Matthew Poole and continuators on 1 Thessalonians 4:1

1 FUrthermore then we beseech you, brethren , and exhort you by the Lord Jesus Christ , that as ye have received of us how you ought to walk and please God, so ye would abound more and more.

He descends to some particular duties about their walking; which he ushers in by a general exhortation in this first verse.

Wherein we may observe his stile, he calls them brethren.

And speaks to them with much condescencion, and earnestness; and in the name of Christ, &c.

And the subject he insists on is their walking, the course of their Life and Conversation, which he describes by the rule of it, as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk, he refers them to the directions he had given them about it as the rule. For he did in his Ministry not only open Gospel mysteries, but explain moral duties, And not only to walk in them, but to abound more and more, to press forward to a greater exactness and excellency in their Christian conversation. And he here useth motives. 1. From the Person in whose name he speaks to them, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. For he was but Christs Minister and Embassador. 2. From the knowledge they had received of their duty, and therefore they could not plead ignorance. 3, Their walking as they had been instructed by him, would please God.

Marginal references: Or, what yee remains.; Or, to request.; Or, beseech.; Or, excell,