity, they were called not to uncleanness, but out of uncleanness unto holiness.
The second is taken from the heinousness of their sin, who shall despise or reject the commands here given for holiness and sanctification; he that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God.
To despise the minister of God in a command which he delivers from God, is to despise God himself; the apostle gave these commands by the direction of the Holy Spirit, which was given him for that end; Who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit: Therefore, says he, he that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God.
Where note, that although the reason here given, why such as despised the apostle, despised God himself, be peculiar to St. Paul, who had the Holy Spirit to guide him infallibly; yet so far as the ordinary ministers of Christ do follow the apostle’s steps, and deliver nothing but what is agreeable to the word of God, the contempt of their message is a despising of God himself: He that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain That no man go beyond, and defraud his brother…
That no man go beyond, and defraud his brother in any matter,.... Or "in this matter", as the Syriac version. This is commonly understood of transgressing the bounds of justice and equity between men and men; and of cheating and defrauding in trade and business, by increasing or lessening the value and prices of goods by the buyer and seller, by not keeping to the bargain, contract, covenant, or sample, by false weights and measures, and by taking the advantage of the weakness and ignorance of men; all which is aggravated by dealing thus with a brother; see Co1 6:8 and this hint is thought the rather necessary, since Thessalonica was a place of great trade and business. But the matter, or business referred to, is not trade, but the subject of chastity or uncleanness the apostle is speaking of, both before and after; and the phrases used either design the act of adultery, coveting a brother's wife, and lying with her, and so a defrauding and wronging of him by defiling his bed; or rather sodomitical practices, an unnatural lust and desire in men after men, and copulation with them; for rendered, "go beyond", answers to , "to go upon", or "lie with", so often used in Jewish writings for lying with women, men, and beasts, in an unlawful way. Thus, for instance (y),
"these are to be burned, , "he that lies with a woman", and her daughter, &c.''
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And again (z),
"these are to be beaten, , "he that lies with" his sister, or his father's sister, &c.''
And the word translated "defraud", signifies a greedy, insatiable, and unnatural lust and desire after a man, a brother, or the committing of sodomitical practices with greediness: see Eph 4:19 which abominable iniquities are dissuaded from by the following reasons,
because that the Lord is the avenger of all such; or "with respect to all these things", as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions render it; or "for all these things", as the Arabic and Ethiopic versions; as fornication, adultery, lasciviousness, and all sorts of abominable uncleanness. The person that commits these things the Lord avenges, either in this life, by the hand of the civil magistrate, who is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath on him that does evil; or by a violent death, as in the case of Zimri and Cozbi, and twenty four thousand more at the same time; or by some awful judgment from heaven, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah; or in the world to come; for the law of God is made and lies against such persons; these living and dying in such sins God will judge, to whom vengeance belongs; these shall not inherit the kingdom of God, but have their part and portion in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.
As we have also forewarned you and testified; not by a former epistle, as if this was the second to them, and what follows the first, as Grotius thought; but they did this when they were in person with them, knowing that these abominable vices greatly prevailed in their city; therefore they bore their testimony against them, and exposed the evil of them, and warned them of the danger by them, so that they could not now plead ignorance. The Ethiopic version reads in the first person singular, "as I have before said unto you, and testified to you".
(y) Misna Sanhedrim, c. 9. sect. 1. (z) Misna Maccot, c. 3. sect. 1.
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 In this matter - By violating his bed. The…
In this matter - By violating his bed. The things forbidden, here are three: fornication, ver. 3; the passion of desire, or inordinate affection in the married state, ver. 5; and the breach of the marriage contract.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. That no man go beyond and defraud…
Verse 6. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother] That no man should by any means endeavour to corrupt the wife of another, or to alienate her affections or fidelity from her husband; this I believe to be the apostle's meaning, though some understand it of covetousness, overreaching, tricking, cheating, and cozenage in general.
The Lord is the avenger of all such] He takes up the cause of the injured husband wherever the case has not been detected by man, and all such vices he will signally punish. Every species of uncleanness was practised among the heathens, nor were they reputed as vices. Their gods, their emperors, their philosophers, and their great men in general, gave them examples of every species of impurity; and they had no system of ethics which forbade these abominations. The Christian religion not only discountenances these things, but forbids them on the most awful penalties; therefore wherever Christianity prevails, these vices, if practised at all, are obliged to seek the deepest gloom of midnight to cover them from the eyes of men. On this account they are comparatively rare, even among the mere professors of Christianity; they exist, but do not flourish.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain That no man go beyond - ὑπερβαίνειν huperbainein. This…
That no man go beyond - ὑπερβαίνειν huperbainein. This word means, “to make to go over,” as, e. g., a wall or mountain; then, to overpass, to wit, certain limits, to transgress; and then to go too far, i. e., to go beyond right - hence to cheat or defraud. It is not used elsewhere in the New Testament. The idea of overreaching is that which is implied in its use here.
And defraud - πλεονεκτεῖν pleonektein Margin, “oppress,” or “overreach.” This word properly means, to have more than another; then to have an advantage; and then to take advantage of any one, to circumvent, defraud, cheat. It is rendered “got an advantage,” 2Co 2:11; “defraud,” 2Co 7:2; 1Th 4:6; “make a gain,” 2Co 12:17-18. Compare for the use of the adjective, 1Co 5:10-11; 1Co 6:10; Eph 5:5; and the noun, Mar 7:22; Luk 12:15; Rom 1:29; 2Co 9:5; Eph 5:3; Col 3:5; 1Th 2:5; 2Pe 2:3, 2Pe 2:14. It is the word commonly used to denote covetousness. Taking advantage of, is the idea which it conveys here.
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In any matter - Margin, “or the.” According to the reading in the margin, this would refer to the particular matter under discussion 1Th 4:3-5, to wit, concupiscence. and the meaning then would be, that no one should be guilty of illicit intercourse with the wife of another. Many expositors - as Hammond Whitby, Macknight, Rosenmuller, and others, suppose that this is a prohibition of adultery, and there can be no doubt that it does include this. But there is no reason why it should be confined to it. The Greek is so general that it may prohibit all kinds of fraud, overreaching, or covetousness, and may refer to any attempt to deprive another of his rights, whether it be the right which he has in his property, or his rights as a husband, or his rights in any other respect. It is a general command not to defraud; in no way to take advantage of another; in no way to deprive him of his rights.
Because that the Lord is the avenger of all such - Of all such as are guilty of fraud; that is, he will punish them; compare Rom 12:19 note; Eph 6:9 note.
As we also have forewarned - Doubtless when he was with them.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain That no man overreach, nor deceive his brother in…
That no man overreach, nor deceive his brother in business.[1] The Protestant and Mr. N. even in their translations, add, in any matter, because some expound it of frauds and circumventions in any kind of business. But this addition of any, should be left out, seeing the best interpreters expound it of a prohibition of adultery, and the injury thereby done to another, and of sins of that kind only, which is confirmed by what follows and what goes before. See St. Jerome in chap. iv. ad Ephes. tom. 4. p. 369.; St. John Chrysostom serm. 3 on this place. Here, says he, he speaks of adultery, as before of fornication, &c. See Theodoret, Theophylactus, Estius, Menochius, A. Lapide, &c. (Witham)
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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]
Ne quis supergrediatur, neque circumveniat in negotio fratrem, Greek: en to pragmati. See St. Jerome: diligenter observa, quia ad castitatem nos provocans, et volens uxoribus tantum esse contentos, dixerit, ne quis supergrediatur, &c. St. John Chrysostom, (Greek: log. e. p. 186.) Greek: entautha peri moicheias phesin, anotero de peri porneias pases.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain go beyond--transgress the bounds of rectitude in respect to…
go beyond--transgress the bounds of rectitude in respect to his "brother."
defraud--"overreach" [ALFORD]; "take advantage of" [EDMUNDS].
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in any matter--rather as Greek, "in the matter"; a decorous expression for the matter now in question; the conjugal honor of his neighbor as a husband, Th1 4:4; Th1 4:7 also confirms this view; the word "brother" enhances the enormity of the crime. It is your brother whom you wrong (compare Pro 6:27-33).
the Lord--the coming Judge (Th2 1:7-8).
avenger--the Righter.
of all such--Greek, "concerning all these things;" in all such cases of wrongs against a neighbor's conjugal honor.
testified--Greek, "constantly testified [ALFORD].
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 6. The verbs go and beyond, here, know, 1Th_4:4,…
6. The verbs go and beyond, here, know, 1Th_4:4, and abstain, 1Th_4:3, are three co-ordinates, all unfolding the branches of sanctification of 1Th_4:3. This third branch implies purity from business frauds.
Go beyond— Overrun, or overreach his brother. That is, his brother Christian: but Lunemann well remarks, that St. Paul applies the precept to the treatment of Christians, not because he would not include all other men, but the Christian circle is what he has in his present view.
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In any—Rather, the.
Matter—The business matter at any time in hand. See Winer’s New Testament Grammar on the phrase. We prefer, with Lunemann, against Alford, to interpret this verse of business fraud, rather than overreaching, etc., in sexual matters, because the Greek words lie in the former line of thought; because it supposes a less arbitrary complication of iniquity than the other; and because, in a community so full of commercial greed as well as license as Thessalonica, we can hardly suppose that St. Paul’s reproof would be confined to the last alone.
Avenger—Punisher of all such as are guilty of fornication and fraud.
Forewarned—The fore, says Lunemann, means before the execution of the judgment; the past tense warned places the utterance of the warning at St. Paul’s first visit.
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 6. that no man go beyond and defraud his…
6. that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter] More exactly, that none overreach and take advantage of his brother in the matter. “The matter” is obviously that which occupies the last two verses. Acts of Impurity are social wrongs, as well as sins against the offender’s person. The warning may include any injury done to another touching the affections and engagements that belong to marriage,—“the matter” concerned in the present charge—which is expressly violated by “fornication.” The Apostle sets the wrong in the strongest light: it is to “cheat one’s brother,” and that in what touches most nearly the sanctities of life. Hence the stern warning that follows:—
because that the Lord is the avenger of all such] Rather, an avenger; and concerning all these things—in everything that concerns the honour of the human person and the sacredness of wedded life. Comp. Heb_13:4, “Let marriage be had in honour … Fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” It is written that “Vengeance belongs to God;” and in this matter He is peculiarly bound to exercise it.
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as we also have forewarned you and testified] or, solemnly attested: the latter verb implies reference to God, as it is expressed in 2Ti_4:1, “before God and Christ Jesus.” On this subject it appears—as to the moral consequences of faith in Christ and the social purity that belongs to the sanctified life—the apostles at Thessalonica had spoken very plainly and solemnly from the first.
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 (6) That no man.—The form of the Greek shows…
(6) That no man.—The form of the Greek shows that this is not exactly parallel with the preceding clauses, as if it ran, “this is God’s will, your sanctification, for you to abstain, for you to know how to possess, for you not to go beyond,” &c. It is a final clause, expressing the purpose of such continence as has just been described. Men are to be chaste and self-possessed, not only for their own salvation’s sake, but in justice to their brethren. In 1Th_3:12-13, they were to love for the sake of becoming holy; here they are to be holy for the sake of charity—a blessed action and reaction.
Defraud his brother.—The original word implies a rapacious dishonesty, of which any person is guilty who gives the rein to his lusts, especially the adulterer. The substantive formed from it is usually translated covetousness, and is generally thought to be used in this special sense in Eph_5:3; Col_3:5. When all men are brethren the sin becomes worse.
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In any matter should undoubtedly be in the matter. St. Paul chooses the phrase for delicacy’s sake, both here and in 2Co_7:11.
Because that the Lord.—Again an anticipation of the Advent, for the vengeance meant is that of the Judgment Day, not the natural retribution which carnal sin brings with it. The “Lord,” therefore, in this context probably means more particularly the Incarnate Son, who has a special claim upon men’s bodies (1Co_6:13).
Have forewarned.—Rather, did forewarn. It was part of the Apostles’ original teaching at Thessalonica.
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 That no man go beyond; or, transgress. And defraud;…
That no man go beyond; or, transgress. And defraud; or, as it is in the margin of our Bibles, oppress, or, overreach; wrong (R.V). His brother. Not an exhortation against dishonesty, or prohibition against all attempts to overreach in usual mutual intercourse, as the words would at first sight seem to imply, and as some consider it (Hofmann, Lunemann, Riggenbach); but, as is evident from the context, a continuation of the former exhortation, a prohibition against impurity. In any matter; or, more properly, in the matter, namely, that about which I have been discoursing. "An example of the modest reserve and refined delicacy which characterize the holy apostle"s language in speaking of things which the Gentiles did without shame, and thus, by a chaste bashfulness of words, commending the duty of unblemished purity in deeds" (Wordsworth). Because the Lord is the Avenger of all such ; either of all such as are thus defrauded or of all such sinful practices. As we also have forewarned you and testified.
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 6. That no man go beyond. Beyond the bounds…
6. That no man go beyond. Beyond the bounds of purity, so as to wrong his brother. In our age, to assail the purity of wife or daughter is counted as a fearful crime against the family. The Lord is the avenger. He will punish the adulterer, or libertine.
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 that no man transgress [literally, overreach] , and wrong…
that no man transgress [literally, overreach] , and wrong his brother in the matter [Because the word "overreach" is usually associated with bargaining, trading, and other business transactions, able commentators have thought that Paul here introduced covetousness, that it might be rebuked together with lust. But Paul's language is not to be so contorted. The thought flows smoothly on to the end of verse 8. Lust has its deceptions, its overreachings, its covetousness, as well as commercialism. "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife"]: because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as also we forewarned you and testified . [God punishes all such crimes-- Rom_13:4 ; Eph_5:5-6 ; Col_3:6 ]
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.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain A warning against covetousness:
A warning against covetousness:
v. 6. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter, because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
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v. 7. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
v. 8. He, therefore, that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us His Holy Spirit.
The apostle here points to a second vice, one which is often mentioned together with uncleanness, See Eph 4:19; Eph 5:3-5; Col 3:5, that of avarice, of greed: That no one overreach and defraud his brother in business, because that the Lord is an avenger concerning all these things, as we have said to you before and testified. The description given in these words fitly characterizes the sin of covetousness; for the greedy person goes beyond the limits set by the Law of God; he resorts to trickery and cheating. This will invariably result in fraud, in the deliberate attempt to get the better of every deal, to enrich oneself at the expense of one’s neighbor. Undoubtedly this vice was common in the great Aegean seaport and was not regarded as anything reprehensible, just as the average businessman in our day deems it an evidence of extraordinary astuteness if he can indulge in profiteering without being detected. But the apostle holds up a warning finger, saying that the Lord is an avenger with respect to all these things. The sin may not become manifest before the eyes of men, but before the eyes of God nothing is hidden, and His punishment will strike the wicked in due time. The Christians being subject to the same sinful desires as all other men by reason of their evil flesh, Paul had included this warning in his instructions to the Thessalonians; he had, before, in an earnest testimony, told them the same thing,
With reference to both vices he therefore adds: For not has God called us for uncleanness, but in sanctification. The holy God wants clean hearts; to that end and object He called the believers, working faith and love in their hearts by His call. A Christian cannot live in any form of uncleanness with regard to any of the commandments; if that had been God’s purpose in calling him, He would become a servant of sin. The apostle, therefore, extends his warning: Wherefore, then, he that despises does not despise man, but God, who gave His Holy Spirit to you, To disregard the precept and warning which Paul here issues does not mean a mere despising of men. That in itself may be bad enough, but could at least be condoned. No, it is God’s will which the apostle has proclaimed with regard to these sins, and every one that despises his instructions thereby becomes guilty of despising God. Such a person is all the more culpable in the sight of God because the Lord, in issuing the call, in working conversion, gave His Holy Spirit, thereby granting the power to walk in newness of life. Any person that has once been converted and then deliberately indulges in such sins as here mentioned by the apostle, drives the Holy Spirit out of his heart and thus receives to himself damnation, unless he repents of his sin before it is too late. This fact cannot be emphasized too strongly in our days when indifference and worldliness is raising its head in the midst of the Christian Church.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.