1 Thessalonians 5:16

Paul planted this church on his second missionary journey, and fierce opposition cut his stay short (Acts 17:1–9). The believers were new to the faith. Most of them were Gentiles who had come out of paganism, with some Jews among them, and they lived in a busy port, one of the leading cities of Macedonia, full of idols and the cult of the emperor. They had received the word “in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost” (1 Thessalonians 1:6), and they suffered from their own countrymen as the churches of Judea had suffered from theirs (1 Thessalonians 2:14). Even so, Paul gave thanks for their “work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope” (1 Thessalonians 1:3).

The letter had already comforted them about believers who had died before the Lord’s return (1 Thessalonians 4:13–18) and taught them about the day of the Lord (1 Thessalonians 5:1–11). Holy living and the hope of Christ’s coming run through both 1 Thessalonians 4 and 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul then gives a run of short commands for life together (1 Thessalonians 5:12–22). He asks them to honour those who lead them, warn the unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak and be patient toward all (1 Thessalonians 5:12–15), and then come the seven commands of this passage. Joy, prayer and thanks belong together and feed one another. The four commands that follow guide a church where the Spirit was at work and prophecy was heard, and the same Spirit gives both the gladness and the careful judgment.

The Greek verb chaírō means to rejoice or be glad. It is an everyday word, used of the world’s gladness as well as the church’s, and as a greeting it wished someone happiness and well-being. Here it is a command, in a form that calls for something kept up. Pántote, “evermore”, means always, at all times, on every occasion. So the joy Paul asks for belongs to each occasion of life as it comes, the hard days as well as the good.

People ask whether this is realistic, given how much sorrow life holds. The answer lies in where this joy comes from. It rests on God himself: his unchanging character, his rule over all things, his saving work in Christ and the sure hope of eternal life. It is fruit that the Holy Spirit grows in us (Galatians 5:22), so God supplies what he commands. The Thessalonians had already shown it by receiving the word with joy in the middle of affliction. Paul describes his own life as “sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing” (2 Corinthians 6:10), so grief and joy can live in one heart at the same time. Rejoicing is also something we choose, an act of faith and obedience that fixes our eyes on God’s goodness and promises when our feelings lag behind.

Scripture says the same in many places: “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice” (Philippians 4:4), and “the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Paul prays, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13). For the Thessalonians, the certainty of Christ’s return gave firm ground for joy in the present, and a church that rejoices under pressure shows the world the hope it holds.

Proseúchomai is the usual New Testament word for prayer. It is formed from pros, “toward”, and euchomai, “to wish, to pray”, and it means to pray to God, to make requests of him and to worship him. Every kind of prayer belongs to it: praise, confession, thanksgiving and asking.

Adialeíptōs, “without ceasing”, means constantly or incessantly, and one old definition gives it as “without omission on an appropriate occasion.” People ask whether this means praying aloud every second of the day. Paul is describing prayer that keeps returning all through the day, in the way we speak of incessant pain when it keeps coming back. It is a life where prayer is always near, with set times of prayer and, between them, a heart that keeps turning to God.

Jesus taught “that men ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Luke 18:1). Paul writes of “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18), in the passage where he describes the believer’s armour, and he urges, “Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving” (Colossians 4:2). Constant prayer keeps us alert and strong against temptation, humbly dependent on God, and aware that every moment is lived in his presence. It rests on who God is. He is near, he hears, and he welcomes his children at any hour.

Eucharistéō, “give thanks”, means to be grateful and to say so. It joins eu, “well”, and charis, “grace”, and the English word Eucharist comes from it. Thanksgiving answers the grace and kindness of God.

The small word en, “in”, carries much of the verse. “In every thing” places thanksgiving within every circumstance, whatever it is. The same word returns in “in Christ Jesus”, where it names the believer’s union with Christ. The two belong together, because the one who is in Christ can give thanks in anything.

Paul gives the reason with “for”: “this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Thélēma, “will”, is a settled purpose or decree, and here it is God’s purpose for his people, addressed to “you”, to each believer in Christ. Here God’s will is stated outright, and it is a thankful heart. Thanksgiving is his will because it comes from trust in his goodness and wisdom, it honours him as the giver of every good thing, and it finds its satisfaction in him. Paul asks for the same spirit in Ephesians 5:20 and Colossians 3:17, and he promises God’s peace to those who make their requests known “with thanksgiving” (Philippians 4:6–7).

Sbénnymi, “quench”, means to put out a fire or a light. Used of the Holy Spirit, it pictures his work as a fire that gives light, warmth, power and cleansing. Scripture often shows God’s presence in fire: the burning bush (Exodus 3:2), the pillar of fire that led Israel (Exodus 13:21), and at Pentecost the “cloven tongues like as of fire” that sat on each disciple (Acts 2:3). Pneûma means breath or wind, and by extension a spirit, and here it names the Holy Spirit, who lives in believers, gives gifts and guides into truth. Paul uses mḗ, the Greek negative used with commands, and the command shows that believers really could do this. It may even have been happening already.

What believers can quench is the Spirit’s working: his promptings, his gifts and his manifestations in a person and in a church. His presence itself is beyond our power to remove. The next verse, about prophecy, shows that Paul had the church’s gatherings especially in mind. He treats spiritual gifts at length in 1 Corinthians 12–14, ending, “covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues” (1 Corinthians 14:39). The life Paul wants is the opposite of a damped fire: to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18) and to be “led by the Spirit of God” (Romans 8:14).

Exouthenéō, “despise”, a form of exoudenóo, means to treat with contempt and count as nothing. It is a word of scorn, the attitude of someone who writes a thing off as worthless. Prophēteía is the act or the message of prophecy, from the word for a prophet. It can include foretelling, and its main work in the church was speaking God’s message for the present: “he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort” (1 Corinthians 14:3). The plural, “prophesyings”, points to the particular words spoken in their meetings. Such gifts are given for the good of all: “the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal” (1 Corinthians 12:7).

Paul’s warning suggests that some in Thessalonica were tempted to wave such words away, perhaps because of past abuses, a wish for order, or uncertainty about what the gift was for. He asks for respect and openness to God speaking, and in the very next breath he asks them to weigh what they hear. He tells the Corinthians the same: “Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge” (1 Corinthians 14:29). Testing is needed because there are false prophets, of whom the LORD said, “The prophets prophesy lies in my name” (Jeremiah 14:14). True prophecy came as “holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (2 Peter 1:20–21).

Dokimázō, “prove”, means to test or examine, usually with a view to approving what passes. It was used of assaying metals and checking coins, and it calls to mind a refiner separating dross from gold. Pâs, “all”, leaves every teaching, prophecy, experience and idea open to the test. Katéchō, “hold fast”, means to hold firmly and keep possession, a strong grip that stays fixed when opposition or new fashions come. Kalós means good, and what proves good we keep and live by.

The churches had no completed New Testament yet, so apostolic teaching and prophetic words carried great weight, and false teachers were a real danger (2 Peter 2:1–3). John gives the same instruction: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). Paul prays that believers “may approve things that are excellent” (Philippians 1:10), and he wants an elder “holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught” (Titus 1:9).

Verses 19 to 21 make one balanced instruction. We welcome what the Spirit gives, weigh it carefully, and keep what is from God. Truth is real and can be known, and God has given his word and his indwelling Spirit so that his people can tell the genuine from the counterfeit. That kind of discernment is a mark of a maturing faith.

Apéchomai, “abstain”, means to hold oneself off, to keep away, a deliberate act of restraint. Ponērós, “evil”, means bad or hurtful, and it points especially to evil in its harmful effect and influence, where kakós names what is bad in its very character. Eîdos, “appearance”, comes from the word for seeing and means form, shape or sight, and it can also mean a kind or sort. Pâs, “all”, appears again, so the command reaches every case.

Every one of these commands finds its pattern and its power in Jesus. He “endured the cross” “for the joy that was set before him” (Hebrews 12:2), so joy and deep suffering can stand together. Our joy rests on him, for “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8), and in him we “rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory” (1 Peter 1:8).

He prayed constantly. He rose a great while before day to pray (Mark 1:35), withdrew into the wilderness to pray (Luke 5:16), and continued all night in prayer before choosing the twelve (Luke 6:12). In Gethsemane he prayed, “nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt” (Matthew 26:39). His death and resurrection opened the way for our prayers, and now “he ever liveth to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25, Romans 8:34), while the Spirit “maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26–27).

He gave thanks. At the Last Supper he gave thanks over the bread and the cup (Matthew 26:26–27), and at the tomb of Lazarus he said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me” (John 11:41). He tells his people, “be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33), and the Spirit who dwells in those who are in Christ (Romans 8:9–11) makes their thanks possible. That thanks will go on in glory, where the redeemed sing of “thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might” given to God for ever (Revelation 7:12).

The Spirit we must keep from quenching is the Spirit of Christ. He glorifies Christ (John 16:14), bears his fruit in us (Galatians 5:22–23), helps us keep his commandments (John 14:15–17), gives power to be his witnesses (Acts 1:8), and opens the Scriptures that testify of him (John 5:39). Christ promised to send him (John 14:26), and he is the source of every gift, prophecy included. Jesus is himself the Word made flesh (John 1:14) and the final Prophet, the Son by whom God has spoken his complete word to us (Hebrews 1:1–3), so all true prophecy points to him.

He is also the standard by which we prove all things. He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), in whom “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3), and to hold fast what is good is finally to hold fast to him. He kept himself from all evil: he “did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22), and he could say, “I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29). He exposed the Pharisees as whited sepulchres, fair outside and full of uncleanness within (Matthew 23:27–28), which shows that keeping from evil begins in the heart. By his death and resurrection we are raised to “walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

These seven commands fit in a few lines, and they shape a whole life. Our joy in God rests on who he is and on Christ’s return, so it holds even on a day of sorrow. Each worry and each small kindness can become a word to him, so that prayer runs through our work. God has plainly told us that thanks in whatever comes is his will for us in Christ Jesus.

In the church we can welcome the Spirit’s work and listen with respect when someone brings a word meant to build up, exhort and comfort. We weigh everything we hear against Scripture, keep firm hold of what proves good, and keep our distance from evil in every form, for our own sake and for the sake of those who watch our lives. The God who gives these commands gives his Spirit to keep them, and he is the one who makes his people able to do all of it.