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NASB | 1 Thessalonians 4:9 ¶ Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Thessalonians 4:9 ¶ Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write you, for you have been [personally] taught by God to love one another [that is, to have an unselfish concern for others and to do things for their benefit]. [Lev 19:18; John 13:34] |
Subject: Taught of God? Walk in God? |
Bible Note: Is it really a concept unique to this letter to the Thessalonians, to be, or to have been, taught of God? Jesus said (John 6:45) that it had been written in the prophets, “They will all be taught by God“. It is apparent that he was referring to passages such as Isaiah 2 where the prophet speaks of a day, in the latter days, when “the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains” and many will be saying, "Come, let's go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths“. Micah may have been echoing that prophecy: In the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Micah 4). The psalmist sang of it: “Good and upright is the LORD Therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment And the meek will he teach his way“ (Psalm 25). The Spirit of God reminds (Hebrews 10) us of that which he had said before: “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days“, says the Lord. “I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them”. The Lord had said that through the prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, the days come“, says Jehovah, “that I will cut a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which covenant of Mine they broke, although I was a husband to them“, says Jehovah; “but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel: After those days“, says the Lord, “I will put My Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And they shall no more teach each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord‘; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them“, says Jehovah (Jeremiah 33). In that most intimate and personal way, they will have been taught by God. But we were also taught directly, the same message given to the Thessalonians, by our Lord Jesus Christ himself. If the message is to love one another, surely that is what Jesus taught. “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another“ (John 13:34). Again, “This is my commandment, that you love one another“ (John 15:12). “These things I command you, that ye love one another” (John 15:17). “This is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another“ (1 John 3:11). This is in fact what God had always taught. “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). He has given many commandments. But this, “You shall not commit adultery“, “You shall not kill“, “You shall not steal“, “You shall not bear false witness“, “You shall not covet“; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Romans 13:9). In the law, and under grace, we have been taught by God to love one another. God promised to write his laws on the human heart. But meanwhile he sent Jesus to teach us personally. And the Holy Spirit brings it back to us, as it were, teaching us again. Therefore, when it comes to brotherly love, Paul hardly needed to write it again. We have been taught of God to love one another. |