1Finally then , brethren , we beseech and exhort you in the Lord Jesus , that , as ye received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God , even as ye do walk ,— that ye abound more and more . 2For ye know what charge we gave you through the Lord Jesus . 3For this is the will of God , even your sanctification, that ye abstain from fornication ; 4that each one of you know how to possess himself of his own vessel in sanctification and honor , 5not in the passion of lust , even as the Gentiles who know not God ; 6that no man transgress , and wrong his brother in the matter : because the Lord is an avenger in all these things , as also we forewarned you and testified . 7For God called us not for uncleanness, but in sanctification. 8Therefore he that rejecteth, rejecteth not man , but God , who giveth his Holy Spirit unto you .
The Call to Love One Another
9But concerning love of the brethren ye have no need that one write unto you : for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another ; 10for indeed ye do it toward all the brethren that are in all Macedonia . But we exhort you , brethren , that ye abound more and more ; 11and that ye study to be quiet , and to do your own business , and to work with your hands , even as we charged you ; 12that ye may walk becomingly toward them that are without , and may have need of nothing .
The Hope of the Resurrection
13But we would not have you ignorant , brethren , concerning them that fall asleep ; that ye sorrow not , even as the rest , who have no hope . 14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again , even so them also that are fallen asleep in Jesus will God bring with him . 15For 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 . 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven , with a shout , with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first ; 17then we that are alive , that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds , to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord . 18Wherefore comfort one another with these words .