Matthew Poole and continuators on 1 Thessalonians 4:8

8 He therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his holy Spirit .

This he adds as a third Argument; so that what he had preached to them, was not from himself, but from the Holy Spirit: Or if by us he means these Thessalonians also, as some Copies read it, he hath given you, &c. then he argues from the gift of the Holy Spirit they had received against living in the sin of uncleanness. This would be very disagreeable not only to their Holy Calling, but the Holy Spirit God had given them. Or else these Arguments of the Apostle are to perswade to universal Holiness, taking Sanctification and Holiness in a larger sence, and uncleanness, for all sin in general standing opposite thereunto. Sin is oft spoken of in Scripture under the notion of filth, defilement, pollution, &c. and so was typed forth under the Law, and to be cleansed from sin is a cleansing m[illegible: 1 letter]n from filthiness, 2 Cor. 7.1. so that to live in sin, as the Apostle argues, is to live in uncleanness, to contradict our Holy Calling, to despise God, and to walk contrary to the nature and dictates of his Holy Spirit.

Whence he fetcheth this second Argument, ver. 8. that if this chastity be despised or rejected, as we may read the Text, it is not man, but God that is despised. To despise a Minister in a commandment he delivers from God, is to despise God himself, Luk. 10.16, &c. and the Apostle doth here intimate, not to obey the Commandment of God, is a despising God. Or▪ That the Apostle was despised by some because of the outward meanness of his person, or questioning his Authority.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 word] 1 Cor. 7.4[illegible: 1 letter]