1 Thessalonians 4:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He rightly said: "that no one should transgress." God gave each man a wife and set limits to nature, namely, union with one. Therefore union with another is already transgression, robbery, and greed. It is even more dreadful than any robbery.

For we do not grieve so much when our money is stolen as when marriage is robbed. You call him brother, and you wrong him in precisely the matter in which one especially must not?

Here the Apostle speaks of adultery, while above he spoke of every kind of fornication. Since he intended to speak about not transgressing against a brother or wronging him, he anticipates a false interpretation.

"That you should not transgress or wrong your brother in anything." Above the Apostle speaks of fornication in general. Now he speaks of adultery, which he rightly calls greed and transgression.

For God gave each man a wife and set limits to nature, meaning union with this one wife. Therefore greed pertains to this matter, that is, to unlawful union, and specifically against a brother.

"Because the Lord is the avenger for all these things, as we also told you before and testified." Do not think, he says, that I say this only with regard to brethren. No, one must not have the wives of other men, nor simply unmarried women, nor common women.

For the Lord punishes for all this. We do not do this with impunity. We shall bear punishment far greater than the pleasure we now receive from it.

“And that no one transgress and defraud his brother in the matter.” Here the Apostle called adultery defrauding, because the man who undermines the marital concord of others and seizes the bed allotted to another touches what does not belong to him. He intensified the accusation by showing that the one wronged is a brother. But he also indicates the punishment, setting fear against lawlessness in order to restrain it. “Because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, as we also told you before and testified.” For we have already imparted the teaching that the Master of all is the righteous Judge and subjects the lawless to punishment. But the Apostle also proves the justice of the punishment.

“To defraud in the matter.” Understanding these words in connection with the preceding verses, some see in this defrauding a criminal treatment of one’s own wife and adultery with the wives of others. But it is closer to the text and to the usage of the word found here to understand a prohibition of greed. This was especially fitting for the Thessalonians, because they were engaged in trade.

In the moral and dogmatic part, St. Paul the Apostle sets before the Thessalonians various instructions corresponding to Timothy's report about their moral condition. Then he reasons with them about the lot of those who have died before the Second Coming of the Lord. Finally, he prevents possible moral faults among the Thessalonians and heals actual ones.

The Apostle offers instructions that the will of God is our sanctification. Therefore the Thessalonians must abstain from fornication, knowing how to keep their vessel, that is, the body, in holiness and honor.

Unfolding the same lesson, the Apostle teaches them to live according to the law of God, in holiness, shunning greed, impurity, and disobedience to God and to the Holy Spirit sent by Him for our sanctification.

According to St. John Damascene's explanation, "the Apostle covertly indicated adultery by a euphonious word, calling it the wronging of a brother." And St. John Chrysostom says: "First the Apostle entreated and made them blush, saying, 'as the Gentiles.'

Then by arguments he showed the vileness of this, using the expressions 'to wrong a brother in the matter.' Then he adds the chief point: 'for the Lord is the avenger.' By doing this, we do not remain without punishment.

Then the Apostle warns them against another pagan vice: the passion of greed, which reaches the point of injustice toward neighbors. These two vices, fornication and greed, were the chief causes of all the calamities of the ancient world.

Horace represented them as gravediggers who without mercy dug the grave for his contemporary generation. God will punish men for these sins, and He will punish Christians especially. They know well that these sins are contrary to God and offend the Holy Spirit Who abides in us.

According to St. Chrysostom, blessed Theodoret, St. Damascene, Oecumenius, Theophylact, and many other interpreters, the Apostle here continues instruction about restraining lustful passion. In the words "not to transgress and not to wrong," they see a lesson not to touch the wives of others.

The course of the speech also compels one to hold this opinion. In the following, seventh verse it says that God has called us not to impurity, but to holiness. This is set as the foundation for what is said in the sixth verse.

Consequently, in both verses there is one thought: warning against impurity. This is the same thought as in the whole section, verses 3-8.