LAB139 What Does It Mean To Be Holy
1 Thessalonians 4:11-13
LAB139 Holiness defined by context, in part
Published November 8th, 2016; Updated November 8th, 2016
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Phrase
editing
NT
1 Thessalonians 3:11-13
esv
mine
Paul's double address to God and to the Thessalonians
Now may our God
and Father himself,
and our Lord Jesus,
direct
our way
to you,
and may the Lord
Love comes, increases and abounds by God so that. . .
make
you
increase
and abound
in love
for one another
and for all,
as we do
for you,
so that he may establish
...the goal of blameless in holiness may be attained. This is also from God, He establishes this.
your hearts
blameless
in holiness
before our God and Father,
at the coming of our Lord Jesus
with all his saints.
Persons involved in this passage
What Paul appeals to God
for Him to do
About Paul and fellow saints
The qualities
prayed for
The Thessalonians believers
phrasing
Study Notes
See www.desiringgod.org/labs/what-does-it-mean-to-be-holy LAB Tip: define words from context "Principle for Bible Reading Defining Terms in Context Often, we get our definitions of words before we try and understand what a verse or passage means. This is good to do but we can mistakenly shut ourselves off from letting the passage itself help us define what the word means. Words help us understand verses, and verses help us understand words. So as you read take time to ask, “What can I learn about what this word means or entails from the passage?" Study Questions 1. What does holiness mean? How would you define holiness for an unbelieving friend? Holiness is living according to all that our God, our Creator, our Loving Father desires us to. To an unbelieving friend, I would say that this includes in part, what it means to be loving. God who is the ultimate definition of love, is the One by which and to which, I am able to love well. 2. What is the connection between love and holiness in 1 Thessalonians 3:11–13 ? Love and holiness are linked and this connection is at in this passage. Strictly speaking, the passage speaks of God increasing and abounding our love, which results in, the purpose of, the aim of, is to be blameless in holiness. To what degree we can say that love is holiness is not as clear here and requires further study across the whole counsel of God, the entire Scripture. 3. What is one thing that should be added and one thing that should be subtracted from your life this week in order to more fully pursue a holy life? One thing that should be added would be to pray more to God the Father that He and our LORD Jesus would increase and abound my love. The one thing that should be subtracted is to lessen the gaze at human events that either gives me false hope or false despair.
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