Lent II – 2017

The Second Sunday in Lent

The Epistle. I Thessalonians 4. 1.

Brethren: we beseech you, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus: that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified. For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not men, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.

Of all the criticisms that “modern theologians” level against Traditional Christianity, one of the more ludicrous charges is that St. Paul was “obsessed with sex”. These people will cite examples, such as today’s passage from the Apostles First Letter to the Thessalonians, as evidence that Paul was preoccupied with controlling people’s sex lives, rather than extolling the “true” love of Christ. Some will even claim that this is proof that St. Paul was himself sexually repressed.

Now to be fair, St. Paul does use the words “fornication” and/or “concupiscence” sixteen times during the course of the fourteen Letters attributed to him. But when we take into consideration the context in which these references were made, we can see that the Apostle’s overriding concern rose above the simple matter of “sex”; rather, his focus was on “morality”.

Now we may define “morality” in its simplest terms; “conformity to the rules of right conduct”. But the Church has historically provided a more detailed explanation; “Morality; human conduct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the ideal of what is right and fitting“. In other words, “Morality” is our sense of “what is right and wrong”.

Given this definition, we can take a fresh look at what St. Paul tells us today; “we beseech you, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus: that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus“. Here the Apostle reminds us of those things that we have already been taught.

And so we start right off by knowing that “how ye ought to walk and to please God” is defined as “human conduct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the ideal of what is right and fitting“. We know that “how ye ought to walk and to please God“, is governed by our sense of “what is right and wrong“. We know that our commitment to Christian “morality”, will lead to our benefit; “so ye would abound more and more“. And we know that we are on the right path because we “know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus“.

Next we must examine in greater detail those sentences that appear to lend credence to the claims of the “modern theologians”. “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication, that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor; not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God“.

I’ll begin with the parts that cause the “modern theologians” so much consternation. “that ye should abstain from fornication“. “Fornication”: “voluntary sexual intercourse between two unmarried persons or two persons not married to each other“. Oh dear! Imagine that! Could it be that such things are happening in our world?!?

Well, of course they are; but the “modern theologian” would have you believe that this is only natural; indeed, it may even be desirable. After all, if we love each other indiscriminately, without regard to all those “laws” and “restrictions” of the Church, then aren’t we really displaying the Love of Christ?

The only problem here is that even if we believe that we have satisfied our sense of “what is right and wrong“, we have to ask if by doing so we have walked “how ye ought to walk and to please God“. We have to ask if our conduct has been “freely subordinated to the IDEAL of what is right and fitting“. We have to ask if our actions will allow us to “abound more and more“. We have to ask if our actions are in keeping with the “commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus“. We have to ask if our actions are truly “moral”.

that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor“. “Sanctification”; “to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate“, “to purify or free from sin“. Our hearts, our minds, our souls and bodies; our very existence is a gift from God. As such, it is our responsibility to care for ourselves with the same love and respect that we hold for all of God’s Creation.

Not only are we commanded to care for His Creation through our words, actions and deeds, but we are likewise commanded to care for ourselves; to comport our daily lives in such a way as to be obvious to all that we have been “set apart as sacred“; that we have been “consecrated” to Christ; that we have determined “to purify or free from sin”, our mortal existence.

And when we combine this “Sanctification” with our sense of “honesty, fairness, and integrity”, then we likewise achieve “human conduct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the IDEAL of what is right and fitting“. When we combine our efforts to make ourselves “holy; set apart as sacred; consecrated”, “purified or free from sin” with, “honor”, then we will know “how ye ought to walk and to please God“.  When we incorporate “Sanctification” and “honor”” into our lives, then we will have taken a great step toward achieving Christian “Morality”.

This is the real source of St. Paul’s “obsession”. Along with all of the references to “fornication” and “concupiscence” that may be found in the Apostle’s fourteen letters, there is one overriding theme; “human conduct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the IDEAL of what is right and fitting“; that we should “walk and to please God“, in keeping with the “commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus”. And that we should “possess our vessel in sanctification and honor“; in other words, St. Paul’s “obsession” was not about “sex”; it was about “Morality”.

As further proof St. Paul adds this particular line, “that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter“. Now taken in context with the rest of today’s Epistle, it might be easy to presume that St. Paul is referring to the practice of extra-marital affairs or sexual liaisons that were common at that time. To take another man’s wife in a sexual relationship would therefore constitute “fraud”.

But given the numerous references to “proper” business conduct that can also be found throughout Holy Scripture, it is also possible to infer that the Apostle is talking generally about the SIN of “fraud”; “that no man go beyond and defraud his brother in ANY matter“. Again, it can be argued that St. Paul is addressing “human conduct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the IDEAL of what is right and fitting“. Again, the Apostle is talking about “Morality”.

Of course the great danger for Christians here is that we will always be tempted to determine for ourselves “what is right and wrong”. We will assume new definitions for how we should “possess our vessel in sanctification and honor“, based on how the world views these concepts today. We will accept the modern contention that in order for us to “walk and to please God“, all we need to do is “love freely”. In other words, we will be tempted to ignore “what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus“; and create our own definition of “Morality”.

The problem that results when we do these things is that we will have then despised all that we have been taught; we will have shunned the lessons of St. Paul and all of the Saints and Doctors of the Church. And we will have turned away from the Gospel of Jesus Christ; “He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not men, but God“.

I submit to you therefore that it is the “modern theologian” who is “obsessed with sex”, rather than St. Paul. For whereas the Apostle implores us to “Sanctification” (“to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate”, “to purify or free from sin”), the “modern theologian” would have you believe that “loving freely”, without any “rules” is only natural, or even desirable.

Whereas St. Paul entreats us to “possess our vessel“ with “honesty, fairness, and integrity“, in combination with “Sanctity”, the “modern theologian” will tell you that only the latter is necessary; and only as it relates to our interpersonal relationships. Whereas St. Paul tells us that we “ought to walk and to please God“, the “modern theologian” will say that we need only to please one another in order to please God.

Whereas St. Paul show us the true way to please God (“For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus“), the “modern theologian” will dismiss Our Lords commandments as “outdated”, “irrelevant”, or “obsessed with sex”. Whereas the message of St. Paul is about “human conduct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the IDEAL of what is right and fitting“, the message of the “modern theologian” is about human conduct as society wishes it to be.

The difference is between the definition of “Christian Morality”, and the “morality” of contemporary human society. The difference is between “human conduct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the IDEAL of what is right and fitting“, knowing “how ye ought to walk and to please God“, in accordance with “what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus“, and the “doctrine” of the “modern theologians” which only acknowledges Our sense of “what is right and wrong”. The difference is between the Morality of God, and the morality of man.

The Morality of God focuses on “how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more“. The Morality of God focuses on “what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus“. The Morality of God focuses on “knowing how to possess our vessel in sanctification and honor“. And the Morality of God focuses on “God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit “.

The morality of contemporary man?; well, it appears to be focused on the emotions of man; it is focused on making man comfortable in his existence; it is focused on satisfying the corrupt desires of humanity; it is focused on making us feel “loved”; it is focused on making us feel “good” about ourselves.

It would appear that the morality of man is not so much focused on “human conduct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the IDEAL of what is right and fitting“, but rather, it is focused on OUR ideal of what is right and wrong. It is focused on our changing ideas about the concept of “morality”. It appears that the real “obsession with sex” lies not with St. Paul, but with modern man.

As Christians, we are called to “walk and to please God“, so that we may “abound more and more“. We are called to “possess our vessel in sanctification and honor“, making ourselves “holy; set apart as sacred: consecrated; purified and freed from sin”; with all “honesty, fairness, and integrity“. And we are directed to do so in accordance with “what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus“. We are called to “human conduct in so far as it is freely subordinated to the IDEAL of what is right and fitting“. We are called to the IDEAL of Christian Morality; and everything else that the world proposes is in opposition to God.

For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not men, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.

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